“The Palace”, interview with actor Oliver Masucci

September 9, 2023

Oliver Masucci, actor in "The Palace". A grotesque farce on the life of the rich people, their arrogance and stupidity. Definitely over the top.

"The Palace", interview with actor Oliver Masucci Angelo Acerbi

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In “The Palace” by Roman Polanski, the actor Oliver Masucci plays the director of the luxury hotel where rich and obnoxious people gather for the New Year’s Eve of 2000. A social farce, directed by Roman Polanski, with wit and a limitless grotesque approach, where all characters are portrayed at their worst, in a merry-go-round of futility and ridiculous arrogance.

A fun set

Oliver Masucci assures us that the set of “The Palace” was a blast; a kind of forced holiday, in the hotel that is the location and the additional character of the film, where work and life mixed. Roman Polanski on the set was meticulous, and they rehearsed a lot, with him suggesting the perfect comic timings and managing all the minimum aspects of every character’s interaction.

Real life can be worse than fiction

Oliver Masucci spent a lot of time with the real director fo the grand hotel, to learn and stela style and movements and the attitude of a director of such a huge machine. the director told him that what the film tells is a little part of the crazy stuff that happened in his career, in the hotel. Some rich people can be much worse than what the film describes.

Plot

The Palace Hotel is an extraordinary castle designed at the beginning of the twentieth century and located right in the middle of a snow-covered valley in Switzerland. Every year it hosts wealthy and pampered guests from all over the world in this Gothic and fairytale atmosphere. On the eve of the year 2000 they have all gathered for an unrepeatable event. A host of waiters, porters, cooks, and receptionists are there to cater to their bizarre needs. Hansueli, the hotel’s dedicated fifty-year-old manager, inspects the staff prior to the arrival of the guests, stressing to them that while it may be the dawn of the new millennium, it is not going to be the end of the world.

Written by: Angelo Acerbi

Roman Polanski