March 26, 2025 • 13 mins
Netflix’s La Dolce Villa is serving up romance, pasta, and small-town Italian charm—with actor and model Giuseppe Futia at the heart of it all.
In this episode of Pride, Caitlynn McDaniel sits down with Giuseppe to talk about filming in his home country, why queer visibility still matters, and what it was like working with Mean Girls director Mark Waters. Plus, one simple trick to win someone over—Italian style.
🍝 Also in this episode:
Embracing queer joy on screen and off
The magic of Italian rom-coms, and how this one stands out
Flirting 101: It’s all in the eyes 👀
La Dolce Villa is now streaming on Netflix.
In this episode of Pride, Caitlynn McDaniel sits down with Giuseppe to talk about filming in his home country, why queer visibility still matters, and what it was like working with Mean Girls director Mark Waters. Plus, one simple trick to win someone over—Italian style.
🍝 Also in this episode:
Embracing queer joy on screen and off
The magic of Italian rom-coms, and how this one stands out
Flirting 101: It’s all in the eyes 👀
La Dolce Villa is now streaming on Netflix.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Strawut Media.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm a very reserved person, you know, on my own like,
I don't like to share details, but I do, especially
in The Less Tears, have made a point about sharing,
you know, my identity as a queer actor, because it's
just fundamental for people to learn that it's okay to
be that.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
This week on Pride, we're going to Italy. Not really,
but we are speaking with an Italian actor about his
new Netflix rom com based in Italy. So close enough.
I'm Caitlin and on Pride, I'm chatting with the stars,
creators and voices behind the shows, movies and music we love.
Starring Giuseppe Futia as the charming chef Giovanni ladulce Villa
(00:50):
is packed with romance, humor, and a whole lot of pasta. Today,
I'm sitting down with Giuseppe, an Italian actor and model
who went from growing up in Calabria to him making
waves in Hollywood. We'll chat about his journey from the
fashion world to the big screen, his love for complex characters,
and of course, his take on LGBTQ plus representation in media. Plus,
(01:12):
he's got some solid flirting tips that he wants to share.
So let's get into it. Hi, it's lovely to see you.
Congratulations on the film.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Thank you. Good to see you too.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I'm great, slightly jet legged, but very happy of all
the things that are happening, really happy.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Well, I just want to get started a little and
just learn more about you. I know you have a
couple of films to your name, but what really drew
you to acting and when did you know that this
is something you wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well. I a elementary school, I think for I think
you guys call it third grade. I don't know. I
was eight years old. They were doing this musical version
of Pinocchio, and I honestly was a very very shy kid,
but I I enjoyed, let you know, watching performing arts.
(02:16):
I'm like, but maybe I could do it too. And
then I auditioned for it and they were like, okay,
but you're only eight years old. This is a sixty
pages script. We're going to give you the younger Pinocchio role,
and we're going to give the other role to a
slightly older guy. And then the older guy got bored
with the thing, and so they ended up dumping the
(02:36):
whole script on me. The last week, and I was like, yes,
I'm going to take to it. I'm going to do it.
And I did it and it was a lot of fun,
you know. So then I was like, Okay, I think
I can do it. And just in the years, the
passion grew. So yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
I mean I love that. At eight, you were like,
I can take this sixty page script like piece of Yeah.
Do you have a favorite moment in your acting career
so far? It can be from this project or any
of your previous ones.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Oh, favorite moment in my career. That's such a hard question,
but there's a lot. The first one that I might
mention is, so I shot this soccer movie. I have
a small role where I played this goalie with the
Manette Brothers in Italy. But the beautiful thing is that
we shot that in Calabria, which is my you know,
(03:31):
native region in southern Italy. So I would just wake
up in my home, my actual homework I grew up,
then take a train and go to set and it
was beautiful, you know, just to experience that, that's one
aspect of it. Oh and also, yeah, I got bullied
a lot because I didn't know how to play soccer.
In my life in my younger years, and now I
(03:53):
was playing a goalie who was an expert at it.
