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During the Cannes Film Festival, a melting pot of worldly accents can be heard gossiping at beach clubs, waiting on movie queues and shouting at wild afterparties — but one rang most excited, the gleeful Italian cadence of Marco Calvani.
The longtime European playwright unexpectedly landed a role in Tina Fey‘s Netflix summer hit “The Four Seasons,” and took a victory lap in the South of France where he was on the ground packaging and selling his next feature directorial effort.
Calvani — who plays husband to Colman Domingo and occasional sixth wheel in a friend group that includes Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Will Forte and Kerri Kenney — shines as the deeply uncynical, occasionally over-the-top Claude. He’s a breath of fresh air, wild gesticulation and even a cringe-worthy Shania Twain performance for the record books in Fey’s adaptation of the 1981 Alan Alda film by the same name.
Variety caught up with Calvani in Cannes to discuss Season 2, his marathon shoot day singing Shania and the show’s rare depiction of two gay men in a healthy open relationship.
Your work has been quite serious prior to “The Four Seasons.” Were you waiting for an opportunity to do comedy?
This is a huge detour from what I thought my life and career would be. I hadn’t been acting in 15 years. I started as a playwright 20 years ago. If you write, direct, produce and try to finance your plays, especially in Europe, it’s not that easy. It’s a lot of time, energy and lost sleep. The things that were that were coming to me as an actor, they didn’t really shake me. I didn’t find opportunities where I could really pour out all my heart, my suffering, my joy. Every friend of mine who knows me closely like I’m the joy of the party. I’m bubbly. Many have asked me over the years why I haven’t written a comedy, and that doesn’t really connect me to my suffering. But “The Four Seasons” has allowed me to express myself in a totally new way.
You’re the only non-American in this group of friends, and I think you’re a tad younger than everyone else. At first, that plays as if you’re unserious. But Claude is an emotional force, and that winds up being his superpower by the end of the first season.
This is not a straight-up broad comedy. The scripts are very dynamic, but I wasn’t fully aware of the power of Claude until the show came out. People are stopping me on the street or writing me on Instagram, saying how much they love it. I’ve come to realize the character from the original film was built for ethnic stereotype punchlines. Here, he becomes a stand-in for all the sincere people out there. He’s not just all exuberance and loudness and love, he’s also full of forgiveness. He’s not someone who holds a grudge. Some may think that’s superficiality, but he’s going to have less lines on his forehead.
Well said. What has the outreach been like from the audience?
I live in L.A., where you never walk. So being here in Cannes, it’s wild the people stopping me. People from Norway, Turkey, France, all over the world. It’s all people seeking some connection with Claude.
It was interesting to see Tina’s character isolate Claude over the course of the season. She’s a bit exhausted by him. But I think we come to see that he is everything she’s not – she’s cynical, loves a grudge. Do you think the two of them end on a better note?
I think there’s lot of opportunity for more to unfold with the two of them. There’s a beautiful scene in the finale, it’s so small, we barely talk. Her phone has been wet and he wraps it in a bag of rice for her. There’s an affection we see there for the first time. I hope it goes deeper.
You and Colman Domingo depict a very modern gay relationship on-screen. I feel one of the core audiences for a show like this is older, white straight people. Did it occur to you that’d you’d be depicting a marriage that this demographic is not totally familiar with?
We’re depicting an open relationship where that fact is not the conflict of their story [Calvani throws his hands up in gratitude]. It’s not a central problem; that’s kind of beautiful.
It’s also kind of transgressive that this gay couple in entrenched in a friend group with – gasp – three other straight couples of a certain age. Although, there are multiple references to Danny and Claude’s super-hot group of gay friends that we never meet.
It would be hilarious to meet them. But to your earlier point, Tina did all of that very consciously. She wanted to adapt the original “Four Season” and include a gay couple, because she wanted this project to reflect her real life. She has a lot of gay friends. And adding the interracial element to this couple, it’s had beautiful impact. I owe a lot of my performance from the authenticity of my life as a gay man, to my relationship with my husband and my friends.
We need to talk about your hilarious performance of Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One” at the vow renewal ceremony.
You have no idea how much coverage we did on that scene, it was maybe three hours. I was freaking out because I’m not a singer, but the extras for some reason were having the greatest time. They were cheering me on. It felt more like a concert than a backyard wedding ceremony. Another thing about this show, the set was just incredible. Not every set is like that. My managers came for an hour visit once and wound up staying all day. They said it felt like an indie film set. The humility, the comradery and the support from Tina’s company, Netflix and Universal. There was no ego at play.
What’s the biggest lesson you learned from her about comedy?
She’s incredibly sharp and always aware. She knows what she wants. She’s the matriarch of the show, present everywhere all the time. She set a tone to be present, giving and generous.
What are your hopes for Season 2?
Well, it would be fun to see Danny and Claude’s group of gay friends. But you know, the group will be dealing with a baby now. I have a feeling Claude will confront his desire for a family. It would also be cool to have some scenes with Ginny (Erika Henningsen). We’re a bit of the outsiders in the group.
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