2023-04-23 05:08:11
She has the talent to convince viewers of everything: sexy, murderous, neighbor, high society, Chilean, evangelical pastor and now a former tango dancer. It is Mercedes Morán, who integrates an indestructible trio along with Darío Grandinetti and Jorge Marrale in the film Empieza el baile, already in theaters. They are accompanied in small roles by: Pastora Vega, Agostina Pozzi, Lautaro Zera, Marcelo Xicarts and Carolina Sobisch, among others.
Written and directed by Marina Seresesky, an Argentine who has lived in Spain for several years, this fiction is preceded by several awards at the last edition of the Malaga Festival: the Biznaga de Plata, awarded to the public for Best Film, and the award for Best Actor in Distribution that remained in the hands of Marrale.
—Why did you decide to compose this protagonist?
—I liked it because it didn’t look like any other character I had done before. It belongs to a universe that I did not know and made me want to browse. She had some tango references like Tita Merello. I always imagined that at that time it should not have been easy, for these women, to enter the world of men, as was the tango. I thought that they should have built some character, made women strong to hide their weaknesses. All this was attractive to me. She joined the desire to return to work with the boys (Marrale and Grandinetti).
—Here, as in Las Rojas, you filmed outside the city of Buenos Aires…
—A part was recorded here, another in Rosario and mostly in Mendoza. Beyond what is seen on the screen, for us it is very interesting to be able to be in other places. The team is integrated by other people from the same place, both technicians and actors. It is important to share experiences and get out of the Buenos Aires bubble a bit, both reaching the provinces and other countries. Making movies is a universal experience, even if we don’t share languages or idiosyncrasies.
How would you define this film?
It belongs to the friendship genre. We all have the memory of some of them, such as separations. I thought it was original, plus the director’s look at her own life experience gave her an interesting distance. She talks about the issues that concern older people such as the proximity of death and she does it without solemnity, honestly. She went back to exercising a humor that is no longer used, that belongs to that universe, to those people. Nothing is underlined, neither melodrama, nor nostalgia. It seemed to me a success that it was not a heavy tango but rather by Piazzolla.
—The director said that there are no films for older people: does it also happen to the interpreters with their roles?
—It’s not happening to me, but I don’t feel like I’m the norm. They are starting to direct more women and it is not by chance. It is something that screenwriters and playwrights need to tell, which is more encompassing than ages. I am lucky to be called. It seems to me that I have a merit, although it does not sound humble, is that I like to play characters of older women, beyond what the industry asks for, which is generally not looking for these roles. The sometimes condemned actresses fill ourselves with some tricks and some modesty of being photographed. I found a lot of relief and rest in doing these leads. In my last three films – including The Dancing Begins – I play women much older than my age. Which allows me to stop worrying about being young or attractive. I think it’s a fantastic exercise as an actress and as a person. Since this job gives me the opportunity to anticipate how one can live and look in five or ten years.
— The Dance Begins reflects the loneliness of artists who were almost forgotten. How do you face that possibility?
—Whoever chooses one of these artistic professions knows that neither retirement nor anything else is guaranteed. It is the risk that is run and it must be sustained. Life is not generous to everyone. Some people end up as Tennessee Williams said: “depending on the kindness of strangers.” Somehow we are always depending on the love of others and in the search for that affection and that acceptance, so that we don’t forget it.
“And the madness?”
—I think that it can not only occur in the actors, anyone can suffer excesses of denial, because reality cannot be endured. I don’t consider myself an artist, I see people who call themselves that and it amazes me. There is a sensitivity that some people have that can lead them to those edges. Madness, death, heartbreak or loneliness are instances that we all fear, regardless of our profession and age. I personally work with my neurosis and have years of therapy. I’m interested in knowing why what happens to me happens to me. I have no tendency to blame others or the outside. I always try to see what part of me did not collaborate so that good or bad happened to me.
“Today, what are you afraid of?”
—To the consequences that we have to accept and live with due to the ecological disaster that exists on the planet. We have already begun to pay for so much damage, for privileging the market and economic interests over people’s lives. I believe that every crisis is an opportunity for interesting change and hopefully we will rise to the occasion. That fear of the future is already here and we have to see it. Climate change is in having cut down forests and adulterated the system.
—What balance do you make of the second season of the series El Reino?
-We are very happy. The series was first in Argentina and Spain, they bought it from more than thirty countries. It was a lot of fun for me to do it. I thought my character was fantastic, dark and sinister. Working with those directors, Piñeyro and Cohan, plus that cast was a luxury. The art field helps you a lot with its locations, to make you believe that you are from there. We filmed at the Casa Rosada, having to play first lady and being able to really go out on the balcony… you have to be very bad not to believe it! We were very grateful to be able to do it there. We were very curious and looked at everything. Congress is no stranger to me, since I worked for almost three years in the library there, but I had never been able to tour the Government House before.
“Does the darkness of power seem very universal?”
—And yes…from Shakespeare until now power was never Disneyland. It is a fiction but as often happens, something of what happens in the world is reflected. Extremism, fundamentalism or messianism are current realities.
The gray hair, the grandmother and the theater
Mercedes Morán has already finished filming Elena knows, about the novel by Claudia Piñeiro, directed by Anahí Berneri and Norma co-written by her with Santiago Giralt, who directed it. In addition, she will travel to Brazil to embody another fiction. These three films led her to have to abandon her beloved gray hair. She confesses: “I was able to sustain them for a few years, sometimes I had to wear wigs, since not all the characters accepted that hair color”
She is the mother of three daughters and a proud grandmother. When asked about education, she states: “I believe that when one assumes the responsibility of educating someone, they seek to instill values that they believe are important and are equal for men and women. I am going to be a grandmother for the fourth time, my youngest daughter, Manuela (27) is expecting her first child and I am super happy. She recycles me, she amuses me and I enjoy this relationship, I do what I want with them. I give him all the tastes. I have a lot of fun”.
The last time she was seen on stage was shortly before the pandemic, performing King Kong Theory at the Cervantes. She anticipates: “I haven’t done theater for a long time. I didn’t stop making movies and now I want to go back. I’ll finish filming in June, then I’ll take a few months and look for material. I want to do a comedy, I want to hear the laughter of the people in the audience. I seek to provide joy, because I also need it. She confesses that she left her activity on Twitter. “Now I use Instagram more and I don’t have Tik Tok. I don’t want to be left out of anything, if possible, but I don’t want to be inside of everything either.
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