Michele Morrone, the hunky leading man of 365 Days and Another Simple Favor fame, on his friendship with Blake Lively, staying grounded in Hollywood, and the importance of being a good dad

South China Morning Post

26-04-2025

Everything is romantic in the eyes of Michele Morrone, the hunky Italian leading man who's out to prove he can give
Colin Farrell and
Leonardo DiCaprio a run for their money. 'I'm obsessed with my life and obsessed with my passions,' the 34-year-old breakout star from erotic thriller 365 Days tells me over the phone one morning, dialling in from Milan to discuss his life as an actor, a father and everything in between.
Self-assured and confident, as you would surely expect from one of Hollywood's most handsome faces, Morrone's name is also one of the most recognisable right now. Fresh off starring alongside
Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick in Another Simple Favor, the sequel to Paul Feig's 2018 smash hit A Simple Favor, the actor is set to take on another blockbuster role in Feig's upcoming film The Housemaid, which casts him alongside A-listers Amanda Seyfried and
Sydney Sweeney
Michele Morrone photographed for Style by Mike Ruiz. Dsquared²: suit, shirt, tie, shoes; Intimissimi Uomo: socks
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'From my point of view, it's a waste to use only one life to do only one thing that you love,' Morrone says of his somewhat unconventional career path so far, from navigating humble beginnings in Puglia to finding fame through films like Subservience with
Megan Fox and appearances on the Italian version of Dancing with the Stars. That's not to mention his side hustles dabbling in music and fashion. 'It's not that I'm going to wait until this life to finish my acting career and then in the next life be a singer, and then again in the next be a painter. I want to do it all together because I'm drunk on life – my passions are like a drug for me.'
Riding that high, so to speak, not only transformed Morrone into an international heartthrob nearly overnight with 365 Days, but also took his career to new heights by bringing him face-to-face with pre-eminent filmmaking figures like Feig, whom the actor calls 'one of the most incredible gentlemen I've ever met'. If you ask Morrone whether he could even conceive of all this success back then, as a young hopeful from southern Italy, he would again speak with a sense of romanticism and whimsy – kismet, he calls it, borne out of uncompromising dedication and commitment to a path he feels was laid out for him all this time.
'For me it was more like a trip, like I'm going somewhere,' the actor muses. 'Like, I'm going to Hollywood. And there was something in my mind telling me that it was never a question mark for me. I don't know how much time I am going to take but I'm going there.'
Emporio Armani: overcoat. The ring is Michele Morrone's own
And go there he has in the span of just a few short years. Since 365 Days was released back in 2020, Morrone filmed two sequels before being tapped by Feig for Another Simple Favor, something the actor describes as a great honour and one which has become one of his most high-profile projects to date. Though legal drama surrounding Lively and her former It Ends with Us co-star
Justin Baldoni , has since engulfed his famous castmate and distracted from much of Another Simple Favor's promotion, Morrone refrains from commenting on the controversy and instead gushes about Lively, whom he now calls a best friend.
'We talk almost every day on the phone. We exchange advice. She's like a sister to me – one of the most beautiful women, people, I ever met in my life. I became such good friends with
Ryan [Reynolds] as well.'
'You always have the hope that you're going to get along with the person you're working with, especially when you have to play her man,' Morrone continues, when asked about acting
alongside Lively and playing her romantic lead. 'You're always hoping to find someone who understands, and me and Blake we had such a great bond straight away. We became good friends from day one so it was very easy for me.'