TORONTO – “Squali” which began shooting in Italy’s Veneto region in July is now in post-production, and marks the directorial debut for Roman born filmmaker Daniele Barbiero. The film stars Lorenzo Zurzolo alongside James Franco. It is an exciting tandem and an auspicious project for the burgeoning Zurzolo, one of Italy’s rising talents. 

Franco, who was once tipped as the James Dean of his generation after breaking out in Judd Apetow’s TV hit “Freaks and Geeks” and then alongside Robert DeNiro in “City by the Sea” (2002), is approaching the second half of his career – and playing the mentor to a younger generation of talent.

Zurzolo, who just recently wrapped up “M. Il Figlio del Secolo”, a six-part miniseries about the rise of Benito Mussolini, has been busy and in demand, both in television in film. Another highly anticipated film “Hand of Dante”, about the confiscation of an original Alighieri manuscript has Zurzolo starring alongside Hollywood juggernauts Al Pacino, Jason Mamoa and Gal Gadot.

“Squali”, which is produced by Rome’s Eagle Pictures and Camaleo, together with Spain’s Neo Art Producciones and Poland’s Agresywna Banda, follows the story of a recent graduate Max (Zurzolo), oscillating between options of what to do next with his life. Enter rapacious Robert Price (Franco), a self-starter businessman who shows interest in an app that Max has developed. A partnership ensues that thrusts Max into a turbulent high stakes world where the reward isn’t always worth the risk. The film was shot mainly in Lazio and Veneto over a six-week period and will be distributed by Eagle Pictures.

While some Industry professionals in Italy have found recent quarrel with the Ministry of Culture over minor reforms to the 40% film tax credit, International interest in Italy doesn’t appear to be on the wane. Cinecitta’s plans to construct five new soundstages (by 2026), while revitalizing its backlot and four existing stages will increase the production capacity by 60%. This resurgence of Italian/American co-productions which some have suggested is a return to the “Hollywood on the Tiber” era, has struck some Italian actors with a renewed sense of pride.

In a recent interview for the London based Magazine “Monocle”, Lorenzo Zurzolo had this to say: “We tend to undervalue ourselves in Italy. When I am abroad, I see so much respect for our cinema and actors. We have the talent to live up to our reputation. We just need to believe in ourselves a bit more”.

Photo of Lorenzo Zurzolo by Pablo Saez and Lighthouse Productions

Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix