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.
Showing posts with label Telenovela actors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Telenovela actors. Show all posts
Today, for the first time, the English and Spanish version of my blog won't be mirror images. The topic of my posts, however, will be the same: The problem with celebrity gossip.
I've spent many hours with the talented people who work in telenovelas. They work in an environment that needs the promotion that the entertainment press provides. However, we frequently see how gossip and speculation are prioritized over news and real criticism in order to sell more newspapers, magazines, or to raise the ratings of a show.
The column that Cuban-Venezuelan actor Beatriz Valdés (in the picture) wrote for daily Tal Cual. You can read it in the Spanish version of this blog (Part I,Part II)
Celebrity gossip cheapens the entertainment industry and is unfair to those who work in it. As part of the audience, we should want no part of it.
This week Venezuelan daily La Verdad dedicated its anniversary issue to telenovelas. The 50+ pages issue includes interviews with actors and writers. A plus in this publication is the inclusion of the timeline of Venezuelan telenovelas. This issue is a great contribution to the study of this TV genre that has marked my country, and that is going today through its worst crisis.
Following is a list of links to some of the interviews and stories (in Spanish, unfortunately):
The last class of this semester, in which we lectured and discussed as many aspects of telenovelas as possible, finally arrived. Following the course's tradition, I taught the last class at my house with dinner and a Tres Leches for dessert:
That evening we had our two last "Telenovela Conversations" with writer Leonardo Padrón and actor/singer/musician Roque Valero. Both were generous as they shared with us their experiences in the world of telenovelas. My students learned a lot, enjoyed immensely the opportunity to talk to our guests, and were truly delighted when Roque sang for us a fragment of Las Lágrimas Aprenden a Reír.
Following are the two videos of the conversations, where you will find valuable angles and points of view regarding writing, acting and musical composition.
As I finish this semester of "Telenovelas, Culture and Society", I must thank everyone who has talked to me and allowed me to observe her/him as they write, perform, produce or consume telenovelas. Thanks to them, I continue on my research path about this television genre, whose apparent simplicity hides its fascinating complexity. I also thank my 24 students for everything they taught me and for their interesting reflections in our class blog. Finally, thanks to our guests who shared with us their knowledge and talent. They are the indispensable teachers for my class: Marisa Román, Ruxandra Ciobanu, Alberto Gómez, Leonardo Padrón and Roque Valero.
We met Ruddy Rodríguez in the Miss Venezuela beauty pageant in 1985 where she received the first crown of "Miss World Venezuela". She made it into the final four of the Miss World pageant that year. Soon she was offered a small role in the James Bond film The Living Daylights.
Among the Venezuelan telenovelas in which she has been the protagonist we find Niña Bonita and Amantes de Luna Llena. In Venezuela, she's also remembered as Amores de Fin deSiglo's intriguing Lejana San Miguel.
During the 1990s, Ruddy was in several telenovelas outside Venezuela. In Spain, she was in the series Brigada central II with Imanol Arias and Margarita Rosa De Francisco.
She has also worked in several Colombian telenovelas. Among them, La mujer doble, Flor de oro, La ex and Cómplices. In 2009, she starred in the Venezuelan film Venezzia with Mexican actor Alfonso Herrera.
Here's the video of her conversation with writer Leonardo Padrón in Los Imposibles:
Last Friday, my students were somewhat nervous while they were getting ready to have a videoconference with Venezuelan actor Marisa Román. They were concerned about their level of Spanish, and whether it would allow them to participate fully in the conversation. Meanwhile, in my office, Marisa Román waited for my signal to come to my classroom and surprise the students. And it happened. We managed to repeat the wonderful experience of two years ago, when Marisa also came to my class as a surprise.
The conversation was fluent and very honest. There were many lessons. Besides deepening their learning about telenovelas, my students were able to appreciate first hand how, beyond the glittering aspects of celebrity, actors are human beings whose craft is centered on feelings and emotions. In addition, my students, who are frequently inhibited from speaking Spanish because they haven't perfected it, watched how Marisa Román privileged her desire to communicate with them over her English level and had no qualms to correct her spoken English as she answered our questions. (You can read some my students' posts about this visit in the class blog: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).
Here's a video of the visit. The quality is far from perfect, but the content is representative of what happened in our class during that hour. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.
