Seated and with a shattered leg, Carlos Alcántara is on the warpath. I am his third interviewer of the day, but in the week, which is now ending, the Peruvian actor has responded using the media loudspeaker to an accumulation of issues that do not have him calm.
There’s Latina’s decision to revive “Pataclaun,” the popular comedy space for which her former castmates are claiming royalties. There are harsh criticisms of the manufacture of “¡Asu mare! Los amigos ”—his debut as a director—, the grossing film by Tondero (more than 700,000 viewers) about which the critic Ricardo Bedoya declared that it was “an absolutely failed film ”. And there is the statement he gave to Luis Carlos Burneo, from Henry Spencer’s Room, in which he candidly said: “Now that I’ve taken over the management, I’ve started to watch some tutorials (…). I am not a person trained in directing or trained in cinema. If they ask me about cinema, I really don’t know much”.
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Spaces like “Love and Fire” added the non-existent coda “YouTube tutorials” to this statement with a lot of bias and the ball grew in networks until it formed, in the minds of many, the image of a completely ignorant Carlos Alcántara in the manufacturing a movie and literally directing your film with YouTube videos on the side to figure out what the hell to do on the fly.
With an extensive career that dates back to 1981 and today at 58 years old, Alcántara is our highest grossing actor thanks to the saga of “Asu mare” and the phenomenon that was “Pataclaun” —in addition to his time in series and films by other genders-. Here he responds within the framework of promoting his new leading role in the Peruvian-Dominican production “The Year of the Tiger.”
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—The first question is this: when do you rest? You are releasing productions one after another; I was recently at the “Asu madre! The friends”; Immediately you’re already with “El año del tigre”, and I think I heard Miguel Valladares (Tondero’s general manager) say that they were going to release “La casa del caracol”.
—What happens is that “La casa del snail” was made two years ago, in the midst of a pandemic. And they are coincidences. “Asu mare! Friends” was also made last year and has now been released in record time. If it weren’t for this episode of the accident, I would have had to be on all the shows doing interviews and talking about “The Year of the Tiger.” It seems that I don’t stop, but there is a time because I schedule my year so that I can also give priority to the most important thing, which is the family. I was four weeks away from filming a very interesting film in Argentina, very very important to me. I thought I was coming, but the doctor, when he operated on me, told me that it would be at least six weeks (rest). Right now, as I am, just thinking that in two weeks I would have to go filming… There is no way. I’m like ‘look at me and don’t touch me’, I feel like crazy.
—“The Year of the Tiger” has the peculiarity that it is filmed in the Dominican Republic, but it brings together three actors from “Patacláun”. How much did you participate in that decision or did they just summon you and you were surprised?
I was surprised just when I was there. I have nothing, no interference or anything; I don’t know if Miguel Valladares —I don’t think so— would have told me. I think that there is a subject of surprise for me, and it has really been incredible, well, with them… It’s like playing with your teammates of a lifetime, that you don’t even look at yourself anymore and you know that this one runs down here and that you are going to focus and you are going to score a goal.
—Because one would think from the business side that, with the experience you have, you would have some ability to veto or ask to bring in this or that actor.
—No, because it is not my production. This is a producer from the Dominican Republic. The producer of the film is a friend of Miki (Valladares) from other things —from life and from other productions out there— and I imagine that the connection and suggestions must have been there.
—The story of the film is gruesome. It is announced as a “comedy”, but it has the ingredients of a crime, of a thriller; disorients the viewer. How was the process from the script to rehearsals? Do you know the actors?
—I met Nashla Bogaert many years ago at the Platino Awards. I knew the producer, I knew about him. They just gave me the chance, they told me “here’s the script, read it, do you like it?” I’ve been on that plan for years. The first thing I do to accept a job is, it’s not money or anything, just the script. I get a lot and I said no too. They come to me to do similar things; I am in search of demanding myself, leaving my comfort zone for a long time. I don’t make much of a fuss about it, but I already have seven movies out. I’m not interested in telling everyone “look at her, I make movies outside”, but it’s a matter of personal growth.
