A father finds himself torn between his real son and his ideal one, triggering a game of projections that risks upsetting the balance of his entire family. Tommaso Landucci has directed Riccardo Scamarcio in Children of the Monkey, a family drama competing in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival, which was rewarded both for its screenplay and for the lead actor’s performance. We spoke with the director about the film’s origins and production process.

Cineuropa: How did you approach the subject of disability, which underpins this family drama?
Tommaso Landucci: I did extensive research together with screenwriter Damiano Femfert, initially speaking with families, parents and doctors. North of Milan, there is a very large centre dedicated to the care and rehabilitation of people with disabilities, which welcomed us in, and we began doing some research there. Disability was not something I knew first-hand. I still didn’t feel ready, even though I had had parts of the script read by doctors and families to get into the details. I was sure I wanted a young man with a real disability in the cast, even if he would be harder to find. Andrea Aggio has cerebral palsy; he is non-verbal but has no cognitive impairment. If he hadn’t given his full consent, if he hadn’t been aware of what he was doing – that is, acting – there would have been an ethical issue; it would have become like suffering porn. Moreover, Andrea’s parents are fantastic, and we worked with them to also devise scenes that weren’t in the script, such as the card game seen in the movie, which Andrea really enjoys.

We are witnessing a transformation of the paternal role, especially in relation to gender equality and the growing involvement of fathers in childcare. What kind of dad is the one in the film? His son doesn’t tie in with the “ideal”.
From a dramaturgical standpoint, the child could have been depressed, an addict or gay. But I think that by having a child with a disability, we entered a greyer zone, where the negative judgement of a father who distances himself from his son is tempered by an empathy that doesn’t need explaining – it’s immediate. You don’t feel like you want to condemn him, and it was very important to me that the audience would care for this father. Already during the lengthy writing stages, we saw that the people we involved understood he was being torn apart and he was in a downward spiral. We also held international test screenings with positive results. Previously, we took part in the Alpi Film Lab, a development workshop with France organised by TorinoFilmLab, which was great, and then we took part in the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab, perhaps one of the most prestigious ones, where the screenplay won the top prize. Finally, in Italy, it won the Solinas.

Riccardo Scamarcio is very much at ease in the role of the father. How did you work together?
Riccardo was perfect for this film from the very start. I remember the day we met at his house to talk about the script, which he liked. One of our fears about this text was that it isn’t based on a highly structured plot point; there’s no twist and none of those elements that help you keep the audience attentive. Riccardo said he embraced that idea of cinema. He really delivered an incredible performance. He was excellent also in his rapport with Andrea Aggio; there was a spark of chemistry between them straight away. Andrea was a bit timid on set at first, then he got a taste for it; he was suggesting scenes himself and wanted to redo them. At the beginning, Riccardo acted as his coach, and little by little, they became colleagues.