Marco Beck Director of the Literary Section of Edizioni San Paolo
The emotional marriage between books and television
I've never liked television. I've always considered it a shifty adversary of the publishing industry, my profession, queen of my predilection for culture. The television viewing figures, compared to the sad numbers of readers in Italy, leave me dismayed, they provoke me, they leave me full of envy. I'm sceptical, especially of TV series, today so disproportionately popular compared to the mass of printed stories not authored by the usual names on the bestseller lists like Camilleri, Eco, Grisham, Follett, Tamaro, etc.
And yet, one day in the Autumn of 2000, I heard myself confess to a fellow journalist while at the Milan office of Famiglia Cristiana: "You know, it's not so bad that Don Matteo, the modern day version of Father Brown by Chesterton. You know, I watched, despite myself, some of the episodes. I have to admit that they're well made with real professionalism. And who would have thought that Terence Hill, the cowboy from the Italian westerns, the partner of Bud Spencer in all those comic-police movies, would know how to portray a character of a priest-detective with such acting skill, without resorting to his muscles, but instead founded in feelings, faith and reason with such reserve, peacefulness, and friendliness? The others actors are great too: Marshal Cecchini played by Nino Frassica, Flavio Insinna who plays Captain Anceschi, the housekeeper, the parish handyman, the boy". "You're not the only one", said the
journalist. And with a smile he printed out from his computer a page from the Lux Vide site. He showed me the audience figures from the first series of Don Matteo. I saw numbers that ranged between seven and eight million viewers. I must have turned white. But I managed to tell him how I was paradoxically satisfied:
"Finally an intelligent TV show, with at the center of it a message of how to live like Christ, that is a success, as determined by the public." But it all ended there. At that time, the idea of a book project did not arise. It was still too premature for that.
The next step in my personal "Don Matteo story". We moved to Tuscany, to Montevarchi. A wonderful Catholic cultural association, the Community of San Leolino, organized in May of 2001 a convention on the daring topic: "And who do you say that I am? The figure of Christ in literature, art, cinema and the mass media". I had to give a presentation, pessimistic on balance, optimistic for the future, on the current state of religious poetry or poetry about Christ. Another presenter, who was both informed and informal, emphasized the presence either hidden or obvious, of the model of Jesus Christ in the plots of some famous films. He also spoke about films for television and of his production company, and he cited at the close of his remarks, the TV series Don Matteo. That young man was Luca Manzi, and he's one of the energetic managers of Lux Vide, whose fame is linked mainly to their impressive Bible Project. Nearly
a year went by. Then in March of 2002, I noticed a small box in the Italian News section of Famiglia Cristiana. It announced the beginning of work on the third series of Don Matteo, after the great success the previous autumn of the second series. It was only then that the proverbial light bulb went on in my head. I saw Terence's photo with his disarming smile and his priests cap. Over that image I saw Luca Manzi giving his talk. And a voice inside me whispered: "Why not try to invert the relationship between the printed word and the screen? Usually it goes from a book, a novel or a short story, to the adaptation for film or television, using the literary text as the basis for the screenplay. But in this case we could do the opposite: take the TV scripts, which were of a wonderful quality, and transform them, expand them, deepen them into the size of either long or short stories". In my mind, actually, I was imagining the prospect of a strong synergy between two types of media both with a
Christian inspiration, different in the language used, but both rooted in the same ground of cultural values, ethics and spirituality. If I hadn't met Luca Manzi at Montevarchi, I wouldn't have known to whom to propose my project. But fortunately, the middleman was at my disposal. And, luckily, he gave the idea an immediate and enthusiastic response. We met in Rome, talked, discussed, we got very involved in planning and then we negotiated with our respective "bosses". Love at first (or maybe second) sight. That's how it was born, this partnership between Edizioni San Paolo di Cinisello Balsamo (Milan) and the Roman Lux Vide of the talented Bernabei family. And with the assistance of Alessandra Caneva, a scriptwriter with a wealth of talent, as our author of the new texts, freely taken from the original scripts, and everything was in place. Actually, in record time, already at the beginning of October in 2002, together with the airing of the third series on Raiuno, the first volume of Don Matteo was in the bookstores, with two stores based on the
episodes: La strategia dello scorpione and La rosa antica. The one person who understood the extraordinary potential of the adaptations in this book was Terence Hill, who in his wonderful preface to the book, conceived a bit in Italian and a bit in English, used an imagery that was extremely expressive, perhaps coming from his big screen roles: "In the book, the characters and the readers have more room to stretch their legs, to free their imagination and to enter deeply into the world of don Matteo". Perfect, Terence. You have what it takes to be an editor. You have many talents, that you suggested from your very first telephone call to my office in Cinisello, and later confirmed during the preparation of the book, discussing knowledgeably with myself and my colleagues the proofs, the cover design, the photographs, the slogans, the promotion and advertising and much more. Already, with the first phone call from Terence, last September: casual, immediately friendly, open,
with that simple offer to move right away to using the familiar form in Italian with each other. It wasn't easy for me to be as accommodating, as I listened to that famous voice of an Italian-American, a kind of double icon: the icon Terence Hill, protagonist of a thousand film adventures enjoyed by my children as youngsters and then as young adults and now as young man and woman; and the icon don Matteo, the priest who is more paternal or fraternal than anyone can imagine, an ideal parish priest who even the most confirmed atheists would like to know and even invite to dinner.
