Between Strangers Sophia Loren Interview 9/18/03 NY Newsday

Mamma Mia!
Liz Smith September 18, 2003 New York Newsday

    'I never thought I was a star ... that word, 'star' never meant a lot to me."
    That, believe it or not, is one of the grand stars of our time, Miss Sophia Loren. (The actress did admit that she is pleased when people stop her on the street ... "and they stop me quite often, too!")
    Sophia, in the flesh, is a startling creature, all eyes and lips and cheekbones, deeply tanned - a wild exaggeration of features that work magically on-screen.
    Clad in black silk shirt, pants and stiletto boots, Sophia is right to the point when she answers questions. She doesn't explain much, creating an air of mystery and reserve that is at odds with the flamboyance of her physicality and her screen image, which has always been so open, so ... Neapolitan. For instance, her role in "Between Strangers" requires a quiet, repressed quality of almost masochistic self-sacrifice and suffering, an aspect of her acting rarely if ever tapped. But the star - if she will allow me that description - said, "As I read what Edoardo was writing, I saw that it was familiar to what I am in life ... not completely, but this giving up of emotions I know." Period. Sophia did not elaborate, and I was too struck by her presence and matter-of-factness to prod.
    Edoardo, age 30 and a delightful man, studied film at the University of Southern California and has an interesting approach to what he does. "People never should be surprised that the child of an actor or filmmaker [his dad, of course, is movie entrepreneur Carlo Ponti] goes into the same business. It's like being a shoemaker, really. You inherit your craft from your family. It's a natural thing."
    When I joked that it must have been fun to work with "her baby" on a movie, Sophia corrected me, "He's not a baby. He was a man on the set. And I got along with him better than with any director I've ever worked with!"
    Edoardo added: "After all, what are the qualities an actor wants from a director or vice versa? Trust, respect, honesty. We have all that as mother and son. It didn't change on the set. What was fascinating to me was I've always known my mother was a great actress and, of course, she was omnipresent as a parent. But - because this role is different from what she has done before - to see her take risks, push the envelope, make that leap of faith for the material - I was moved to discover the real artist. It was exhilarating."
    I won't give away the plot or resolution of "Between Strangers," but I did ask Sophia what she thought would have happened to her character, who blooms during the course of the film. "Oh!" she said, with real enthusiasm, "I have thought so much about that. What happens to Olivia? What does she do with her life? But Edoardo won't tell me!" Maybe mother and son will do a sequel?
    Sophia, who clearly adores her younger son (her other son, Carlo Jr., 34, is a conductor, and she speaks lovingly of him, too) sums up Edoardo: "He has a wonderful way of thinking, a modern way. He could be a marvelous actor, a brilliant writer, a superb director ... so many possibilities."
    "Working with my son was wonderful. It was really so gratifying for me that I wish I could do another film with him because he is a very intelligent guy and he is my son and I am always with him," she said.