Risi's homage to B-list actors

(ANSA) - Rome, October 22 - Italian director Marco Risi, whose film Three Touches screened at the Rome International Film Festival on Tuesday, said acting is no easy task.
    His movie, which opens in theaters November 13, tells the true stories of six B-list actors who have two passions in common - their chosen profession, and soccer.
    "I got the idea in the changing rooms of the national actors' team, which I've been playing on for years," said the 63-year-old Milan-born director, screenwriter and producer who won a directing David di Donatello - Italy's Oscar - for his 1990 film Ragazzi Fuori (Boys on the Outside).
    "I used to listen to out-of-work actors trading jokes," said Risi, who is known for his neo-neorealist style and penchant for gritty social issues such as juvenile delinquency and gang rape.
    "Finally one of them attacked me verbally, saying he was a good actor and demanding an audition".
    The three touches in the title, he explained, "are the same in soccer as in life - vision, concentration, and speed".
    The thespian's is the most insecure job of all, Risi said, because whether or not actors manage to make a living in their chosen profession has as much to do with luck and being in the right place at the right time as with their talent and hard work.
    Risi's film renders an homage to these unsung heroes of the seventh art, their trials, tribulations, and occasional joys.