“We actors treated like machines”, Tiziano Mariani from cinema to asceticism: interview

Nature, isolation, contact with simple things. Covid-19 has led many people to choose villages, small towns, countryside to purify themselves from the upheavals caused by the pandemic. The actor Tiziano Mariani seems to have achieved his own balance through a clear choice, isolation from the world to defend himself from the negativity of the city, with its discontent and its social tensions.

Mariani, who has behind several films (In nomine Satan, Mind the end, Venus is a boy, Australian Dreams) and successful commercials, has decided to weigh his artistic choices in favor of a retired and composed life. Between spiritual retreats and meditations in the open countryside, the actor who teaches yoga, with a degree in physical education behind him without giving up the dream of cinema.

We interviewed Tiziano to talk about his new life.

What disturbed you – and disturbs you – about the world of cinema or the “fame” in which you were immersed?

There is a vision of the figure of the ruthless actor that does not take into account the fact that we are human beings. We are treated like machines at the mercy of humoral choices, sometimes we are deluded into getting a part that we will never get.

Italian cinema is a caste that does not give everyone the same opportunities and instead should do so by putting talent first. A friend and colleague of mine committed suicide a few years ago because he was tired of this ruthless mechanism of perennial waiting that actors live.

The director Giuseppe Sciarra some time ago wrote a very interesting post about it: ‘It would be necessary by law to impose a number of newcomers in films to the great Italian film productions for the main roles to be accompanied by more well-known faces. Perhaps this is the only way we would be able to see different faces in Italian cinema. ‘ Here I would like Italian cinema to do this. Give us a chance, true.

What perspective of yourself did you run away from? What would you have become by continuing with the previous life?

For years I have chased auditions and regularly felt frustrated. I have always put my professionalism first and instead I was asked to attend parties, focus on my appearance to wink at certain people and have certain possibilities. I’ve always refused because I’m an actor who is committed to doing his job well and wants to do that, not the party boy.

Seeing that nothing was unlocked and that certain situations were always the same made me sink for years in a restlessness that sometimes resulted in alcohol. One day I had a bad accident in which I risked my life, it was recently that I had lost my father and I saw it as a wake-up call, I was throwing myself away. I had to react otherwise it was no longer worth living.

What are your daily habits since you left the city and live in the nature of the Castelli Romani?

My main habit is listening to nature, we were born free and free we will leave this existence. In nature there is the essence of our existence. It is enough to be in the middle of a forest, in the mountains or on a beach to feel satisfied, don’t you think?

There is something mystical in contact with nature. Pirandello, an author I love very much, said: ‘Nature is not clear, nature is chaos, but in this chaos man is mirrored and canceled, finally appeasing his torment’.

What does loneliness mean to you?

A great opportunity for rebirth. Loneliness will force you to live with boredom. This noun in present times scares us and we try in every way to drive it away as if it were something foreign to us. Instead boredom is part of us, we must accept it and live with it. Boredom makes us wonder why we are passive or do not react to a problem or a depressive state.

Loneliness is an opportunity to improveon the other hand, isolation is dangerous, unfortunately the pandemic has put a strain on many of us who, taken by fear of others, have isolated themselves and unfortunately fell into depressive states.

As you write yourself, you try daily to face an ascetic path. How do you do it?

Through a scrupulous and daily practice of yoga. Every day I practice this discipline to allay the suffering we have all had since we are in the world. In certain periods when I consider it necessary, I also do scrupulous diets and, at times, even fasting. Living without food for one or two days gives you a different sense of reality, you perceive the world in its essence, material things lose importance and as if fasting drains you of desires and tears ‘the Veil of Maya’ from your face, which all this would be due to the illusion. At that point life is without masks, everything reaches another purpose. Even the way of suffering and rejoicing changes, it is not polluted by consumerism, it is pure.

What compromises did you accept by deciding to “get away from society”? Do you have any regrets?

I have not accepted any kind of compromise. I don’t mind living like this, especially in this turbulent historical period. I feel protected in the small villages and centers of Italy, away from urban chaos, from people’s anger.

I see so much wickedness around. We are caged animals ready to bite each other. I don’t like this aspect that has been emerging of us in recent years.

What are the benefits instead?

In the woods of the castles I feel connected with our collective unconscious. Yoga and transcendental meditation give you a greater awareness of who we are as a community and not just as individuals, they make you feel more in contact with the earth and its history.

I find it fascinating to know who we have been and who we can become through the history of places, of small Italian towns. Here in Genzano I lead a slower, less hectic life, I feel like a human being and not a machine. I breathe in all senses. I am present to myself. My reflections are not deflected by the frustrations of the acting profession or by the hectic urban life and unwilling to let people live their own humanity.

Do you believe that your decision is a phase due to an exasperation of the previous life and the difficulty of “breaking through” in the world of cinema or do you think it is a definitive choice?

It is by no means a definitive choice, but it will be a frequent choice whenever I deem it necessary to purge myself of the stress of this job that I love to madness but which cannot ask me for my life in exchange. Which happened to my friend who at one point decided to say enough to a world of cinema that deceives and steals a part of you without giving anything in return.

I also think of the actor Paolo Callisano but also of many others who have not even tasted success but could very well do it being suitable. There are tons of talented artists who can be given a chance. I feel a deep tenderness and compassion for the many actors like us who need to be recognized for their profession. Ours is a job, it deserves respect even within the world of entertainment because sometimes if you are not a ‘big’ name it seems that being an actor is nothing special.

What would you do to improve the system you strayed from?

What I am doing now, I would speak publicly about the emptiness that can create in those who do this job, about the lack of respect and support. Being an actor is a profession in all respects that must be more regulated and recognized by institutions that seem to relegate us to a marginal role in society, seeing us as parasites.

How do you manage to combine your passion for cinema with a secluded and isolated life?

Two of my dear director friends, Giuseppe Sciarra and Andrea Natale keep me connected to this world by often involving me in their works. We wrote a script for a film based on a successful short that you yourself talked about (Venus is a boy). Being a screenwriter with friends like me who love cinema and struggle to succeed made me discover the power of writing by making me feel less alone.

Being a screenwriter and looking for someone to produce our film makes me more active and less subject to events than my profession as an actor. Furthermore, my love for transcendental meditation led me with Giuseppe Sciarra and the photographer Enrico Manfredi Frattarelli to create a video installation on this ancient discipline that we hope to be able to carry around in the future, it is called ‘Vedic Light: transcendental meditations’.

This also gives me the charge and makes me connected to a profession, that of the artist, which I will never abandon despite the bad weather that we are forced to live in a country that does not take us seriously. Furthermore, having a degree in physical education and being an international yoga teacher, I have a lot of work to do with people to follow both physically and spiritually, I also physically collaborate with various sports centers in the capital, also doing group lessons.

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