"Cantinflas," the movie, tells the untold story about how this character came to be and who his creator was. Actor Óscar Jaenada portrays both Cantinflas and his creator, Mario Moreno, in a way that is not only passionate and endearing, but spot-on. Of course, this didnt happen just like that, Jaenada says it took an entire team to prepare for the iconic character, but he was on his own when he ventured to the streets of Mexico to do months and months of research about the reserved and private actor behind Cantinflas.
How do you feel about being “the chosen one” to play a Mexican icon like Cantinflas as Spanish actor?
I feel very lucky. Not for being from Spain (especially not in these tough times) but for having been picked to play an international icon like Cantinflas. Like the rest of the world, I grew up watching his films, so I feel honored, being that there are so many capable actors out there. Far from being scared about having a different nationality, I am an actor. I am used to doing things like this.
Do you have a new appreciation for Mario Moreno ‘Cantinflas’?
Absolutely, with this film I actually discovered Mario Moreno, the creator of this character, I didn’t know anything about him. I think Cantinflas ate his creator. With a character so huge, no one really thinks about Mario Moreno. Most of the time, people are unable to separate the two concepts, that’s why they call him Mario Moreno Cantinflas but they are truly different. For Catinflas I watched his many movies (more than fifty) over and over again, until I started recognizing the look in his eyes when he was improvising. I really wanted to show his nack improvisation. But Mario Moreno was a sad, very serious man, and I discovered the sacrifice it must have been to devote his life to a single character. I’m not use to that. In half his age I’ve played 40 different characters! So I also discovered what happens to someone’s own life when you shed it for a character. It’s not wealthy. You can see that in our movie; his house was really not a good place to be in.
How much improvisation did you yourself do?
Nothing. No improvisation whatsoever. He was the best at doing that and the times I’ve done that in other movies was only when I was playing a Spaniard, because it’s obviously my accent and I can improvise without a teacher telling me I said it wrong. Also, we’re talking about the all time genius of improvisation, so my job was actually to make it seem improvised. It was all very carefully scripted and had to seem improvised.
As you said, it’s a great sacrifice to invest yourself in a character (in this case two characters) so deeply for entire duration of the project. How do you shed that character, how do you go back to normality afterwards?
Very simple, it was what I wanted most the whole time we were filming: to go back to my normal life, my air, my shoes and my son. There’s so many things you can’t do while making a movie like this. For instance, I had to move to Mexico City, there was no other way. Once I was there, I had to step into shoes that weren’t mine, walk in a way that wasn’t mine, speak in a way that wasn’t mine and understand life in a way that wasn’t mine. At least, in a sense, Mario Moreno and I are both actors so we had a lot in common. It took a lot of work and time to start feeling like Mario Moreno and Cantinflas but evidently that last person you feel like, during all of this, is yourself. The last day of filming all I wanted was to go back home to my country, hug my son, speak like myself and wear pants at a normal height! [laughs] Do my hair like I wanted and of course, shave those two things they called moustache. People speak and breathe much slower in Mexico and I had to learn that, it’s an altitude thing. All of that takes a lot of effort to install within you when you sacrifice yourself for a character.
When you learned about this project coming to life, how did you prepare for the audition? How much research did you do on Cantinflas?
Well, auditions are usually shitty. You have to cross the world to go to a place you’ve never been, (I had never been in Mexico) to be there for 5 minutes. It’s very tough. They sent me a sequence/sketch I had to prepare, tape it and send via email but I wanted to see the people who were making the movie. I have a career in Europe that I wasn’t about to jeopardize just like that. I prefer having a producer or a director in front of me than a camera. So they sent me a sequence for Cantinflas and some for other characters but I didn’t know any Mexicans, much less some who could help me prepare this material so I picked out a monologue and prepared for it for three days and the entire plane ride. I also know one or two things about how to do this as a professional actor and it turned out well. Probably also cause I though, “I’ve traveled 15 hours for this, I better get it fucking right.”
There’s a lot of physicality, did you train for things like boxing or bullfighting?
Well, I’m completely against bullfighters but they did hire a dance teacher who happened to be very close to Mario Moreno so she was very passionate about it and kept telling me how Mario stood, and sat and frowned. She was extremely important for my performance obviously for the physical action. I had to put medicated creams on my knees every night because standing with my knees together all day hurt so much. They also hired a speech coach to help me put the voice in its place, and a Cantinflas impersonator. I had an entire team to recreate Cantinflas, but for Mario Moreno I was on my own. I searched high and low in the streets of Mexico. I had to get into his social and political circles cause he was a very reserved, very private guy who knew his craft and certain tricks to stay away from certain things.
How important is the success of your film for this career now that times are tough in Spain?
The first time I came here was because I was out of a job in Spain. After I won the Goya, (the most important prize for an actor in Spain), I had to leave because sadly most experienced actors are unemployed. I only go to Spain because my son is there and I love the weather, etc but I don’t plan to go there looking for work. The government is against cinema and culture, and is killing an entire generation.
What is your favorite Cantinflas movie?
There are two. I wanted to show the evolution of the character which I think reaches its climax where Cantinflas in “Ahí está el detalle.” I got my hands on the original script for the movie and realized it has nothing to do with the actual dialogue in the film! [laughs] I was so impressed by the supporting actors. This is where you can really see their talent. I was baffled by what Cantinflas did to the scripts back then. Something so unthinkable to do these days; he did whatever he wanted. Later on he seemed tired of his own character; decisions were more financial than creative and you could tell he was kind of fed up. There’s a scene that I’m passionate about in “El bolero de Raquel,” where he doesn’t say a word for six minutes and still, you clearly see the character come to life. The verb “cantinflear” is deifned as speaking without really saying anything but that should change.
Can you tell us about your future projects?
Yes, “Hands of Stone” with Robert De Niro, where I play ‘Mano de piedra Durán’, a very rich character, a homeless Panamanian who is schizophrenic; a British film with Marcia Gay Harden and I am waiting to start filming “Viva Canoñero,” a Venezuelan film with Morgan Freeman which I’m also very excited about since I play a very atypical character.
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