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CNN Larry King Live
Encore Presentation: Interview With Sophia Loren
Aired December 11, 2004 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, Sophia Loren, an all too rare one on one with a living legend, an international sex symbol, a groundbreaking, Oscar-winning actress. She's an icon who doesn't do interviews but she's talking us. The one, the only Sophia Loren is next on LARRY KING LIVE.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: It's been nine years since she's been with us, and what a great honor to have aboard on LARRY KING LIVE tonight, and aboard is the correct word, Sophia Loren, the legendary leading lady of the silver screen, Academy Award winner for her 1962 best actress performance in the brilliant "Two Women." She's with us aboard the MSC Opera, docked now in Fort Lauderdale. Later, we'll be joined by her son, the filmmaker Edoardo Ponti. Sophia -- first, what are you doing on a cruise ship?
SOPHIA LOREN, ACTRESS: I always try to have a vacation. This time I came here because I was the godmother of this ship and also the other ship that I christened a year, just a year ago, which was called Lyrica and so here I am, talking with you, and trying to explain what I'm doing here.
KING: So we have the Mediterranean shipping cruise, Lyrica and now we have the Mediterranean shipping cruise, Opera. Does that mean Opera is featured on board?
LOREN: What do you mean, featured on board?
KING: Do they sing opera on the ship?
LOREN: No, no, no. This is just the name that they gave to this ship and they are going to do two more cruises ship later on, which I don't know how they're going to call them. But I think it's a very good idea to call the ship Opera and the other one Lyrica.
KING: How did you get to be its godmother.
LOREN: I do because I'm a great friend of family and I always like to be very close when there's a big event in a family that I really respect. These people that -- Ponti family, I respect really a great deal.
KING: Have you sailed the ship much? LOREN: No -- yes, I did once. And I was on a cruise once and I had really a wonderful time. And I have in mind to do it once more now with my children, and with their girlfriends and Carlo, my eldest son, with his wife, because he's married. And we hope to have a wonderful time and I think we will.
KING: It's hard to believe, I guess we can say, you are 70 years old?
LOREN: Shh.
KING: Well, no, I say this because you should be complimented.
LOREN: How old are you, Larry?
KING: I'm 71.
LOREN: You are older, much older than me
KING: Much older. You look amazing.
LOREN: Thank you. You do too, because I see you every day when I am in Geneva and you look absolutely incredible.
KING: Oh, well there will be never be another Sophia Loren. I understand you're currently making a movie with F. Murray Abraham?
LOREN: I did a film with him about three months ago. And it's coming out maybe quite soon. And I really had a wonderful time with him. And the director was Lina Wertmuller, and I really enjoyed every moment of it. It's a nice, wonderful comedy.
KING: It's called "Peperoni Ripieni E Pesci In Faccia." Did I pronounce that right?
LOREN: No, no. Pesci in Faccia. You tell Edoardo to translate it for you.
KING: What is its English title?
LOREN: Filled up with pepperoni and fish smashed in your face.
KING: What was it like working with Mr. Abraham, another Academy Award winner?
LOREN: Wonderful, wonderful. He's a wonderful, discreet person and he's a great actor, and he can do anything from drama to comedies. And really, we had a wonderful time together.
KING: Is it true the better the other actor the better you are?
LOREN: Of course it is. Of course. It goes without saying, yes.
KING: They rise to your occasion, you rise to their occasion?
LOREN: Of course, yes.
KING: We have not talked to you since the passing of both Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. And you did, of course, those wonderful "Grumpy Old Men." What your memories, first, of Matthau?
LOREN: As soon as I saw him, I fell in love with him, because he was a great, great person. Great heart and he was always beside me, because he knew that I was in a crew that was not like in Italy, you know. And he helped me a lot. So I will never forget him. And also, I also went to his home many times and I met his wife. They were a great couple. Great couple. I miss him -- both very much.
KING: So do I. And Jack Lemmon?
LOREN: Jack Lemmon was great. Jack Lemmon was much more discreet than Walter was, because Walter was much in the air like this. But Jack was much more discreet and much more conservative. I didn't know him very much when I was doing the film. But I could guess that he was appreciating working with me and really giving me as much as he could. Yes.
KING: You've done both comedy and drama. Do you have a preference?
LOREN: Huh?
KING: Do you like comedy better than drama?
LOREN: You cannot say, because I am from Naples so I like the mixture of drama and comedy all together. And I've done that in many films I have done with the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Coming from the "Gold of Naples" and then "Marriage: Italian Style" and then more other films. Because I did with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I worked with him I worked with him 20 years of my life. So life is not only comedy, life is not only drama. It is a mixture of both. With him, I was able to do so.
KING: Does it seem like 42 years since you won that Academy Award?
LOREN: What are you saying? I don't know. I forgot.
KING: Time goes so fast.
LOREN: But it was a great feeling and it was like it was yesterday when I won it, really. You can never forget when you win an Oscar. Never, never, never.
KING: Our guest is Sophia Loren. She's aboard the MSC Opera docked in Fort Lauderdale. Her son will join us later. We'll be right back. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOREN: Who gave you this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Florine (ph). LOREN: And what for?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To wear.
LOREN: To wear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.
LOREN: Don't you ever say sure to me like that, do you hear? You will not put those stockings on. You will not put them on. You will not put them on. You will not put them on. Now I'm going to smack his face that dirty pig!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Momma.
LOREN: Angel. Hey, sweet angel. Forgive me. Please forgive me. Stop it, Rosa, please. Come here, Rosa. Come, sweet angel. Please, stop crying. Please. Please.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with the brilliant, talented, beautiful Sophia Loren. There she is, pointing right where she's supposed to look. Sophia Loren is aboard the MSC Opera docked in Ft. Lauderdale. She is the ship's god mother. Back to the Academy Award night. You were not there.
LOREN: What do you mean I was not there? I'm here.
KING: Didn't Greer Garson accept your academy award for you?
LOREN: Oh, oh yes. Yes, because I never thought I was going to win the Oscar. That's why I was left -- I mean, I didn't leave for Los Angeles and I was in Rome. And when -- when the time went by during the night and I received a phone call from Cary Grant, saying "You won! You won!" I said, "I won what?" I mean, time went by and I didn't win anything. He said in, No, you won the Oscar for "Two Women."
Yes. It was a...
KING: What a feeling that must have been.
LOREN: It was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful moment. Yes. Never forget it.
KING: Tell me about Cary Grant and your friendship.
