Alessandro Gassmann's new film pays homage to father

(ANSA) - Rome, December 5 - Alessandro Gassmann's third feature film Il Premio (The Prize), out in Italy on December 6, pays homage to his father, legendary actor Vittorio, the director has said.
    The movie tells the story of a talented, egocentric and flamboyant novelist, Giovanni Passamonte, interpreted by Gigi Proietti, and his relationship with his family, in particular his two adult children. "It is not my family but many emotions evoke chapters of my childhood", said Alessandro Gassman, a 52-year-old actor as well as a filmmaker.
    In the movie, Passamonte, an internationally renowned best-selling author and bon vivant, learns he has won a Nobel Prize in literature and decides to drive to Stockholm because he has never overcome his fear of flying.
    He embarks on the trip with his trusted driver and secretary Rinaldo (Rocco Papaleo) and his two children - Oreste (interpreted by the director, Alessandro Gassmann), a plain-spoken and uneducated 50-year-old whose life goal is to open a gym, and Lucrezia (Anna Foglietta), a feisty blogger who tries to exploit the situation to benefit her blog.
    The long drive between Rome and Stockholm turns into an occasion for the four characters to question their relationship and talk.
    Oreste, among other things, will meet his son (Marco Zitelli) and his friend (Matilda De Angelis).
    Lucrezia will discover that the man she has just fallen for is unexpectedly a brother that her father knew nothing about.
    "I think life in general is a comedy full of dramas, emotions and melancholic events and I wanted to take this trip to talk about it", said Gassman.
    "I took many car trips with my own father".
    "He trove very poorly and he always had fast cars that were difficult to drive, so when he was on tour I often drove him", continued the director.
    I remember his long silences, he didn't talk a lot, but then he was capable of saying many truths in a sharp manner, just like Passamonte".
    The protagonist, Proietti, a 77-year-old iconic actor and director who worked with Gassman senior, said: "I was very good friends with Vittorio also in private and I owe him a lot because he discovered me together with other actors like Carmelo Bene".
    "Alessandro reminds me of him a lot, especially in his stride: when I see him walk, I think - that's him!".