So I'm like, this is cool. This is why I
love this craft. And from adult Tevilla, I have to
say the cooking classes that that's like a top tier
moment because we were working with top chefs in Italy.
They taught us how to make pasta and a stuff alike.
So I just I look myself in the mirror. I'm like, dude,
(04:17):
you're lucky. You know, not only you're back in your
country shooting like this amazing project, but you're also getting
free cooking classes. Doesn't get any better than that. True? True?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
What was your favoriteish that you created?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I mean, we learned to do profito, which is like
this French dessert and it's my favorite one. Also pizza
and pasta, so like the most basic Dohee things, and
so yeah, what's it? The peachy? You know this sort
of Tuscan Tuscany pasta which is like sort of like
a thicker spaghetti, so tasty, so simple but yet great.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
This is hungry. I shouldn't have asked this before breakfast.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
For Dame Girl.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So can you just talk a little bit more about
your character. The movie is described as a romantic dramedy
and you star alongside may Rafico, But can you just
talk through a little bit of Yeah, your character and
what he's up to.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah, you know, he's a talented chef. So the thing
that I focused most on is his passion for cooking,
and I sort of put that on the same level
of my passion for the arts and you know, and
acting and anything alike. I love when there's sort of
light motif. There's like some sort of an obsession that
(05:37):
a person has but a specific craft or thing that
they like to do. Like for example, my dad he
sells and fixes bikes and that's very niche. But he
not only does that, he also rides his bike every Sunday,
you know, he does like sixty and more kilometers. And
I find that fascinating. You take one thing that you
(05:59):
love and you obsessed over it for all your life.
So that's what Giovanni does with cooking. I sort of
imagine him wanting to open a second restaurant and grow
and get a micheline star. Of course, none of that
stuff is said in the movie, but she has that
coupled with, you know, his love for life, his charms.
(06:21):
So it was a very beautiful uh thing, a very
beautiful character to portray. It was like very soothing in
a way being Giovanni.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah, and you brought up his charm and I know
that he, you know, throughout the movie is trying to
charm Maya's character. Do you have any advice, like what
would be your tactic too for someone if they were
trying to charm their crush?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Oh, I like that question. Eye contact is key, just
you know, look at them, maybe not don't look at
them for a period of time that is going to
make them too embarrassed, but maybe slightly embarrassed because they're like,
what is this person doing? Is something in my teeth?
(07:05):
Is my hair out of place? Just make them, you
know a little bit look around and see are you looking?
Are you serious at me? And then you're gonna It's
just the first step to get their attention. So yeah,
eye contact.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Love that I have to ask. It also is directed
by Mark Waters. So what was it like working with
that icon iconic?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah? You see, I was gonna say it before you
a dream. I couldn't believe that he cast me on.
So that was so Oh, I am over at the
Moon happy about it. What I loved about his style
of directing is that it's just very fatherly, very bringing
everybody in a place where they feel comfortable at ease.
(08:00):
He always made sure to crack a joke when we
were on set, so just making anybody comfortable around him,
which is something that I admired a lot because not
every director that I worked with has done that, and
I really appreciated it because so far, this is the
you know, the biggest project I've been in. My pressure
(08:21):
was my adrenaline was you know, over the top, and
he really made me feel at home, made me call
myself a lot a lot of times. So yeah, I'm
thankful for that. And I'm like, this is the same
dude that you know, worked with Lindsay Lohan, worked with
Jim Carrey. Meant to Mcconnagie like, he knows his stuff
(08:43):
so and he still does his job with relaxation and
a good mood. So I learned that that's possible too.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
I was going to ask if you learned any lessons
from him, but it sounds like that is definitely one.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, that yeah, that and you know, just yeah, a
good keeping a good mood. You know, don't let anything
interfere with that, because you want to be focused on
your job, not anything else.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So yeah, and representation and media is obviously so important,
and we love to tell especially LGBTQ plus narratives. So
as someone in the public eye, how do you navigate
conversations around your own identity and sexuality.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well, as you said, representation is key, I like to
think that. Well, first of all, I like the focus
to be on art, so art has a message for you.
