‘An emblem that allows you to get to the heart of masculinity’: How the new Netflix series was written without glorifying the X star

Everything is against Rocco Sifredi and Francesca Manieri. The first is a world-famous porn actress for forty years, the second is a feminist and devoted screenwriter. Until now, the Italian author has written about topics close to his heart.

He explores the struggles of adolescence in Luca Guadagnino’s Who Are We (Call Me by Your Name) and the question of transcendence in a seventies Italian family in L’Immensita with Penelope Cruz.

Seeing his name attached to Supersex, a series that chronicles the life and journey of the ‘bad boy of the century’, is sure to elicit a surprise. For AlloCiné, the screenwriter and creator explains how and why he accepted this risky challenge.

AlloCiné: When Netflix came to you to write a series about Rocco Sifredi, you, and I quote, “burst out laughing.” Your life and faith have nothing in common. Is it more difficult for the author to write on a topic that is against him or, on the contrary, is it liberating?

Francesca Manieri, screenwriter and creator of the series: It’s so much more liberating! When I started working on this project, I said the opposite, but now I’m convinced that it allows you to break free and open your borders. Therefore, I am very grateful to participate in this project.

What element of Rocco Sifredi’s life caught your attention or inspired you to write?

There are two answers. The first is much more conceptual. The second, I know, is very much reflected in reality. Perhaps the first is that, as I always say, Rocco represents the excess, not the exception, of masculinity. It represents the emblem that allows me to get to the heart of masculinity.

If you’ve seen other works I’ve written in the past, I’ve always worked on the issue of gender. I told myself that this time I wanted to talk about masculinity, not femininity. So it was a challenge, I accepted it and I found it interesting.

Second, when you’re writing, you need something that can, as you say, enchant you. I’m used to building pictures in my mind, and I knew from the beginning that three or four scenes would be my light throughout the writing period.

The first was the death of Claudio, his brother, and the connection he made between the rise of his sexual desire and the death of this young man. The second was when mom finally gave her that precious face she so desperately wants. And the third is, without spoiling it, the graveyard scene.

These scenes were my eyewitnesses for me. As I worked on these images, I began to realize all the layers beneath them, namely the connection between sexuality and pain, the influence of the mother, and the impossible relationship between the gaze of “the other and one’s own.”

I wanted to know everything about him, but I didn’t meet him because it would be difficult for me to keep all my freedom.

How did your research go?

I have watched all his movies! And I read everything I could. And there were many interviews. I studied a lot of material and came up with the main idea of ​​the series. When this idea came to me, I decided to meet and talk a lot, but only after I was sure of the path I was going to take. I didn’t want to meet him before. I wanted to know everything about him, but I didn’t meet him because it would be difficult for me to keep all my freedom.

What memory do you keep from meeting him? Were there any disagreements between you?

It was difficult at first. Difficult, but strong. We are similar because we are both very honest people. So we were bare with our differences. And if you are willing to face other people’s differences and come into conflict with them, don’t run away from that conflict, something will happen. And so it happened. So we agreed to step into the conflict to begin to step into his story.

I share his belief that sexuality is something insatiable.

Did you have any preconceived ideas? And have any of these ideas changed since your discussions?

Strangely, I didn’t have it. Maybe it’s because I’m an author and I try not to have any preconceived notions about a person. I had an idea about the icon, maybe, but I didn’t really have an idea about Rocco.

But when I met him, I realized the power of social construction on us, all of us, and the insatiable power of sexuality. I share his belief that sexuality is something insatiable. Of course, when I met him, I realized that he is much freer in his view of sexuality than we think.

In the first episode, she is sexually abused as a child by several boys in her neighborhood. The series shows that before participating in the system of sexual domination, he was its first victim.

exactly And the scene after that, I think for me as a writer, is one of the most important, because his brother says to him: “Now you have the biggest cock in the world.” This is a mythopoetic act. The question is not whether what his brother says is true or not. This rooster story is a construction, and this construction is based on the complex context in which it was constructed.

In France, Rocco Sifredi is very famous, but he is also criticized for some of his behavior towards women. What would you say to those who believe that Netflix will glorify Rocco with this series?

If you have seen the series, you will see that there is no glorification. There is a problematization of the emblem. I understand the point of view of these women who are talking and condemning because my point of view is similar. But we cannot take a step forward by avoiding the issue. The reason why I decided to tell the story of Rocco Sifredi is precisely this.

Let’s dive into it. Let’s get into masculinity. We need this series to understand, maybe talk, ask questions about masculinity and femininity. That is why this series, here and now, is important to me. Talk about something, don’t avoid the topic, don’t be ideological. Getting to the bottom of things. Because the paradigm is changing.

It can only change if we have access to the mechanism that allowed Rocco Tano to become Rocco Sifredi. Only by showing the construction of masculinity can we deconstruct it. That’s why we have to look at the case.

Commentaries collected by Thomas Desroches, Paris, March 4, 2024.

Supersex Available on Netflix.