A few days ago I posted hereLeonardo Padrón's interview of Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramírez. Today I bring from the same TV interview show, "Los Imposibles", the conversation between Padrón and the Venezuelan actor who became the international symbol of Venezuelan telenovelas: Carlos Mata.
Carlos Mata began his acting career accidentally since his passion was the arts. At the same time he developed a music career that earned him gold records in the United States, Spain, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela. His most recent work in telenovelas was as Facundo Montoya in Leonardo Padrón's "La Vida Entera".
Both Carlos Mata and Leonardo Padrón have a great sense of humor, which gives their conversation a lighthearted tone, amidst the many details it provides on the life and career of Carlos Mata:
I'm in Oxford. Tomorrow I start teaching my class: "International Mass Communication." For this reason, I'll write (even) less on my blogs.
Today I bring you an interesting interview that affords us the rare opportunity of watching the conversation between two people whose careers are not limited by telenovelas, but who have been definitely marked by these melodramas: writer Leonardo Padrón interviews actor Edgar Ramírez.
Leonardo Padrón is the telenovela writer that I've been studying for a decade. He's a poet, essayist, and film scriptwriter, in addition to being the author of some of the telenovelas most watched in Venezuela, such as: Contra Viento y Marea, El País de las Mujeres, Cosita Rica, Ciudad Bendita and La Vida Entera. Four years ago, Padrón started an interview radio show, "Los Imposibles" where he interviews people who are "imposible to ignore". Last May, "Los Imposibles" jumped to television, keeping the structure of these conversations that have also become a literary success, because each season of interviews is published by Editorial Santillana: Los Imposibles: Conversaciones al Borde de un Micrófono, Los Imposibles 2 andLos Imposibles 3.
Edgar Ramírez began his acting career in Venezuelan films. In the very successful telenovela Cosita Rica, he personified Cacique, whose love story with identical twins Verónica and María Suspiro obsessed the Venezuelan audience to the point of eclipsing the protagonists' love story. A few months after the end of Cosita Rica, Ramírez broke into Hollywood with Tony Scott's film Dominó with Keira Knightley and Mickey Rourke. Afterwards, he participated in The Bourne Ultimatum with Matt Damon, Vantage Point with William Hurt and Ché Part 1 with Benicio del Toro. He's currently finishing shooting a film with famous French director Olivier Assayas in which he stars as the terrorist that marked the lives of many during the 70s and 90s: Illich Ramírez Sánchez, known as "Carlos, the Jackal".
Unfortunately, the interview is in Spanish and without sub-titles. I still hope you can enjoy some of it:
The fascination with Latin American telenovelas is worldwide. Huge audiences that transcend nation, class, culture, age and gender differences sit daily in front of their television sets to watch these melodramatic serials. I'm a Latin American woman. Therefore, telenovelas have never been far away from my life. I'm also a scholar and telenovelas have been my chosen object of study since 1999.
"If you really want to know the insides of a telenovela, this book is the best possible window. Here you will discover the internal breathing of a telenovela. From the inception of its dramatic story in the writer's mind, to the audience's balance after THE END." LEONARDO PADRON
Venezuela es una Telenovela is in Venezuela's best bookstores. You can also find it in comala.com. They can mail it to any country. If you want to find out specific bookstores in Venezuela that carry the book, please communicate with Editorial Alfa via phone: (+58-212) 762 3036 / 763 5676 / 761 3576 or e-mail: ventas@editorial-alfa.com
I'm an Associate Professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. I was born in Caracas, Venezuela. For the last ten years telenovelas have been the main focus of my research, the locus where I study the inextricable and fascinating links between media, culture and society, and the thrust of my intellectual journey. I'm also the author of the book Venezuela es una Telenovela: Melodrama, Realidad y Crisis.
Soy venezolana, Profesora Asociada en el Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication en la Universidad de Georgia. Las telenovelas son el foco de mi investigación académica y el epicentro donde estudio los enlaces entre medios, cultura y sociedad. Soy también la autora del libro Venezuela es una Telenovela.
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