When in “The Year of the Tiger” I found out that my character was Chinese, or from the world of chifas, then I began to investigate and it came to my mind that I could be like David Carradine’s character in the series “Kung fu”. ; that he is half Chinese, but he is not. So I decided to lace my hair —I’m curly—, and it kind of didn’t turn out the way I wanted, but I sent the photo to the director and he said “I like it”. On that I began to work on the corporality of the character, half that scratches, walks bent…
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—From the opening, it seems that we are in the Chinatown of Manhattan, but
then we are decanting and it seems that we are in a Chinatown of any place. Or does the story take place in the Dominican Republic?
— There are parts filmed in the real Chinatown and others in the Dominican Republic, but, as you say very well, this film could represent any Chinatown.
—And yet, they put words like ‘chaufa’ into it. Was it in the script or was it a Peruvian contribution?
—The producer also wrote the script and has lived in Peru. That is a contribution from him, but you go to any country in the region and they already know what a chaufa is. The movie is a mix of various things. The technicians are from various countries. The cinematographer is Spanish. The assistant director is Uruguayan. The continuationist is Colombian, and all of them have a lot of experience. The Dominican Republic is a super cinematographic country, a lot of cinema is made.
—This amalgamation creates a singular language; there are weird, bizarre characters, like the owner of the rival restaurant across the street, a kind of preacher. What is your expectation?
I want a lot of people to see it. Because they always claim “it’s always the same”, nonsense that is written on networks. People who suddenly don’t even go to the movies, but they always say things like “same actors again”, “same movies again”, “same story again”, “make better movies”, and, when there is a good movie or a movie within what they want, they don’t see it.
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—I wanted to take advantage of having you here because a month ago your statement that you had prepared yourself as a director by watching tutorials caused a stir.
—Thank you for giving me the opportunity, because it really was a hack of a lot of people who joined something that didn’t even exist, I haven’t even said it and they gave me their soul as if it were true. That is what happens with the networks, that everyone repeats something that they have not even seen, it is not even true. How can you believe that I could direct with my cell phone watching the tutorial…?
—But you said you had seen tutorials. You said it, you can’t deny that.
—If you review that fateful interview of this boy (Luis Carlos Burneo) who moves heaven and earth to become more famous and is now happy with his Luces Award… But he made sure that this spread like wildfire, he and four others who They even ordered a production to misinform and discredit my work. They ask me “what about as a director?”, and I say “wow, a super nice, enriching experience”. I am happy because, listen to me, I have been an actor for 36 years, of which all my life I am super observant; in the “Asu mare!” I have almost been co-director because I am in all the processes.
From there, I have been a producer of ten films, in which I have been the protagonist and I am in all the processes, from the script, filming and post-production. I have participated in the editions, in the sound post, in the audio post, contributing, watching; I know how a movie is made, I know how a movie is directed, I am not an impromptu nor would I do it less than taquito. (…) Actually, the word was not “tutorials” because what I have seen has been a couple of master classes, one by (Alfonso) Cuarón and another by Guillermo del Toro. But I’ve been seeing it for a long time, because I also take photos, I also have my equipment, I join courses in photography direction, direction. You understand? But I said, well, somewhere in a light way, “that’s where I must have seen” (the tutorials). But that does not make me a director, it makes me a director to have information on how a film is made, to talk and meet with the area heads of each group: art director, director of photography, assistant director, wardrobe and makeup . I mean, I’m in everything. And then comes the post-production shooting.
The technicians, some of whom I’ve worked with as an actor, told me “hey, how crazy, you’ve never directed, but it seems like you’ve directed all your life”. Because I’m an actor! And I have directed with the experience of an actor; My actors in the film (“Asu mare! Friends”) are fine, well moved, they are natural, there is nothing loose, I have made a comedy, 750,000 viewers have attended. It can’t be that the movie is badly made.
It won’t be the film that filmmakers or moviegoers or purists (like); it looks like a bodrio to them. Yes, well, because not everyone has to like it, but, listen to me, I go out on the street and receive pure congratulations, really. So, various types cannot be so quick to misinform, so that they write to me and tell me “surely you are also going to direct it with tutorials”.
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