by Cosetta Bauce

Sunlight that grows in brilliance reveals with ever-greater clarity the classically shaped Piazza. A splash of sunlight, there at the far end, shines on the Consuls' Palace. A bus, an emotional good-bye: everything seems solemn and momentous. Within a moment the bus will exit the shot taking with it the, by now, teen-aged Nerino. A new life awaits him, a new life at his father's side. This is one of the changes from the previous episodes. Another is the entrance in scene of Camilla. "This little girl from Bolivia," - Terence Hill explains - "presents the mayor with a letter written by her mother, recently deceased". No one knows who this child is, who's looking for Don Matteo. The only thing for sure, is the confusion we'll feel, even more so the parish members, when the child, as she's walking through the church, calls him "papa". "Actually," - explains the multi-talented star - "I'm nothing more than her Godfather".
We'll have to wait however, wait to be intoxicated by stories as captivating as this one, but in the meantime, we can spend some time with him: Mario Girotti, screen name, Terence Hill. A star, precise, sensitive, introspective. Even when he's quiet, his face is an honest mirror to his soul. "You have to pretend to be a plant?" - he walks us through the teaching methods of the Actor's Studio - "Explore what's inside you, use your life experiences that have provoked great emotions in you, and relive them on the set". Explore what's inside you: that's what Paolo Bonacelli said in "Le Furberie di Scapino", Terence Hill reminds us. To emphasize this idea, the words of Flavio Insinna come to mind: - "Only those who have suffered traumas go to a psychiatrist or become an actor." Speaking of the mind, in Italy, instead of going to a therapist, people prefer to "confess" their problems to the police, family physicians, priests but in America? "Most would go to a psychiatrist" - he says with a smile - "which for television is a format that wouldn't work. Probably because no one's dared try it."
We talk about how he's been described: gentle presence, a gaze that radiates peace and goodness Terence continues to smile. He says with a laugh: "That's what they say since I've started portraying Don. My looks are from my mother: a vivacious German woman which goes against the stereotype of the cold northern type as compared to the warm southern or Mediterranean type (my father, who was from Umbria, almost never said a word!). Anyway" - he continues - "only a small part of myself comes through in the characters I portray. Now, for example, I'd like to take on a bad-guy role". We would warn him that his sweet persona might make that difficult, if we weren't very aware of the fact that we were seated before a great actor: capable of masterful portrayals of very diverse characters. How would we imagined him in the role of the bad-guy: a shrewd grin, dark lips, withered skin, unfathomable eyes (like the apostle Paul in the work by Dürer) who with his mere presence knows how to created a menacing atmosphere, a shape that seems to fade away like in the paintings by Rembrandt, whom he admires. It may seem odd, but to the question: "favorite painters?", our priest did not say "Springtime" by Botticelli, nor "The Kiss" by Klimt, but instead "Dürer, Rembrandt, Mantegna, medieval painters, German expressionsts whose images" - he adds - "are forceful, moving, spare". Forceful, moving, spare: that's how we imagine him in the role of the bad-guy, but we may see him first in the role of Alarico Silvestri. "He was my grandmother's brother": Terence Hill recounts with emotion. "Just imagine" - he reveals - "that when I was a child and we went to put flowers on his memorial, I didn't know who he was. Thanks to the Association for Alarico Silvestri", with which he is involved, "there's grown in me a desire to understand what immense emotion or ideal can motivate a young man of twenty, to go to Greece and fight for his beliefs. I would like to make a film about that, even if the little time I have free at the moment won't allow it. "Other projects?" There are lots." - he answers enthusiastically - "I'm writing a script with my son but it's too soon to discuss that. And then why not, a Brother's Grimm story with Bud Spencer!"
The last question: - In Don Matteo does he feel like he's partnered with anyone in particular? - "No." - he says calmly - "Don Matteo is reflected by many characters. He's one player in the "orchestra", which is well directed by Giulio Base who, it's very clear, is fond of this series. Praise has to go to another person too: the music is created by the wonderful, serious, and dedicated, Pino Donaggio. All his melodies, his scoring of the episodes, have added greatly to the success of Don Matteo".