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National Treasure
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 17-Jan-07 @ 05:02 PM
Most actresses would kill be able to decorate their resume with an Oscar nomination.
Then again, most actresses spend years, if not decades, waiting for that coveted
lead role in a critically-acclaimed feature film-you know, the one they
say they've been dreaming of since their. CATALINA SANDINO MORENO, however,
is not like most actresses. Hand-picked from her home in Bogota, Colombia, by Maria
Full Of Grace director Joshua Marsten, Moreno left behind family, friends
and college life to tackle her very first film performance head-on. Needless
to say, the naturally stunning and refreshingly modest actress delivered, and
in turn scored an Oscar nomination-not to mention a truckload of other Best
Actress or Breakthrough Performance awards from every film festival and critical
association you could possibly imagine. Not a bad big-screen debut, right? Just
wait... The best is yet to come. INTERVIEW: Jay Riley PHOTO: Roberto Chamorro You moved to New York City from Bogota, Colombia, in 2002. That had to be a pretty overwhelming change of scenery. Was it difficult to adjust? Oh yeah, very much. I think New York can treat you really well, or it cannot like you. I was fortunate enough to have friends and people who cared about me out there, to kind of guide me through this city. I think if you're alone it's a very difficult place to get used to. While growing up in Colombia, was acting a big part of your life from an early age, or was it something that you discovered later? I went to school for five years. It was a theater academy that I combined with my high school. It was just a hobby, but it was something that I really liked doing, and it was a way for me to combine my studies with something interesting. Then, when I went to college [to study advertising], I kept [acting] going. I loved being on stage. We did a Tennessee Williams play, and we had some people [including director Joshua Marston] come in to see it, and they told me that they were doing casting for Maria Full Of Grace. So I decided to try it... ...And now look where you are-an Oscar nominee and 3,500 miles away from home. Did you ever think this was even a remote possibility? Never. I wasn't even looking to do anything else [like TV or movies]. I was really happy just acting on stage. All my friends from the theater were always going on auditions for TV, and I didn't want that. I just wanted to stay on stage, doing theater. So when they told me about the movie auditions, I thought I should at least try it out and see what they were all about and why these people were looking for Colombia actresses. You've received so much critical acclaim so early in your acting career. Do you pay much attention to the media or what people are saying about your performances? No, not really. When Maria Full Of Grace came out, I think the most important thing to me was people's reaction in the theater, not what people were writing about me. It's nice for any actor to be in a theater surrounded by people watching your movie, and see them reacting in a good way. We took the movie to festivals in all these cities, and just sitting there watching people react, was amazing. [I got] to see people leaving the theater, thinking. Even though the critics were writing a lot about it, what happened in those theaters was what was most important to me. Has that affected the way you go about choosing what projects you want to be a part of? After Maria and seeing how people were affected by it, I think it taught me to be a more responsible person and a more responsible actress. I want to show people these kinds of stories-strong stories that contain information that people should see and know about. Like watching people at Cannes see Fast Food Nation for the first time was so satisfying because you feel like you're letting people know what's really going on and what's really in their food. I've been fortunate to be a part of projects that I really love and care about. Working on a movie that's an adaptation of a non-fiction book has got to be an interesting challenge, as far as staying true to the author's original vision is concerned. How involved was Fast Food Nation author, Eric Schlosser, in the filming? When I read the script, I was so obsessed, that I had to go out and read the book. I was so curious about learning more information about what I'd learned in the script, and learning about how fast food started in America and the details about the immigrant workers. I wanted to know as much as I could. Eric was there a few times when we were shooting and he'd share stories and more information before we started shooting, and it definitely had an impact on me. He's very intelligent and bright he knows what he's talking about and I'm glad he worked with Richard [Linklater, director] to make his book into a movie, because it's a very important subject. How do you go about doing a character study for a character like Sylvia? Well, in the movie, Sylvia is new to this country... She's in America, kind of like I was, and she's looking for a better way of life. She doesn't really know anything about anything. Her first exposure to this country is in a slaughterhouse. For those kinds of things, you just have to do it, and try to avoid going to places that are new for your character. I don't think you surprise yourself as much as you should when you're acting. You can't just fake it. It's got to be real. ALT [SIDEBAR] CATALINA SANDINO MORENO AGE: 25 HQ: New York, NY RÉSUMÉ: The critically-acclaimed Maria Full Of Grace, as Maria, a drug "mule" who smuggles heroin from Bogota, Colombia, to America, in her stomach; this month's film adaptation of Eric Schlosser's bestselling book Fast Food Nation, as Sylvia, an immigrant slaughterhouse employee alongside Wilmer Valderrama; upcoming roles in The Heart Of The Earth and Love In The Time Of Cholera. FAST FOOD ALIENATION: "I've never been a big fast-food person," admits Moreno. "I'm not gonna lie and say I've never had a burger before, [but] I don't eat them anymore... I just don't like them. I'd much rather have some chicken and broccoli for dinner. It's nice to know what's in your food, you know? I think it's important to know what you're putting in your body, and it should be important to everyone." MyTUNES: "When I came here [to the U.S.] I was into salsa and a lot of Colombian musicians," says Moreno of her musical tastes. "Lately, I've been totally obsessed with Corrine Bailey Rae. She's one of my favorite singers now. I think she has beautiful voice, and her lyrics are amazing." ALT |