In this case, the movie has its own message about
Dolcea Fernande, about the beauty of living in Italy, following
(09:47):
your dreams and all of that. But then of course
people sometimes like to poke around and see what the
artist does and what the artist, who the artist is.
And I'm a very reserved person know on my own like,
I don't like to share details, but I do, especially
in last years, have made a point about sharing my
(10:08):
you know, my identity as a queer actor because it's
just fundamental for people to learn that it's okay to
be that. And and only because we have to unlearn
what we've learned in the past centuries millennia, which is
you know that being gay is wrong. It's just a
(10:30):
cultural shift, and if people look at the history, you know,
oh my god, this could be such a long conversation.
But it's just a couple of institutions that decided that
they wanted to tell people that it's not okay to
be that. So we need another institution and artists can
be that. There can be a sort of institution letting
(10:51):
people know that it's okay to be queer. So that's
the only main reason why I think it's important to
be vocal about it.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Absolutely. I had so many conversations with so many artists
where it's you know, it's like it's none of their business.
But also it's important to share just for the representation,
for people to see that we're out there and it's okay.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
And just my last question, what kind of stories would
you love to tell moving forward? And are there any
dream roles or collaborations you're looking forward to. Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Oh yeah, absolutely, I mean Martin Scorses is definitely my
dream because having said so much about Italian culture, the
ittal American culture, it's just a dream of mine. Tarantino.
Also because I am big zucker for action movies with
a lot of gore. Also, sometimes I know it's very
(11:46):
different from La Vulture Vila, but that's also you know me,
and so yeah, I let's say action movies, and I
love psychological thrillers. I love of something that puts you
in your own mind and makes your question a lot
of things and complicated characters, you know, I look forward
(12:09):
to that. It's a challenging, but it's a good challenge.
I think it's the best way to work in this craft,
you know, to do stuff that wants to do it.
You're different, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Absolutely well. I look forward to seeing you in something
coming up. And thank you so much for chatting with me.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Thank you, Caitlin. That's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
And that's a rap. Huge thanks to Giuseppi for sharing
his journey from his childhood dreams of acting to starring
in La Dulce Vila. Make sure to catch the film
on Netflix, and for more queer stories, subscribe to Pride
wherever you listen and watch podcasts, and follow us on
socials at Pride See you next week.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Stations three estitional sation of gestisation
Strawut Media.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm a very reserved person, you know, on my own like,
I don't like to share details, but I do, especially
in The Less Tears, have made a point about sharing,
you know, my identity as a queer actor, because it's
just fundamental for people to learn that it's okay to
be that.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
This week on Pride, we're going to Italy. Not really,
but we are speaking with an Italian actor about his
new Netflix rom com based in Italy. So close enough.
I'm Caitlin and on Pride, I'm chatting with the stars,
creators and voices behind the shows, movies and music we love.
Starring Giuseppe Futia as the charming chef Giovanni ladulce Villa
(00:50):
is packed with romance, humor, and a whole lot of pasta. Today,
I'm sitting down with Giuseppe, an Italian actor and model
who went from growing up in Calabria to him making
waves in Hollywood. We'll chat about his journey from the
fashion world to the big screen, his love for complex characters,
and of course, his take on LGBTQ plus representation in media. Plus,
(01:12):
he's got some solid flirting tips that he wants to share.
So let's get into it. Hi, it's lovely to see you.
Congratulations on the film.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Thank you. Good to see you too.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
How are you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I'm great, slightly jet legged, but very happy of all
the things that are happening, really happy.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Well, I just want to get started a little and
just learn more about you. I know you have a
couple of films to your name, but what really drew
you to acting and when did you know that this
is something you wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well. I a elementary school, I think for I think
you guys call it third grade. I don't know. I
was eight years old. They were doing this musical version
of Pinocchio, and I honestly was a very very shy kid,
but I I enjoyed, let you know, watching performing arts.
