How an American Character Actor Fell in Love with Rome — and Never Left
Tomas Arana’s name might not be the first that comes to mind when thinking about great cinema. He’s not a “star” in the most commercial sense of the word.
To be sure, Arana has appeared in what we commonly refer to as blockbusters — Gladiator, The Bourne Supremacy or The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston — but it would be wrong to limit his career to those successes. Arana was Lazarus in Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, the Detective Breuning in L.A. Confidential, Laginov in The Hunt for Red October with Sean Connery, Walter in Sergio Corbucci’s Neapolitan Mystery, Damon in Michele Soavi’s The Sect and so much more. A veteran of experimental theater companies like La Mamma, Tomas Arana has done it all, and with a particular passion for Italy.
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Arana became a good friend of Andy Warhol in the 1970s. The two first met in 1979 in New York when they were introduced by the famous art dealer Lucio Amelio. “Andy loved coming to Italy. He thought the energy of Naples was similar to New York City,” Arana recalls.
Arana also remembers how the two spent time together, mainly socially: “Andy always found something positive to say,” he says. “I was living in Naples but I saw him whenever I was in New York. We used to go to dinner at Mr Chow. We also ran into each other at Studio 54. Even after I no longer worked in the Art Gallery in Naples, Andy always took my calls and came to see our performances in the East Village at La MaMa Theater Temple. I was part of the original La MaMa troupe, when it was run by Ellen Stewart. Andy liked our shows and he always sent people to see us. He loved life and was always positive and witty.”
In many ways, Arana is an iconoclast, and a distinguished career actor who rarely gives interviews. Luckily, when The Hollywood Reporter Roma tracked him down, in Rome, Arana said yes. We didn’t follow the usual Q&A format, but instead we had an engaging conversation about his 40-plus-year career over dinner in a Roman trattoria. We didn’t start by talking about his latest film, Limonov, directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, which chronicles the exploits of Russian dissident writer and politician Eduard Limonov (Arana co-stars alongside Ben Whishaw). Instead, we began at the beginning, with his roots in San Francisco and his love for the theater, which has shaped his entire life.
Here is Tomas Arana’s story, in his own words:
“The freedom you gain from doing avant-garde theater is far more genuine than what you get from studying at a regular acting school. I’m from San Francisco, and I studied at the American Conservatory Theater, one of the top four drama schools in America. There, I deepened my understanding of classical theater, which is essential as a foundation, even from a technical standpoint. After that experience, I went to New York, looking for new adventures. I did a few small off-Broadway shows — nothing extraordinary,” he says, pausing to take a sip of red wine before explaining his relationship with Italy.
“I arrived in Naples in 1978, obsessed with Italian cinema. At that time, Lina Wertmüller was having enormous success in the U.S., and I had seen all her films. I loved Love and Anarchy, but the film that changed my life it was Billy Wilder’s [1972 comedy] Avanti, which made me understand and fall in love with the Italian mentality, especially that of the South, where, unlike the American way of living to work, they work to live.”
At this point, in between a few more sips of wine, Tomas delves further into memories from those years: “In Naples, I used to hang out with Dino Trappetti, a film critic I met at the Spoleto Festival. One night, while having dinner with friends and telling us stories about Italian cinema, he invited us to Spoleto to see an Andy Warhol exhibition organized by the curator Lucio Amelio. Once I met Lucio, we hit it off, and a true friendship was born. Initially, he invited me to stay with him for a weekend, but I ended up staying in Naples for eight years. One day, I told him that my dream was to make films in Italy. Believe me, he didn’t need to hear it twice — he took me to Rome right away to meet Lina Wertmüller. It was a dream come true. We had a long chat, she liked my look, and that same night she offered me a small role in what became my first film, Blood Feud [1978]. The real surprise? The cast included [Marcello] Mastroianni, [Sophia] Loren and [Giancarlo] Giannini.”
And what were his impressions of Mastroianni and Loren?
“You should know that I learned to act for cinema by watching Mastroianni. When I met him, I discovered a kind and gentle person — nothing like the diva you might expect. On set, if he wasn’t filming, he’d sit with the crew, ask for a cigarette and a coffee, and chat with everyone, about anything. I’ll never forget how one day he started talking in depth about the sauce on a dish I can’t quite recall. He and Lina formed an extraordinary duo, even off-set. But I truly grasped his greatness when, seeing how nervous I was about a scene, he kindly said, ‘Relax Tommaso, it’s only a film,’ in his charming, slightly broken English. He took a liking to me and gave me advice more than once, even taking me out for coffee. Loren was equally exceptional — elegant, down-to-earth and incredibly talented.”
