Marco Calvani Talks Gay Romance, Netflix Debut, and Tina Fey
Actor-filmmaker Marco Calvani rides the tide of an unexpected breakout role in Netflix’s hit series "The Four Seasons."
For much of his career, Marco Calvani has tread a dual path as an actor in his native Italy, and as a writer and director of his own plays, short films, and his first feature, the P-town-set gay romance High Tide, released earlier this year.
Ready to capitalize on that success, Calvani, based in L.A. was prepping his next film, thinking he might have narrowed his dual path down to one.
Yet, a plum opportunity to step back in front of the camera came knocking, a role in the Netflix ensemble comedy series The Four Seasons, created by Tina Fey, Lang Fisher, and Tracy Wigfield, based on the beloved 1981 comedy written and directed by Alan Alda.
“A year ago around this time, I was about to get the job,” Calvani says over Zoom a few days after the show’s May 1 streaming debut. “I was about to send the first tape, and then I got the callback. And then I got the job. I was so scared, and also shocked by it. I couldn’t really wrap my hand around what was happening.”
Starring Fey and Will Forte, Steve Carell and Kerri Kenney-Silver, and Calvani and Colman Domingo as three married couples, longtime friends, who vacation together, the series had already garnered a second season announcement from Netflix by the time Calvani sat down for our chat.
“I wasn’t sure if this [series] was the right thing to do, because I just had my path that I built for myself, it was so clear and my film had just premiered,” he recalls.
“We were signing the distribution deal. We were doing a successful festival run and ready to do my second film. Then this thing came, and as huge as it was, still was so new and so not chased by me, and it felt like a huge detour and an obstacle. Now, actually, I was like, all fingers crossed, hoping for season two. How much things can change really in a year.”
Holding his own among such industry heavy-hitters should bring even more change for Calvani. His vibrant performance as Claude, the ebulliently joyful husband of Domingo’s more cynical Danny, completely reimagines the character from the original film, named Claudia, one-half of a straight married couple played by Rita Moreno and Jack Weston.
Of switching the couple from straight to gay, Calvani, who says he didn’t watch the film before shooting, says, “I think it was very smart from Tina and her team. If you adapt such a story that worked perfectly in 1981, but in 2025, it is not just a matter of being politically correct, it’s just like our society has changed, our perception of societies have changed, our conversations around the table have changed.”
It has to be more inclusive, he insists. “Also, Tina said it in a very personal way,” Calvani adds. “She said, ‘I just wanted for this group to reflect my own real group of friends, and I have so many gay friends.'”
All eight episodes of season one of The Four Seasons are available for streaming on Netflix. The show has already been renewed for a second season. Visit www.netflix.com.
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