Ricky Tognazzi: "Milan, starting like this isn't a good idea! Vlahovic? If he scores, I'll gladly welcome him."

Saturday night's match between AC Milan and Cremonese was Ugo Tognazzi's favorite, as he kept saying the former was his wife, the latter a lover. The lover won, and his son Ricky, an actor, director, screenwriter, and much more, takes it less philosophically: "Maybe it's because I'm monogamous (he's been married to Simona Izzo for 30 years, ed.), but as a Milan fan—or rather, a River fan, for me, Rivera was the only true number 10—I'm torn. We played better, we deserved at least a draw. Cremonese scored two great goals, Bonazzoli's one is worthy of the silver screen, but losing the first at home like this hurts. Let's just say I'd be even more upset against another opponent; I console myself with Cremona's cotechino..."

"In the lobby of the hotel in Ancona where Simona and I are filming "Colpa dei Sensi," a series for Canale 5. They're all Roma fans, so the match at the Olimpico was on the big screen. I was there with my iPad, obviously with a different look. It was a disappointing evening."

Does Allegri's return convince you?

"Yes, he's a great coach, although starting with a home defeat against a newly promoted team isn't a good thing. I don't even remember why he left. The collective hysteria surrounding coaches is constant. Ultimately, it's a question of money, almost always spent with a certain recklessness. Take De Rossi, I've never understood why he was fired so rudely."

"I don't know him well, but if he scores I'll gladly welcome him. The fact that he comes from Juve doesn't matter to me; there's been constant contact with Inter these days, too. I can feel the local rivalry; it's an inevitable parochialism that's part of the game. That's the beauty of being a fan."

Speaking of fandom, you depicted a particular aspect of it in the 1991 film «Ultrà», starring Claudio Amendola and debutant Ricky Memphis.

"The famous Poison Brigade... Rai wanted a feel-good ending, with repentance. We even met with the kids and said no, we wanted the crudest realism. Luckily they understood. And I even managed to keep it from being rated R, despite the very heavy scenes and jokes."

You'd studied the world of ultras well at the time. What had surprised you?

I understood that it was a phenomenon linked to growth and to these kids' need to identify with something, to be part of the whole, to demonstrate their existence, using strong but often humorous language. A lot of it is simulation, they sing hymns to a battle that then plays out on the pitch: even those violent chants that often shock the public have no bearing on reality. Unless you find yourself physically facing your opponent. Unfortunately, then, what until then was only a theory has to manifest itself. It would certainly be difficult to remake that film today; financial interests now dominate even the fan scene, as demonstrated by the investigations into mafia infiltration involving several stadiums. Fans have become a tool for moving money; things used to be different.

That film, which won the Silver Bear in Berlin, made a lot of people angry.

"They all slammed us, not just the Roma fans who said we'd painted them 'like animals.' Fans all over Italy were furious, but the Curva Sud held up banners for us: 'Tognazzi, whore... you did it for the dough.' And Amendola, who had spent his life there, couldn't return for several years. Matarrese, who was president of the FIGC, was also very angry: he said that films like these distorted the image of a healthy and beautiful phenomenon like football. The fact remains that 'Ultrà' has stood the test of time. Venditti, after watching it to decide whether to write the music, said to me: 'You've managed to get into the ultras' jackets,' which was quite a compliment."

He did this without highlighting politicization or drug use.

"It was a transitional phase, and it's all hinted at in the film. You understand that new symbols are emerging and that drugs exist, but not that they could become a source of economic interest in the football stadiums, as it later did."

Let's turn to tennis, another of her father's great passions. The tournaments at the Villaggio Tognazzi in Torvajanica made history.

For Ugo, it was a social gathering, bringing together actors, musicians, journalists, and athletes—from Pietrangeli to Pavarotti, they all attended. We played, ate, and had fun until 3 a.m. I've always played, but above all, I've followed and continue to follow tennis from my trusty couch, and it can only be a source of great enjoyment for this new generation of Italian champions. We've never been so strong. Credit goes largely to Sinner, who, with the copycat effect, has given strength to the entire movement, inspiring so many young people to become passionate. Now the US Open is starting, and we'll have to stay up all night, too, with these time zones..."

Simona and I are proud to have made a beautiful biopic for Rai about Mennea, a man who fought courageously to gain recognition, not just financially, for his merits, an athlete who wasn't particularly gifted physically but who managed to assert himself with an iron will and passion.

A character you would like to tell the story of?

I've always been a boxing fan, the cinematic sport par excellence. In the 1960s, my dad used to take me to see the great boxers at the Palazzetto dello Sport, and I'd love to tell the story of Duilio Loi, a lightweight, the boxer of the final two rounds... A Trieste native, a tough world champion less known than those who followed him, like Mazzinghi and Benvenuti, a friend of my dad's with a dramatic story of a son caught up in the terrorism years. I also tried to make a film about Orazio Fagone, gold medalist at the 1994 Lillehammer Games, who lost both legs in a motorcycle accident, one amputated and the other crippled. He managed to rebuild himself, even through sport, by participating in the Paralympics. A beautiful story that unfortunately I haven't been able to tell so far.

In 2023 he participated in “Dancing with the Stars”, can we consider it a sport?

"Well, yes, I struggled a lot, I even tore myself up. I was a total failure, but I lost weight and improved a lot. It did me good, I even continued for a while after the show. After all, I'm the son of a ballerina, I grew up with musicals, so on the one hand there was a strong attraction, on the other a bit of shyness that I overcame on stage."

October 27th will mark 35 years since the death of Ugo Tognazzi.

"As always, there will be many events, from the restoration of "The Magnificent Cuckold" in Venice to an exhibition for Dad in Tropea, which I also partly curated. As a family, we always work hard. Ugo remains a great inspiration. We think about him, we always think about him, and he thinks of us. There's a thread that unites us, and if we all love each other, it's also thanks to him."