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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Interview with Steve Galluccio<\/b><\/p>\n
Screenwriter and Playwriter<\/b><\/p>\n
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On The \u201cWrite\u201d Track to Life\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Everyone is familiar with Mambo Italiano<\/b>, Steve Galluccio\u2019s well – known play, which was later adapted to the big screen. It is a semi -autobiographical comedy about a young man in Montreal who comes out as gay to his Italian family.<\/p>\n Other films include Surviving My Mother,<\/b> (Comment survivire \u00e0 sa m\u00e8re), Funky Town, Little Italy, <\/b>as well as a <\/b>television series, Ciao Bella <\/b>and theatrical plays, In Piazza San Domenico and the St. Leonard Chronicles<\/b>.<\/p>\n His husband, Yves Dionne, who passed away from Alzheimer\u2019s disease in 2020, is in part the basis for his play, \u201cAt the Beginning of Time.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n When did you discover your passion for writing?<\/b><\/p>\n I always knew since I was a kid that I wanted to become a writer. It became crystal clear in high school, but I just didn\u2019t know how I was going to do it. When I went to the movie theatres or watched television, I would think this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a screen writer or a movie writer but not a literal writer. I wasn\u2019t a big book reader, but I was a big consumer of TV, videos and movies.<\/span><\/p>\n I knew I wanted to to be a writer, where my work would be presented in front of an audience, whether it was a tv show, theatre, movie or something live. I wanted an audience to react to my writing.<\/p>\n Being from an immigrant family, we really didn\u2019t go to the theatre, so I just fell into theatre as it came later; actually that\u2019s where my writing started and where I\u2019m most active.<\/p>\n Where does your inspiration come from?<\/b><\/p>\n Most of my inspirations and ideas come from real life as well as from the people I\u2019ve met growing up with an Italian background and being gay. Most of my work is personal, unless I\u2019m hired to do something else.<\/p>\n What is the hardest part of writing?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n It is the actual sitting down and writing. I\u2019ve been writing now for 30 years (22 yrs professionally). It\u2019s basically work. If I have a deadline, I remain razor focused and end up doing it; if not, I\u2019ll end up procrastinating.<\/p>\n Do you find writing therapeutic?<\/b><\/p>\n In my case, extremely therapeutic. I write about my life so it\u2019s very personal, especially the last play I wrote, which is going to be presented next year.<\/p>\n It becomes very cathartic. It\u2019s my way of dealing with life issues. I really don\u2019t hold back and it\u2019s honest writing. Most works, when based on personal stories and true emotions, make for better shows, like Euphoria or My Brilliant Friend. In my case, I was encouraged to write about being an Italian gay man; best to stick to what you know.<\/p>\n What would you say is the key for living in difficult times?<\/b><\/p>\n Because of the pandemic, everything was off kilter and upside down. It has been a tough time for everyone, including artists.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sixty – one years old and the longer you live, the more tragedies you have lived through because that\u2019s just the way life is.<\/p>\n What pulls me through, is that I don\u2019t keep anything in and I live my tragedies out loud.<\/p>\n If I\u2019m in a bad place, I\u2019m in a bad place. If I feel like crying, I\u2019ll cry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My husband passed away in 2020. He was very ill. In 2018, he was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of Alzheimer\u2019s. It was very difficult, but what does one do?<\/p>\n You either bury yourself in your house or you just go on. I became caretaker to my husband. I had to deal with a new facet of our relationship when he moved to a CHSLD, a long term care facility. Thank God, he was a happy Alzheimer\u2019s patient, so it was a good thing he didn\u2019t really know what was going on.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Then Covid hit and I couldn\u2019t go see him. I got through it knowing that, with experience, you know that you\u2019ll come out on the other side. I thrived and I continued living. It wasn\u2019t easy and it was very sad, but you have to make the conscious choice of letting go and moving on as bizarrely as you can, because nothing is ever the same.<\/p>\n I have lived through experiences that have marked me and that will be with me forever. It was horrific to see your life partner degenerating and knowing that the final destination is death; it\u2019s the hardest thing to go through, but you go through it.<\/p>\n I now have a new life partner, but it doesn\u2019t stop me from thinking of my first husband every day.<\/p>\n You just live, there\u2019s no right way of doing it, and it\u2019s different for everyone.<\/p>\n Make the choice to keep your heart open and still believe in life. It\u2019s worth living.<\/p>\n Being in this business, you become a strong person as you get used to dealing with rejections over and over again. Even if you are successful, that\u2019s what helps you develop your strength.<\/p>\n When you get rejected, you still have to go on. You ask yourself, what do I do now? You find the answer and you go on.<\/p>\n What can you share with others going through the grieving process?<\/b><\/p>\n First of all, you have to go through it 100%, you cannot deny it.