Luca Norcen

Hollywood, Los Angeles

Managing Editor at Playgirl

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Articles

Snow White and the Seven Plagues

2 months ago | playgirl.com | Luca Norcen

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the first movie I saw. I was three years old and I remember little of that magic afternoon with grandpa. But I know I was mesmerized: I’ve been hooked on movies ever since and I suppose many of you share the same memories. Could any live-action remake of the 1937 classic live up to my/your expectations? The surprise is not that Marc Webb’s Snow White couldn’t. It’s that it didn’t survive the storm(s) it faced.
Someone Made Just for You

Mar 1, 2025 | playgirl.com | Luca Norcen

Spoiler alert #1: Iris, obviously an anagram of Siri, is a robot. Nothing new here: Iris’ predecessors are the killer doll in M3gan (2022), the humanoid in Ex Machina (2014), the replicants in Blade Runner (1982), the wives in The Stepford Wives (1975), the android prostitutes in Westworld (1973), the false Maria in Metropolis (1927). In fact, we’ll find them as far back as the mechanical doll in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann and the automata in Greek mythology.
The Problem with Mary

Feb 20, 2025 | playgirl.com | Luca Norcen

“You may think you know my story. Trust me, you don’t,” says Mary at the very beginning of D.J. Caruso’s eponymous movie. And she’s right. Only two of the four canonical gospels give an account of Mary’s betrothal, of her pregnancy and of the birth and early childhood of Jesus, but they hardly agree on anything: in Matthew, the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream (Matthew 1:18-24); in Luke, the angel Gabriel appears to Mary (Luke 1:18-38).
Barbie Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Jan 23, 2025 | playgirl.com | Luca Norcen

A star is being built on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Elisabeth Sparkle (nomen omen). Next, the Oscar winner is honored at the inauguration. But as time goes by, cracks begin to show, the terrazzo-and-brass star on the sidewalk gets ignored, stepped on and finally splattered with ketchup (foreshadowing the gory finale).
Should I Call You Maria or La Callas?

Jan 10, 2025 | playgirl.com | Luca Norcen

In the documentary Maria by Callas (2017), Tom Volf explored Callas’ life journey through TV interviews, never-before-seen footage and the soprano’s letters (“her own words” read by mezzo Joyce DiDonato. More on that later). In Callas Forever (2002), Franco Zeffirelli filmed the diva’s final year and a fictional staging of Carmen. Playwright Terrence McNally set his play Master Class in the 70s, in the twilight of Callas’ career.
Mae and Moana: Queens of Sex

Oct 7, 2024 | playgirl.com | Luca Norcen

One was a Broadway star and a Hollywood legend; the other was a charismatic porn actress. Both were sex symbols ahead of their time, both challenged the mores of society (respectively American and Italian), both lived revolutionary lives, as free women. Two new books –and a movie premiered at the 81st Venice Film Festival– brought these trailblazers back into the public eye: Francesca Pellas explores Moana Pozzi’s life in Tutto deve brillare.
Turandot Vindicated

Sep 2, 2024 | playgirl.com | Luca Norcen

Since its premiere in 1926, Puccini’s opera has suffered both the “slings and arrows” of its exotic pageantry, and the “insolence” of ‘innovative’ stagings, which often bore no relation to the libretto and/or the score.
AI Hunks | Playgirl

May 2, 2024 | playgirl.com | Luca Norcen

I originally considered another, more allusive headline: “The AI Rush.” The effects of the AI boom may not be as transformative as the California gold rush of the 19th century, but they sure feel like it.
The New Nude | Playgirl

Mar 1, 2024 | playgirl.com | Luca Norcen

When Playgirl resumed production in early 2022, it faced a dilemma as old as the magazine itself: how to explore sexuality and eroticism from a female perspective?
Valentino: The First Pin-Up?

Feb 29, 2024 | playgirl.com | Luca Norcen

Who preceded Dean, Presley, Reynolds, Pitt as the first male ‘sex symbol’? Who was the “fairest of them all”? We could go as far back as Michelangelo’s David or Myron’s Discobolus or Praxiteles’ Hermes, but the term itself was coined to describe the stars of the silver screen and in the late 1910s and the early 1920s there were two: Douglas Fairbanks, best known for his athleticism and his swashbuckling roles, and an exotic “Latin lover”, Rudolph Valentino.