Once again (see Edgar Ramírez, Carlos Mata and Guy Ecker), we have the opportunity to watch a long interview with an actor whose career includes telenovelas as a key ingredient. This time it's Mexican Kate del Castillo in a conversation with Venezuelan writer Leonardo Padrón.
In addition to her work in telenovelas (Imperio de Cristal, Azul, Mágica Juventud, Alguna vez tendremos alas, Ramona, El Derecho de Nacer y La Mentira, among others), Kate del Castillo has participated in U.S. television series like Weeds and in several films: “Nada que ver”, “Reclusorio”, “Amor que mata”, “Aviso de ocasión”, “Por ti”, “Daría tu vida”, “18 Pesos”, “Las Sobrinas del Diablo”, “Peligro en Altamar” and the acclaimed "Bajo la misma luna".
Following is the video of the interview. Among other topics, Kate del Castillo and Padrón talk about the paradox that telenovelas are for actors: acting training like no other and an acting corset of sorts because of how repetitive protagonist roles have become.
I'm still in Oxford with little time to write in my blog. Meanwhile, here's another interview between a telenovela writer and an actor. This time writer Leonardo Padrón interviews famous actor Guy Ecker (Sebastian in Café con Aroma de Mujer). It's an interview that illuminates the life and craft of an actor, and the telenovela world:
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:
I'm in Caracas documenting the final days of telenovela LA VIDA ENTERA. I have a lot to comment and share, but little time to do so. I must wait until the telenovela's final episode is broadcast so I can sit down to write and share pictures and videos behind the cameras of this final week.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of images related to one of the most popular characters in the telenovela: Carlota Duque "Tata" interpreted by Marisa Román.
Here's the tatoo on the character's back:
Here's makeup artist, Jota, drawing the tatoo on Marisa Román's back:
Studying telenovelas has allowed me not only to study how these melodramas are produced, but also to get to know well those who work "making" them. I've received a lot from everyone who works behind and in front of the cameras. They have opened their homes, dressing rooms, TV studios and offices to me, so that I could understand how a telenovela is made, a character is constructed, and the way these serials take over the lives of those who work in them.
Behind the glitter that covers everything on the television screen are real human beings who work their magic so that we believe the stories and characters they're telling us. But, there are occasions in which their real lives teach us important lessons.
Early in 2007, actor Daniela Bascopé was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma at the age of 24. After months of treatment, Daniela recovered and is back on television as Natalia in telenovela La Vida Entera. And this week, Daniela presented her book Vencer y Vivir (To Overcome and Live), in which she shares her experience with her illness.
In La Vida Entera we can also see Lourdes Valera, who has taped her character Rosa Coronel as she underwent treatment for cancer.
Here's a video of the morning show Portadas in which telenovela La Vida Entera was promoted. In addition to being an example of how a telenovela is promoted in Venezuela, you will be able to watch Daniela and Lourdes as they explain the characters they play and give us their message of courage. (The video is sort of stretched, I don't know why. At the end of the Portadas' sequence, there is an example of a promotional of La Vida Entera).
A key ingredient of my teaching philosophy is to provide students with opportunities to link what we learn inside the classroom with the "real world" that exists beyond the university's walls. This is the reason why in my telenovela class and seminars I've always included phone conferences with people who work in the telenovela industry. (In previous years, I've had as guests Julie Restifo, Daniela Bascopé, Carlos Cruz, Edgar Ramírez, Marisa Román and Leonardo Padrón).
This week we had two guests that visit my class every time I teach it because they're very generous with their time and insights. And because both of them have taught me a lot as I continue my intellectual journey through the beguiling landscape of telenovela research: Marisa Román and Leonardo Padrón. This time we benefitted from technology since we used video conference thanks to the facilities provided in the Faherty Lab here at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. We enjoyed the experience even more than in previous opportunities because we could see our guests and they could see us.
Thanks to these conversations, my students were able to hear Leonardo Padrón explain the details of his creative process, describe the everyday life of a telenovela writer, list his major concerns and satisfactions as he tackles the difficult, absorbing and exhausting process of writing a telenovela, which is a product of industrial dimensions.
The students were also able to ask Marisa Román about the construction of a character, and which have been the most difficult and most satisfying characters she has interpreted. Román explained the differences in the actors craft when she/he faces television, theater and film.
It was a truly special class in which all involved learned a great deal thanks to a couple of conversations that were enjoyable, sincere and gratifying.
In my recent trip to Venezuela, I conducted many interviews with people who work in telenovelas in both networks, RCTV and Venevisión. I also had the opportunity to visit the set of telenovela Torrente. I'm still digesting and analyzing my field notes and interview transcripts. In this blog entry, I comment on a contrast I found that is particularly enlightening. The contrast is between two telenovelas made in Venevisión: Torrente, currently on the air, and Vieja Yo?, which is already in its production phase and scheduled for broadcast very soon.
In the set of Torrente I found a group of, (mostly young), actors and director Claudio Callao. They're working as best as they possibly can with a script that is generally predictable, occasionally contradictory and characterized by an exaggerated melodramatic tone. Network Venevisión, determined to produce telenovelas that sell well in the international market, offers us in Torrente a catalog of storylines we have seen so many times, we've memorized them. The production values, however, are much better than the script. I admired director Callao as I watched his struggle to produce a mise-en-scene with the realism and impact the script sorely lacks. I was also impressed with some of the actors who have been working their characters with dedication, taking them beyond the unclear outline barely depicted in the 40 pages that constitute each episode. I can't avoid asking myself: What is Torrente's thesis? Does it have a thesis? What do the writers want to say?
The contrasting experience was my conversation with writer Mónica Montañés about her new telenovela La Vieja Esa (title that Venevisión discarded, favoring Vieja Yo?). This writer has a clear thesis behind the story she's going to tell. Many people think that writers just say "now I'm going to write the love story between a woman and a younger man." Well, not really. When a writer has a thesis, he or she has something to say. And that gives the story support, sustenance and consistency. It also draws clearly the characters. (Something that good actors appreciate and enjoy). When there's a thesis, the audience finds a truth immersed in the dream that every telenovela is. And that truth faces us and hooks us too. That's the difference between telenovelas like Torrente and those that are conceptualized like Vieja Yo?
Some will undoubtedly say that Torrente will fare better than Vieja Yo? in the international market. We'll have to wait and see. But if that proves to be the case, there will be people who will interpret it as proof that the international audience is only interested in the same old story. Personally, I don't think so. I do think, however, that there are vested interests in selling only the same story over and over again. And that's different.
I'm finally back from Caracas and my next blog entries will be dedicated to some of my experiences in the last few weeks. I will do this in inverse chronological order. Hence, I begin with an interesting episode I lived at the beginning of this week:
A year ago I was also in Caracas and I was able to attend an Actor's Studio workshop taught by Lisa Formosa. This week I had again the privilege to coincide with this workshop in Caracas. Once again I was able to observe the wonderful teaching work of Lisa Formosa and the acting strides of the workshop's participants. Good actors, like good writers, are excellent observers who never completely trust their work as perfect.
In this workshop, observing is a key activity. The environment is one of trust and respect, and the expectation is that participants will give their all with integrity and honesty. This workshop's goal is not performance, but exploration, both of the character and the actor that will personify that character. This simultaneous exploration is done through "the method" created by Stanislavski and established by Lee Strasberg in the Actor's Studio.
One of the central concepts is the "creative if." Creation begins when in the actor's soul and imagination appears this magical and creative "if" that allows the actor to imagine the character's practical truth with sincerity and enthusiasm. To do this, it's important that the actor asks her or himself the following about the character:
Who is her/him?
What does he/she needs?
What are the obstacles that impede her/him of getting what she/he needs?
It's essential to understand what the character feels at every moment and find in the actor's sensorial library something from the actor's own life that gives her/him the same feeling. It's also key to understand the difference between how the actor sees the character, and how the character sees him or herself.
These and other concepts learned are very useful for me and my studies about telenovelas because they help me understand better the actors' craft as they give life to the characters who give telenovela audiences the mix of reality and dream that these melodramas are.
I haven't been able to write in my blog because I'm still in Venezuela. Yes, I'm still in Caracas canvassing the current moment in Venezuelan TV. I'm still conducting interviews with actors, producers, directors, writers and network executives, and observing the production of some telenovelas. I'm still in a hurry in this complex city with its ever-present traffic jams. It isn't easy to do research in Caracas.
On of the pleasures of being in Caracas is to go the theater. Here are images of three of the plays I've seen recently: Ambas Tres (Julie Restifo, Alba Roversi/Dad Dagger y Beatriz Vasquez), Juntos Pero Separados (Gledys Ibarra y Marcos Moreno) and ¿Monogamia? (Javier Vidal y Antonio Delli). Now that the sources of TV work for actors are considerably smaller, it's important to to support Venezuelan theater and film production.