Well, I have to confess that the first time I heard Father Terence, I mean, excuse me, Mister Hill, call me by my name as if I were an old friend, and tell me his impressions after reading the proofs or after seeing the cover, was one of the most emotional experiences of my career. And I say that without any exaggeration. Really, believe me, I wasn't that moved the morning I sat in front of Eugenio Montale, or the day I shook Jorge Luis Borges' hand. Such an emotion I hadn't felt since a day in the Rai headquarters in viale Mazzini, when the third series was being presented, and I shook someone's hand. Whose? Terence Hill's, of course!
Now, I'm already looking forward to another handshake with our multimedia hero, here in Gubbio, among all his friends, fans and supporters, in an Umbria overflowing with artistic and natural temptations. I'm sure that by now, there won't be any emotions other than joy. Seriously, despite all the work, a great joy.
I've never liked television. I've always considered it a shifty adversary of the publishing industry, my profession, queen of my predilection for culture. The television viewing figures, compared to the sad numbers of readers in Italy, leave me dismayed, they provoke me, they leave me full of envy. I'm sceptical, especially of TV series, today so disproportionately popular compared to the mass of printed stories not authored by the usual names on the bestseller lists like Camilleri, Eco, Grisham, Follett, Tamaro, etc.
"You're not the only one", said the
journalist. And with a smile he printed out from his computer a page from the Lux Vide site. He showed me the audience figures from the first series of Don Matteo. I saw numbers that ranged between seven and eight million viewers. I must have turned white. But I managed to tell him how I was paradoxically satisfied:
Another presenter, who was both informed and informal, emphasized the presence either hidden or obvious, of the model of Jesus Christ in the plots of some famous films. He also spoke about films for television and of his production company, and he cited at the close of his remarks, the TV series Don Matteo. That young man was Luca Manzi, and he's one of the energetic managers of Lux Vide, whose fame is linked mainly to their impressive Bible Project. Nearly
a year went by. Then in March of 2002, I noticed a small box in the Italian News section of Famiglia Cristiana. It announced the beginning of work on the third series of Don Matteo, after the great success the previous autumn of the second series. It was only then that the proverbial light bulb went on in my head. I saw Terence's photo with his disarming smile and his priests cap. Over that image I saw Luca Manzi giving his talk. And a voice inside me whispered: "Why not try to invert the relationship between the printed word and the screen? Usually it goes from a book, a novel or a short story, to the adaptation for film or television, using the literary text as the basis for the screenplay. But in this case we could do the opposite: take the TV scripts, which were of a wonderful quality, and transform them, expand them, deepen them into the size of either long or short stories". In my mind, actually, I was imagining the prospect of a strong synergy between two types of media both with a
Christian inspiration, different in the language used, but both rooted in the same ground of cultural values, ethics and spirituality.
If I hadn't met Luca Manzi at Montevarchi, I wouldn't have known to whom to propose my project. But fortunately, the middleman was at my disposal. And, luckily, he gave the idea an immediate and enthusiastic response. We met in Rome, talked, discussed, we got very involved in planning and then we negotiated with our respective "bosses". Love at first (or maybe second) sight. That's how it was born, this partnership between Edizioni San Paolo di Cinisello Balsamo (Milan) and the Roman Lux Vide of the talented Bernabei family. And with the assistance of Alessandra Caneva, a scriptwriter with a wealth of talent, as our author of the new texts, freely taken from the original scripts, and everything was in place. Actually, in record time, already at the beginning of October in 2002, together with the airing of the third series on Raiuno, the first volume of Don Matteo was in the bookstores, with two stores based on the
episodes: La strategia dello scorpione and La rosa antica.
The one person who understood the extraordinary potential of the adaptations in this book was Terence Hill, who in his wonderful preface to the book, conceived a bit in Italian and a bit in English, used an imagery that was extremely expressive, perhaps coming from his big screen roles: "In the book, the characters and the readers have more room to stretch their legs, to free their imagination and to enter deeply into the world of don Matteo". Perfect, Terence. You have what it takes to be an editor. You have many talents, that you suggested from your very first telephone call to my office in Cinisello, and later confirmed during the preparation of the book, discussing knowledgeably with myself and my colleagues the proofs, the cover design, the photographs, the slogans, the promotion and advertising and much more. Already, with the first phone call from Terence, last September: casual, immediately friendly, open,
with that simple offer to move right away to using the familiar form in Italian with each other. It wasn't easy for me to be as accommodating, as I listened to that famous voice of an Italian-American, a kind of double icon: the icon Terence Hill, protagonist of a thousand film adventures enjoyed by my children as youngsters and then as young adults and now as young man and woman; and the icon don Matteo, the priest who is more paternal or fraternal than anyone can imagine, an ideal parish priest who even the most confirmed atheists would like to know and even invite to dinner.