27/02/2025 - The Italian director is on set in Sardinia shooting his new comedy produced by Our Films and Wildside and starring Virginia Raffaele, Diego Abatantuono, Aldo Baglio and Ignazio Mulas

Actor Ignazio Mulas, director Riccardo Milani and actress Virginia Raffaele on the set of La vita va così (© Claudio Iannone)

Following his national box office hit Un mondo a parte [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Riccardo Milani is back at work on the set of La vita va così, which began filming these past few days. The director has chosen Sardinia for the setting of his new comedy, with the first clapperboards slamming in Cagliari but with shooting mostly due to take place in the Teulada commune in the south-west region of the island.

Leading the cast are Virginia Raffaele, who’s reuniting with Milani following their collaboration on Un mondo a parte, Diego Abatantuono (nominated five times at the David di Donatello Awards, the winner of the Special David in 2021 and recently seen in Una notte da dottore [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Aldo Baglio (recently gracing Il grande giorno [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and a member of the comedy trio Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo, who’ve also directed titles along the lines of Ask Me If I’m Happy) and non-professional actor Ignazio Mulas.

The communiqué issued by the production team only speaks of “a passionate and humorous twenty-year story set in a wonderful corner of Sardinia, where a community finds itself torn between the dream of employment and defending its territory and identity”.  According to local media, newcomer Ignazio Mulas has been entrusted with the role inspired by Ovidio Marras, the shepherd (who died in January 2024 at the age of 93) who hit the headlines for having defended the land he owned in the region of Capo Malfatano from a property group’s plan to build a luxury mega resort close to the sea.

This title is another example of Milani exploring social themes through comedy. Un mondo a parte - whose female protagonist, Virginia Raffaele, was flanked by Antonio Albanese - tackled themes such as schooling and depopulation through a story set in a village in Abruzzo. Screened on 15 January in UNESCO’s Paris headquarters, the film drew upwards of a million viewers to Italian cinemas, with overall earnings exceeding 7.3 million euros, and was recently sold to the USA and another 25 countries around the world by Vision Distribution. Already released in Israel, Germany and Austria, it’s due to hit Spanish cinemas on 30 April, with distribution following in Poland, Australia and Brazil.

Written by Riccardo Milani and Michele Astori, La vita va così is produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli on behalf of Our Films - of the Mediawan group - and by Sonia Rovai for Wildside, owned by the Fremantle Group, in association with PiperFilm and Medusa Film, who will also co-distribute the movie. PiperFilm are likewise managing international distribution.

(Translated from Italian)