LOREN: It's very -- we did a picture together called "The Pride and the Passion" and so we worked together very well. And my English was very shaky and so he tried to help me. Then little by little, we went into a nice relationship, but never very wild. I mean, something very nice and very discreet. So, I will never really forget Cary because he really stays in my soul and in my heart.
KING: Why? What was so special about him?
LOREN: Because he was a nice person. Because he was a nice man. And because he loved me a great deal.
KING: That's a pretty good reason to miss someone and think of them. I never heard a bad thing about him.
LOREN: Never, never. Me too.
KING: OK. You also got the honorary Oscar in 1991, just for your career. And I remember that night very well. What a thrill that must be to be honored just for everything you do.
LOREN: Well, it was because to be honored for your career, it means that you are honored for every little thing, say every little film, every films that you did. So it's everything in lighten up that brings everything all together for the career of an actor. So it's something very important to me. Maybe even more than the one I relieved for the Oscar for one film.
When you are -- when you are -- when you have an Oscar for your Career, it means that you have the whole films that you have done in your career for an Oscar. And so it was really something really great that I never expected. Never expected from America. Because I'm an Italian actress and so I've done many films. Italian films, French films, American films. So when they called me that I had won for my career an Oscar, I was really more pleased than I was when I won for "Two Women," actually.
KING: Why do you like acting so much?
LOREN: What thing?
KING: Acting. Why do you like acting?
LOREN: What do you mean, why do I like acting? I'm an actress.
KING: As a career...
LOREN: I'm an actress.
KING: What is it...
LOREN: I'm an actress. I'm an actress. It's my passion. It's -- I've always lived for acting. I always wanted to be an actress since I was 12 years -- 12 -- 12-years-old. So I mean, and still now, I feel 12-years-old and I feel every picture I do, I feel it is my first picture in my career. I love so it much. Really so much. So much.
KING: Did it bother you when it started out that you were treated as a sex symbol?
They were looking more at how you looked than at your talent?
LOREN: Well, they did. But I think to -- to be able to be a sex symbol, for an actress, I mean, for a woman -- not for an actress, for a woman, I think it's very gratifying. I like it, I mean, because it's a question of vanity. But it doesn't mean anything to me really much. It's what I do in my life as an actress. It's what I can give to the public, as ever picture I make. It's what I can give the emotions to the public every pictures I make. This is what is important to me. Nothing else, nothing else, nothing else.
KING: But you didn't mind at the beginning, people were taking you on the way you looked?
LOREN: I don't care. I mean, it was their business. I mean if it was for me to have myself to be able to go forward in my career, it's up to them. But I never thought about this, really. It was never serious to me. Never, never. What I wanted to give was what I felt inside was my emotion and what I wanted to be in the future. And I started when I was 15-years-old. I was very young.
KING: In movie, or did you do theater?
LOREN: Don't ask me that. I'm a very shy person and I never tried to do theater. I've been asked many, many times by the most incredible authors in America to do theater. And I always said no not knowing what it is to be on the stage, and to do theater. So I don't know what to answer you. I have no idea. I have no idea.
KING: We'll be right back with Sophia Loren and in a while we'll be meeting her son, filmmaker, Edoardo. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOREN: I had no hope, no purpose, until a man who was the son of the shoemaker came. He gave us a reason to live, to fight. That was Miguel.
JAMES STEWART, ACTOR: Well, then, I'd say you've been grateful long enough.
LOREN: I am staying with him.
STEWART: You mean you're living with him, but you don't love him. That's the part of you that's cheap.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOREN: Move over, the roof is leaking again.
PAUL NEWMAN, ACTOR: I can't move over. We've in touch with nature. We'll just lie here like great lovers and die of starvation in each other's arms. What do you say? The children will be brought up on the tragic story from Armand and Louise.
LOREN: All right, but first change places, hm?
NEWMAN: You want me to get soaked.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Sophia Loren.
Let's talk about you can't talk about Sophia Loren without talking about Carlo Ponti, he is now 91. He will celebrate his 92nd birthday on December 11. That's in a couple of weeks.
LOREN: Yes.
KING: You had your marriage annulled just to save him from bigomy charges. You've shared credits on three dozen films. He's been a father, a lover, a husband, a guide in your life. He's been -- tell me about that relationship. Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti. How did you meet?
LOREN: We met a long time ago. We met a long time ago in a nightclub where there were doing a competition of Miss Italia or something. And he said to me, I'm a great producer -- because I didn't know. I mean, I was coming from Pozzuoli, which is a little town near Naples.
And I said, so? What do you want from me. I was almost 15 when I met him.
And so he said, maybe I can help you in doing something in the movies.
And I said, OK.
I was trying. I mean, I was trying. I didn't know what I was doing, because I was there with my mother. She was always on my side.
And one day, he said to me come to my office and we talk a little bit about it.
So I did go to his office. And he said that he could help me in doing somthing that maybe could develop in something else. But he still, he didn't know himself which was absolutely right.
And so he was doing -- he had to do a picture called the Gold of Naples. And so this picture, I said -- and I said to him, I said, what is the Gold of Naples. he said it's taken from the book of a great author in Italy called Marotta.
And he said, I would like you to present you to Victoria De Sica. So about a week after that, we had an appointment with De Sica. And De Sica talked to me. And I he said, I don't have to do any little essay with you because I think your absolutely right for the role of Sophia, which was the name of the book.
And so I said, well, OK. What do you think I'm going to leave?
You're going to leave tomorrow.
I said, I my God, tomorrow. It's impossible.
He said, no, it's possible, Tomorrow you're going to leave and take yourself in my hands and I'm going to do the very best for you to be able to do this role, which I think you are the perfect role for the part that Marotta who was the writer of the book, wrote.
KING: Did you enjoy doing it?
LOREN: I did. The next day, I went to Naples. I started to do the test. And I started to do the films. And that was my fortune.
KING: And then along came falling in love with Ponti, right?
LOREN: One thing at a time.
KING: I know, but that one thing led to another, as they say?
LOREN: Yes, of course. Of course, it does, but it takes a little longer than a part in the film, yes.
KING: Everyone who has ever seen the both of you wonders what is special about this most important man in your life? What is special about Carlo Ponti?
LOREN: Carlo, I think that he understood exactly what I -- who I was, what I wanted from life, and later on what I was for him. Of course, it didn't take a few months. It didn't take one year, but maybe three or four years because I was very young.
KING: Were you very happy together?
LOREN: Yes, very, very happy together. We still are.
KING: Is he a good -- we'll ask his son in a couple minutes, was he -- is he a good father?
