By Judy Shields
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 06/13/2025 – Director Michelle Danner says: “This is a deeply touching story about loving family, forgiving family and irresistible Italian food.”
No matter where your family comes from, we can all attest that no matter how much they drive us crazy, at the end of the day we still love each other. Well, most of us can attest. Some of us at least? Fresh off her impactful period courtroom drama Miranda’s Victim, filmmaker Michelle Danner brings us The Italians, the story of the Italian-American Vitali family consisting of fiery matriarch Angelina (Michelle Danner), her oafish husband Vincenzo (Rob Estes), and their charming son Nico (Matthew Daddario). When Nico brings over his girlfriend Lily (Abigail Breslin) to meet his parents, she’s everything Angelina doesn’t want in a wife for her son and the night’s humorous events lead to shocking revelations the next day that threaten to tear both couples apart.
Soon everyone in the Vitalis’ orbit are drawn into the chaos from next door neighbors Min (Perrey Reeves) and Murray (Lan Blayne) to Angelina’s brother Sal (David DeLuise), mother Lucia (Lanie Kazan) as well as Nico’s ex-girlfriend Geena (Olivia Luccardi) and the local priest Father Joe (Luca Riemma). What unfolds is a hilarious story in which this idiosyncratic ensemble learn to accept each other for who they are. “The Italians is a heartfelt comedy about love, forgiveness and the belief that people can change,” says producer, director, and star Michelle Danner. “I firmly believe in the message of this film and I hope people will laugh and be moved by it. They may also want to eat excellent Italian food after they see it, but more importantly I would love for this film to inspire the audience to go home, hug their families, and spend lots of time with them.”
The Trailer:
Danner and the film’s writer Lisa Visca bonded over their shared backgrounds as members of Italian families and sought to channel those eccentricities and examine those relationships. “In my family, when you sat down for dinner, you knew at some point the spaghetti was bound to start flying,” says Danner. “You didn’t know when, but you always felt in your gut that it was inevitable. Despite that craziness, my family was so full of love for one another, and showing both sides of those dynamics is what drew me to Lisa’s script.” The decision to direct and star in the film came naturally to Michelle as she found a deep connection to the character. “Angelina is a composite of my sister, my mother, and my grandmother; basically my whole family all rolled into one. I felt like I really understood how to make this character come to life.”
I had the opportunity to speak with Michelle Danner about The Italians and her career as an acting teacher. Enjoy the conversation:
The film is currently available on Prime for rent or to purchase.
Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Italians-Michelle-Danner/dp/B0DZRDR5G2
This is a great movie to watch at home with your popcorn and favorite drink. Lots of laughter, some series moments and for most of us, several learning moments. It’s all about family and that some families have their traditions and that’s okay. Enjoy The Italians this coming weekend and let your family and friends know about it as well.
The Italians is Danner’s eighth directorial project following on the heels of her latest success, Miranda’s Victim, which was released last fall and told the incredible true story about the creation of the Miranda Warning after the brutal assault on 18-year-old Patricia Weir.
Cast: Matthew Daddario, Rob Estes, Michelle Danner, David DeLuise, Perrey Reeves, Olivia Luccardi with Lainie Kazan and Abigail Breslin
Director of Photography: FEDERICO VERARDI
Written By: LISA PHILLIPS VISCA
Produced By: ALL IN FILMS – MICHELLE DANNER, VALERIE DEBLER, BRIAN DRILLINGER, ALEXANDRA GUARNIERI
A renowned acting teacher and co-founder of the Creative Center for the Arts (formerly known as Edgemar Center for the Arts) and the Los Angeles Acting Conservatory, Danner’s list of students has included Christian Slater, Salma Hayek, Gerard Butler, Seth MacFarlane, Penelope Cruz, Chris Rock, Gabrielle Union and Zooey Deschanel.
https://www.michelledanner.com/
Q&A with Michelle Danner:
THT: Share your background?
