DONT get her wrong: Rosanne De Luca Braun loves "The
Godfather." Ditto, "The Sopranos." But
she has devoted much of the last seven years to exploring why certain
Italian-American stereotypes " especially
the gun-toting, cannoli-loving mobster "
loom so large on screen, and in the national psyche.
The result of her
labors is the documentary "Beyond Wiseguys:
Italian Americans and the Movies" which will have its Long Island premiere
on Jan. 20 at the
Running 57
minutes, "Beyond Wiseguys" interweaves
celebrated movie and TV scenes with interviews with scholars and members of the
film and TV industries. Among those appearing are the directors Martin Scorsese, David Chase and Spike Lee, the actor-director John Turturro (who
was co-executive producer of the documentary with Ms. Braun), and, from the
acting ranks, Marisa Tomei,
Paul Sorvino,
Ben Gazzara,
Isabella Rossellini, Susan Sarandon and Mr. Chianese.
Some tell of
having endured typecasting or of fighting ethnic clichis.
Yet Ms. Braun, 59, of Sicilian and Calabrian descent
herself, says she is not merely beating a drum against intolerance.
"Im not anti mob movies," she said recently over lunch in her
condominium overlooking Long Island Sound in Northport. (She shares it with her
husband, Edward Braun, the chairman of the technology-instrument company Veeco.)
I
dont relate to the fact that these are stereotypes,
Ms. Braun said. "I relate to the characters. And in the case of a great
work of art, I dont view it as Italian-American " its
American."
Nevertheless,
"Beyond Wiseguys" has its roots partly in community
concern over negative screen images. In 2000, Ms. Braun, then director of
marketing and development at the
Such films
proved hard to find, though. The depiction of Italian-Americans as voluble, emotional and
sometimes murderous had remained "largely formulaic," Ms. Braun said,
from the earliest days of the movie industry.
That was true,
she said, even though "we found an endless supply of Italian-American
craftsmen working behind the scenes in Hollywood from Day 1 " set
designers, composers, writers, costume designers,- making their mark in often
sophisticated ways.
Convinced she was
"really onto something," Ms. Braun left her job in 2000 to work on
the idea. She sent her outline to Mr. Turturro.
In the film
business, "I was nobody," Ms. Braun explained. "I knew I was
going to need a name attached to open some doors for me."
Mr. Turturro soon signed on. The issue of ethnic sterotyping is something he deals with daily on a professional
level, he said through an assistant.
It worked.
"I could have said, This is Daisy Duck,
as long as I said, John Turturro, "
said Ms. Braun, who rounded up interview subjects and, over time, raised
"about $350,000." (Beyond Wiseguys"
got its major financial backing from Italian-American sources, including LiDestri Foods of Rochester, a maker of pasta sauce and
other products, and the National Italian American Foundation, but they had no
editorial input, she said.)
When it came to
making the film, two veteran documentary makers, Steven Fischler
and Joel Sucher, collaborated with Ms. Braun, a
neophyte.
Given the
documentarys many strands, Ms. Braun said she would most like viewers to
take away the sense that Hollywoods Italian-American sagas, at their best,
transcend stereotype: "Theyre filled with the aroma, and the real
experiences, of Italian family life and Italian history," she said.