Original subtitles

There's only one clan in charge here.

Secondigliano's mine and no one else's.

What happened in the area taught us just one thing:

you can't touch the Savastanos.

The only thing that can fuck us up...

is fear.

You don't win the war by being strong...

but by being able to wait.

Ciro Di Marzio didn't kill my father.

It was the poison inside us all that killed him.

We know it's there, but we can't spit it out.

A STORY CALLED GOMORRAH THE SERIES

SECOND EPISODE TOTAL MADNESS

On paper, it looked like total madness.

It was going to be an extremely expensive product,

very elaborate, but also very niche,

because it was so horribly brutal.

We never made it easy for the viewer.

It was all in dialect,

so there were no clues

to suggest that it would get such a large following.

That's the great thing and the very germ of the project.

Action!

Sky was with us right from the start,

because Romanzo Criminale is the source of new Italian crime drama

and that was a project we did with Sky,

so it was like...

building on the basis of an experiment

we had already been through and both felt part of.

We realized that to make the first season work,

it was very important to maintain this format

which was very distinct in character.

So we spent five or six weeks in a room,

deciding which storylines to leave out,

and we made some very radical choices.

There had been a successful novel,

there had been a film, which is undoubtedly a masterpiece.

So it wasn't smart to try and re-do what had been done before.

We worked on new material,

we played with it, brought it to life and rejuvenated it,

and focused on characters

who didn't appear in the novel, or in the film,

so we created them afresh and shaped them.

When I get back, people won't talk about Salvatore Conte...

but about Don Pietro Savastano.

Because in this place, I'm not his only son...

we're all his sons.

The big thing about Gomorrah that shouldn't be forgotten

is the courage they had

in casting completely unknown actors and actresses,

in finding new and unexpected talent,

being prepared to face uncertainty and risk,

and in making radical choices and sticking by them to the end.

Wanna see the way we deal with you, Franco Lollipop?

Let's go.

First day shooting in Naples, we shot here.

We're in the outskirts, but not in Scampia,

because we didn't yet have permission to shoot there,

so that was still a far-off mirage.

We chose this place to shoot a very important scene,

when they burn the car after the shooting.

So it's here that Ciro and Genny appear together for the first time.

-What did I tell you to do? -Stay in the car.

-And what did you do instead? -I got out.

It was the first time

both actors brought their characters to the screen.

I asked Marco D'Amore to set fire to the car,

which would burn behind them.

-I'm sorry, Ciro. -Sorry my fucking ass!

Don't get out of the car again!

And of course, the scene was doubly tense and exciting.

So they did this first take with a car burning behind them

and they were really fantastic.

If you weren't Pietro Savastano's son, I'd cut off your head off!

I was impressed also because it was the first time

I'd heard and felt the language they were using.

We used it in the auditions, we used it in rehearsals,

but when you see it on the screen, it has a completely different effect.

Sorry, Ciro. It won't happen again.

I was scared back there, it all got a bit too much.

It wasn't just me it had this effect on,

because Nils Hartmann, who had seen that day's dailies,

called me and said: "This scene is crazy.

They're both great, but I don't understand a word they say.

Please, Stefano, make this work for me,

because if Gomorrah tanks, they'll kick me out.

I'll be sleeping at yours."

You weren't afraid.

All right? You got out of the car...

to leave your mark.

In the case of clear Neapolitan, with the accent and inflection,

you're in a territory that has been...

used very successfully in comedy.

But here, we wanted to tell a story...

that was more real.

-This it? -Yeah.

-Give me the money! -Here.

So we had to take the brave choice and it paid off,

and now these catchphrases are all over the social media

and are popular with people who aren't even from Naples.

And I promise you one thing...

We'll take back everything that is ours.

You couldn't have them speaking

in the Italian of other Italian crime shows, like:

"I'll shoot you in the head". They'd use dialect.

It wouldn't mean the same thing, it wouldn't have the same authenticity.

You'd lose a lot in an unrealistic translation.

"We will take back everything that belonged to us".

It just doesn't fit, it doesn't have the right flavor.

Work with me and I'll change your life.

I'm honored.

But I already have a home.

And there, I'm in charge.

