A taste of Asia from Italy

I fell in love with Asia Argento the very moment she opened her mouth.

It was, yes, love at first sound.

Asked why she’s named Asia (pronounced "ah-zhah"), she looked at you with those intense, brown Italian eyes and said, with a seductive smile, "Because I was made in Asia. My parents made love in Turkey. That was how I was made."

Twelve of us entertainment journalists from around the world, part of the whole 80-strong batch invited to the press junket for Columbia Pictures’ newest blockbuster, the Vin Diesel starrer XXX (which raked in more than $46 million over the weekend across America, dislodging the Mel Gibson movie Signs from No. 1, followed by Spy Kids 2 at No. 3, Austin Powers 3 at No. 4 and Blood Work at No. 5), were seated around Asia at the function room of the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills and we were having a wonderful time that Sunday morning, with mouthfuls from the fiery Italian actress serving as dessert for the brunch.

She’s outspoken, totally irrepressible, speaking her mind no matter who got hurt.

"Italy is a strange country," she was at it again, reacting to the Italian lady journalist saying something good about their country. "How can it not be strange with Silvio Berlusconi winning the election? That’s why I’m in the apes because, well, how can you vote for somebody like him? You must be, you know, a little weird to do that."

At this point, you must be wondering who Asia Argento is and why she’s saying all these things.

The newest Italian beauty and talent to emerge in Hollywood in many years (after the likes of Sophia Loren and Anna Magnani), Asia plays Yelena in XXX, a ravishing Russian spy who falls in love with Xander Cage, the anti-establishment and anti-hero American secret agent played by Diesel in XXX, and, like in some James Bond movies (From Russia With Love, etc.) eventually works for the enemy.

In Europe, according to Asia herself, she’s labeled as "The Scary Bitch From Hell," in stark contrast to how she’s now touted in Hollywood as "The newest Kick-Ass Girl" (thanks to her amazing "action" skills displayed in XXX).

She was born to a family of Italian actors and moviemakers, the daughter of famous director Dario Argento and actress Daria Nicolodi. She has starred in three films by her father, Trauma (made in the US), The Stendhal Syndrome and The Phantom of the Opera. A child of cinema, Asia began doing films at age nine (in Sergio Citi’s Sogni e bisagni, 1985), and played her first lead role in Cristina Comencini’s first film, Zoo (1988). Her career took off when she did Le amiche del cuere, written and directed by Michele Placido.

Dozens of starrers later, Asia turned to directing first short films in 1994, and then full-length films in 1997, namely Michael Radford’s English language B. Monkey (filmed in Great Britain), Abel Ferrara’s New Rose Hotel (filmed in the US) and Giovanni Veronesi’s Viola bacia tutti (a huge commercial success in Italy). She’s also the author of a number of short stories and a novel.

No wonder Asia could act "that way" because of her credentials, besides the fact that she’s a superstar in Europe, specifically her native Italy, where the hostile press once dismissed her as "Dario Argento’s worst abortion."

Shrugging off her "rebel" tag, Asia said, "It was difficult for me not to be rebellious. Having watched my father’s movies when I was five and having read Baudelaire when I was 11, and I had many twisted ideas. Right now, I think normality is the biggest rebellion, and very hard for me to play."

She revealed that, yes, she was offered to test for two Bond films but she politely said no. Asked which Bond films, she demurred, simply answering, "Let’s just say the last two," adding, "I felt that I wasn’t right for the role. These Bond girls, you know, all they do is stand by their men, get kissed and do nothing else. But the role in XXX is something else, it’s different. I’m not just, you know, a ‘decoration;’ I get kissed by Vin Diesel, all right, but I just didn’t stand by him. Yelena is a powerful character, at par with the main (male) character, she’s real and she fights, that’s why I took it."

With her smoldering beauty, Asia can never be credible as a push-over; she’s perfect for strong-woman roles.

Isn’t she scared of the prospect of being the next big Hollywood star from Italy (after you, Sophia!)?

"I’d lie if I said I wasn’t. Big movies are made in Hollywood... Hollywood is where big money is."

I asked her which Italian actress she admired most and looked up to as role model. Sophia Loren, perhaps?

Frowning, those intense eyes fixed on yours, Asia said, "She’s beautiful and she’s wonderful but she’s not my kind of actress. I look up to her for beauty and charm and presence but she’s not somebody who can inspire me as an actress."

What about Gina Lollobrigida?

Asia screamed, "No way!"

Who, then?

She smiled. "Anna Magnani," she said, "she’s the only one."

Turning serious, Asia then talked about an "enlightening" experience she had while having her first movie-directorial job.

"I had been such a spoiled brat, having been working since I was a child. I understood a lot about actors while directing the movie and I realized how hard it was to deal with 40 actors at a time. I realized how spoiled we actors are. After that, I told myself, I’ll never ask for coffee again; if I want one, I’ll get it myself. I’ll never sit on an actor’s chair again and if I need anything, I’ll get it myself.’ Since then, I was never late on the set and I stopped acting like the spoiled brat that I used to be."

Asia recently had a baby and she said motherhood has also changed her outlook in life.

Towards the end of the interview, with XXX predicted to be a huge hit, Asia seemed to soften a bit and said, almost to herself, "I hope that my fellow Italians will look at me in a different way after this movie."

The "rebel" must be mellowing, at last!