Trudie Styler attends the UK premiere of “Posso Entare” in London on January 21, 2025?
Dave Benett | Getty Images | Disney+
When Trudie Styler grew up in working-class England in the 1960s, her family wanted her to be a typist in a brush factory.
But life becomes even grander: Going to a high school means that stylists “starting to dream bigger,” she told CNBC via video call. She trained as an actress, joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, and got married and got married – Gordon Sumner, known as the rock star sting. The couple has houses in New York, the UK and Italy.
Now a film producer and director, Steller says it was her childhood that was “very tough” that gave her confidence to direct her latest film, a documentary called “Posso Entare?ode to Naples” (streamed in the UK on Disney+ and in the US). The film saw Styler wandering on the small lava paving road in an Italian city, knocking on the door and asking, “Can I come in?” interviewing people’s daily lives, as well as residents influenced by the city’s infamous mafia (called Camora).
Growing up in a terraced house in Stoke Village, Worcestershire, British County, means “we’re in and out of the house at each other’s homes.” Her mother, a dinner lady and a factory worker, wanted to know when her dinner was ready one day, Styler sought out her mother and found her at her neighbor’s home to help give birth to the baby. She recalled, “I said something like, ‘I’m hungry,’ and…my mother said, ‘Get out!’”
Things didn’t go well when Styler told her parents that she wanted to take action. “It started the battle with my dad Harry,” Steller said. “I don’t think he understands … going to grammar school, studying languages and studying science, you know your horizons have certainly expanded.”
“When I first appeared in Naples, my confidence,” she said.
Go to Naples with “blank canvas”
Styler has long established relations with Italy, performing in three films in the country in the 1980s, and in 1990 she gave birth to her third child, Eliot, in Pisa. That decade later, she and Sting bought a estate in Tuscany, and Styler often went to the Ischia Film Festival in that bay.
Trudie Styler and her husband Sting attended the Ischia Global Festival in Ischia, Italy on July 8, 2024.
Daniele Venturelli | Getty Images
But when Styler’s producer asked her if she wanted to direct a documentary about the city, she realized she didn’t know about it. “Do you know Naples?” she would ask friends and repeat “rumor” about it being dangerous. But she decided to carry a “blank canvas”, she told CNBC.
Stiller said of his attitude: “I’m going to take away this feeling, fear, fear of Naples, I do my own investigation…I really want to find out from the locals what they think of their city.”
“People pour out their personal stories,” she said. Characters in the film include glove maker Michelle and her eight-year-old grandson whom she has been caring for since her mother’s death, and Nora, a 90s swimmer, recalling Hitler’s 1938 Naples tour with Mussolini.
“It’s fascinating to go to a place with some preconceived ideas, just () stripped of all this and allowed yourself to discover a magical and rich experience of a city and its people,” Steller said.
Roberto Saviano is the author of Gomorrah, whose book reveals the activities of the Naples Mafia, known as Camorra.
Franco Origlia | Getty Images
In an organized interview, Steller also met Roberto Saviano, the author of Gomora, who tells the story of Camorra.monstrous“Events in Naples. He has been Since its publication in 2006, it has been accompanied by police officers. “I think they can object to me, and that’s what they do,” he said of Comorra’s response to his book. “But I don’t think I’m going to trigger military, physical anger,” he told Styler in the video.
The woman in the movie
One of the most eye-catching group stylist interviews was the campaign group Forti Guerriere, which was founded by several women after her friend Fortuna was killed by her husband. They successfully ran for his verdict Increased from 10 years to 30 years. “Women are actually taking a very important position in the family right now. It’s very exciting to see this.”
Meanwhile, former mayoral candidate Alessandra Clemente talks with Styler about the people her mother killed by chance in Camorra in Naples and her efforts to help young people in the town seek a nonviolent life, the film also introduces Antonio Loffredo, whose pastor opens the church to local groups.
Steller knocked on the narrow streets of Naples and asked “Posso Entare?” or “Can I come in?”
©Marco Bottigelli |Moments |Getty Images
Through her production company Maven Pictures (she was founded by producer Celine Rattray), Styler tries to “push dial” for women in the film industry, which has produced 28 films since its founding nearly 20 years ago. “When we set up Maven, we said, OK, if we like scripts enough and feel we can do that, we’re going to give actresses more opportunities to be our projects, to be our co-producers,” Stiller said.
Styler’s advice to women early in her production career was “find stories with strong female narratives so that you can create jobs for women.” But she lamented that most screenwriters are men – they “often” write men into leadership roles.
Styler said some production roles remain male-dominated, such as photographers or directors of photography. “For years, it’s kind of like oh well, it’s impossible for a woman to be a photographer hanging out on that camera. I mean… it’s really frustrating when you hear language like this.”
But streaming services “more” than in the past hiring women, Steller said. The film industry “has been better for actresses,” she said. “Now they aren’t, like before, sent to ranch at 40. It’s great to see women’s careers extending a lot, but there’s still a long way to go.”