<\/p>\n Then you need to seek help. You are not alone.<\/p>\n In my case, I needed help, professional help from a psychologist that guides you along the process.<\/p>\n There was help from family and friends but they are not equipped to help you and sometimes they can cause more damage; the last thing you need is, \u201cpoor you\u201d. That\u2019s the worst thing to do because you\u2019ll end up feeling like “poor you\u201d and you won\u2019t be able to get on in life.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no right way of grieving but everyone should seek help as they go through the process.<\/p>\n How do we fix the broken spirit in today\u2019s world?<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019m not a pessimist or optimist, I\u2019m a realist. It\u2019s not half empty or half full. It\u2019s just half a glass of water; there\u2019s no problem, no debate ; that\u2019s reality.<\/p>\n I believe that human beings are not bad or good, they just are who they are.<\/p>\n To believe that from now on that everything is going to be OK, that\u2019s not true and that\u2019s not how life works. There\u2019s always going to be a bump in the road. Things go wrong. For example the plague, war, etc\u2026stuff happens.<\/p>\n The best way is to keep your guard up. Be realistic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Covid showed us how a pandemic became politicized and had us at each other\u2019s throats.<\/p>\n Innately, humanity does not change, that\u2019s the way it is and that\u2019s the bigger picture.<\/p>\n I remember reading an article about Cyndi Lauper. She didn\u2019t want to do what the record company wanted her to do and after that, she went down. But I always remember what she said, \u201cDon\u2019t let anybody break your spirit\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n When broken, for whatever reason, I always think to myself, if you decide to stay in the house, you\u2019ll let that force win; don\u2019t let them win, fight for it.<\/p>\n What is your superpower?<\/b><\/p>\n My resilience.\u00a0 <\/span>Always change from, \u201cI can\u2019t do this\u201d to \u201cI can do this.\u201d<\/p>\n What is your kypronite?<\/b><\/p>\n My anxiety and hypochrondria, which I inherited from my parents.<\/p>\n What was the best advice you ever got?<\/b><\/p>\n My best advice I ever got was from a screen writing teacher at Concordia for a creative writing workshop. One day, he asked me to meet him in his office after class. He told me I was a very talented writer. He said\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cFrom this day on, your full time job is to be a writer and never let anyone tell you you\u2019re not, even if you have to go on welfare, you continue writing. This is your job.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n What is the best you can give advice to others?<\/b><\/p>\n Do whatever you want to do, no matter how many naysayers there are in your life.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t take no for an answer. Continue on, because life is too short.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re young, you think you have a lot of time ahead of you.<\/p>\n Whatever you want to, just go for it now and don\u2019t let anyone tell you that you can\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n Never get to that point in your life where you have to say, “I should have done that\u201d.<\/p>\n Also, give up the notion of being happy 24 hours a day, all the time.<\/p>\n Realize that there will be good and bad times, happy and sad times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What brings you joy?<\/b><\/p>\n My experience with my first husband changed me a lot. If you asked me ten years ago, I would have said my work brings me joy, but now, my biggest joy is just wanting to spend time with my husband as we grow old together and enjoy the simple stuff in life.<\/p>\n If you were granted 3 wishes right now, what would they be?<\/b><\/p>\n 1.\u00a0<\/span>I would like to have enough money, so I don\u2019t have to worry about it.<\/p>\n 2. I want good health until the day I die.<\/p>\n 3. I would love a good night\u2019s sleep, like 7-8 hours straight. I always envy \u00a0 \u00a0 people that can sleep straight through the night. I can still function but I have a hard time falling asleep, because things keep going through my mind. My mom told me as a young boy I was always a bad sleeper.<\/p>\n Mille grazie, Steve.<\/p>\n If you would like to catch some of Steve Galluccio\u2019s work, watch the Canadian TV series,<\/p>\n Pillow Talk <\/b>on Crave, an adaptation of the French language series, Entre Deux Draps.<\/p>\n Also, stay tuned for a play coming out next year. Looking forward to it!<\/p>\n \u00a0 Antoinette Giacobbe<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Interview with Steve Galluccio Screenwriter and Playwriter \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inter"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/innerview.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/innerview.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/innerview.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innerview.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innerview.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/innerview.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":602,"href":"https:\/\/innerview.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions\/602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/innerview.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innerview.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innerview.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}