The series took a lot of artistic and commercial risks,

and production-wise it was a big gamble because...

when we started shooting Gomorrah,

it wasn't the Naples of today in film-making terms.

No one shot in Naples. It was presumed too complicated,

especially if you'd be based in Scampia for months.

For me, that was the critical decision

and for me it was a very important question of integrity,

because there was no way you could say:

"Ok, we'll do the exterior shot here

and then go back to Rome for the interior..." No way.

You had to be there and you had to be there till the end.

There are so many crucial scenes in the show

because the main character of Gomorrah...

is Scampia.

It's not a backdrop, it's the star.

When you take away his gun, don't put it down.

Hang on. Here. Now show me. Can you shoot?

-Yes. -Go on, shoot, shoot!

Scampia was the perfect place

as a setting for the first season of Gomorrah.

When I first came here on a recce trip,

I decided the area itself would be essential to the story,

and, of course, it wasn't easy...

to make that dream a reality,

because we had to deal with local people's opposition

to our presence.

At the start, the atmosphere was...

hostile, sometimes overtly so.

But we didn't give up, because we believed in this dream,

and how we wanted to tell the story,

so we just had to try to explain it to the neighborhood.

There's also the problem with shooting in real locations,

where, unfortunately, things change all the time,

so production-wise

you would need three alternative shooting schedules ready everyday,

because you get there and someone says: "You can't shoot today."

On this score, Cattleya and Sky were...

truly enlightened producers,

because they risked a lot

and stood by the project even during some pretty tough times.

Go! We like real cinema, go! Ok, camera!

Doing the first season was a whirlwind adventure

especially production-wise.

It nearly went off the rails several times.

There were shut-downs, controversies, criticism.

You really thought you might not make it to the end.

Everyone's gone crazy. You should have seen them.

They all suspect each other.

The alley kids only go around in groups.

I'm not joking when I say that in all these years

Gomorrah has brought work to many...

many jobless people.

Our input and our presence

has created openings for many young people.

And that really helped us

to get access to places that were otherwise off-limits.

Another fucking community group has started, did you know?

-No. -They're fucking things up.

Guards, reporters everywhere... That's why we're 300 deals down.

In order to gain their trust, we showed them our project.

Crazy as it sounds, I basically...

Iet them read the scripts,

because I wanted local people to know what we were doing.

Then we liaised with local community groups,

and they were crucial,

because they helped us

to integrate with the neighborhood

and slowly overcome that natural distrust

which had been a huge obstacle at the start.

So they began to let us shoot,

but in very few places.

What you see in the show seems much, much more expansive

than what we actually used.

In fact, we just used this square,

a crossroads up ahead, and the Vele development.

So most of the series was shot at these three locations.

WHEN YOU DON'T SEE HAPPINESS, LOOK FOR IT INSIDE

For everyone, but especially for Stefano,

because it's part of his signature style,

this story could not have been told

without the hyper-realism.

-Got the money? -Yes.

If you shine a light on a situation,

you have to tell it in the truest possible way.

It's 200 euros short of 15,000.

Stefano created a language, a grammar text book.

And he did it with such a refined aesthetic,

despite using the language of violence, which became a template.

So it was our job to learn, study and observe

and try not to betray his idea.

...and cut!

The story itself and the world we were exploring,

lent itself to a highly documentary approach.

But the real challenge was to...

make sure that the world of this story,

which was very truthful and realistic,

was told with spectacular production values

to compete with even the biggest international series.

We came up against a series of problems,

the first of which was,

when we were shooting the first season,

there was a clan war going on.

So, to shoot the bar explosion scene,

we went round looking for a bar that would let us film.

Obviously it would be a special effect and not a real explosion.

In fact, the place where we eventually filmed

was cleaned up in the space of a few hours.

But while we were looking for our bar,

another bar was blown up for real as an act of retaliation.

For me, the action scenes were a baptism of fire.

Before Gomorrah, I'd never shot any.

What I learned from making Gomorrah,

is that even an action scene has to be shot exactly like a dialog.

It must be dramatically coherent; it must tell the story

and have a reason to be there; it can't be gratuitous.