(02:16):
I'm like, but maybe I could do it too. And
then I auditioned for it and they were like, okay,
but you're only eight years old. This is a sixty
pages script. We're going to give you the younger Pinocchio role,
and we're going to give the other role to a
slightly older guy. And then the older guy got bored
with the thing, and so they ended up dumping the
(02:36):
whole script on me. The last week, and I was like, yes,
I'm going to take to it. I'm going to do it.
And I did it and it was a lot of fun,
you know. So then I was like, Okay, I think
I can do it. And just in the years, the
passion grew. So yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
I mean I love that. At eight, you were like,
I can take this sixty page script like piece of Yeah.
Do you have a favorite moment in your acting career
so far? It can be from this project or any
of your previous ones.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Oh, favorite moment in my career. That's such a hard question,
but there's a lot. The first one that I might
mention is, so I shot this soccer movie. I have
a small role where I played this goalie with the
Manette Brothers in Italy. But the beautiful thing is that
we shot that in Calabria, which is my you know,
(03:31):
native region in southern Italy. So I would just wake
up in my home, my actual homework I grew up,
then take a train and go to set and it
was beautiful, you know, just to experience that, that's one
aspect of it. Oh and also, yeah, I got bullied
a lot because I didn't know how to play soccer.
In my life in my younger years, and now I
(03:53):
was playing a goalie who was an expert at it.
So I'm like, this is cool. This is why I
love this craft. And from adult Tevilla, I have to
say the cooking classes that that's like a top tier
moment because we were working with top chefs in Italy.
They taught us how to make pasta and a stuff alike.
So I just I look myself in the mirror. I'm like, dude,
(04:17):
you're lucky. You know, not only you're back in your
country shooting like this amazing project, but you're also getting
free cooking classes. Doesn't get any better than that. True? True?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
What was your favoriteish that you created?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I mean, we learned to do profito, which is like
this French dessert and it's my favorite one. Also pizza
and pasta, so like the most basic Dohee things, and
so yeah, what's it? The peachy? You know this sort
of Tuscan Tuscany pasta which is like sort of like
a thicker spaghetti, so tasty, so simple but yet great.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
This is hungry. I shouldn't have asked this before breakfast.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
For Dame Girl.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So can you just talk a little bit more about
your character. The movie is described as a romantic dramedy
and you star alongside may Rafico, But can you just
talk through a little bit of Yeah, your character and
what he's up to.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah, you know, he's a talented chef. So the thing
that I focused most on is his passion for cooking,
and I sort of put that on the same level
of my passion for the arts and you know, and
acting and anything alike. I love when there's sort of
light motif. There's like some sort of an obsession that
(05:37):
a person has but a specific craft or thing that
they like to do. Like for example, my dad he
sells and fixes bikes and that's very niche. But he
not only does that, he also rides his bike every Sunday,
you know, he does like sixty and more kilometers. And
I find that fascinating. You take one thing that you
(05:59):
love and you obsessed over it for all your life.
So that's what Giovanni does with cooking. I sort of
imagine him wanting to open a second restaurant and grow
and get a micheline star. Of course, none of that
stuff is said in the movie, but she has that
coupled with, you know, his love for life, his charms.
(06:21):
So it was a very beautiful uh thing, a very
beautiful character to portray. It was like very soothing in
a way being Giovanni.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah, and you brought up his charm and I know
that he, you know, throughout the movie is trying to
charm Maya's character. Do you have any advice, like what
would be your tactic too for someone if they were
trying to charm their crush?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Oh, I like that question. Eye contact is key, just
you know, look at them, maybe not don't look at
them for a period of time that is going to
make them too embarrassed, but maybe slightly embarrassed because they're like,
what is this person doing? Is something in my teeth?
(07:05):
Is my hair out of place? Just make them, you
know a little bit look around and see are you looking?