LOREN: He's a good father. He's a good husband. He's a wonderful person. He's a very discreet person. And, I mean, is just great. Carlo is just great for me. He's always been great for me and for our family, yes.
KING: You use the word discreet a lot. Obviously, that's important to you.
LOREN: Oh, yes, because in our business if you're not discreet and you just splash everything out, your life and your feelings and, then it's really terrible. But I think in our life I think that when you are an actor, when you are a producer, you have to be very discreet about your personal life, and you have to be closed in, in harmony and in affection and in everything. Yes.
KING: We want to talk about other people you've worked with and we'll meet your son. We've we'll talk about the great Marcello Mastroianni, whom I've had the honor of knowing.
LOREN: Oh, yes. Please, do.
KING: and we'll talk about Gregory Peck. And of course, Marlon Brando.
We'll be back with Sophia Loren. In a little while, we'll meet her son, Edoardo Ponti. In the world of film as well. He kind of grew up in it.
Back with more of Sophia after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG")
LOREN: No, I won't.
MARLON BRANDO, ACTOR: You're crazy.
LOREN: Maybe.
BRANDO: Where are you going?
LOREN: To (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Don't worry. I'll keep your spotless reputation out of it. I'll tell them I've been hiding in second class.
BRANDO: Why the sudden change of attitude?
LOREN: Why yours?
BRANDO: You know why.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Sophia Loren. She is the godmother of the Mediterranean Shipping Cruiseline. They've had the ship Lirica, and she's aboard the Opera docked in Ft. Lauderdale. In a little while, we'll meet her son, Edoardo. But we want to talk about some other people she worked with. Before we get to that, though, tell me how your health is doing. I remember that you had that irregular heartbeat a few years ago. You were rushed to the hospital. What happened?
LOREN: Did I? Did I?
KING: That's what it says here. That you'd suffered a heart attack.
LOREN: I don't know, I don't know, I forgot all about it. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.
KING: Your health is good, ah. We must be, as they say, discreet.
LOREN: No, no, no. I'm fine. I'm fine.
KING: You worked with Marlon Brando in "Countess From Hong Kong." Brando appeared on this show, I got to know him pretty well. What was it like with him?
LOREN: With Marlon, I never had the chance really to know him really very well. Marlon was a very difficult person to know. One day, we were doing a scene in a film -- in the film with Charlie Chaplin, and so it was something that he had to really, how do you say, pat my back like this. You know, pat my back like this? And I said don't do that, because I don't like it, before shooting.
So he did while we were shooting. And I said, don't do that ever again, because I'm going to slap you right in your face. So he was very upset about it, because I said -- I said, why do you do that? I mean, do you like women? I mean, why don't you like women? I mean, why did you do that to me? I didn't do anything to you.
KING: How good an actor was he?
LOREN: So he just calmed -- he calmed down a little bit. And then we went on with the scene, and everything was all right.
KING: Great actor, though?
LOREN: Great, great actor. Great actor. But a little bit, a little bit, you know -- a little bit confused inside of himself.
KING: Always.
LOREN: Didn't you think so?
KING: We mentioned Cary Grant before.
LOREN: It's not -- I mean, it's not his fault. It's nature.
KING: It's him.
LOREN: It's nature. It's nature.
KING: We mentioned Cary Grant before. You worked with him in "Houseboat," a great film that keeps getting played everywhere.
LOREN: Yes.
KING: What was it like to work with him?
LOREN: Beautiful, beautiful. Cary was absolutely beautiful to work when I was there in "Houseboat," and he helped me a lot, and with my English, which was, I mean, we are talking about the beginning, when I was coming -- when I came to America in the beginning. And it was one of my first films, "Houseboat," when I came to America. And he really helped me a lot. And he was of a great, great help, and I really loved him dearly.
KING: You worked with John Wayne, right? What, "Legend of the Lost?"
LOREN: Yeah, but we did this in -- in Libya, which is in Europe (ph), yes.
KING: What was he like?
LOREN: Wonderful person. Wonderful person, because he'd let me do whatever I wanted to do, and he said, she's so young, let her go wherever she wants to go. That's what he said to me. Yes. No, he didn't say this to me, but he has said that to the production.
KING: And how about Mr. Mastroianni, the great Marcello Mastroianni?
LOREN: Well, Mastroianni is my husband in the films, you know. I've been working with him for so much times, so long, 20 years of my life I've been working with him. We always went very really accordingly, very well together. Very well together. And it -- it was wonderful, a wonderful friendship between us. Wonderful.
KING: He was a great man. He died too soon. And Gregory Peck?
LOREN: Unfortunately, yes.
KING: Gregory Peck. "Arabesque" you did with him.
LOREN: I just did one film with him, with Gregory. And it was great. It was great. I mean, I loved him, and when I saw him again, when he gave me the Oscar for something?
KING: Yeah, he presented it.
LOREN: Yeah, yeah, I was very happy to see him.
KING: And how about our friend, Mr. Sinatra?
LOREN: And hug him and embrace him.
KING: How about Mr. Sinatra?
LOREN: He was a little -- I mean, I loved, I mean, I loved Sinatra. I mean, my youth has always been of Sinatra, of all his songs, of all whatever he did. So it was really beautiful for me to work with him.
KING: "The Pride and the Passion."
LOREN: "The Pride and" -- yeah, "The Pride and the Passion."
KING: Before we bring Edoardo in, I want to ask you about one other. You worked with Charlton Heston in "El Cid." Mr. Heston, as you know, has Alzheimer's now. We haven't heard from him in quite a while. Did you like working with Charlton?
LOREN: Beautiful, beautiful, yes. Wonderful, discreet person. Wonderful professional, and I think I did one of the most beautiful films I've done for American productions, "El Cid," yes.
KING: We'll take a break and be back and Sophia Loren will be joined by her son, Edoardo. Maybe this is a first. Mother and son together on television tonight. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARY GRANT, ACTOR: Cinzia, would you do me a favor? Will you do me the honor of accompanying me to the country club dance tonight?
LOREN: Me? I?
GRANT: Yes.
LOREN: With you?
GRANT: Me. I.
LOREN: Of course, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOREN: You don't know how I felt, holding her in my arms. If only I didn't let go that day. My father didn't take my daughter away from me, Max. I gave her up myself.
GERARD DEPARDIEU, ACTOR: Olivia, you were only a child.
LOREN: I could have held on tighter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back. Joining us, Sophia Loren of course remains with us in this segment. In the last segment, we'll talk alone with Edoardo. But she's with us now. The legendary leading lady of the silver screen aboard the MSC Opera. And here in Los Angeles, Edoardo Ponti, filmmaker and son of Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti. Where, Edoardo, are you in the pecking order of children?
