Interview: Carolina de’ Castiglioni Talks Stereotypes, Equality & New Art

Carolina is an actor and writer based in New York and Milan. She grew up in Italy and lived in several cities such as Paris, Buenos Aires, Geneva and Harvey Bay (Australia). She graduated with Honors at NYU Tisch School of the Arts (Actress Jon Mack is an alumni we interviewed), where she majored in Acting and Philosophy. She is primarily interested in exploring and understanding the human psychology and how it changes depending on culture and context. When she is not acting, Carolina can be seen working on movie sets in Italy, taking pictures with her film camera, cooking and inventing different pasta recipes, writing and reading, reading, and reading.

indieactivity : Please give a concise autobiography of yourself?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : People don’t always know this about me, but I was an extremely shy kid growing up. I used to be afraid to talk to people and had very few friends. It was my childhood best friend who convinced me to take the theatre class my chapel was offering. The only thought of performing for a huge audience (and for the 10 years old me, a huge audience was 25 people, mostly parents) terrified me. However, for some strange reason, I did it. And suddenly it was so clear to me that that was what I was supposed to be doing for the rest of my life. I know, a bit dramatic, but I am an actor after all, you should expect this from me.

indieactivity : Did you study what you do?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : In Italy, where I grew up, the concept of a BFA in Acting is non-existing so that was a little challenging. What I was after wasn’t fame or international success; I wanted structure, precision, technique. Most of all, I wanted to be a great actor, and I knew I had to study hard to achieve that. This is why, when I got accepted at NYU, I didn’t think twice and jumped on a plane, ready to begin a new chapter of my life. I spent two and a half years training in Meisner, a method that really worked for me. While there I realized how fundamental craft is, and how terribly difficult it is to master it completely. I am still working on becoming a better actor and I don’t think I’ll ever stop.

indieactivity : What is your filmmaking process?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : The Meisner technique consists in ‘living and acting truthfully under imaginary circumstances’. This is the mantra my professors repeated to me constantly. Meisner actors work with imagination and parallelisms. In order to portray Antigone to the best of my abilities, I have to understand her reasons why disobeying to Creon.

However, it isn’t enough for me to say “She buries her brother because according to greek mythology this is her responsibility to do so and without a proper burial, Polynices’ body will never be granted a peaceful rest but will wander forever”. Although it makes logical sense, I wouldn’t sacrifice my life to bury my brother. I have understand her reasoning on an emotional level. Just as Antigone is willing to die to honor her brother, I have to ask myself what or who am I willing to die for? In what parallel context would I have acted the same?

Everyone has their own answer: for me it has to do with my youngest brother. If I ever found myself in an extremely perilous situation, lets say a devastating fire, and my brother was trapped in it, I would run into the flames to save him, no doubt. Once I found a sound and carefully detailed parallel, the imagination kicks in: I have to convince myself that the fire is real and that my brother is going to die unless I act. This is where the emotional connection between Antigone and I lies. If I succeed in believing this, then Carolina the actor can become Antigone. It’s complex and I’m terrible at explaining it, but the process is truly fascinating.

indieactivity : Tell us about the work you have produced?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : At a certain point in my training, I started craving for the possibility of interpreting characters and stories that aren’t often considered. What fascinates me about human beings is that we are all so different but we have this tendency of generalizing each experience, of categorizing everything. If an experience or a person doesn’t fit in a predetermined box, then these are not really taken into consideration. This is the reasoning behind my first super short short, Barracuda, and my last short, getting a Scholarship.

In Barracuda, Zoe tries to explain to Clo (her best friend, played by Jillian Sun) why she won’t tell her mother about her abuse. It is an excerpt from a larger project I am currently developing, which focuses on the different ways women can experience rape. The #MeToo movement unlocked many taboos concerning sexual assault, but I believe that most people, especially in other countries, tend to have a limited understanding and knowledge of what sexual assault exactly is, about the fact that there are various forms of it and various ways of processing violence.

Another theme that strongly attracts me is immigration. I want to track the changes that we, as immigrants, go through when we move to another country. A part of our identity gets lost while integrating with another culture: is it worth it? Is there a way to preserve our unique traits and, at the same time, explore another way of living? I will try to answer all of these questions and more in my upcoming short, Transire.

indieactivity : Do you take courses to improve your craft?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : Whenever I can I try to attend movement classes, because that is a component of my acting tool box that I want to improve. Right now I am in an immersive theatre show, (Found at The Cellar Theatre in New York City) which is a new challenge for me and teaches me something different each night. When I will get a little more free time, I would love to take an audiobook class and resume my diction classes.

indieactivity : How do you combine acting, and writing?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : It is very natural for me. Writing sort of came out of my desire to cast myself as characters that intrigued me the most. Funny enough, I actually enjoy auditioning, but in order to stay sane I need to be creating, I need to be working. Writing and acting is the perfect combination for me.

indieactivity : How did you get into the film business?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : My training is mostly theatrical and at the beginning I wasn’t even planning on getting involved in film and TV. However, as my last year of college approached, I realized it would be very stupid of me to have no camera acting training at all. That’s when I decided to attend Stonestreet Studios and luckily I did. They didn’t just taught me a new technique (I realized theatre and on camera acting are completely different), they also gave me space and material to make my ideas come alive.

indieactivity : How do you turn an idea in a screenplay?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : It depends on the idea. Usually, I select a topic, a message that I want to pass through, or something that interests me and I want to investigate more deeply. Once that is settled, I start writing. I will say it takes me a lot of time to just start writing. With Barracuda I had to ruminate on the concept for over a year. Other projects that I write just for fun and without pressure, are often drawn from my own experience and take very little time to conceive and write. What also helps me sometime is to observe people in the subway and imagine their life: what did they do before getting on the train? Where are they headed to? Are they happy? Are they in love? Do they like their jobs?

indieactivity : Explain your writing process?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : Before I even begin writing, I imagine the characters interacting with each other in my mind. I create a small imaginary theatre and I let them play and improvise. When I find the flow, when the conversation gets clearer and objective specific, then I start writing down. I would say, if I have to write a scene, it would take me sometimes up to an hour of just sitting there and imagining, and five minutes to write it down. I first write on a special notebook I bought just for that purpose and then I copy it on my computer. Once I’m done, I share it with people whose artistic judgment I trust, and I read it to people that are not artists at all. I would like my work to be able to speak to everyone that is why feedback, from different people, is fundamental to me.

indieactivity : What writing tip or ideas can you give young writers?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : Oh god, I don’t really have any tips aside from the ones another writer gave me once: there is no excuse for not writing. If you have an idea, put it on paper, who cares if it’s going to be the next Oscar winning feature or something just your grandma sees because she loves you. If you believe in it, you are open to criticism and hard work, then do it!

indieactivity : What do you want to change about the film business?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : Many things and I don’t believe I alone can change them all. But the more people fight for change, the greater possibility there will be for change to happen. First of all I would like to combat the stigma there is on immigrant actors, especially in the US. I would like the entertainment business to regard actors who are diverse and come from different parts of the world with curiosity and excitement, to consider them as a stimuli for creativity and their stories as a new source of narration. I am also a fervent believer in equal pay for everyone: women and minorities are still getting paid less than their white male cisgender colleagues and that is just unacceptable.

indieactivity : What do you want to be remembered for?
Carolina de’ Castiglioni : I think I would like to be remembered as someone who fought hard to achieve her dreams and that somehow made it work. I would also like to open up the conversation about topics that are often complex to deal with, such as rape and immigration, and let people know that they are not alone. Art is always going to save them.

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