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Giorgio
Faletti is an Italian writer, actor and
singer-songwriter as well as being the author of five books –
Constable and
Robinson have just published the first, I Kill, in
the UK.
I
am God (the fourth book) will be the second to be published
in 2011. Passionate
about car racing, he has written a number of articles for the Italian
magazine
Autosprint. He has also raced in the 1992 San Remo Rally and the 1998
Monte
Carlo Rally. He was nominated in 2006 for the David di Donatello Award
(Italian
Academy Award) as Best Supporting Actor in the film Notte Prima Degli
Esami.
Ayo: For those of us that don’t know much about you, could
you please give us a
bit of background about yourself?
Giorgio: After my degree I never worked as a lawyer, instead with a
couple of
friends we created a publicity company that lasted two years. I left
that job
when I discovered that becoming a comic actor was my purpose in life.
After
some years of practice in theatres my TV career began in 1985. The show
Drive
In, which is still a cult in Italy,
made me famous and I started to work for cinema at the same time. But
I’m a musician too and some years later I started to
collaborate with some of
the most important Italian artists and I wrote a lot of songs for them.
I was
also asked to sing some of the songs I used to compose for others. In
1994 I
won the San
Remo
Festival, which is one of the most important music contests in Latin
music. In
2002 I published my first novel, I Kill. I would like to play a role in
a movie
but my main activity right now is writing.
Ayo: Prior to becoming a writer you held several different jobs
– what drew you
to these different jobs and which was your favourite?
Giorgio: I drove a racing car as a hobby
but I have never been fast
enough to become a pro. I have always had a good feeling
about speed, but music is my never-ending love
…
Ayo: I Kill (Io Uccido) is your first novel. What made you decide to
write a
novel and why in particular this genre? How difficult was it for you
when you
decided to write?
Giorgio: During my life I’ve
read a lot of novels, in a number of
different genres. I chose thrillers because they are the nearest to
comedy. You
have to create a story and tell it to make the readers scared, on the
other
side you have to create a story and tell it to make the audience laugh
as well.
Ayo: What was the impetus for the story in I Kill?
Giorgio: I wanted to write a story of a
murderer where at the end it
would leave the readers with a sense of pity for him.
Ayo: The novel is set amongst the glitterati of Monte
Carlo.
What made you decide on the setting?
Giorgio: For five years I was resident in Monte
Carlo.
I can say I know the city very well. Besides, its location is famous
worldwide and it has an international appeal.
Ayo: With the book you wanted to create an “American
style” crime novel. Do you
think that you have succeeded?
Giorgio: I think I wrote a good novel, one that has become the second
best
seller of all times in Italy.
I don’t really care for labels …
Ayo: It has been translated into twenty-five different
languages and has
sold over five million copies. How pleased have you been with this
response?
Giorgio: The five million copies were sold only in Italy.
I don’t actually know how many have been sold in the world. I
was
particularly pleased because I was so successful at my first shot.
Ayo: Within the book you have created two different characters
– American FBI
agent Frank Ottobre and Police Commissioner Nicolas Hulot. How did
these
characters come about and are they based on specific people?
Giorgio: They totally come from my fantasy and are both broken and
looking for
a new way to be themselves!
Ayo: How much of your real life can be found in I Kill?
For example, one
of the victims is an American racing car driver. You also have as a DJ
as a
major character.
Giorgio: I think that every writer likes to put a little bit of himself
in
every novel. From a personal point of view I write about things I love.
In I
Kill it was the music, in Niente di vero tranne gli occhi it was comics.
Ayo: I believe that the film of th book is in production. When is it
due to be
released?
Giorgio: I don’t really know when it is going to be released
as it is a big
production and there is a lot to be done.
Ayo: What makes a character real for you? Must you work out everything
about
them or do you just let it flow?
Giorgio: A character is real when, while reading, you can feel him
sitting
beside you. I think that every character already exists, somewhere. I
only have
to find the right voice to call him.
Ayo: Plot or character? Which do you think is more important in your
writing
and why?
Giorgio: Both. I try to take care of everything, because I never know
from
which direction success may come.
Ayo: You have also written Niente di vero tranne gli occhi
(2004) Fuori
da UN evidente destino (2006), Pochi inutile
nascondigli (2008) and Io
Sono Dior (I am God) (2009). Could you please tell us a bit
more about
these novels? Are they standalones?
