Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro on his role in award-winning ‘The Blue Trail’

0:12Hello and welcome to the Monoco Weekly. I am Fernando Augusto Pacheco and today I speak with Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro. He stars in award-winning The Blue Trail, directed by Gabriel Mascaro. We speak about the film, his international career, and upcoming role in Netflix series Brazil 70.

0:39What's happening here?

0:41Rodrigo Santoro:Senhora Teresa, dona da casa? Uh-huh. It's a homage to the government. Hommenge? It's because of your age. Sometimes when a person is homenageada is only because they're old. Rodrigo Santoro, what a pleasure talking to you. As a Brazilian as well, I grew up, you know, watching you on TV and doing amazing films. and I loved The Blue Trails. So it's a pleasure talking to you right now. Rodrigo, my first question to you, I actually interviewed Gabriel Mascaro last year. Is it true that when he wrote your role, he was actually thinking of you? Is that the case? Yeah, yeah, it's true. When I saw Gabriel's first film, Boy Neon, I was really impressed.

1:21I had a meeting with him and then I told him, I said, look, I love the movie and I would love to work with you sometime. And we kept in touch. His previous film, we tried to make it work for the film he did before Blue Trail. And it didn't work out because of dates and all that. And he said, well, one day it will work out. And then he reached out and said, look, this time I wrote a character thinking of you and I hope you like it. You're going to participate in part of the movie. It's not a big part, but I think it's a beautiful part. And it is. I read the script. I loved everything about it. I always wanted to have the opportunity to have a deep dive into the Amazon and shooting a film into the Amazon is, I think, is the best way to do that.

2:07I went there before, but as somebody that was visiting and didn't spend time enough to understand, to have more of a feeling of this place. And then the theme, the central theme of this movie is deeply touched me. You know, narratives about old age often reduce the elderly to memories or infinitude. They're commonly limited to being portrayed as living in the past or just dealing with the imminence of death. And rarely they're seen as protagonists of the present. And I thought that was genius, you know, like this woman, this strong woman that wanted to live her dream, that refused to accept this sort of social euthanasia, you know, like Teresa embarks on a journey in search of freedom.

3:01And this dream, this simple dream that she had, and this character embodies the desire to live out, you know, this journey and to try on new identities, to experience new things in a unique and very undogmatic way. You know, I love the freedom that this woman carries. I think it's very important to discuss ageism, especially now in the world, you know, to ask ourselves, how do we deal with the elderly in our society? And that's not a Brazilian thing. That's I think it's a very I think this theme is it's very universal. Absolutely universal. I think is a topic of our times, right? Because, you know, we are getting old.

3:48We need to accept that, you know, life can be fun. Even if we don't want to, we're trying everything to stop time and to put on creams and, you know, anything that can get us younger or I don't know. You know, this is it's not going to happen because it's that's life. That's what happens to all of us, to all that is that has life in the planet. It's what it is. Also, what I did love about the character that he wrote is that Cadu is a heartbroken traveling man. You know, the idea was to show a man suffering the pain of distance from his love, which I think is the opposite of how we see generally how films associate this type of character with the masculine freedom of a traveler, you know, a man on a boat away from the home pressures.

4:51He's so free, he's so confident. But Cadu is the opposite. Cadu is very fragile. He's in deep mourning because of this love that he lost. And the boat is sort of like his prison. And he will need to use supernatural forces, and, you know, in this case, to leave this life behind and accept his heart's desire. You know, basically, it's a man that it's in touch with his fragilities. And I think that's, again, very contemporary. That's, again, something that we are discussing. Not enough, in my opinion, but more and more, we are talking about the importance of understanding the patriarchal society that we live on and discussing, you know, what's the role of man in society.

5:41And I think that he brings, we portray a character that is very different than expected for this kind of guy, this archetype of this man on a boat.

6:07I'm going to buy freedom before being taken. How was it to work with Denise Weinberg? Because she was fantastic, and you two had such a great chemistry on the big screen, actually. It was a gift. She's wonderful. She's a wonderful actress, and she's a wonderful human being. When I got there, she was already there. She was shooting. She had, I think, a week in, and I didn't know her. I knew of her. I knew that she was great, but it was absolutely delightful because she was, first of all, she was a trooper. She was up. It was dark, you know, in film, even though people don't think so. People think that we go there and have a good time, but it's hard.

