William Baldwin was among the stars hitting the Taormina Film Festival this week, accompanying the world premiere of Francesco Cinquemani’s family movie Billie’s Magic World against the backdrop of the town’s Ancient Greek amphitheater.
He co-stars as a child-snatching villain alongside Irish actress Elva Trill who are in the pay of evil Lord Domino, played by brother Alec Baldwin, with Italy’s Valeria Marini in the role of his assistant.
Mia McGovern Zaini stars as the titular young heroine Billy, who saves the day with her favorite soft toy Johnny Puffin, voiced by Johnny Depp.
The film is one of two English-language family movies, mixing live action and animation, being co-produced by Italian producer Gianluca Curti at Minerva Films and Monika Bacardi and Andrea Iervolino of ILBE.
The shoot in the spring of 2022 marked Alec Baldwin’s return to set after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during the production of Rust in October 2021.
Despite the tragedy in the backdrop, Baldwin said there was a good atmosphere in Rome.
“It was very light-hearted, loving, positive. We were laughing all the time. It’s good to have that positive energy,” he recounted.
He pointed out that it was the first time he and his older brother have worked on a feature together.
“I did 30 Rock with him a couple of times, but I’ve never done a film. So, it’s first time we’ll be on screen together with these two fabulous ladies,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. We made two films not just one, Billie’s Magic World and Kid Santa. He had a blast.”
“As soon as he left, he was like, ‘Call Francesco, when am I coming back?’ That’s because he loves Francesco but also probably because while we were here, he found that his wife was pregnant with their seventh child,” joked William Baldwin.
“So, he either needs to come here to get out of that war zone, or he needs to come here to make money to pay for all his seven kids… You can do the math… he’ll be back soon.”
Billie’s Magic World marks Baldwin’s sixth fifth film in Italy and his fifth with Cinquemani and the actor professes a love for the country.
“My first trip here was right after college to Milano, Piacenza and Como. I’ve been coming here for decades,” he said.
The family comedy marks a change of direction for Cinquemani who is better known for his work on action thrillers and sci-fi works such as Andròn: The Black Labyrinth, Eye For An Eye (The Poison Rose), Beyond The Edge and Ritual Killer.
“My mother passed away. I got sick and survived. I was thinking that the world for me was ending. I needed something fresh, something really nice,” he said.
“I have no kids. I wanted to do something for the kids of the world. Because during the lockdown everybody was talking about anything but the kids. Everybody forgot the kids.”
Click above to watch the Deadline Studio and full interview with Baldwin, Cinquemani, Trill and Marini.
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