EDOARDO PONTI, SON OF SOPHIA LOREN: I'm the youngest one.
KING: You're the baby.
PONTI: I'm the baby.
KING: Is he still your baby, Sophia?
LOREN: I know, I know.
KING: He's still your baby. How many brothers and sisters?
PONTI: I have one brother, Carlo. He's a conductor.
KING: Are you close with your dad, too?
PONTI: Yes, very close, absolutely.
KING: All right. What kind of mother was she, is she?
PONTI: She's both generous and strict. You know, she's a woman who really, both my parents are people who really let us follow our dreams, you know, never really told us that we should be lawyers or doctors or -- really just let us be ourselves.
KING: Generous and strict. In other words, you can take the car, but be back at 10:00.
PONTI: Absolutely. I think it grounded us, tremendously. It was very important.
KING: Sophia, what kind of son is Edoardo?
LOREN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
KING: What does that mean?
LOREN: No, I said can I speak Italian with him, which I don't think I can.
KING: I like this.
LOREN: They're both wonderful children. Wonderful children. They have chosen their profession, as they wanted to without me interfering into what they wanted to do, and I'm very happy of how they are growing in life. Yes.
KING: Now, you directed your mother in the film "Between Strangers." What was it like -- before we ask Sophia, for her, what was it like for you to direct your mother?
PONTI: It's quite interesting, because it was in some sense the most natural thing in the world. She's such a professional that when we got on the set, there was no question, she was completely in the service of the movie, of the moment. I tell you, in some funny way, the biggest challenge -- I mean, of course, the challenge of working with any actor is a big challenge. We had that challenge. As far as her being my mother, the biggest challenge was what am I going to call her on the set? Am I going to call her mom? A director called his leading actress mom is a bit of a problem. So I felt, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to call her Olivia which is the name of the character. So we start the first day of shooting and the first day goes on, and then I say cut, mamina, let's do this again. And this is how I've been calling her all my life, mamina. And so by the end of the first week, the whole crew called her mamina as well. Well, this is what it is.
KING: What was it like to be directed by him, Sophia?
LOREN: It was very -- not really very difficult. But it was a little strange for me to be directed by my son. But at the end of it, it was really the most wonderful experience of my life.
KING: Because?
LOREN: Well, because we knew each other very well, and we had discussed the part that we had to do in the beginning of the film together. And it was something that we had discussed already.
KING: Back with more of Sophia after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You forgot your book. Have we met before?
LOREN: I'm your biggest fan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what my mother always say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amanda, Amanda, I'm sorry but people are waiting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks for coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOREN: Doctor, hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's not my patient. Get dressed, please.
LOREN: You're rude and insufferable. But you inspire confidence as a doctor. Examine me, thoroughly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE, with Sophia Loren and her son, the filmmaker, Edoardo Ponti. Why did you choose film? PONTI: Film has really always been in my blood. Film is always something that -- I mean, I started when I was very young, writing. And film, for me, was a natural progression to that.
KING: Was it tough being the son of Carlo Ponti, the son of Sophia Loren?
PONTI: I think in some ways, it's tough, because people have certain expectations. And in some ways, it's a great opportunity, not because so much, you know, the kind of doors that are opened because of it, but really because all my life, I've been growing up with two people who are such a model of passion, such a model of work, such a model of a certain way of following their own dreams. And that's a great model to have growing up.
KING: So you had the benefit of that. They were not a show business type then?
PONTI: Not at all. I mean, we've never been a show business family. I mean, show business is what we do, not what we are.
KING: But she had that image, did she not? And still has it, of the beauty.
PONTI: I think that clearly -- but I think what people really are drawn to in my mother, and as we can see also here today, is how grounded she is. You know, she's never really been this sex symbol, you know. I mean, at home never. For me, I even told a person the other day, you know, that she's always been my mother first and Sophia Loren a distant second. Distant second. It was never part of our life, you know. She was my mother. And really, I think that in her life, her biggest desire has been to be a mother.
KING: Growing up, did you go to her movies?
PONTI: To her sets, you mean?
KING: Yeah, or to watch the films when they're done.
PONTI: Oh, sure, absolutely.
KING: What was that like for you?
PONTI: You know, it's always been what I've known. You know, I haven't known anything else, really. So it's been -- it was very natural, you know. She does this job and I would see her act, and I think like that.
KING: But you knew mom was famous?
PONTI: Yes, absolutely, yeah.
KING: Did -- how did that affect you, Sophia, to both be famous and raise a family?
LOREN: I don't know. It's something that, I mean, if you raise a family, it's not because you're -- it's famous, I mean, you're famous, you're famous, I mean...
KING: Yeah, but did it affect you? In other words, you had to take time away from them? You had to go make movies? You were in the public eye...
LOREN: No, absolutely not.
(CROSSTALK)
LOREN: I mean, my important thing, it was to be able to have a family of my own, to take care of my children and then maybe, if something would come out for my professional thing, then I would take it. No, no, no, absolutely not. No, no.
KING: When is your next movie, Edoardo?
PONTI: I'll be shooting my next movie in April. It's called "Searching for Everardo," and is the true story of Jennifer Harbury, who in the 1990s went to Guatemala to write a book about the URNG rebel soldiers, and she fell in love with one of their leaders. They got married in the United States, and he went back after a few months to fight in Guatemala, the military dictatorship, and he disappeared. And the story basically traces the journey of this woman, who defies the Guatemalan and Washington governments to find her husband, and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) hunger strike.
KING: Where are you shooting?
PONTI: We're shooting actually part of it in Mexico, in the Canary Islands, and in Washington.
KING: Good luck to you.
PONTI: Thank you very much.
KING: Always good seeing you. We first met in Toronto.
Sophia, keep on -- you look lovely, Sophia. Thank you.
LOREN: Thank you. Give my love to your son -- to my son.
KING: Blow a kiss.
PONTI: (SPEAKING ITALIAN).
LOREN: (SPEAKING ITALIAN).
