Abel Ferrara: So we made a film in Naples, called “Napoli Napoli Napoli” about the struggle of these women in prison. And then we kind of got out of that. One of our writers is Maurizio Baruch, a great, great writer. He doesn’t speak English that well, but it’s better than my Napoli. When you make a film in Naples, everybody is the director, like the idea of taking the actor aside is absolutely out of question, because everyone wants me to watch direct the actor... [Looking at the women on the screen] All right so here are the women in prison. They are getting the good news that they are going to get filmed. Look at these chicks man... Just being in prison changes your whole mentality, right? So everybody is game, obviously. This is our Angelina Jolie in prison. The minute she starts to speak in regular Italian, nobody gets it. They only speak Neapolitan. It’s amazing. [Referring to the man on the screen who is speaking] What is he saying?

Francesco Rulli: He is listening to you directing the actors, and he is getting experience and learning from that.

Abel Ferrara: Right, instead of getting paid [laughing]… but you were saying about Italy?

Francesco Rulli: Well, people look at it as a country, but we are the United States of Italy. We’ve been united since the late 1800s.

Abel Ferrara: Yeah, absolutely.

Francesco Rulli: For example, I am from Florence, but when I go to Bologna, people speak Bolognese or when I go to Genoa… We’re talking about an hour or two hours tops. It’s a different language.

Abel Ferrara: So it’s a different world, different culture, different food. The real beauty of Italy for me is that every city you go to is like a different country and so specifically different. I guess in the United States, Los Angeles is different than New York, like New Orleans, San Francisco are all very different cities. But in a country that is so small you know, it’s really quite amazing how different cities and people are.

Francesco Rulli: You know the DNA is different. You find people with red hair and blue eyes down in Sicily, because the Germans were down there for awhile, and then you find other people that look Arabic.

Abel Ferrara: No kidding. Naples is a beautiful place to make films. It’s tough to try and get everybody to be quiet though. Here is our production designer; he was working with me for a long time. This is not an actor; that’s a real guy. These two were actors and they’re playing out a story that’s real. It’s very funny because they are talking about a story that’s unfortunately true, where two guys in the Comoro were asked to kill their best friend, and they had no way out. But everything about it was very disgusting; they murdered the guy on a tennis court. Then they dress up like the head Mafioso and show up in a Mercedes with white their white shorts and pink shirts… You know it’s reality but it’s scary. And funniest point is that you are shooting a small piece with a small group, but then everybody has the relatives and nobody has anything better to do anyway. So now you got like fifty people, and you’re trying to shoot. [Pointing at the man on the screen] This is a great writer, and [pointing at the woman] this is Anita Pallenberg, Keith Richard’s wife. She lived in Italy for a long time… This is somebody’s house man; we didn’t touch anything. This is the financier; he is from Rome, but he actually loves working and shooting here. I mean this is a movie about every one of these guys. I shave when the money guy shows up.

WATCH Abel Ferrara's commentary on NAPOLI NAPOLI NAPOLI