Carlo Verdone Daniel McVicar foto by Roby Buscemi

I attended a marvelous screening from the Museum of Cinema here in Torino yesterday. Jacques Tati’s “Playtime”, an extraordinary film achievement that had recently been restored. The great film, putting Tati’s character Hurlot in a “modern” Paris was introduced and presented by one of Italy’s modern filmmaking treasures, Carlo Verdone.

Carlo Verdone has consistently been an inventive and successful filmmaker. His latest work, Io, Loro e Lara (Me, Them and Lara) is a great critical and box office success.  He was elegant and intelligent, and talked about “Playtime” in a way that put it in perspective with works today, as well as the great works of Buster Keaton.

It was a pleasure to great the Maestro, and enjoy a delicious evening of film magic.

Carlo Verdone Daniel McVicar foto by Roby Buscemi

The Powerbook 170

I was thinking back to old times, to former loves today. I came across a picture of a baby that I once had. It was back in 1991.

She was gorgeous, quite advanced at the time with 80 mb of hard disk storage, and I could upgrade to 8 whopping mb of ram.

Oh, the feel of the trackball on the Powerbook 170.  It could fax!  And the black and white screen was clear and beautiful.  She only cost $4500.

Times have changed, that is for sure.

I surprised him in rehearsal, and his partner was very surprised. Ronn knows me well, so he enjoyed the moment.

I got to see the fun 70s blacksploitation tribute by Scott Sanders, “Black Dynamite” with a wonderful finale that let’s us see Richard Nixon get what is coming to him.

Federico Zampaglione directed a scary survivor film with a message, “Shadow”.

Manetti Bros at the Noir Fest

The Manetti Bros film le “Cavie” made one morning horrific.

After a bit of time in this environment I started to feel like the Continental Op on a ski weekend.

Ezio Greggio and Daniel McVicar

Right after our Thanksdinner, I jumped down to Montecarlo to present a Platinum award at Ezio Greggio’s Monte Carlo Film Festival for comedy.

It’s great to see Ezio, and sharpen my with in Italian on stage.  He was sharp in four languages, English, Italian, Spanish and French. Grande!

Daniel McVicar and Max Tortora

I am working on another prime time feature film here.  I started a couple of weeks ago playing “Omar de Luigi”, a mysterious character in the light hearted mystery miniseries “Innocenti and Buonadonna”.  This film is directed by Giulio Manfredonia, with Max Tortora and Antonello Fassari.  Produced by Publispei, it should be on the air in early 2010.

This is my third Italian language film project in just over a year.

Cooking American Style

With my fiance Dr. Virginia De Agostini, I am putting together a benefit Thanksgiving dinner here in Torino…you can see more at http://thanksdinner.org/en .

I’ve found myself in Italy for at least five Thanksgivings, and was always searching for a good pumpkin pie.  This year, I thought that I would put together a dinner that would be authentically American, with Italian flavors.  I thought it would be a great idea to share the abundance of Thanksgiving with the less fortunate.  We will be raising money for the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, who provide 800 meals a day for the hungry here in Turin.

Marc Lanteri and Amy Bellotti

We are blessed to have an incredible chef, Marc Lanteri, who along with his  wife Amy Bellotti, a sommelier,  will lend their talents to the evening.  Chef Lanteri is creating a menu that is taking the traditional American Turkey dinner to new levels.

We will hold the event at Eataly, the premier gastronomic venue in the world, where you can find the finest foods from Italy.  I got lost there yesterday in the cheese and sausage rooms (yes rooms!) and was in heaven.  Thanks to the kindness of Oscar and Francesco Farinetti we will have a great evening in their private upstairs event room.

Usually I am a little jealous when it comes to Thanksgiving, as I would like to be at home in America eating pie.  This year, I am looking forward to some tasty slices here, and am so pleased that it is benefiting a great organization that is feeding people on a regular basis.

I’m proud to be a part of the show, and enjoyed doing many episodes this year.

It takes a village to make a program like this, and everyone was thrilled.  The happiest one of all, and rightly so, is the executive producer, headwriter, and my friend Bradley Bell.  Bravo Brad!

Bradley Bell enjoys the moment

The cast, producers, and production group savor the Emmy win