This entry will be relatively short. I'm finishing Maymester, a semester in three weeks, and preparing a research trip to Caracas. Hence, I don't have a lot of time to write and this entry will be unavoidably superficial.
Sometimes an actor, playing an antagonist role is so good, that he or she breaks the central code of the telenovela genre, that protagonists have a happy ending. These are actors who manage to make the audience feel that it's them who should have a happy ending. I refer here to cases in which the actor, using her/his talent goes beyond the nuances that the script may have and garner the audience's preferences. Here are two current cases from Venezuelan telenovelas:
Nohely Arteaga as Imperio Laya in Toda una Dama
This telenovela is a remake of Señora originally written by José Ignacio Cabrujas. Imperio is, without a doubt, a character that is well conceptualized and written. But, we can't deny either that Nohely Arteaga has elevated this role in such a way that there are audience members who prefer her to the protagonist, Valeria (Cristina Dieckmann), her own daughter in the telenovela. In this case, the actor manages to elicit justification from the audience's side regarding the character's past behavior. (See 3:31 and 7:09 in this video)
Iván Tamayo as Bayardo Santa Cruz in Torrente
In this case, the actor rises over an extremely predictable and slow script that is generally weak in character design. Tamayo builds a credible character and establishes a breathtaking "chemistry" with protagonist Ana Julia (Maritza Bustamante) (See the beginning of the video and 5:03).
I've written before (1, 2) about the differences in perception between Internet message board participants and the public at large.
There are also important differences regarding the appreciation of the challenges associated with certain roles. Having been able to see the insides of telenovela production has allowed me to follow the creative process of writers and actors, and has given me a privileged and more complete view regarding the perception differences between the audience and the makers about a particular character. Through the years I've seen how the press and viewers measure "how big" is a character by the number of scenes or dialogue it has. Meanwhile, real actors measure the character using the performance challenge it represents, and the quantity and quality of nuances that the writing of this character enables.
Recently in the TVVI message board there was a short discussion about the characters written by Leonardo Padrón. The conversation was centered on two talented female actors: Nohely Artega and Caridad Canelón. Some message writers considered their two roles in telenovela Ciudad Bendita small and without transcendence. Other message board participants disagreed.
The discussion moved me to review again this telenovela's ratings, and my field notes and interviews while I was studying Ciudad Bendita. In my conversations with Nohely Arteaga and Caridad Canelón I found these actors to be very satisfied with the challenges that their respective characters, Doble M and Peregrina, signified. They were also happy about the possibility of saying something about women who have lost their individual identity because of oppression that renders them as only spouses and mothers (Doble M), and the everyday life of an Alzheimer patient (Peregrina).
Those audience members who participated in my study appreciated Doble M, a character that spoke about "the experience of many Venezuelan women who lose their identity because of the expectations associated with traditional gender roles."
Here is one of Doble M's first scenes with her husband Puro, where we see the emblem of their relationship: his obsession with her weight...with a twist--Puro likes chubby women:
(Important: if the youtube version seems to have video and audio out of sync, please click on the second version that requires Flash)
Here, you can read (it's in Spanish) a fragment of another emblematic scene in which Doble M confronts her daughter's reaction when the latter learns that, unbeknownst to her father, her mother is working outside her home.
Ciudad Bendita enjoyed excellent ratings. The audience was particularly interested in Peregrina's storyline. When she, because of her Alzheimer's, gets lost for two days and is finally found by her son, Juan, the episode had a 47.8% share and an average rating of 14 pts. That night, Ciudad Bendita had 8.4 ratings points of difference with its nearest competitor. My study participants also were outspoken about how important they felt this plot was. They liked that Peregrina was "not just the protagonist's mother."
Here's a brief video summary of some of Peregrina's key moments:
When she asks La Diabla to tatoo on her forearm the name of her loved ones, so that she doesn't forget them.
When her son Juan finally finds her after two days.
The final resolution to her storyline, one that could not have a traditional happy end.
I believe that in both cases-- Doble M and Peregrina, it's easy to appreciate what can be accomplished when a good script meets performance talent and commitment.
Telenovelas rarely achieve unanimous approval or appreciation. Hence, the question remains: How big is a telenovela character? Or, in other words, how do we measure the "size" of a character?
Today, for the first time, the English and Spanish version of my blog won't be mirror images. The topic of my posts, however, will be the same: The problem with celebrity gossip. 