This is where we shot one of the most spectacular scenes,

but one that was also a delicate moment in the first season.

This is where we killed Donna Imma.

It was kind of a pinnacle for us on the creative team,

because we wanted to make kind of a statement of intent.

Early on, during development,

we decided to use all the material we had come up with,

without leaving anything out.

So, killing off a key character at this point in the story,

one of the main Gomorrah protagonists,

would probably be postponed in any other series.

We decided to use it as our calling card, so to speak.

It was how we saw the story of Gomorrah,

apart from being realistic, obviously,

because in our vision of the world of Gomorrah,

the protagonists will die sooner or later anyway.

And this is maybe the highest-value character

we sacrifice in season one,

because the Imma character had obviously become a key figure

in the Gomorrah universe,

and losing her would be a big shock for the viewer.

In the end, my view is that we had Imma killed

to earn the audience's trust and respect.

The public could probably see

that we weren't interested in dragging out the characters' stories,

but that we would give them a no holds barred show,

very tightly written.

I remember the looks of these young girls from Scampia.

There was a light drizzle, barely imperceptible,

but raining at any rate.

So, each time I did this scene,

I'd collapse, under the hail of bullets,

and these little girls would look at me in shock.

At some point, they came over to me and said:

"That looks exhausting, why do you keep doing it?"

And I replied: "Because it's my job and I love it."

They thought for a second and said: "It must be lovely to do a job you enjoy."

To think that we remained

like a little seed in the minds of these girls,

through our being there,

is a beautiful memory.

You divide people into those who don't kill...

and those who do kill.

You think that because I'm a woman, I'm in the first category.

You're wrong.

This series came about as we made it.

The power of certain character relationships

somehow only emerged when the scenes were acted,

and you immediately realized you had to adjust the writing,

which was going in a different direction.

Who's this?

It's my niece, Don Pietro. Patrizia.

Has she no tongue?

She does, sure.

The most amazing example is Genny and Ciro's relationship.

This almost father-son, big brother-little brother relationship.

Its depth and richness only emerged when we saw the footage.

I remember Stefano called me once and said:

"Look at this, these are two brothers."

Gennaro...

You and me together. No one can stop us.

Genny Savastano was supposed to die in the first season

and Imma was supposed to live.

But then, seeing and reading all the material,

it seemed to me that Genny Savastano's story had further to go

than this one season.

I felt that with Genny there were a thousand possibilities

and I could see that Imma, who was one of my favorite characters,

would grow in stature with her death.

This theater is where we shot one of the most important

and powerful scenes of the first season:

the shootout between Ciro and Genny.

And we chose it

because it's a place where Ciro would naturally feel at ease.

He's sitting in one of those rows,

with his wife, watching his daughter's play.

And of course, there are other parents and children,

and that was a key element,

because one of the unwritten rules of gangsters

is that you don't commit crimes or acts of violence

where there are kids around.

And that also helped us

to show the differences in the two characters' makeup,

by having them face this moment of truth.

So when they pull their guns on each other,

everyone runs for cover,

and it's Genny who hesitates for a second,

whereas Ciro doesn't miss a beat and he shoots Genny,

and even injures bystanders and fleeing spectators...

So on that day, Genny was to fall down and die right here.

Right here.

But as we were shooting, and the plan was exactly this,

Genny was supposed to die,

Gina Gardini, the creative producer, expressed some serious doubts. She said:

"I'm convinced that Genny's character can't end like this."

I didn't agree and replied:

"We built our whole narrative arc around this ending."

We continued discussing it,

but in the meantime shooting carried as planned,

and the upshot was that Genny was objectively dead,

because we'd used the make up effect.

I mean, he was lying there on the ground.

So we didn't really know what to do.

Re-shoot it all? Stop filming?

Think up an alternative ending?

And while we were arguing about this, I looked at Salvio lying there,

and I said, "Wait. Move a finger."

Gina's looking at me, thinking: "This is director's bullshit,

because it obviously means nothing."

I said, "No, because it's going to look...

like a dying twitch,

or it could also mean

that, despite his facial wound, he's actually still alive."

The truth is that a character like Genny

obviously didn't deserve to die there like that.