Marconi Magic Box

Anyone who has had the fortune to see the docu-film Guglielmo Marconi - the Wizard of the Waves certainly remembers his talent, his deep green eyes and his undeniable charisma; we're talking about Francesco Mastrorilli, the actor from Bologna who cleverly played, in the docu-film by Alessandro Giupponi, the main role: Guglielmo Marconi.

What many of you rather not know - and we want to tell you - is what has meant for this young actor to play the role of the man who, with his first experiments in youth, already succeeded in changing the present and the future of modern physics.

We meet Francesco for an interview on a sunny morning of September. With a lot of enthusiasm and a touch of emotion he tells us about his experience on the set, answering to our questions…

Francesco, in the docu-film you play the role of Guglielmo Marconi, how did you get ready to this role?

I get ready just by studying his life, his experience, and getting completely hooked by his history. I have drawn information from his personal diaries, from the book written by her daughter Electra about his family and the from the scholars’ and fans’ concepts, or people who have dealt with him for a lifetime.

From the docu-film seems to outcrop the shape of a shy Marconi, still unaware of the great scientific value of his discoveries. What’s your idea about this young inventor’s personality?

Marconi was a young and curious dreamer, obstinate, brave, fearless and sometimes hard-bitten. His greatest honor was to be able to rationalize and even make his dreams Science.

Despite you already have a long and rich career you are a young guy, so how has it been for you to wear one of your own age’s clothes, who lived a century ago?

From the human point of view has certainly been very instructive. The idea that a boy so young who lived a century ago, has managed to give life to his intuitions with very few means available,  has also generated a bit of envy to me, envy of his genius, of his surprising modernity and of the strength of will lacking in many young people today.

Reading your biography I found out that you have many features in common with Marconi, first and foremost the Bolognese and Anglo-Saxon origin. This has helped you in playing this role? Have you felt it closer to you?

My native home makes me feel proud of my fellow citizen and very close to this character, instead being bilingual has helped me to understand what it means to extend its own boundaries, and it made me feel a world citizen. During the filming of the movie - shot between Emilia Romagna and England - I have also been able to retrace the places where Marconi himself walked, slept, suffered and hoped;  this gave me great confidence in playing this role and also made me feel strongly moved.

There is a scene in the movie that struck you in particular?

There are many, however, the scene that I remember with most emotion is where Marconi succeeds in sending the first signal from the garden of his house – in Villa Griffoni - to the opposite side of the hill. It 'an important episode, because it will definitively confirm the validity of Marconi’s discoveries. Then use his original instruments, homemade, like cigar boxes and metal thread, to send a signal and know that, at hundreds of feet distance, sounds a bell for me is still unbelievable.

As it turns out by seeing the documentary we owe to the evolution of the first Marconi’s discoveries the birth of the Global Village we all live in today and the important technological tools we use every day. What is your relationship with technology?

As everyone now, I use every day technological tools too – mobile phone, computer, satellite navigation system - for reasons of convenience and speed, while not having specific ability in this area. But what unfortunately I’m observing today is that, although Marconi had the intention of approach people to each other with his findings, the abuse of these instruments is leading instead to their separation. I believe that the approach to technology should be more informed and moderate;  perhaps it would be enough just a little wisdom.

What do you think can teach a documentary about Marconi, one of the most important scientist of all time, to the young generations, considering that the documentary wants to speak just to them?

First of all I think it would make them know this man’s true story, which we still know too little about. He is an interesting figure for his young age, the development that has had and the high innovation he gave to the world. From the human side, young people should take him as an example because he was a extraordinary boy who followed his dreams and didn’t give up.

By Marconi Magic Box, Interview by Katia Antonacci (2009)
Translation by Serena Bramucci