Michelle Danner: I was born in New York, and my father was asked by the William Morris agency to open their very first office in Paris off the Champs-Élysée and therefor I had an upbringing in Paris. I was a little girl when we moved there. I had a great childhood because I was surrounded by museum and obviously French culture, and I traveled all over Europe. I was exposed to wonderful playwrights, and I studied at the Conservatoire of Paris and Verse.
I moved to the United States when I was 14 and continued my education in New York where I studied with Stella Adler, Uta Hagen and Herbert Bergdorf, just wonderful teachers. With the craft of acting and literature, I was always very passionate going to the theaters and museums, that is my background.
THT: Did you learn the language?
Michelle Danner: Oh yes, I speak five languages fluently. French being one of them.
THT: What are the other four?
Michelle Danner: I speak Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and English.
THT: Have you experienced struggles as an acting coach?
Michelle Danner: I have taught for more than 30 years and very scary to me. It truly means the passage of time that I have been teaching that many years. I have had a slew of wonderful students and have always been thrilled for them when they achieve success and create characters that they rose to their talent by the work and characters that they created. My student successes have been enormously rewarding and one of the reasons why I have enjoyed teaching acting so much. I think one of the struggles can be to impart a certain work ethic in this new generation. Because of time evolving and people wanting to get things done faster, a sense of I want it now and no patience, it takes time to learn a craft and be patient with it. That is the struggle that I have always joked with students, that everyone wants the school of McDonalds! Fast food, I want it quick! Everyone wants the school of fast food, quick, quick! There are things that you need to time to learn and really give yourself process and understand what process is and not associate it something that is tenuous. Sounds painful and laborious, that is the joy of it the ride not the end destination. To really understand that the journey to get there.
THT: Did your upbringing influence your desire to teach acting?
Michelle Danner: Absolutely, I think. I was probably born to be a teacher because I was always an avid reader and always gone to the theatre and to movies and now in the golden age of television, I watch many TV shows and some of them with my sons. I have always been avid in my learning, and it seemed like the natural progression was to pass it down, to share it.
THT: How old were you when you discovered your love for cinema?
Michelle Danner: I always loved the cinema and being raised in Paris, so I would go see movies by Jean Renoir and Jean Cocteau. I would go to the movie theaters and see at least two movies a day. When I moved to the United States I would go see three or four movies a day. I have always loved filmmaking as equally as all the mediums. I have loved theatre and now television is not a dirty word anymore. We are not talking about reality TV shows, we are talking about wonderfully produced television shows, often works of art, looking at Breaking Bad or Mad Men or Handmaids Tale or Ozark. Those are beautifully crafted shows. I am fascinated by every medium.
THT: When did you get your first break to direct a film?
Michelle Danner: I got my first break 20 years ago. I am on my fifth feature film. I just completed a feature film called The Runner. I just the photography literally one week ago. I will next roll up my sleeves to start to edit it. The movie I did before that called Bad Impulse a psychological thriller with some horror and supernatural. It is going to have a premiere at The Chinese at the end of February and hopefully released a few months after that. I am excited about that. I have gone basically from one movie to the next. I have made short films and documentaries. I am really excited about telling stories that potentially can be seen by so many people. When you make a movie, you are playing it to the biggest classroom you can play it to
THT: What is the best advice you have ever received?
Michelle Danner: The best advice I ever received was from my father. He said, ‘don’t be so much in a hurry to get there.’ That addresses what I was talking about being patient and of course when I was much younger, I was incredibly inpatient. I wanted everything to happen yesterday. To really just understand that you are going to get there anyway he would say. You don’t have to put yourself though all that anxiety, you are going to get there. I have to remind myself that he said that to me because that was the best advice I have ever gotten. I have this big to do list that has to be done now, now, now, you just have to take a pause, take a breath and remember he was absolutely right!
THT: What would people be surprised to know about you?
Michelle Danner: Laughter. That I am actually very quiet. I like to be quiet, stay home and cook dinner for my kids and watch movies. Most people think I go, go, go, but I like peacefulness