6:54It's hard work. And many times it's still dark. It's like 5 a.m. and we're there. and she was so just ready to go and so full of this vital energy and really looking forward to find the best way to do the scenes and exchange and collaborate. I can only say, you know, beautiful things about Denise. She's wonderful. And I think she does a very fine job in the movie. I agree. And The Blue Trail was a big hit in Brazil. And how do you see, because you're one of the most kind of successful Brazilian actors abroad as well, you know, and how do you see this moment of Brazilian cinema? Because, you know, I've been living here in London for the last 20 years and never heard so many mentions of Brazilian cinema together until now.

7:42Are you optimistic about kind of this movement? I want to be optimistic because I think that we're going through a very unique moment and a very powerful momentum for Brazilian cinema. And I think that represents maturity. That represents what the Brazilian cinema has been, how it's been finding its own identity and throughout the years. and now it's like you see the Brazilian cinema DNA in the films that we've been, you know, now the secret agent, I'm still here. And of course, those are the films that got more attention, that got several nominations and all that. But there's a lot of other films, great films, that are traveling to film festivals all over the world and they're getting more recognition and in Brazil as well.

8:35But we need to make sure that this is not just a moment that will disappear. It cannot be just this past two years that we had incredible films that were able to cross over and and also make very good box office in Brazil with the Brazilian audience. Our work is to make sure that this just helps to feed and to incentive to get some power behind the industry so we can just carry on doing great films and maintaining and evolving and keeping our quality and our stories up there. Rodrigo, I have a question for you because you've worked in many foreign productions, very famous ones, very popular ones.

9:20Are you now focusing on projects in Brazil? Is that kind of your intention or perhaps things are more organic? You go with the flow. No, I actually, when we had a pandemic, I had to make a decision. Until the pandemic, I was spending a lot of time in the United States and also traveling, working abroad and would go back to Brazil always. You know, I've never moved to the U.S. or anywhere else. I always kept my base in Brazil. but I would spend a lot of time and focus more on those jobs abroad. But when we had the pandemic and I stayed in Brazil for all that time and I stayed with my family and we stayed there, after that first year and a half or two years, our daughter had to go to school.

10:10She was five to six and we had to choose where we were going to be. And I chose to be there. So our base would be Rio. So we were surrounded by our family and the choice was very much thinking of our family and where I needed to be. And of course, if I had an opportunity to work anywhere in the world, I will figure that out. And I will go like I am right now. I'm in Madrid, about to start shooting tomorrow. And my family is back there, but my daughter is in school and she has a place because we moved a lot until she was six. And it was the time to make that decision. I made that decision. I stay there.

10:51The good news is that I kept finding great opportunities to work there in Brazil, one after the other. I think it also relates to what I was just saying about the momentum that we have in our industry in Brazil. And then I worked for, you know, I did a show, I did a movie, I did this movie, I did another movie. And then I'm doing a film that is a Netflix film, but we're shooting in Madrid. but also, you know, it originated in Brazil. But last year I was in Australia shooting an American Hollywood movie, but shot in Australia. Now I'm based in Brazil and going with the flow pretty much. But I have been finding great opportunities and great parts that have been exciting me.

11:35And it's been great, but I'm still working whatever the opportunity or the project is. I'm not focused on working just in Brazil or just in the US or just in Europe. It has to do with the part and the project. And basically, that's what it is. I play by ear. That's what it is. And finally, you're a busy man. And there will be plenty of Rodrigo this year. The Blue Trail success here, released in the UK. And also, I very much look forward to seeing you as João Saldanha, a Brazil 70. Oh, yeah. Very exciting.

12:17Arqueiro Pélices. Na defesa, Brito e Piazza. Nas laterais, o capitão Carlos Alberto Torres. E Eberaldo. No meio de campo temos Clodoaldo. E o maestro do time. O canhotinha de ouro, Gerson. Seguindo para Rivelino. O patada tópica. That's a lot of fun. I didn't know much about João Saldanha I've heard of. You know, this is 70s. I was born in 75. And we all know as Brazilians, I'm sure you were born and you hear, oh, that national team from the 70s with Pele, Jairzinho, Tustin. That's the team from all times. And to have the honor and the responsibility to step in and play this. João Saldanha is an amazing part.

13:08I think he deserves a story for himself because there's so much to this guy that I didn't know. there's so much contradiction and conflict and he's so interesting. I love doing it and I'm very excited. It's coming out, I think, the end of May. I don't have the date yet, but I know it will be before the World Cup. So we're all excited. Let's not let anyone get on your path.

13:39He says that he has a power of You'll see what you've never seen.

14:11Thank you.