KING: Edoardo Ponti and Sophia Loren on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE. I'll be back in a minute to tell you about tomorrow night. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Thanks for joining us on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE with Sophia Loren and her son, Edoardo. Stay tuned now for Aaron Brown and "NEWSNIGHT." Tomorrow night, we'll be back with a program dealing with psychic detectives. These are psychics who help solve crimes. That's tomorrow night. Aaron Brown, who solves something every night, is next on "NEWSNIGHT." Thanks for joining us and good night.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 11, 2004 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, Sophia Loren, an all too rare one on one with a living legend, an international sex symbol, a groundbreaking, Oscar-winning actress. She's an icon who doesn't do interviews but she's talking us. The one, the only Sophia Loren is next on LARRY KING LIVE.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: It's been nine years since she's been with us, and what a great honor to have aboard on LARRY KING LIVE tonight, and aboard is the correct word, Sophia Loren, the legendary leading lady of the silver screen, Academy Award winner for her 1962 best actress performance in the brilliant "Two Women." She's with us aboard the MSC Opera, docked now in Fort Lauderdale. Later, we'll be joined by her son, the filmmaker Edoardo Ponti. Sophia -- first, what are you doing on a cruise ship?
SOPHIA LOREN, ACTRESS: I always try to have a vacation. This time I came here because I was the godmother of this ship and also the other ship that I christened a year, just a year ago, which was called Lyrica and so here I am, talking with you, and trying to explain what I'm doing here.
KING: So we have the Mediterranean shipping cruise, Lyrica and now we have the Mediterranean shipping cruise, Opera. Does that mean Opera is featured on board?
LOREN: What do you mean, featured on board?
KING: Do they sing opera on the ship?
LOREN: No, no, no. This is just the name that they gave to this ship and they are going to do two more cruises ship later on, which I don't know how they're going to call them. But I think it's a very good idea to call the ship Opera and the other one Lyrica.
KING: How did you get to be its godmother.
LOREN: I do because I'm a great friend of family and I always like to be very close when there's a big event in a family that I really respect. These people that -- Ponti family, I respect really a great deal.
KING: Have you sailed the ship much? LOREN: No -- yes, I did once. And I was on a cruise once and I had really a wonderful time. And I have in mind to do it once more now with my children, and with their girlfriends and Carlo, my eldest son, with his wife, because he's married. And we hope to have a wonderful time and I think we will.
KING: It's hard to believe, I guess we can say, you are 70 years old?
LOREN: Shh.
KING: Well, no, I say this because you should be complimented.
LOREN: How old are you, Larry?
KING: I'm 71.
LOREN: You are older, much older than me
KING: Much older. You look amazing.
LOREN: Thank you. You do too, because I see you every day when I am in Geneva and you look absolutely incredible.
KING: Oh, well there will be never be another Sophia Loren. I understand you're currently making a movie with F. Murray Abraham?
LOREN: I did a film with him about three months ago. And it's coming out maybe quite soon. And I really had a wonderful time with him. And the director was Lina Wertmuller, and I really enjoyed every moment of it. It's a nice, wonderful comedy.
KING: It's called "Peperoni Ripieni E Pesci In Faccia." Did I pronounce that right?
LOREN: No, no. Pesci in Faccia. You tell Edoardo to translate it for you.
KING: What is its English title?
LOREN: Filled up with pepperoni and fish smashed in your face.
KING: What was it like working with Mr. Abraham, another Academy Award winner?
LOREN: Wonderful, wonderful. He's a wonderful, discreet person and he's a great actor, and he can do anything from drama to comedies. And really, we had a wonderful time together.
KING: Is it true the better the other actor the better you are?
LOREN: Of course it is. Of course. It goes without saying, yes.
KING: They rise to your occasion, you rise to their occasion?
LOREN: Of course, yes.
KING: We have not talked to you since the passing of both Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. And you did, of course, those wonderful "Grumpy Old Men." What your memories, first, of Matthau?
LOREN: As soon as I saw him, I fell in love with him, because he was a great, great person. Great heart and he was always beside me, because he knew that I was in a crew that was not like in Italy, you know. And he helped me a lot. So I will never forget him. And also, I also went to his home many times and I met his wife. They were a great couple. Great couple. I miss him -- both very much.
KING: So do I. And Jack Lemmon?
LOREN: Jack Lemmon was great. Jack Lemmon was much more discreet than Walter was, because Walter was much in the air like this. But Jack was much more discreet and much more conservative. I didn't know him very much when I was doing the film. But I could guess that he was appreciating working with me and really giving me as much as he could. Yes.
KING: You've done both comedy and drama. Do you have a preference?
LOREN: Huh?
KING: Do you like comedy better than drama?
LOREN: You cannot say, because I am from Naples so I like the mixture of drama and comedy all together. And I've done that in many films I have done with the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Coming from the "Gold of Naples" and then "Marriage: Italian Style" and then more other films. Because I did with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I worked with him I worked with him 20 years of my life. So life is not only comedy, life is not only drama. It is a mixture of both. With him, I was able to do so.
KING: Does it seem like 42 years since you won that Academy Award?
LOREN: What are you saying? I don't know. I forgot.
KING: Time goes so fast.
LOREN: But it was a great feeling and it was like it was yesterday when I won it, really. You can never forget when you win an Oscar. Never, never, never.
KING: Our guest is Sophia Loren. She's aboard the MSC Opera docked in Fort Lauderdale. Her son will join us later. We'll be right back. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOREN: Who gave you this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Florine (ph). LOREN: And what for?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To wear.
LOREN: To wear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.
LOREN: Don't you ever say sure to me like that, do you hear? You will not put those stockings on. You will not put them on. You will not put them on. You will not put them on. Now I'm going to smack his face that dirty pig!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Momma.
LOREN: Angel. Hey, sweet angel. Forgive me. Please forgive me. Stop it, Rosa, please. Come here, Rosa. Come, sweet angel. Please, stop crying. Please. Please.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with the brilliant, talented, beautiful Sophia Loren. There she is, pointing right where she's supposed to look. Sophia Loren is aboard the MSC Opera docked in Ft. Lauderdale. She is the ship's god mother. Back to the Academy Award night. You were not there.
LOREN: What do you mean I was not there? I'm here.
KING: Didn't Greer Garson accept your academy award for you?
LOREN: Oh, oh yes. Yes, because I never thought I was going to win the Oscar. That's why I was left -- I mean, I didn't leave for Los Angeles and I was in Rome. And when -- when the time went by during the night and I received a phone call from Cary Grant, saying "You won! You won!" I said, "I won what?" I mean, time went by and I didn't win anything. He said in, No, you won the Oscar for "Two Women."
Yes. It was a...
KING: What a feeling that must have been.
LOREN: It was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful moment. Yes. Never forget it.
KING: Tell me about Cary Grant and your friendship.
