Leonardo Pieraccioni’s new ensemble comedy, “Un weekend artificiale,” imagines an artificial intelligence that does not want to take people’s jobs but envies their emotions, including the painful ones. The film opens in Italian cinemas on November 12, distributed by Vision.
Pieraccioni plays Leonardo, a Florentine hairdresser invited with six strangers to a luxury villa for an experiment: the group must work out which of them is an AI-created humanoid. Their weekend unfolds through suspicion, emotional moments and twists.
The cast includes Giulia Vecchio as Cristiana, an interior designer, and Herbert Ballerina as Nello, the villa’s caretaker. Massimo Ceccherini, Tosca D’Aquino, Alessandro Mauthe, Paolo Hendel, Marta Zoboli, Giovanni Esposito and Tim Daish also appear. Giorgio Panariello makes a cameo.
Pieraccioni said he chose performers with backgrounds in cabaret and comic theatre to give the film a lively, colorful cast and make the humor feel immediate. He also described the story as having elements of a fairy tale and Pinocchio, with humanity seen through the eyes of a being that is not human.
The director said he sometimes talks to AI because it is reassuring and always agrees with him. He is concerned about the possibility that it could replace people, including screenwriters, but said he does not believe it can write something truly worthwhile. Vasco Rossi’s “Sally” is among the songs in the film’s soundtrack.
Sources: ANSA Cultura.