Entitled “Murgia & Sushi” this trendy club is situated in front of the cathedral in the Madonna della Stella area to the west of the residential centre of Gravina in Puglia. It is managed by a name of note – Checco Zalone – however, this is simply a fictional setting: the comedian from Apulia has just started principal photography on his next film Tolo Tolo, which is also his directorial debut and due for release at Christmas. Shooting took place for two nights running, with 145 extras filling the club that was created in the large cave of a famous resort, to the joy of the local economy: in addition to the catering service, all the hotels in the area were filled to completion.
Tolo Tolo is eagerly awaited, as the first four Checco Zalone films (directed by Gennaro Nunziante) broke box office records (200 million euro), providing Italian cinemas with a healthy blast of oxygen.
A recurring element in his films is the theme of travel. In his debut film, Cado dalle nubi, Checco is an aspiring musician, in love with his long-time girlfriend, living in the picturesque Polignano a Mare, who later moves to Milan where it seems that being gay is easier than being from the South. In Che Bella giornata (What a Beautiful Day) Checco is an unlikely security agent working at the Duomo of Milan. The story is centred around the Gothic gargoyles of the cathedral, but there is also time for a christening amidst the trulli of Alberobello. In Sole a catinelle, Checco has been living in Monselice (province of Padua) for 30 years, which is the starting point for a dream holiday with his small son to the Valle del Biferno, around Casacalenda and other areas of the Molise region, Orbetello and the Basilica di San Galgano, Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino. Finally, in Quo vado?, Checco has achieved his dream – a guaranteed, long-term job – in Conversano and to make sure he keeps it, he ends up, literally, on the other side of the world. He travels Italy, crisscrossing from North to South, and even goes to Africa, while never leaving Lazio, where shooting took place in Cervara di Roma and Circeo.
To find out more about the locations for the films featuring Checco Zalone, read the story: Zalone on tour.