Natalia Oreiro told how she prepares to be Eva Perón: „I feel fear in front of such a character“
In May she will begin to record the seven chapter series: Santa Evita. After a long silence, she finally spoke to Clarín.
Natalia cannot hide the emotion. Since it was confirmed that she will play Eva Perón in the miniseries Santa Evita, a seven-episode production that will begin its‘ filming in May 2020 under the direction of the Colombian Rodrigo García and that will be seen next year, less and nothing was known about the actress and singer. No statement.
However, a call – Nati gets interrupted by one of the two weekly singing classes that she has taken for years, wherever she is in the world – makes Natalia open up and share what she can say about this project, which is a co-production of Non Stop and Buena Vista Original Productions (a division of Disney), producer of hits like Monzón, Selena’s Secret, El César and Until I Met You. And that involves more famous names, such as Salma Hayek (in executive production), Darío Grandinetti (he will play Juan Domingo Perón) and Ernesto Alterio (will be Colonel Moori Koenig).
„First of all, I am grateful,“
Natalia Oreiro begins to unravel her feelings.
„Later, I feel that it is the greatest challenge of my artistic career. And finally I have to confess that I am afraid of such a character.“
Strictly speaking Nati had never dreamed of playing this role (asshe already played Gilda and she did it in a very successful film. Also she intends to play the heroine of independence Juana Azurduy in a few). What comes more, a few years ago other producers had offered her the role of Evita and she rejected it.
„At the time, I didn’t feel like I had the ability to do it,“
she says with brutal honesty.
She already played Evita in 2017. It was at the very exclusive birthday party for Russian billionaire Len Blavatnik. In a white dress and combed hairstyle, Nati (accompanied by Alan Faena, dressed as Juan Domingo Perón) dazzled the guests with his version of Don’t cry for me Argentina, from the balcony of the castle where the party was held.
What changed then for the actress to decide to get into Eva’s shoes? That when Natalia was asked to the audition for this version of Santa Evita – based on Tomás Eloy Martínez’s book- she asked who was going to direct it. And it shut down complety that it was Rodrigo García, who in addition to being the son of Gabriel García Márquez, is a director who she admires and who saw much of his work (let’s name a few: 10 little love stories, Nine lives, Last days in the desert, the movies; and episodes of series such as Los Soprano, Six Feet Under, Big Love and In Treatment, on TV).
„Well, in October or November 2019 I did the casting. There were three different scenes from Evita, which are in the series. I also had an one-hour talk with Rodrigo García, on Skype. When they told me that I had been chosen, I was frozen. That’s when the gratitude, the challenge and the fear began to arrive.“
says Natalia, who despite starting to shoot in two months, says she is „emotionally taken“ by the character.
„I have already started to read and watch everything I can about Eva Perón, she seems to me the most important woman on a spiritual and political level in all of history, so perhaps I hesitated so long to do it,“
Nati said.
„But I already have put my heart, soul and body into it.“
True to her obsessive method of approaching her characters, Natalia began working with three different people to play Evita: a vocal coach, an acting coach, and also another actress, to study various aspects of composition.
An antiquarian friend also began to supply her with clothing and objects from the decade in which Evita lived until he became an inescapable figure in the argentinian history.
And she laughs when she’s asked about the hair color.
„Of course I’m going to dye the color required to the character. I read around that I had demanded blonde wigs so I wanted not to hurt my hair. Hahaha, they don’t know me at all. I had a lot hairstyles with different colors for each of my characters. Look if I’m not going to dye for Evita, then which is the most important thing I have to do?“
But the hair, she says, is
„a detail. The important thing is the whole thing: putting the voice, the body, the heart, the soul … That is why I tell you that I am emotionally taken by Evita.“
Santa Evita will contain more argentinian names on its production. The theatrical director, screenwriter and director Alejandro Maci is listed as a co-director of Rodrigo García. And the adaptation of the novel by Tomás Eloy Martínez is in charge of Marcela Guerty and Pamela Rementería.
The plot follows the intriguing story of Eva Perón after her death (July 26, 1952), when her body was kept waiting to be buried in a monument.
By Clarin.
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