ACT OF THE UNSPOKEN
Talent Nicolas Maupas
Photographer Fabrizio Martelli
Art direction Caterina Egidi
Fashion editor Alex Sinato
Grooming Michele Mancaniello for Simone Belli makeup
Production Martina Palermo
Fashion assistant Irene Lomellini
Words by Sofia Busignani
Nicolas press office Mpunto comunicazione
Editor-in-chief Valentina Ilardi
Nicolas Maupas is a 22 years old actor born and raised in Milan. Magic is the keyword that defines his evolution. Not the unreachable kind of magic, rather the outcome of clever trickery that, thanks to its beauty, leads to amazement. Be it cinema, or fashion — as seen through the journalist eyes of his mother, what intrigued Nicolas Maupas was the discovery of what was behind the trick by tearing away the veil of illusion and grasping every secret in order to become a “magician” himself.
How was your first approach to acting?
Cinema has always fascinated me since childhood. As a child, you see everything as magical and special, and I think that’s because you look at things more simply. I took theater courses in high school, but I understood that it was my path only when I had to choose a university. I realized that an office job would have bored me, while it was the opposite when I had to study a film book or a script. I looked for acting courses until I found a teacher in Michael Rodgers. Thanks to him I learned what it means to be an actor, rather than what you must do to become one.
What period of your career has taught you the most so far?
The shooting of Mare Fuori [ed: in Naples] has been a training ground both for life and work. For the first time, I was away from home. It was an intense moment. Carmine Elia was the director, and he was very demanding. For the first time in my life I had to confront myself. At the same time, I was taking on the life of my character, which is not an easy task. It was a whole process during which I’ve learned to put trust back into others, and truth back into the character.
You have lately come closer to the fashion world. What convergences do you notice between that and your acting?
There is a convergence, for sure, in terms of aesthetic research. When an actor studies its character body’s expression, he’s shaping its aesthetic, giving it a certain kind of elegance, or perhaps the opposite. Fashion does the same, that is to say, it tells something through aesthetics. For an actor, everything that should be said is conveyed through acts and the unspoken, and this is also true for fashion. They asked me once about what was and what was fiction in my job. For me there is very little fiction in acting. An actor tries as much as possible to give truth to a context, using his person as a medium, thus bringing his true experience. In fashion I believe that there is more truth than the eye can perceive, and I believe that fiction lies in the way we look at it.
