Verdone: “I once prayed at Jim Morrison’s grave and ‘scolded’ him for drugs”

“Once, when I was in Paris on the set of ‘Standing in Heaven’, I went to visit Jim Morrison’s grave and I have to tell the truth: I said a prayer to him. I said thank you, because you gave me the best moments of my youth. However, you were an asshole to take all those drugs, because they weren’t needed: you were equally good. ” It is the touching and personal memory that Carlo Verdone, intercepted on the set of his latest film, gives Adnkronos on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the death in Paris of the great rock icon of which the actor and director is one of the best known fans and passionate. “I played the role of someone who had a vinyl shop – recalls Verdone – And I took my daughter, who was in Paris in the film, to visit Jim Morrison’s grave to bring him flowers (Morrison is buried in Paris at the Père cemetery. Lachaise, ed.) At the last minute, however, the cemetery did not give us the authorization because the family had asked for a bit of secrecy, since the tomb is now a real installation that is a destination for many. as I wanted it, but I remember the visit to his tomb very well “. Verdone then traces a delicate and intense profile of the artist, the voice of an entire generation: “He was shy, for him it was a terrible thing to go on stage, in fact he took drugs, he went out of his mind – says the director – But he was a guy who read a lot, loved literature, knew Ginzberg, Kerouac, the whole Beat Generation and developed a very fine sense of writing and poetry. His lyrics are very beautiful. ” “Unfortunately he had written in destiny that he had to die so soon – Verdone observes – He was sensual, he was violent, he was crazy and above all he had a great charm, the charm of self-destruction”. The Roman director takes the opportunity to appeal to young people: “I hope that today’s kids will draw a conclusion: that one cannot die so young from drugs taken in an exaggerated and destructive way. I hope instead that they develop that. passion he had for literature, for poetry and his great, enormous sensitivity. Let’s take it as a great symbol of those years, but let’s not imitate him, because drugs in the end took 70% of the great artists away from us “, underlines director. ‘Light my Fire’ born from a mistake, as often happens to the most beautiful songs ‘”When I listened to the first album,’ The Doors ‘, which had brought me a friend from England – Verdone recalls – I was struck by two songs,’ Break on Thru ‘and’ Light my Fire ‘, which I still consider one of the ten most beautiful songs ever written. It is a song born from a mistake by guitarist Robby Krieger, who instead of taking a chord he took a chord. other. And he sensed that that chord, which I think was a ‘fa’, was the beginning of a masterpiece, ‘Light my Fire’ “. The greatest songs written “often arise from involuntary mistakes, as well as Pink Floyd’s ‘Shin On Your Crazy Diamond’, which was born from a mistake by David Gilmour, who got it wrong and that wonderful arpeggio was born”, explains Verdone revealing a great musical culture. And he concludes: “There is a latent sense of sadness throughout the Doors discography, and this is perhaps what makes their work so fascinating – observes the director – As an artist I would not say that it inspired me, but it made mine happier youth “. (by Ilaria Floris)