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Back on TF1 for season 2, the Italian medical series “Doc” airs two episodes every Wednesday evening. Inspired by the Covid-19 epidemic, the inaugural episode of the new season took us back to February 2020 and the early days of Coronavirus contamination, which was particularly deadly on the other side of the Alps, particularly in the north of the peninsula. But if this event launched season 2, it will above all focus on telling the story of life after the Covid. Twists and turns and tension in sight with the arrival of new protagonists who have joined the team of Dr. Andrea Fanti, played by Luca Argentero. At the beginning of July, the Turin actor gave us an interview, discussing the genesis of his character and the place he took in his life.
What was decisive in the choice to accept the role of Dr. Fanti?
It’s probably the easiest “yes” I’ve had the chance to say in my entire career! I immediately accepted because, for me, the story was incredible at first. Also, as a viewer, I am passionate about biographies and true stories. In this case, it is already a “yes” in anticipation. Finally, the scenario offered me the opportunity to interpret three facets of the same character, which is a rather interesting challenge for an actor.
Did you know the story of Dr. Pier Dante Piccioni, the doctor who inspired your character, before reading the script?
No, I had never heard of it before. We obviously met, and our relationship became very close. Consultant in the writing and development of the screenplay, Dr Piccioni was also a coach for me: working together mainly consisted of exchanging with him, not so much to explain to me what it means to lose memory only to make me understand that losing twelve years of memories fundamentally changes the way we look at the world around us. You wake up, and the smartphone has replaced the wired analog phone, etc. Our conversations focused more on the sense of the strange and out of phase experienced by the person who comes back to himself after such an absence and who does not recognize anything, not even his child who is no longer 8 years old, but now 20 years old. .
Has this role had an impact on your own life?
The development of “Doc” was an incredibly strong moment: all the most important phases of life are covered, such as pregnancy or the death of a child. I found myself confronted with exacerbated feelings. I was brought to reflect on the past and to realize that all memories are important, the good ones as well as the bad ones, because they all serve to define the person that one is. In the end, what matters is that these memories exist. In addition, season 2, currently visible in France, was shot during the Covid epidemic, an event which, again, confronted us all with the fragility of existence, confinement, importance of the social, family, friendly bond, etc., and globally to the notion of empathy. This pandemic has been a terrible, trying shock. That’s probably another reason why I’m so attached to this series and so happy that it’s going around the world, because for me, personally, it has meant a lot, and continues to mean a lot.
Did you feel more invested, because of the health situation?
Sure ! Imagine that season 2 was not initially supposed to evoke the Covid. But it was impossible not to echo it. It was a huge responsibility in a country like Italy, which was one of the first in Europe to be hit so hard, with one of the highest death rates on the old continent. This first wave, in 2020, constitutes a very traumatic and still very significant memory in the memory of Italians. It was therefore important to talk about it in the fairest way possible. It was also a question of paying tribute to the doctors and nurses who were at the front during all these months, in Italy, as in the rest of the world. It was the nursing staff who held the country at arm’s length during the health crisis to deal with the emergency. For me, the success of the series rewards above all the capacity that we had to tell as close as possible to reality the work carried out by all the health professionals, a testimony in which I am proud to have participated.
All the members of the team, from the directors, Jan Maria Michelini and Ciro Visco, to the make-up artists and the actors, have spent, on a rotational basis, a good deal of time in the departments of the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome. (one of the most famous in the country, note). I was briefed by one of the heads of the polyclinic department, but from a technical point of view, it was not very useful to me, in the sense that on the set, a consultant is present to explain to you how perform such and such a gesture – the goal is not for me to become a nurse or a doctor. On the other hand, where this immersion was important, it was to understand how a service works, how a head of department speaks to his team, how a doctor speaks to a nurse, and even to become aware of the codification of speeches, especially after the visit to the patient is over. In front of this, the doctor wants to be reassuring, with the colleagues, the subject changes completely: the concerns, even the worries, when there are some, are addressed without shadow. All these behavioral details, linked to interpersonal skills, were interesting to closely observe and capture.
It’s the first time you’ve spent so much time with a character. Aren’t you tired of this cohabitation?
For now, I still feel good with Dr. Fanti. If I can’t predict the future, I can however say that there will obviously be a season 3. However, and this is the great series fan that I am speaking, even the best series cannot last for years and years. There always comes a time when the narrative runs out of steam, the inspiration runs out and the viewer’s attention declines, in short when the series loses its juice. In addition, this role occupies a good part of my time: the filming of a season takes me about eight months per year, which leaves little room for other projects. So the time will come when I will need to look elsewhere, to regenerate myself.
I do not have the faintest idea. If I was intimately convinced, from the beginning, that it would be a good television fiction, of an international level, I did not expect such a success. That we are followed in Argentina, Brazil, Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, etc., with such an audience, seems incredible to me, even today. In any case, it is a great reason for satisfaction that an Italian production, which does not speak of the Mafia or the Pope, stands out in this way. It is therefore possible to do so, and in a field of excellence other than cuisine or fashion, so exclusively emblematic of Italy.
What lessons have you learned from this experience?
Don’t take me for what I am not! In the street, it happens that people apostrophize me for medical advice, obviously, I explain to them that I have no competence in the matter. More seriously, I realized the importance of connection between people, of really listening to what the other has to say, of feeling an interest in the people around us. It is important, much more than we imagine.
(The new episodes of season 2 of the Doctor, produced by Rai 1, are broadcast every Wednesday in prime time on TF1 and season 1 is fully available on the Salto platform)