Italian actor and singer Michele Morrone has become an international star after his Netflix movie '365 Days'. He talks to Gulf News about the new project that has brought him to Dubai, and why he nearly said no to the role that changed his life.
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00:00Hey, this is Miquel Morrone, and this is my interview on gulfnews.com, watch it.
00:11We got an email talking about this app, and I didn't know anything about Alahai and the
00:19concept of this app.
00:21So I basically made my research, and we made the first conference call with all the team
00:27of Alahai, and they explained me everything about it.
00:32And after that, I got also other proposition, and it was the same app from other countries,
00:40but I decided to work with them, because the team were super nice, and that's why I quickly
00:49trust them.
00:51The concept of Alahai is that you are doing something good to people that loves you, and
01:03this concept is fans that would like to receive a personalized video from their idol, they
01:15just go and book a video, and they can get it personalized with their name and everything.
01:25And I thought that, at the beginning I thought, but I don't like people to pay for a video,
01:32I don't want to make business with this, because I think that an artist should be kind and
01:37just send videos for free.
01:40But then I thought that I could've kind of take this love and put love in something else.
01:50Making happy someone, I could've take this happiness and put it in something else, which
01:58is charity, because part of the money that I make, personally make, I don't know the
02:02other artists, but my concept was, okay, I can do something like that, and make something
02:10for charity.
02:15Exactly one year ago, I used to work in the north, up to the north in Italy, I used to
02:22work as a gardener, as I already said in lots of interviews, and my life completely changed
02:30just in one year, just like that, because I've stopped acting for personal problems
02:37for two years, after my divorce from my wife, I've got so many personal problems, and I
02:45just decided that the way of the art wasn't my way, so I just stopped it, and I started
02:56just getting small jobs, but the one that lasts more, I worked as a waiter, I was working
03:03in a company that used to, what's the name of this thing, the parquet, I used to work
03:09in a company that used to build parquet, but I got fired because I wasn't very good at
03:16it.
03:17But I was very good with trees and stuff, because it was easy just to cut, just to make
03:21it hard, and then I started working in this company up to the north of Italy, in a place
03:28called Dresano, and I worked there for like seven months, six months and a half, until
03:38I got the offer from Netflix, and you know, something incredible just happened, because
03:50my agent called me one day, and he's like, hey, there's this offer from this movie called
03:55365, it's a Polish production, and I'm over with acting, with music, with everything,
04:04but just try to do it, so I'm like, okay, no, okay, bye, and I went back, and in the
04:10night I got a call from the director, I got a number from Poland, and it was the director,
04:16and I'm like, hey, hi, I'm the director of the movie 365 Days, listen, I don't, I don't,
04:24I don't know you, but I need you, but how do you need me, you don't even know me, but
04:29I like your physical appearance, you know, this movie, it's gonna be big, everyone can
04:33call you and say, you know, this movie's gonna be big, and he's like, listen, I made you
04:39the flight ticket, if you wanna take the flight tomorrow morning, you come, otherwise, thank
04:43you very much, and for everything, and the day next, I decided not to go, I called my,
04:50my boss of the trees, because I was working inside the park, to take care of the grass
04:55and stuff, and I'm like, hey, listen, today, I don't really feel good with my stomach,
04:59you know, I'm not coming to work, but okay, okay, I will call to replace you, and I made
05:06just a little bag, I don't know, it was one andro and a pair of socks inside, and I just
05:13fly to Poland, and when I got there, there was a contract of three years from, to play
05:19the main character of this movie, and that's how I started, and when I've signed it, they
05:26quickly send it to me, the script, and I start, you know, working on the script, building
05:32up the psychology of Massimo, and I'm like, hey, listen, like, I don't think I'm gonna
05:37go back to the park anymore, because, but I was feeling guilty, because I didn't finish
05:43my work, but I had to study the script, and that's how I came back.