Are you serious at me? And then you're gonna It's
just the first step to get their attention. So yeah,
eye contact.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Love that I have to ask. It also is directed
by Mark Waters. So what was it like working with
that icon iconic?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah? You see, I was gonna say it before you
a dream. I couldn't believe that he cast me on.
So that was so Oh, I am over at the
Moon happy about it. What I loved about his style
of directing is that it's just very fatherly, very bringing
everybody in a place where they feel comfortable at ease.
(08:00):
He always made sure to crack a joke when we
were on set, so just making anybody comfortable around him,
which is something that I admired a lot because not
every director that I worked with has done that, and
I really appreciated it because so far, this is the
you know, the biggest project I've been in. My pressure
(08:21):
was my adrenaline was you know, over the top, and
he really made me feel at home, made me call
myself a lot a lot of times. So yeah, I'm
thankful for that. And I'm like, this is the same
dude that you know, worked with Lindsay Lohan, worked with
Jim Carrey. Meant to Mcconnagie like, he knows his stuff
(08:43):
so and he still does his job with relaxation and
a good mood. So I learned that that's possible too.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
I was going to ask if you learned any lessons
from him, but it sounds like that is definitely one.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, that yeah, that and you know, just yeah, a
good keeping a good mood. You know, don't let anything
interfere with that, because you want to be focused on
your job, not anything else.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So yeah, and representation and media is obviously so important,
and we love to tell especially LGBTQ plus narratives. So
as someone in the public eye, how do you navigate
conversations around your own identity and sexuality.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well, as you said, representation is key, I like to
think that. Well, first of all, I like the focus
to be on art, so art has a message for you.
In this case, the movie has its own message about
Dolcea Fernande, about the beauty of living in Italy, following
(09:47):
your dreams and all of that. But then of course
people sometimes like to poke around and see what the
artist does and what the artist, who the artist is.
And I'm a very reserved person know on my own like,
I don't like to share details, but I do, especially
in last years, have made a point about sharing my
(10:08):
you know, my identity as a queer actor because it's
just fundamental for people to learn that it's okay to
be that. And and only because we have to unlearn
what we've learned in the past centuries millennia, which is
you know that being gay is wrong. It's just a
(10:30):
cultural shift, and if people look at the history, you know,
oh my god, this could be such a long conversation.
But it's just a couple of institutions that decided that
they wanted to tell people that it's not okay to
be that. So we need another institution and artists can
be that. There can be a sort of institution letting
(10:51):
people know that it's okay to be queer. So that's
the only main reason why I think it's important to
be vocal about it.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Absolutely. I had so many conversations with so many artists
where it's you know, it's like it's none of their business.
But also it's important to share just for the representation,
for people to see that we're out there and it's okay.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
And just my last question, what kind of stories would
you love to tell moving forward? And are there any
dream roles or collaborations you're looking forward to. Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Oh yeah, absolutely, I mean Martin Scorses is definitely my
dream because having said so much about Italian culture, the
ittal American culture, it's just a dream of mine. Tarantino.
Also because I am big zucker for action movies with
a lot of gore. Also, sometimes I know it's very
(11:46):
different from La Vulture Vila, but that's also you know me,
and so yeah, I let's say action movies, and I
love psychological thrillers. I love of something that puts you
in your own mind and makes your question a lot
of things and complicated characters, you know, I look forward
(12:09):
to that. It's a challenging, but it's a good challenge.
I think it's the best way to work in this craft,
you know, to do stuff that wants to do it.
You're different, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Absolutely well. I look forward to seeing you in something
coming up. And thank you so much for chatting with me.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Thank you, Caitlin. That's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
And that's a rap. Huge thanks to Giuseppi for sharing
his journey from his childhood dreams of acting to starring
in La Dulce Vila. Make sure to catch the film
on Netflix, and for more queer stories, subscribe to Pride
wherever you listen and watch podcasts, and follow us on
socials at Pride See you next week.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Stations three estitional sation of gestisation
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