Giorgio: Yes, they are standalone novels. I still have not found a
character
that I love so much to want it to become a series. On the other side,
may be it
is because I’m so easy to bore that I need new characters for
every story.
Niente di vero tranne gli occhi is a story of a connected investigation
that
involves Maureen Martini, a commissioner of police in Italy and Jordan
Marsalis, an ex-lieutenant of the NYPD. They run into a serial killer
that
moves to New
York City
and the first victim is the son of the mayor, who is also the nephew of
Jordan
Marsalis. Fuori da un evidente destino is set in Flagstaff, Arizona, on
the
border of the Navajo reservation and tells the story of an ancient
curse that
starts killing after one hundred years. Pochi inutile nascondigli is a
collection
of short novels, which was such fun to do. They are fantasy stories
that are a
kind of personal homage to Stephen King. Io Sono Dio is a story of a
terrorist
that blows up buildings in New York, confessing his sin to a Catholic
priest
before every crime is committed.
Ayo: How would you describe your books to someone who is about to read
them for
the first time?
Giorgio: Usually I try to not describe my books before they are read. I
prefer
to ask the reader to describe the book to me after reading.
Ayo: Who were your influences when you decided to start writing? Do
other books
still influence your writing and, if so, what other types of writing
are you
attracted to?
Giorgio: Really, I’m a glutton for every kind of
communication. I like to experience
all types of stories. My favourite writers are: Ernest Hemingway, Mark
Twain,
Jerome K Jerome, Isaac Asimov and Louis L’Amour and everybody
in the past who
wrote a great novel.
Ayo: Were you a big reader of crime fiction before you started writing
and if
so can you remember the very first crime novel you read?
Giorgio: Of course! I have always been a fan of crime fiction. The
first novel
I read was I, the Jury by Mickey Spillane.
Ayo: Do you still read crime novels, thrillers, etc, yourself and if
so, do
have you any favourite authors?
Giorgio: Jeffery Deaver who is a good writer and a great friend.
Ayo: Is there a novel that you wish that you had written?
Giorgio: I wish I had written The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas
Harris. I
think that Hannibal
Lecter is an enormous character, one of the best of all times.
Ayo: What is your normal work schedule like?
Giorgio: I wake up and after a simple breakfast I write for four or
five hours
having a break sometimes for a coffee and a cigarette. (In my house
smoking is
not yet a crime …)
Ayo: What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?
Giorgio: Acting, filming, composing music, painting … sport
(swimming, skiing,
tennis) … and some good sex at times.
Ayo: What do you find the most difficult when you are writing, and are
you
easily distracted?
Giorgio: I live in Isola d’Elba, a small island in front of Tuscany.
It’s really hard to find the self-discipline when I look out
of my window and
the sun is shining, the sky is blue and the boats cross the sea before
my eyes
…
Ayo: Part and parcel of being a crime writer is all the camaraderie
that you
get within the crime fiction genre. Do you enjoy going to conferences
and book
signings?
Giorgio: Yes I do. After years spent in theatres on a stage the only
thing I
miss a little is an audience. When I go to book signings I can finally
see the
face of my readers and I have an audience again.
Ayo: What are you working on at the moment?
Giorgio: A novel set in Italy
in the seventies. A new challenge, as every new story actually is and
should be.
Some off the wall questions –
Ayo: I understand that you are a big fan of Juventus FC. What drew you
to this
club and how come you have remained such an ardent supporter?
Giorgio: Support is a kind of like religion. There are no true reasons
why. Or
why not?.
Ayo: What one luxury item would you take away with you if you were
marooned on
a desert island and why?
Giorgio: Megan Fox … she’s not an item but is a
situation(?) nearer to luxury I
can imagine.
Ayo: If you could choose five characters, dead or alive, to have dinner
with,
who would they be?
Giorgio: Megan Fox (on a desert island, of course, we would have a
dinner
together …)Jimi Hendricks, Mark Twain, John Lennon and
Marlon Brando. (In the
list there aren’t women. If I am on a desert island with
Megan Fox, I couldn’t
wish for more.)
More information can be found at http://www.giorgiofaletti.net
Published
by Corsair, June 2010
paperback £6.99
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