EW: Did they have any suggestions?
RB: Yes, a lot. Some survivors came during the shooting and they told me a lot about technical [things]. But I am an artist, I am not a documentarist. So I took some licenses, some say freedoms. It is not a true story; it's a fable invented from truth.
EW: Did you think this movie might do terribly, given the subject matter?
RB: I put all my good in this movie. All my everything I put in this movie. But for a comedian to make something like this is maybe a risk. My duty is to make something that I love. I love this, and I must follow my sincerity. I'm still in love with this idea.
EW: You write, direct, and star. Are you a control freak?
RB: It's easier.... I control the style I like. Everything is hard, but at least I am lucky. Because I am doing what I want.
EW: In Life Is Beautiful, Johnny Stecchino, Il Mostro, and Down by Law, you court your real-life wife on screen. Why do you always cast her?
RB: The feminine side of the world in my mind becomes the face of my wife — for me she is the feminine universe. I am just very, very happy, because I like to make with her everything. It's the only way I want to work, because when I am thinking about a woman, it's the face of my wife.
EW: Johnny Stecchino and Il Mostro weren't embraced by American audiences. How do you explain that?
RB: Oh, if I could. This is a wonderful mystery. We don't know anything, we just suppose.
EW: Do you think Americans and Italians have different senses of humor?
RB: No. You see classics [like] Moby Dick or Charlie Chaplin, or Dante. I am telling about the biggest geniuses of the world, but there is a universal [sensibility]. But still, it takes time to understand and to know a different culture.
EW: How important is American acceptance to you?
RB: To be loved is the most wonderful thing. If they love it, to me it is a wonder. I would like that they love what I did with all my love. I say this word a lot of time, but it's never enough. It's good that word. This is a love interview. I like this.
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