Maurizio Nichetti himself plays in this film the role of Maurizio, while a cartoon character based on him is also involved. In the film, Maurizio provides the sound to accompany old silent cartoon films. He takes his work very seriously and searches the country for good sounds or objects with which he can make sounds. The scenes in which Nichetti performs like a true one-man-band in his studio can match the best from the great film comics from the silent era. During one of sound hunts, Maurizio means a woman, Martina, and falls in love with her on the spot. Martina is a kind of prostitute with a very strange circle of customers: as an actress in many disguises she complies with the bizarre but innocent requests of her clients.îAt first Martina wants to take Maurizio on as a companion, but Maurizio undergoes a strange change as a result of his besottedness. He slowly changes into the cartoon version of himself.Nichetti had the idea for a comedy in which cartoon effects are combined with real-life actors a long time ago. However he couldn’t find a producer who believed that an adult audience would accept a dialogue between an actor and a cartoon character. The success of Roger Rabbit has changed the minds of producers, but also provided a new problem: in innovative techniques of Roger Rabbit would at least have to be equalled. That was achieved, but more important is that Volere volare really is an intelligent comedy for an adult audience. La Repubblica even argued that if Roger Rabbit is pure technique, then Volere volare is pure poetry — or insanity.
