LITTLE ITALY IN SPOTLIGHT
New film, play set in communities
Steve Galluccio has called Ville St-Laurent home for the past seven years, but the Mambo Italiano author just can’t ever seem to leave Little Italy. That’s where he first lived, and even when his family moved shortly thereafter to the Chabanel St. ’hood, he had loads of relatives in Little Italy and was always there. That neighbourhood has nourished his work for years.
The Montreal playwright and screenwriter has two new projects set in Little Italy, though the ironic wrinkle is one takes place in Toronto’s Little Italy.
“It just happened,” said Galluccio in a recent interview at the Club Social café at the corner of St. Viateur and L’Esplanade streets. “They’re two different animals. They’re so different. In fact, the movie wasn’t even supposed to be called Little Italy, though it’s a fantastic title.”
The film Little Italy wrapped shooting in late June in Toronto. Then there’s his play Les secrets de la Petite Italie, which is set to have its world première at Théâtre Jean-Duceppe at Place des Arts on Oct. 25.
Little Italy stars Hayden Christensen, Emma Roberts, Andrea Martin, Alyssa Milano, Danny Aiello, Adam Ferrara, Gary Basarba, Andrew Phung and Jane Seymour. It’s directed by Donald Petrie, whom Galluccio calls “the king of rom-coms.” This romantic-comedy maestro’s filmography includes Mystic Pizza, Miss Congeniality and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Galluccio wrote the screenplay along with Vinay Virmani, who is best known as the co-writer and star of the hit 2014 comedy Dr. Cabbie.
Virmani actually contacted Galluccio on Twitter to ask if he was interested in working together. The original story was created by Virmani and, given the setting, he figured Galluccio was just the guy for the job.
“It’s like a modern-day Romeo and Juliet, a love story between the children of two rival families in the pizza business,” Galluccio said. “Their fathers used to be partners and then something happened and there was a rift. So, the two families did not talk to each other for a long time, and then the children fell in love. They’re in their early 20s.”
It’s set in Toronto, but for Galluccio, Little Italy is Little Italy whether it’s in the 416 area code or the 514. Galluccio has often explored the Italian community in Montreal, in plays like Mambo Italiano (which was adapted into a hit film) and The St. Leonard Chronicles. But, this was the first time he has written about Toronto’s Italians.
“It’s the same thing because I’m writing about the same culture,” Galluccio said. “It’s the same values, it’s the same way of thinking. And, I know Toronto really well and I also know Toronto’s Little Italy really well. So, to me, it wasn’t very hard to visualize where these people were.”
Les secrets de la Petite Italie also explores Italian culture, but it’s a lot heavier than the film. It is a drama about a trans person and how the often-conservative Italian community deals with this.
“Trans characters have not been done much in Quebec (theatre),” Galluccio said. “She is the main character and she holds the key to a family secret. She has many secrets that come out during the play. I think that the whole gay issue has been accepted within the Italian community, but I pushed it a little bit further and thought, what if the person is trans? What if a son comes out and says, ‘Well, I am actually a woman.’ What would happen then? And I knew someone like that, back in the ’80s. I think it’s the next step, to tackle this issue.”
Galluccio sees his community changing. “It’s great to see all these Italian millennials, tattooed and running really cool cafés and basically doing what they want with their lives. They’re second or third generation.
“My generation, we were basically oppressed by our parents because they were so scared that they would stray, that we would end up on the wrong side of the tracks. It wasn’t their fault. They’d just come here. I was born in ’60 and my parents came here in ’52, so they hadn’t been here for a long time. Mind you, I’ve always done what I wanted. They didn’t want me to become a writer, they didn’t want me to go into show business. But, I did it anyways and once I became successful, they were happy for me. But, they never really encouraged me.”