After hearing these anecdotes, given his 25 films made in Italy, we couldn’t help but dive deeper into his relationship with Italian cinema.
“What I’ve learned from Italian cinema, I’ve learned from the artists. I’ve embraced the freedom of thought — not taking things too seriously or succumbing to pressure, but rather working naturally, sometimes with a light heart, allowing for some distractions and laughter. These are things that were never taught in acting school.”
At this point, we moved on to his greatest love: avant-garde theater.
“In 1979, after working on Corbucci’s Neapolitan Mystery, alongside my other films. I formed an avant-garde group with [filmmaker] Mario Martone, [actor-producer] Angelo Curti, [cinematographer] Pasquale Mari, [actor] Andrea Renzi and [actor] Toni Servillo. We created 20-minute performances that weren’t exactly theater — it was more like performance art. That was the freest time in my career as an actor. We didn’t have lines; it was all about movement, gestures and elements of everyday life. It was true avant-garde. I love movement — I’ve studied dance, fencing and Japanese swordsmanship. It was an extraordinary time for me. I did everything, not just perform. I organized dates, handled promotion, solved problems — logistical ones too — and I even did public relations. I was in charge of everything because they were younger than me, and I had already seen the world. In 1987, after founding the Milan-based avant-garde festival Milano Oltre, which is still running after 38 years, I’d had enough of working 24/7 for peanuts, so I shifted my focus entirely to film.”
Having mentioned Servillo, we talked about his friendships in the world of cinema.
“I have three true friends in this industry: Tony Servillo, Russell Crowe and Willem Dafoe. They are three unique actors. I call them the Picassos of acting. Each of them has their own distinctive style. Russell never studied acting, but he’s flawless. Tony and Willem, like me, come from avant-garde theater. Willem, in particular, has done extraordinary things, and you can see all of that come through in his films. Just think of the visionary Poor Things — only he could have done it.”
At this point, we couldn’t avoid discussing Limonov, his latest film.
“Limonov is one of those films meant to shock and make audiences think. The protagonist was very borderline, both sexually and politically. He was a madman in the heart of 1980s New York, with all its absurdities. He was an extreme character, but the film does something that the ‘moralistic’ audience doesn’t like — it doesn’t judge him. And that’s why I love it. Those who see it with the right eyes will love it too. It doesn’t impose a moral, but leaves room for interpretation, something very few films do today. Working with Serebrennikov brought me back to my avant-garde days. He’s a unique director. He reminded me a lot of Scorsese when I worked with him on The Last Temptation of Christ alongside Willem. Martin offered me the role of Lazarus and asked me to repeat the movements he had seen in one of my theater performances.”
Speaking of the legendary filmmaker, he added: “Scorsese has a quality that few can boast: He listens to actors when they’re not talking nonsense. You know, some directors just tell you what to do and don’t care about what you suggest. Not Martin. I remember Willem and I prepared a scene together, pitched it to him, and he said, ‘Great, I like it, let’s do it.’ Back then he was already Martin Scorsese, and I was a nobody — if you know what I mean? Yet, there’s the greatness of a true director. Ridley Scott is the same way.”
Toward the end of our conversation, I asked him what drives him as an actor.
“Real actors and directors make films for themselves before they do it for the audience. If the film gets appreciated, all the better. But we couldn’t care less about the world, much less about critics. I still remember a horribly negative review of one of my theater pieces, Tango Glaciale. You have no idea how much it made me laugh. It’s the bad reviews that stick with you. All I ask is for artists to be respected, and for people to stop rushing to judgment about what’s ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ That’s stupid. You know, it’s like when you see a painting. You see it 10 times and it says nothing to you. Then, on the 11th time, you notice something and think, ‘Wow, I hadn’t seen that before.’”
To wrap things up, and since Arana is an American in Rome but nonetheless an American voter, the final topic was inevitably the battle between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
“Trump is surreal. He’s friends with the world’s dictators, a racist, and he makes up lies about immigrants eating dogs and cats. He can’t win. Harris doesn’t excite me; she’s not ideal, but between the two, she’s the lesser evil for the U.S. and the world.”
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