Jerry Calà against political correctness: “In the 80s nobody was offended”

Jerry Calà against political correctness: “In the 80s nobody was offended”

Jerry Calà retraces his career and talks about the differences between the 1980s and today, underlining how political correctness has also changed the way of making films.

Interviewed by The Truththe actor first spoke about the term he made iconic. Is his life always one of lust? “Well, while we talk on the phone it’s a moment of great lust, for example. I’m on a sailing boat, with dear friends, rocked by the wind and with the panorama of the Costa Smeralda down there in the background”.

Calà then tells of his moment of greatest lust: “The greatest was when my son was born, a moment of total apex. There the lust was full, brimming with happiness and well-being, truly all-encompassing. It was 2003 and I was 52 years old.”

Regarding the making of the films he remembers with most pleasure, he states: “The most enjoyable making was undoubtedly the one in 1983, Christmas Holidays. Cortina was all for us, the group of actors was very close-knit and so to speak joyful. Unforgettable. But also with Taste of the sea we had a lot of fun.”

According to the interpreter, however, that “taste of the sea” is no longer the same today: “Because in that film we talked about holidays made specifically for socializing, and today I see instead boys standing on deck chairs with their eyes fixed on their cell phones. The other evening I noticed that there were groups of males and females walking in the evening, separated, who knows why. We looked at each other, especially at the girls”.

Maybe because it was lighter: “And freer. During my shows I see that the audience always wants lightness, wants to laugh. And yet perhaps we laugh less today. My generation made jokes in rapid succession, without thinking about the consequences and without fearing that we might offend some category or association”.

Jerry Calà emphasizes that in the 80s: “No one was offended at all. For goodness sake, I’ll say it and write it down: I agree that we need to pay more attention. However, we could avoid certain exaggerations. There is a real tendency to exaggerate. I realize that today we couldn’t even shoot some scenes”.

The actor then gives an example: “Holidays in Americathe scene on the terrace in New York. I go up for a party and it turns out that Liveranni Ermanno is no longer the “crazy guy” from high school. There, I hear him laughing too, it was hilarious, but today that scene would be blacklisted. We were shameless, but always with sympathy”.