LOREN: It's very -- we did a picture together called "The Pride and the Passion" and so we worked together very well. And my English was very shaky and so he tried to help me. Then little by little, we went into a nice relationship, but never very wild. I mean, something very nice and very discreet. So, I will never really forget Cary because he really stays in my soul and in my heart.
KING: Why? What was so special about him?
LOREN: Because he was a nice person. Because he was a nice man. And because he loved me a great deal.
KING: That's a pretty good reason to miss someone and think of them. I never heard a bad thing about him.
LOREN: Never, never. Me too.
KING: OK. You also got the honorary Oscar in 1991, just for your career. And I remember that night very well. What a thrill that must be to be honored just for everything you do.
LOREN: Well, it was because to be honored for your career, it means that you are honored for every little thing, say every little film, every films that you did. So it's everything in lighten up that brings everything all together for the career of an actor. So it's something very important to me. Maybe even more than the one I relieved for the Oscar for one film.
When you are -- when you are -- when you have an Oscar for your Career, it means that you have the whole films that you have done in your career for an Oscar. And so it was really something really great that I never expected. Never expected from America. Because I'm an Italian actress and so I've done many films. Italian films, French films, American films. So when they called me that I had won for my career an Oscar, I was really more pleased than I was when I won for "Two Women," actually.
KING: Why do you like acting so much?
LOREN: What thing?
KING: Acting. Why do you like acting?
LOREN: What do you mean, why do I like acting? I'm an actress.
KING: As a career...
LOREN: I'm an actress.
KING: What is it...
LOREN: I'm an actress. I'm an actress. It's my passion. It's -- I've always lived for acting. I always wanted to be an actress since I was 12 years -- 12 -- 12-years-old. So I mean, and still now, I feel 12-years-old and I feel every picture I do, I feel it is my first picture in my career. I love so it much. Really so much. So much.
KING: Did it bother you when it started out that you were treated as a sex symbol?
They were looking more at how you looked than at your talent?
LOREN: Well, they did. But I think to -- to be able to be a sex symbol, for an actress, I mean, for a woman -- not for an actress, for a woman, I think it's very gratifying. I like it, I mean, because it's a question of vanity. But it doesn't mean anything to me really much. It's what I do in my life as an actress. It's what I can give to the public, as ever picture I make. It's what I can give the emotions to the public every pictures I make. This is what is important to me. Nothing else, nothing else, nothing else.
KING: But you didn't mind at the beginning, people were taking you on the way you looked?
LOREN: I don't care. I mean, it was their business. I mean if it was for me to have myself to be able to go forward in my career, it's up to them. But I never thought about this, really. It was never serious to me. Never, never. What I wanted to give was what I felt inside was my emotion and what I wanted to be in the future. And I started when I was 15-years-old. I was very young.
KING: In movie, or did you do theater?
LOREN: Don't ask me that. I'm a very shy person and I never tried to do theater. I've been asked many, many times by the most incredible authors in America to do theater. And I always said no not knowing what it is to be on the stage, and to do theater. So I don't know what to answer you. I have no idea. I have no idea.
KING: We'll be right back with Sophia Loren and in a while we'll be meeting her son, filmmaker, Edoardo. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOREN: I had no hope, no purpose, until a man who was the son of the shoemaker came. He gave us a reason to live, to fight. That was Miguel.
JAMES STEWART, ACTOR: Well, then, I'd say you've been grateful long enough.
LOREN: I am staying with him.
STEWART: You mean you're living with him, but you don't love him. That's the part of you that's cheap.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOREN: Move over, the roof is leaking again.
PAUL NEWMAN, ACTOR: I can't move over. We've in touch with nature. We'll just lie here like great lovers and die of starvation in each other's arms. What do you say? The children will be brought up on the tragic story from Armand and Louise.
LOREN: All right, but first change places, hm?
NEWMAN: You want me to get soaked.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Sophia Loren.
Let's talk about you can't talk about Sophia Loren without talking about Carlo Ponti, he is now 91. He will celebrate his 92nd birthday on December 11. That's in a couple of weeks.
LOREN: Yes.
KING: You had your marriage annulled just to save him from bigomy charges. You've shared credits on three dozen films. He's been a father, a lover, a husband, a guide in your life. He's been -- tell me about that relationship. Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti. How did you meet?
LOREN: We met a long time ago. We met a long time ago in a nightclub where there were doing a competition of Miss Italia or something. And he said to me, I'm a great producer -- because I didn't know. I mean, I was coming from Pozzuoli, which is a little town near Naples.
And I said, so? What do you want from me. I was almost 15 when I met him.
And so he said, maybe I can help you in doing something in the movies.
And I said, OK.
I was trying. I mean, I was trying. I didn't know what I was doing, because I was there with my mother. She was always on my side.
And one day, he said to me come to my office and we talk a little bit about it.
So I did go to his office. And he said that he could help me in doing somthing that maybe could develop in something else. But he still, he didn't know himself which was absolutely right.
And so he was doing -- he had to do a picture called the Gold of Naples. And so this picture, I said -- and I said to him, I said, what is the Gold of Naples. he said it's taken from the book of a great author in Italy called Marotta.
And he said, I would like you to present you to Victoria De Sica. So about a week after that, we had an appointment with De Sica. And De Sica talked to me. And I he said, I don't have to do any little essay with you because I think your absolutely right for the role of Sophia, which was the name of the book.
And so I said, well, OK. What do you think I'm going to leave?
You're going to leave tomorrow.
I said, I my God, tomorrow. It's impossible.
He said, no, it's possible, Tomorrow you're going to leave and take yourself in my hands and I'm going to do the very best for you to be able to do this role, which I think you are the perfect role for the part that Marotta who was the writer of the book, wrote.
KING: Did you enjoy doing it?
LOREN: I did. The next day, I went to Naples. I started to do the test. And I started to do the films. And that was my fortune.
KING: And then along came falling in love with Ponti, right?
LOREN: One thing at a time.
KING: I know, but that one thing led to another, as they say?
LOREN: Yes, of course. Of course, it does, but it takes a little longer than a part in the film, yes.
KING: Everyone who has ever seen the both of you wonders what is special about this most important man in your life? What is special about Carlo Ponti?
LOREN: Carlo, I think that he understood exactly what I -- who I was, what I wanted from life, and later on what I was for him. Of course, it didn't take a few months. It didn't take one year, but maybe three or four years because I was very young.
KING: Were you very happy together?
LOREN: Yes, very, very happy together. We still are.
KING: Is he a good -- we'll ask his son in a couple minutes, was he -- is he a good father?
