‘ A FANTASTIC WOMAN’
Sebastián Lelio’s latest cinematic marvel simply would not be the same movie without the transcendent performance of Daniela Vega. But, when Lelio first met the 28- year- old actress and singer he wasn’t looking to cast her as Marina, the “fantastic woman” in question.
“I was looking for information to get rid of my ignorance. I didn't have any transgender friends and I was living in Berlin for four years by then. So I was a bit detached about what was going on in the streets of Santiago,” the Chilean filmmaker admits.
“So I was, like, ‘ Oh, this story could happen to a transgender woman.’ And I was, like, ‘ Err, stop, we need to see who is out there. We need to meet people.’ ”
Lelio, who is best known for 2013’ s art house hit “Gloria,” was referred to Vega by a number of women in the trans community.
However, he was upfront with her initially that he was just looking for someone to assist the project as a “cultural consult- ant” on the story of a woman whose older boyfriend dies.
Lelio says the day they met “was a milestone in the process.”
“I was co- writing with this woman I'm talking to, Daniela, and falling in love with her as a person,” Lelio says.
“And then she made me understand that I wasn't going to make the film without a transgender actor. That would have been an anachronism. And that it is already too late [ in terms of social progress] for that, you know? I mean you can't. It's like doing a film about black people with white people painted [ black].”
Vega eventually landed the title role, but Lelio is grateful for her overall involvement because the film’s screenplay never would have worked without her contributions. “Her uniqueness pushed the script further. I was trying to make the script to be as complex as she was.”