Sophia Loren: 'Female directors don't yell'

Hollywood veteran Sophia Loren, who has picked her favorite female-focused movies and television shows for Netflix in recognition of International Women's Day, discusses her choices, the challenges facing female directors, and her love of pizza.

Long before Parasite triumphed at the Oscars last month, sophia loren became the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English speaking role.

The year was 1961 and the film was Two Women, a strong warfare Two drama. By that stage, Loren was a veteran of almost 50 films, but the role changed her life.

"Before I made Two Women, i used to be a performer," she once said. "Afterward, i was an actress."

Two Women was one in every of a dozen films she made with director Vittorio De Sica , whom she credits with unlocking her acting talents.

"He taught me to believe in myself and to know that, notwithstanding what percentage people wanted to manage my destiny, I and only i used to be the captain of my own ship," says the star.

The admiration was mutual. Loren "was created differently, behaved differently, affected me differently from any woman I have known", film producer once said. "I checked out that face, those unbelievable eyes, and i saw it all as a miracle."

After Two Women, Loren starred opposite Hollywood stars like Grant (Houseboat, 1968) and Newman (Lady L, 1965), and received a second Oscar nomination for 1964's Marriage Italian Style. In her home country, she has earned six David di Donatello Awards for Best Actress - a record that stands today.

But her ascent to stardom was removed from assured. She was born into extreme poverty in Naples in 1934; raised by a single, unwed mother during a staunchly Catholic country at the peak of fascism.

Nicknamed "toothpick" on account of her skinny legs, her life changed when she entered a beauty pageant at 15. Loren have to be compelled to the final and ended up taking acting classes, leading to her first film role in 1950.

She went on to be hailed collectively of cinema's great beauties alongside the likes of Norma Jean Baker, elizabeth taylor, and Ava Gardner - but in her best roles, she played downtrodden, salt-of-the-earth women.

That theme continues in her latest film, The Life Ahead, within which she plays a Holocaust survivor who forges a bond with a 12-year-old Senegalese immigrant.

Directed by her son, Edoardo Ponti, the film are distributed by Netflix - with whom Loren has also teamed up to celebrate International Women's Day (8 March), by picking her favorite movies and tv shows that commemorate women.

The 85-year-old's choices are her 1954 film The Gold of Naples and television drama The Crown.

Other stars who have taken part in Netflix's Because She Watched initiative include Ava DuVernay, Salma Hayek, Janet Mock, Laverne Cox, Cecilia Suárez and Millie Bobby Brown - whose selections include titles like Marriage Story, Paris Is Burning, Miss Americana and Roma.

What is it about The Crown - and Queen Queen of England especially - that fascinates you?

First of all the series is so stunning looking, so lush. i used to be born and raised in poverty, so ever since i was a touch girl growing up in Pozzuoli, I loved gowns and castles and therefore the series is crammed with both of them!

What i like about the Queen is her resilience within the face of adversity, her aplomb, her "taking it on the chin-ness". Her courage to urge on with it. i like those qualities in people and that i admire it within the Queen.

Your other choice, The Gold of Naples, was one amongst your breakout films. What are your memories of working with Vittorio De Sica?

If there's one thing that i will be able to never forget, it's the look in his eyes from behind the camera - that look of trust that gave me such a lot confidence, that appears pulled me out of my own insecurities and made me perform at A level much more than I ever thought I could.

That's what great directors do - they believe in you once you won't completely believe yourself and that they infuse you thereupon confidence.

Your character worked in an exceedingly pizza kiosk. Did you keep the pizza-making skills you learned on set?

We Neapolitans invented pizza. I did not have to find out these skills, it's in my DNA and what's in your DNA you never forget!

During your career, you've only worked with one female director, Lina Wertmuller. How does a film set change with a lady in charge?

Lina is like my sis. We love one another, we fight, we compose, but we always have great affection and respect for each other . She may be a trailblazer.

Having a woman's eye behind the camera may be a special thing. Women are great with detail, they enjoy the minutiae of moments. they do not yell, they do not command. They suggest, they inspire. i really like working with female directors. i want to figure with more.

How can that be achieved when only 10% of the administrators on Hollywood's top films are women?

The industry has definitely changed for the better for ladies in my lifetime but there is still far more to try to to. The dream would be for people to be judged only on their skill and talent and not their gender - except for that to happen you have got to level the playing field and make an environment where women get the time and therefore the ability to practice their craft.

That is why it's crucial to market women and give them the opportunities in directing, writing and shooting films, all fields where men are and remain the predominant choice. But once we break that pattern and therefore the playing field has been leveled, then may the most effective person win!

You've just finished your first feature during a decade, The Life Ahead. What attracted you to the story?

The film is predicated on the good novel by Romain Gary. it's the story of Madame Rosa, a Holocaust survivor, and retired prostitute. Now, in the twilight of her years, she makes ends meet by having in her home a makeshift daycare for teenagers of other immigrant prostitutes.

The film could not be more timely: It speaks of tolerance, integration and the definition of the modern family. i'm very pleased with it then excited that I have to be compelled to work with such an amazingly eclectic cast, not least my co-starring partner within the film Ibrahim Gueye, a 12-year-old Senegalese boy who's never acted in his life and who gave an implausible performance as Momo.

It's the third time you have been directed by your son Edoardo. How does that differ from working with other directors?

I love working with Edoardo for identical reason i really like d working with De Sica: His eyes behind the camera, they provide me strength and security and he won't hand over until I give him my best possible. He doesn't accept anything but that because he knows what i'm capable of.

It is a true gift working with a person who knows you furthermore as you recognize yourself. there's a shorthand, telepathy. Sometimes he just has got to hold me and that i feel what he wants, other times he knows exactly what buttons to push to urge something out of me that I didn't know I had.

Because She Watched, a joint project with UN Women will be available on Netflix throughout 2020.