LOREN: He's a good father. He's a good husband. He's a wonderful person. He's a very discreet person. And, I mean, is just great. Carlo is just great for me. He's always been great for me and for our family, yes.
KING: You use the word discreet a lot. Obviously, that's important to you.
LOREN: Oh, yes, because in our business if you're not discreet and you just splash everything out, your life and your feelings and, then it's really terrible. But I think in our life I think that when you are an actor, when you are a producer, you have to be very discreet about your personal life, and you have to be closed in, in harmony and in affection and in everything. Yes.
KING: We want to talk about other people you've worked with and we'll meet your son. We've we'll talk about the great Marcello Mastroianni, whom I've had the honor of knowing.
LOREN: Oh, yes. Please, do.
KING: and we'll talk about Gregory Peck. And of course, Marlon Brando.
We'll be back with Sophia Loren. In a little while, we'll meet her son, Edoardo Ponti. In the world of film as well. He kind of grew up in it.
Back with more of Sophia after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG")
LOREN: No, I won't.
MARLON BRANDO, ACTOR: You're crazy.
LOREN: Maybe.
BRANDO: Where are you going?
LOREN: To (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Don't worry. I'll keep your spotless reputation out of it. I'll tell them I've been hiding in second class.
BRANDO: Why the sudden change of attitude?
LOREN: Why yours?
BRANDO: You know why.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Sophia Loren. She is the godmother of the Mediterranean Shipping Cruiseline. They've had the ship Lirica, and she's aboard the Opera docked in Ft. Lauderdale. In a little while, we'll meet her son, Edoardo. But we want to talk about some other people she worked with. Before we get to that, though, tell me how your health is doing. I remember that you had that irregular heartbeat a few years ago. You were rushed to the hospital. What happened?
LOREN: Did I? Did I?
KING: That's what it says here. That you'd suffered a heart attack.
LOREN: I don't know, I don't know, I forgot all about it. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.
KING: Your health is good, ah. We must be, as they say, discreet.
LOREN: No, no, no. I'm fine. I'm fine.
KING: You worked with Marlon Brando in "Countess From Hong Kong." Brando appeared on this show, I got to know him pretty well. What was it like with him?
LOREN: With Marlon, I never had the chance really to know him really very well. Marlon was a very difficult person to know. One day, we were doing a scene in a film -- in the film with Charlie Chaplin, and so it was something that he had to really, how do you say, pat my back like this. You know, pat my back like this? And I said don't do that, because I don't like it, before shooting.
So he did while we were shooting. And I said, don't do that ever again, because I'm going to slap you right in your face. So he was very upset about it, because I said -- I said, why do you do that? I mean, do you like women? I mean, why don't you like women? I mean, why did you do that to me? I didn't do anything to you.
KING: How good an actor was he?
LOREN: So he just calmed -- he calmed down a little bit. And then we went on with the scene, and everything was all right.
KING: Great actor, though?
LOREN: Great, great actor. Great actor. But a little bit, a little bit, you know -- a little bit confused inside of himself.
KING: Always.
LOREN: Didn't you think so?
KING: We mentioned Cary Grant before.
LOREN: It's not -- I mean, it's not his fault. It's nature.
KING: It's him.
LOREN: It's nature. It's nature.
KING: We mentioned Cary Grant before. You worked with him in "Houseboat," a great film that keeps getting played everywhere.
LOREN: Yes.
KING: What was it like to work with him?
LOREN: Beautiful, beautiful. Cary was absolutely beautiful to work when I was there in "Houseboat," and he helped me a lot, and with my English, which was, I mean, we are talking about the beginning, when I was coming -- when I came to America in the beginning. And it was one of my first films, "Houseboat," when I came to America. And he really helped me a lot. And he was of a great, great help, and I really loved him dearly.
KING: You worked with John Wayne, right? What, "Legend of the Lost?"
LOREN: Yeah, but we did this in -- in Libya, which is in Europe (ph), yes.
KING: What was he like?
LOREN: Wonderful person. Wonderful person, because he'd let me do whatever I wanted to do, and he said, she's so young, let her go wherever she wants to go. That's what he said to me. Yes. No, he didn't say this to me, but he has said that to the production.
KING: And how about Mr. Mastroianni, the great Marcello Mastroianni?
LOREN: Well, Mastroianni is my husband in the films, you know. I've been working with him for so much times, so long, 20 years of my life I've been working with him. We always went very really accordingly, very well together. Very well together. And it -- it was wonderful, a wonderful friendship between us. Wonderful.
KING: He was a great man. He died too soon. And Gregory Peck?
LOREN: Unfortunately, yes.
KING: Gregory Peck. "Arabesque" you did with him.
LOREN: I just did one film with him, with Gregory. And it was great. It was great. I mean, I loved him, and when I saw him again, when he gave me the Oscar for something?
KING: Yeah, he presented it.
LOREN: Yeah, yeah, I was very happy to see him.
KING: And how about our friend, Mr. Sinatra?
LOREN: And hug him and embrace him.
KING: How about Mr. Sinatra?
LOREN: He was a little -- I mean, I loved, I mean, I loved Sinatra. I mean, my youth has always been of Sinatra, of all his songs, of all whatever he did. So it was really beautiful for me to work with him.
KING: "The Pride and the Passion."
LOREN: "The Pride and" -- yeah, "The Pride and the Passion."
KING: Before we bring Edoardo in, I want to ask you about one other. You worked with Charlton Heston in "El Cid." Mr. Heston, as you know, has Alzheimer's now. We haven't heard from him in quite a while. Did you like working with Charlton?
LOREN: Beautiful, beautiful, yes. Wonderful, discreet person. Wonderful professional, and I think I did one of the most beautiful films I've done for American productions, "El Cid," yes.
KING: We'll take a break and be back and Sophia Loren will be joined by her son, Edoardo. Maybe this is a first. Mother and son together on television tonight. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARY GRANT, ACTOR: Cinzia, would you do me a favor? Will you do me the honor of accompanying me to the country club dance tonight?
LOREN: Me? I?
GRANT: Yes.
LOREN: With you?
GRANT: Me. I.
LOREN: Of course, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOREN: You don't know how I felt, holding her in my arms. If only I didn't let go that day. My father didn't take my daughter away from me, Max. I gave her up myself.
GERARD DEPARDIEU, ACTOR: Olivia, you were only a child.
LOREN: I could have held on tighter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back. Joining us, Sophia Loren of course remains with us in this segment. In the last segment, we'll talk alone with Edoardo. But she's with us now. The legendary leading lady of the silver screen aboard the MSC Opera. And here in Los Angeles, Edoardo Ponti, filmmaker and son of Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti. Where, Edoardo, are you in the pecking order of children?
