Roberto Benigni on his Oscar moment, finding joy, and chatting with Pope Francis

TORONTO – It’s hard for Roberto Benigni to contain his well-known exuberance. Even from Pope Francis, himself.

The high-spirited Italian filmmaker admits he was overcome with excitement during a recent conversation with the pontiff, who telephoned to thank him for his recent blockbuster TV special about the Ten Commandments.

“I didn’t let him talk because I was screaming,” a chortling Benigni admits in a phone interview from Rome, peppering his broken English with exclamations of glee for a variety of upcoming events.

“I was telling him, ‘Oh, the Pope! If I could be there, I (would) jump on you! I want to kiss you and I want to embrace you!’”

The surprise call was a career highlight, says the celebrated comedian, best-known here for writing, directing and starring in the Oscar-winning film “Life Is Beautiful.”

Benigni and his wife, frequent collaborator Nicoletta Braschi, visit Toronto this week to receive honorary degrees from the University of Toronto and take part in a film retrospective.

Benigni says the papal chat came the day after his one-man show ended, a TV broadcast that reportedly drew more than 10 million Italian viewers in December 2014.

“Somebody woke me up telling me: ‘The Pope wants to talk with you.’ I was telling them, ‘Can you tell him to talk later because I’m sleeping?’ To the Pope! And I answered it and he was so sweet. This Pope is really a wonderful man, a wonderful man,” says Benigni, who says they are now trying to set a date to meet.

“(He spoke) in a very, very warm way. Very familiar, like a brother. Like a father, really.”

A well-established star in Italy for slapstick comedy and political satire, Benigni became a household name in North America thanks to a giddy Oscar acceptance speech in 1999 for best foreign-language film.

The triumph sent him leaping across the backs of several seats — aided by a helpful hand from Steven Spielberg — and hopping up the stairs to take a deep bow.

The lively Benigni, who also claimed the best actor title that year, bellows with mirth throughout a recent phone call from Rome, insisting that his joyful outbursts come naturally.

When he heard his name called at the Academy Awards, he instinctively felt the urge to fly.

“This was such a wonderful moment of when somebody tells you ‘We love you.’ It was such a big embrace that I couldn’t resist,” he says.

After Benigni and Braschi — both long-standing celebrities in Italy — are bestowed with honorary degrees Wednesday, the couple will be featured in a six-day film retrospective hosted by the Toronto International Film Festival and the Italian Contemporary Film Festival.

Braschi made her film debut alongside Benigni in 1983’s “Tu mi turbi” (translated as “You Upset Me”) and also appeared in his 1991 slapstick Italian box office smash, “Johnny Stecchino,” as well as “Life Is Beautiful.”

Benigni credits a poverty-stricken childhood with forging a dogged spirit in everything he tackles.

“My mother and my father were Tuscan farmers and very poor, but with a lot of dignity,” says the 62-year-old. “But I don’t remember missing anything in my childhood. So I thank them for this…. Poverty is the mother of every richness, we can say.”

Benigni says this will be his 10th honorary degree, but his first from Canada.

“When I was told: ‘We want to give you an honorary degree,’ I was really, I like this English word, flabbergasted. Flabbergasted,” Benigni exclaims. “I am full of joy — this moment is for me, incredible.”

The retrospective “Roberto Benigni & Nicoletta Braschi: A Beautiful Life,” begins Thursday at Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox. The Italian Contemporary Film Festival runs June 11 to 19.