“I find that in my career, every time I do a project that comes from a place of truth, things happen,” says Beatrice Grannò.
In mid-June, the Rome-based actress was living her own truth in L.A. ahead of the U.S. release of her indie film “Daniela Forever.”
“The past two years I’ve been back and forth between Rome and L.A. because after ‘The White Lotus,’ so many things have changed,” says the actress, who starred in the show’s second season as an aspiring singer and opportunistic local prowling the hotel’s wealthy guests.
Related Articles
Grannò is a few steps ahead of her breakout character: she’s actively working on her debut album. “Nothing’s ready yet, but I’ve been recording my music and I’m very excited, so I hope I will be able to talk about it more in the future,” she says. “Because right now it’s a dream, and I hope that at some point it will be real.”
You May Also Like
Dreams and reality are the foundation of “Daniela Forever,” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year and is getting released Stateside this summer. Grannò stars in the film, her first English-speaking lead role, alongside actor Henry Golding. The film, which is set and shot in Madrid, melds romance and sci-fi as it explores a man’s grief following the death of his romantic partner, Daniela. He joins a clinical trial, where he’s able to recreate and interact with Daniela during lucid dreaming.
”To be honest, I had no idea how this was gonna turn out,” says Grannò of the film, which was partially shot in a boxy aspect ratio with washed out coloring to delineate the real world from the saturated dream state.
As Daniela, Grannò portrays a character that exists largely in a liminal space. In flashbacks, she’s a real person; in present tense, she exists as an avatar for her boyfriend, a sort of AI-doll that responds to his thoughts. For Grannò, the challenge was portraying a character stuck in the uncanny valley, an “emotional ghost.”
“Nacho [Vigalondo; the director] told me, ‘I want her to sound almost like a computer, but not too much,’” says Grannò. “When I was trying that out, I told him, the line is very fine between playing Daniela and just being a bad actress, because I sound like I don’t know how to pronounce my lines,” she adds. “When I watched it for the first time, I realized that that’s the point of it. She’s not there anymore.”
Grannò has watched the film twice, most recently during the fantasy and horror-focused 57th Sitges Film Festival in Catalonia. “The reaction was very big in Spain,” she says. “ I found that the audience laughed in moments which I did not expect.”
She’s hopeful that the film will open the door to more work within international cinema. “‘The White Lotus’ was definitely the biggest step, and thanks to that I was able to do this film. I really hope that from there I can grow even more.” Her recent projects have already led to international fashion opportunities; this spring, Grannò attended the Chanel Cruise show in Lake Como, and went to Greece as part of a Zimmermann brand trip. “They just want you to enjoy yourself in those clothes, which we did very much,” says Grannò.
Born and raised in Italy, Grannò attended drama school in London, where English became her native acting language, “the language I learned to act in first,” she says. The year after graduation she founded a touring comedy group, “Superglue Assembly Line.” “We’re still active,” she says. “Sometimes I go back to London and I do a sketch night.”
“ I like characters that have some sort of uncanny element going on,” she says. “And lots of comedy as well. I do love magic realism — I feel like that’s my kind of language. But right now I’m really open to anything that happens.” She’s gearing up to begin shooting her next film in August.
“I can’t say much, but I am very excited. This is beautiful writing, and I think it really belongs to that style of cinema that I would love to dive into.”