05:50I decided to become an actor when, when I had around 11, 12 years old, so that was my first
05:57love. I always had the passion for music, and singing, but I never, you know, it was
06:04always a hobby. After the movie, something in the music happened, because, like, like,
06:14while we were shooting, I was at the dinner with the, with the director, and he's like,
06:18what do you like to do, beside of acting, and stuff, and I'm like, I like to write songs,
06:23oh, let me hear something, and I made him listen to one of my songs, and he totally
06:28fell in love, and he's like, hey, Mickey, this is gonna be inside the movie. So, I was
06:35the main character of 365 Days, and I did all the soundtracks for the movie as well,
06:40so that's how music started, you know.
06:47I mean, I feel good, because I did something interesting, I did something that people like,
06:53and it's, it's a nice feeling, you know, it's, it's a really nice feeling, because
07:00I still didn't get, like, on my Instagram, for example, I still didn't get one bad message,
07:06so I feel that people, people likes, for example, if we talk, like, yesterday, I, I, I just
07:15got a, you know, notification from Forbes, that 365 Days is the most views movie on Netflix,
07:27it's the most downloaded movie in the history of Netflix, so, I feel good about it.
07:37I'm in, I'm collaborating with Hollywood, with Spain, for, for a movie, it's Hollywood-Spain.
07:49I'm gonna have to start the second part of 365 Days as well, we still don't know when,
07:53but for sure we're gonna make it, because of this problem with COVID,
07:57and yeah, I have many projects, not in my language.
08:02Yeah, that's why I'm, like, that's why I'm here in Dubai,
08:10I'm here in Dubai for two reasons, one of the reasons is Allah Hai, and I'm part of
08:17this amazing family with these amazing guys, and the second, the second
08:24is because I'm making my own perfume, and it's gonna be called Fillet, and
08:32because, I mean, I, I've always wanted to, I always in my life had the idea to have one day
08:40my personal perfume, and I, it's, it's, it's, it's not a case, like, it's not a case that I'm here,
08:48because I choose to make this kind of business of the perfume in the Middle East, in the Arab
08:54country, because there's, like, nobody in the world knows about perfume as Arab country,
09:03I mean, the concept of the perfume here is not just take a perfume, spray and go,
09:08the, the, the perfumes here are more like, like, like, like, like a culture, like,
09:14something about culture, something about philosophy, like, you don't just spray,
09:22you just spray, you put a tear of oil, and then you put it here, and then you, so,
09:28if I want to do something, I want to do something perfect,
09:31and this country is the perfect country to make this kind of business.
09:43I love, I love the Arabic food, but my, my favorite one is the bread with hummus,
09:48that you just grab and put it in your mouth, and you eat it, and you slow it down,
09:53you can feel it, you know, and, yeah, totally, like, hummus, I mean, it's the, the most simple
10:01thing, but it's the most good thing, you know, so, I like many things, I like kafta, I like
10:08tabbouleh, fattoush, yeah, I'm a very, very loyal man, yeah, to me, loyalty is,
10:22like, something more important than business, than money, than everything, you know,
10:25when you're loyal, and, like, I exactly know what I want for my life, I exactly know what is my goal,
10:35and I exactly know what I can do, and what I cannot do.
10:43I can go down on the street just with James,
10:47otherwise, no, I mean, I mean, and my guards, of course, the other ones, like, no, I cannot,
10:53I mean, I accept it, it's part of the game, of course, like, I made a movie that is worldwide,
10:59every country I go, like, America,
11:03Spain, like, I get recognized, every time I arrive to an airport, there's a lot of fans,
11:09and it makes my heart so full of love, and I love it, but, you know, sometimes it's just, you know,
11:19it's difficult, you know, sometimes, because with your friend, you know, you get recognized,
11:24so, imagine yourself getting recognized from everybody all the time, even when you have the
11:32mask of the Kovia and the cap, you get recognized, because I have the tattoos on my hands, you know,
11:36so, I mean, it's a part of the game, I love all of my fans, because they love me, and I think that
11:46artists should always be, you know, down on earth, because if you're big, it's because of your fans,
11:53so, if your fans loves you, you're someone, if your fans doesn't love you, you're just nobody.
12:02I can't live without my kids, I can't live without my friends, and I can't live without my work.