Call My Agent Returns with New Talent but Without Marzia Ubaldi: Third Season News from the Cast

The starting point for the third season of Call My Agent and its press conference could only be an absence: that of the actress Marzia Ubaldi, who played the veteran agent Elvira, one of the four leading the talent agency at the heart of the Sky series. The third season opens with the memory of Elvira on the beach, with the entire cast, including Emanuela Fanelli and Corrado Guzzanti, returning to pay tribute to one of the pillars of CMA, which must perforce change and move forward.

How? In fiction, with a new corporate structure and many challenges to face. In the writing of the third season, with an injection of new cast members (see Nicolas Maupas) and with a wave of new talents: Miriam Leone, Stefania Sandrelli, Ficarra and Picone, Michelle and Aurora Hunziker, Luca Argentero.

Call My Agent tries to be brilliant and entertaining in its third season even if it's not an easy time for the world it portrays and is part of: that of audiovisual productions, in great difficulty in our country due to economic and bureaucratic issues.

This was also discussed at the dedicated press conference, which was attended by:

• Producers Nils Hartmann and Nicola Serra
• Director Simone Spada
• Screenwriters Federico Baccomo, Tommaso Renzoni, and Camilla Buizza
• Actors: Michele Di Mauro, Sara Drago, Maurizio Lastrico, Sara Lazzaro, Paola Buratto, Kaze, Gianmarco Saurino, and Nicolas Maupas

From Netflix, at an international distribution level, there have been several remakes and adaptations of Call My Agent. Why did Sky three years ago think that the Italian market could be functional for a work of this type? Also, don't you feel the need to also interpret a crisis situation that is perhaps more serious than what is represented by the media?

Nils Hartmann - For us, it was quite immediate, because the tradition and history of Italian cinema is on par with what was told in Paris. Paris is a real character in the original, just like Rome in our series. A fundamental element of the characters is their love and passion for cinema. And then Palomar had the rights (laughs).

Michele Di Mauro - The challenge was to take those characters, not imitate them, but grasp their essence and reinvent them. As for the crisis in our sector, there's a fear of not having the right words, of seeming ungrateful in a difficult moment and precluding things. However, hearing certain colleagues, I believe it's right that we expose this. The hope is that things will improve and that it's not just a facade.

Call My Agent 3 opens with a tribute to Elvira's character and the memory of Marzia Ubaldi, who passed away after the second season.

Federico Baccomo - The disappearance of Elvira's character was the starting point. We couldn't pretend nothing happened. The protagonists become adult children and their private lives are explored, to understand how work can affect them. Even the new additions, like Gianmarco Saurino and Nicolas Maupas, were an extra challenge.

Sara Drago - Marzia Ubaldi's cynicism served as our engine, revealing depth and feelings. Simone Spada's arrival shook up the characters, bringing them into a different dimension.

Sara Lazzaro - Life enters work and vice versa, in a historical moment where there's a tendency to label things. Simone's entry and Marzia's passing made us not take what we were doing for granted.

Paola Buratto - It's a season that changes, where more human and vulnerable territories are explored. New facets will take shape. It's nice to be back with family, and we miss Marzia, both within and outside our characters. We wanted it to be true for them as it was for us actors.

Nicolas Maupas - I'm thrilled to be part of this group. I don't play an agent or an actor, but a kind of Charon for the audience, a guide in this world.

Having reached the third season, you are distancing yourselves even further from the original French series: what have you changed this season?

Federico Baccomo - The idea, as always, is to start from that point, but trying to find an entirely Italian path. The CMA characters, at this point, live their own lives. Like in the English and American The Office, right? There are commonalities, but each has the specificities of their own professional world.

How do you work with guest stars? Do you consult with them? Is it complicated to involve them?

Federico Baccomo - We start with people we'd like to work with, and if they say yes, we try to understand what they can bring. Sometimes we have an idea by studying their lives, other times it comes from a dialogue with the talent. The risk is always to hold back a little, for fear that the talent might say no.

Compared to the French version, are you a bit kinder to the talents? Do you push yourselves more or do you go with the brakes on?

Federico Baccomo - It has happened that we've given up on stories, not so much for the stories themselves, but for a talent's inability to get involved. Perhaps we are a little more restrained on certain stories. I self-censor sometimes, on these things. There's a bit of fear that they'll say no to us.

Michele Di Mauro - There's a fear that the audience will identify what we act and who we are in life in the same way. But the audience is much more advanced than that.

Which great Italian star from the world of music, cinema, or theater would you like to have in your portfolio if you were really agents?

Michele Di Mauro - I'd like to go to the theater and look for someone who isn't there yet.

Sara Drago - I'd also really like to see more space for new talents in this environment. If I had to choose an already established person, I'd say Vanessa Scalera.

Paola Buratto - I join Maurizio and Sara and propose opening a real agency!

The CMA agency works with the film industry, which in Italy is not experiencing a brilliant moment. Do you have anything to say about that?

Nicola Serra - The problem is the ability to plan things. We need reliable information. The hope is that the situation will improve soon, but if not, we'll translate it into some comedy sketches.

Simone Spada - The Italian creative industry is super alive. There are a lot of things to say. There was a standstill due to the problems we all know, but from a creative point of view, we have nothing to envy anyone.

Nils Hartmann - I would like to add that with its seriality, Sky has contributed to breaking down the wall that divided fiction and cinema. Products like Gomorrah have created an industrial engine and launched new directors.

Now that you've been agents for three seasons, what have you learned about what not to do as actors?

Michele Di Mauro - I absolutely don't believe in the relationship between characters and people. Separating the two is automatic and I promote it as a good thing for actors' psyches.

Sara Drago - It makes us much kinder to our agents.

Sara Lazzaro - We've understood that it's a difficult and delicate profession. It made me reflect on the relationship between role and figure, agent and actor. I'm legitimizing myself to be less of a good girl, and to bring out more truth.