Heh, I don't know a word of Spanish and this is gonna be a really rough translation and probably inaccurate in lots of places, but here goes:
GIOVINAZZO, AN INTELLECTUAL DETECTIVE
Carmine Giovinazzo's (New York, 1973) family is no stranger to the law and the order. His sister and father were police officers in New York city, and his brother-in-law worked as a detective assigned to ex-mayor Rudy Giuliani. Carmine is doing the same, except in fiction, when playing the role of Danny Messer in television series CSI: NY (Sony Entertainment Television). When I saw his necklace and the items on it, he explained the origins for each: one he had bought in Europe, another given to him by his sister, one a Buddhist symbol that was given to him by an old girlfriend and the last, given to him by his police of a father.
He was very relaxed when he entered the restaurant in Caracas, Venezuela. A good whiskey and a cigarette helped to bestow some tranquility onto this man who writes poetry and dreams about selling his scripts.
- With you playing a forensc detective in CSI: NY, do you feel you're honoring the occupation of your father and your sister?
- Yes. I'm happy about it, because my family knows that I'll never be a real police officer. They always figured I'd be more interested in the field of arts.
- What does your dad think?
- He's just happy I'm finally working.
- (Sorry, I have no idea what this question says. Anybody help me out with it?)
- No, it's just that it's very difficult to find a job in the entertainment business. My dad gives me advice on how I gotta play my role.
- How did you create your persona of Danny Messer?
- I talked with the writers of the show and we agreed that he was a very enthusiastic person, who was from the streets of New York and that came from a mob world and wanted to move away from that world.
- Danny Messer seems to be around more in the laboratories than on the streets. Does this mean he's more of an intellectual hero?
- More intellectual, definitely. He's a scientist. He conveys the idea that he's just an average guy, but also somebody who knows the darker side of people and people from the streets.
- You played a part in the pilot of Buffy the Slayer Vampire. What role was it that you played?
- *laughs* I was the typical, annoying guy. But I liked it. The job helped me out and changed things for me.
- In CSI: NY, you work with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and actor Gary Sinise. What's the experience like?
- They are people who really know what they're doing. (Sorry, not sure what the rest of this says either.)
- Who would you like to work with again?
- Sam Raimi, he directed For Love of the Game (1999). He made movies that aren't like films these days anymore.
- What's easy and difficult about playing the part of a forensic detective?
- The difficult part is, I'm supposed to be a forensic detective who has scientific knowledge, and in real life, I know very little of it. I'm learning to how to work in a period of ten months each year, with ten hours in every working day. As an actor, I'm never reasily satisfied, and it's great that CSI:NY is a show that demands me to display a wide range of emotions.
- How much have you learned about human nature after seeing cases of people who hurt one another?
- It's difficult, but I'm learning about human nature every minute. This has made me think a lot about these people and why they end up in these sort of crimes. (Can't tell what this means either.) It's interesting to see things from a realistic perspective as it's shown in CSI: NY.
- You investigate homicide cases on the show. How do you react when you see real murders in the news?
- I generally don't read that kind of news.
- With programs like CSI, it seems the sort of action and stories portrayed in them better fits television that the cinema.
- It works for television that each episode solves one or two cases. I don't know if there's a deeper reason why it seems this kind of show fits television more.
- What kind of scripts do you write?
- I like scripts that tell about a man who doesn't belong to the place where he was born ... where he has friends and he has to eventually part from them, and love, too. I'd like my stories to have a universal message so that everyone can understand, and at the same time, I want to show why my character(s) did what they had to do.
- Which was the last good film you saw?
- The movie Crash (2004, of Paul Haggis). It's a good example North American society and racism and its stereotypes.
- What's your opinion on racism in the EU?
-There are people who are narrow-minded and are like those who promote racism in the United States. This is something they're brought up with since they were young. Where I come from, Staten Island, racism didn't exist, not in my house, not in my family. Since I was a boy, I had friends of all kinds of race and ethnicity. In my school, there were Arabs, Chinese, Germans, people of all races. I'd like to try to help solve the problem of racism. I don't understand how it can exist in a country like the United States where there are so many cultures and nationalities.
- What do you think of president George W. Bush?
- I don't see Bush as a guy I could sit with and talk. He's too conservative and strict for my tastes. I don't have sufficient knowledge of things to give an official opinion, but I'm somebody who believes in the ... (sorry, again, I don't know how to translate this part.)
- What kind of music do you like?
- (Not sure what he's saying about a guitar.) I like the underground stuff, rock and punk, although I also sometimes like some more mainstream stuff. Mainly sad, strong and spontaneous music.
- The last film you didn't like?
- Oceans Twelve.
- Which director would you like to work with?
- The majority of those I'd like to work with are already dead. The living ones? Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Jim Jarmusch.
- How about an actress?
- With Kate Winslet, because she's really likeable and she is a fantastic actress.
- What classic films would you have liked to participate in?
- In most films acted out by Robert De Niro.
Pheeew. Hope that's okay. Somebody with much better Spanish skills could translate it better. :lol: Do note that this interview was in July 2005, over 1 1/2 years ago.
I thought about it when some girls came to our door selling Girl Scout cookies. 
