EXCLUSIVE
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Nick Vallelonga attends ‘ Nation ’ s Fire ’ Los Angeles Premiere at The Landmark Theater , Los Angeles , CA on January 16th , 2020
HelloMonaco : Nick , what do you prefer personally : drama or comedy ?
Nick Vallelonga : In drama there is some come dy and in comedy there is a lot of drama . They overlap each other . I don ’ t prefer either one but who doesn ’ t love to laugh ?
: I would say that people are crying for the same reasons all around the world , but laughing and a sense of humour depends on country and nationality .
NV : I think it ’ s interesting , but good comedy can make everyone laugh . I think , especially now we all have had enough drama that comedies will come back very big .
: You come from an acting family , don ’ t you ?
NV : My father Frank Anthony Vallelonga ( Tony Lip ) was always an actor . He did a lot of jobs , he was a dancer , a champion dancer , he was a hairdresser , he ran a restaurant , he ran some hotels , and we owned a pizzeria . He had this artistic soul .
When he was working in the ‘ Copaca bana ’ club in New York city (‘ Copacabana ’ is a famous nightclub . Many artists made their debut on its stage . The Club was used as a setting in the films ‘ Goodfellas ’, ‘ Raging Bull ’, ‘ Tootsie ’ and ‘ Carlito ’ s Way ’. — Ed .), at that time they were making ‘ The Godfather ’. And Coppola saw my father and said : ‘ You have to be in this movie . Are you an actor ?’ And he said : ’ Yes , yes ’, but he wasn ’ t . That was my father ! very big role as Carmine Lupertazzi in ‘ The Sopranos ’ TV series . After that he had a lot of roles with Martin Scorsese .
: Can I say that Francis Coppola was your Godfather in the movie industry ?
NV : Absolutely . My brother and I were in the wedding scene if you remember the beginning of ‘ The Godfather ’. To see how the movie was made , with the lights , with the cameras ... I was fascinated with everything .
I always tried to be in front of the camera . In a couple of days they brought me to Francis Coppola and he said : ‘ I watch every day what we filmed and I see you more than I see anyone ’. They got me a director ’ s chair to sit next to Francis Coppola ! I fell in love with it .
Good comedy can make everyone laugh . I think , especially now we all have had enough drama that comedies will come back very big .
: Viggo ’ s prototype character in the movie ‘ Green Book ’, which took two Oscars ( The Best Picture and The Best Original Screen Play ) is Tony Lip , your father . What does this story mean to you ? Why did it take so much time to make this movie ?
NV : Donald Shirley didn ’ t want this story told while he was still alive , he just wanted to give me information about the time with my fa-
ther . So I had to wait . Luckily my father and he lived a nice long life . They both passed away in 2013 .
I can make 10 movies about my father . He always encouraged me to work in the movie industry . You wanna do it ? Then do it 100 per cent ! You wanna write ? Write , but be serious about it .
: It looks like your father ’ s life is a real American dream . To start from a working class family , living in the Bronx and finally to become a famous actor . But for Donald Shirley it wasn ’ t . Even performing in Carnegie Hall and living in a luxurious apartment he had this racism issue during all his life . The person who had the personal number of senator Kennedy , but who wasn ’ t allowed to go to eat with white people .
NV : He achieved a lot , but he also had to put up with a lot . He was playing , for example , in a place where he couldn ’ t eat . When my father told me the story I just couldn ’ t believe it . It ’ s just a little slice . But also he enjoyed success as an artist . That ’ s why it ’ s an amazing story .
People think we planned it ; that Hollywood made it easier . But I am not Hollywood ... We just wrote the story as it is . I can ’ t manipulate . If I could , I would be the best filmmaker of all time .
: You were criticized a lot . People don ’ t understand how two men from absolutely different cultures and backgrounds can have such a close friendship .
NV : Yes , there was a lot of criticism about it . There are some things that Shirley asked me
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People started asking my father to be in the movies and he became an actor and had a
Actors Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen who played the roles of Don Shirley and Tony Lip at the AFI FEST 2018
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