I thank my parents for the greatest gift of all: poverty

To be in front of an audience and pretending, and to lie, this is the principle of acting.

It's me, it's my habit to perform live onstage every four, five years. In Italy, it's my habit.

In Italy, the country where fascism was born, we have a particular relation with the Holocaust, but as a turning point in history it belongs to everybody in the world. It is a part of humanity.

What is more simple than to tell to a little boy, 'This is not the truth, it is a game?'

My mother brought me magicians and witches, because I was very ugly, really revolting. So she thought somebody had put a spell on me - this is the truth - so she made me drink some horrible terrifying potions, for year.

The first movie I saw - and I don't know if it influenced me - was 'Ben Hur'.