EDOARDO PONTI, SON OF SOPHIA LOREN: I'm the youngest one.
KING: You're the baby.
PONTI: I'm the baby.
KING: Is he still your baby, Sophia?
LOREN: I know, I know.
KING: He's still your baby. How many brothers and sisters?
PONTI: I have one brother, Carlo. He's a conductor.
KING: Are you close with your dad, too?
PONTI: Yes, very close, absolutely.
KING: All right. What kind of mother was she, is she?
PONTI: She's both generous and strict. You know, she's a woman who really, both my parents are people who really let us follow our dreams, you know, never really told us that we should be lawyers or doctors or -- really just let us be ourselves.
KING: Generous and strict. In other words, you can take the car, but be back at 10:00.
PONTI: Absolutely. I think it grounded us, tremendously. It was very important.
KING: Sophia, what kind of son is Edoardo?
LOREN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
KING: What does that mean?
LOREN: No, I said can I speak Italian with him, which I don't think I can.
KING: I like this.
LOREN: They're both wonderful children. Wonderful children. They have chosen their profession, as they wanted to without me interfering into what they wanted to do, and I'm very happy of how they are growing in life. Yes.
KING: Now, you directed your mother in the film "Between Strangers." What was it like -- before we ask Sophia, for her, what was it like for you to direct your mother?
PONTI: It's quite interesting, because it was in some sense the most natural thing in the world. She's such a professional that when we got on the set, there was no question, she was completely in the service of the movie, of the moment. I tell you, in some funny way, the biggest challenge -- I mean, of course, the challenge of working with any actor is a big challenge. We had that challenge. As far as her being my mother, the biggest challenge was what am I going to call her on the set? Am I going to call her mom? A director called his leading actress mom is a bit of a problem. So I felt, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to call her Olivia which is the name of the character. So we start the first day of shooting and the first day goes on, and then I say cut, mamina, let's do this again. And this is how I've been calling her all my life, mamina. And so by the end of the first week, the whole crew called her mamina as well. Well, this is what it is.
KING: What was it like to be directed by him, Sophia?
LOREN: It was very -- not really very difficult. But it was a little strange for me to be directed by my son. But at the end of it, it was really the most wonderful experience of my life.
KING: Because?
LOREN: Well, because we knew each other very well, and we had discussed the part that we had to do in the beginning of the film together. And it was something that we had discussed already.
KING: Back with more of Sophia after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You forgot your book. Have we met before?
LOREN: I'm your biggest fan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what my mother always say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amanda, Amanda, I'm sorry but people are waiting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks for coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOREN: Doctor, hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's not my patient. Get dressed, please.
LOREN: You're rude and insufferable. But you inspire confidence as a doctor. Examine me, thoroughly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE, with Sophia Loren and her son, the filmmaker, Edoardo Ponti. Why did you choose film? PONTI: Film has really always been in my blood. Film is always something that -- I mean, I started when I was very young, writing. And film, for me, was a natural progression to that.
KING: Was it tough being the son of Carlo Ponti, the son of Sophia Loren?
PONTI: I think in some ways, it's tough, because people have certain expectations. And in some ways, it's a great opportunity, not because so much, you know, the kind of doors that are opened because of it, but really because all my life, I've been growing up with two people who are such a model of passion, such a model of work, such a model of a certain way of following their own dreams. And that's a great model to have growing up.
KING: So you had the benefit of that. They were not a show business type then?
PONTI: Not at all. I mean, we've never been a show business family. I mean, show business is what we do, not what we are.
KING: But she had that image, did she not? And still has it, of the beauty.
PONTI: I think that clearly -- but I think what people really are drawn to in my mother, and as we can see also here today, is how grounded she is. You know, she's never really been this sex symbol, you know. I mean, at home never. For me, I even told a person the other day, you know, that she's always been my mother first and Sophia Loren a distant second. Distant second. It was never part of our life, you know. She was my mother. And really, I think that in her life, her biggest desire has been to be a mother.
KING: Growing up, did you go to her movies?
PONTI: To her sets, you mean?
KING: Yeah, or to watch the films when they're done.
PONTI: Oh, sure, absolutely.
KING: What was that like for you?
PONTI: You know, it's always been what I've known. You know, I haven't known anything else, really. So it's been -- it was very natural, you know. She does this job and I would see her act, and I think like that.
KING: But you knew mom was famous?
PONTI: Yes, absolutely, yeah.
KING: Did -- how did that affect you, Sophia, to both be famous and raise a family?
LOREN: I don't know. It's something that, I mean, if you raise a family, it's not because you're -- it's famous, I mean, you're famous, you're famous, I mean...
KING: Yeah, but did it affect you? In other words, you had to take time away from them? You had to go make movies? You were in the public eye...
LOREN: No, absolutely not.
(CROSSTALK)
LOREN: I mean, my important thing, it was to be able to have a family of my own, to take care of my children and then maybe, if something would come out for my professional thing, then I would take it. No, no, no, absolutely not. No, no.
KING: When is your next movie, Edoardo?
PONTI: I'll be shooting my next movie in April. It's called "Searching for Everardo," and is the true story of Jennifer Harbury, who in the 1990s went to Guatemala to write a book about the URNG rebel soldiers, and she fell in love with one of their leaders. They got married in the United States, and he went back after a few months to fight in Guatemala, the military dictatorship, and he disappeared. And the story basically traces the journey of this woman, who defies the Guatemalan and Washington governments to find her husband, and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) hunger strike.
KING: Where are you shooting?
PONTI: We're shooting actually part of it in Mexico, in the Canary Islands, and in Washington.
KING: Good luck to you.
PONTI: Thank you very much.
KING: Always good seeing you. We first met in Toronto.
Sophia, keep on -- you look lovely, Sophia. Thank you.
LOREN: Thank you. Give my love to your son -- to my son.
KING: Blow a kiss.
PONTI: (SPEAKING ITALIAN).
LOREN: (SPEAKING ITALIAN).
KING: Edoardo Ponti and Sophia Loren on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE. I'll be back in a minute to tell you about tomorrow night. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Thanks for joining us on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE with Sophia Loren and her son, Edoardo. Stay tuned now for Aaron Brown and "NEWSNIGHT." Tomorrow night, we'll be back with a program dealing with psychic detectives. These are psychics who help solve crimes. That's tomorrow night. Aaron Brown, who solves something every night, is next on "NEWSNIGHT." Thanks for joining us and good night.
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