Obtaining the Silver Shell for Best Actor at the San Sebastián Festival placed Marcelo Subiotto in the center of the scene and allowed it to stop being the best kept secret of Argentine cinema.
Subiotto obtained the same award that in the past went to various compatriots such as Héctor Alterio, Federico Luppi, Oscar Martínez, Darío Grandinetti and Ricardo Darín. He is now part of a gallery of award-winning performers at said festival that includes figures such as Jack Lemmon, Michael Caine, Peter Sellers, Javier Bardem and José Sacristán, among others.
Subiotto had already moved, astonished and dazzled in films such as “Submerged Family”, “The Tree Tuner”, “The Encomienda” and “The Incident Light”. Little by little he had become a regular presence in different series such as “The Bronze Garden”, “Alternative Therapy” and “División Palermo”. Next year he can be seen in the long-awaited adaptation of “El Eternauta.”
He walks up to the meeting with NOTICIAS in a location that goes unnoticed by the residents of Colegiales. His bearing refers to a young version of Robert Duvall.
When Martín Palermo, tired of scoring goals, decided to retire, he was presented with a bow. In full activity, the gift that Subiotto received is called “Puan”. And as if he were a generous Santa Claus, he decides to share it with a wide universe of viewers.
News: It is not so common for Argentine actors to win awards at Class A festivals, there was the precedent of Oscar Martínez who won the Volpi Cup in Venice, but it was a while ago. What did it mean to you to have won in San Sebastián?
Marcelo Subiotto: A great joy, part of that feeling I am still processing so I cannot close the concept to you, but I also feel a lot of happiness for the reception I had here from the people, the congratulations on Instagram, on the phone. I’m just falling, it was a more than beautiful prize.
News: Beyond that joy, was there a certain disappointment of not being able to be present at the award ceremony?
Subiotto: Well, they are the rules of the game, of the trade, the truth is that finding it unpleasant to have too much work in this time and the country in which we live would be a little ungrateful towards a lot of my colleagues. I was able to be at the important moment when we presented the film and share the screening. For the award I wrote some words and María Alché read them wonderfully, so everything was more than good.
News: I’ll be curious, did they notify you a little before that you won and so you had time to write a few words? We always wonder what that theme is like at the awards.
Subiotto: Yes, in these awards, before the winners are known, the production is notified that such a person has won it. Because they explained to me that sometimes something happens with actors who live in Europe and they give notice because maybe they take a train and in four hours they are at the ceremony. They told me the day before, there were even negotiations for me to fly, but it was impossible.
News: One of the things I like most about the film is that game of opposites with Leo Sbaraglia. How was that relationship worked? Beyond what was in the script, did you have a lot of rehearsals between you?
Subiotto: Yes, in general in “Puan” we had a lot of rehearsal for everything, something that is not very common. For me it is essential because I am an actor with theatrical training and repetition does not detract from me, it adds to me, so we rehearse a lot, especially with Leo. This duo had to function as complementary opposite characters that reflect in the other what one lacks, that creates a very rich situation and in this case, being a comedy that provides many nuances, the truth is that we get along very well on the set . This is the first time we worked together and it was a huge pleasure for me.
News: “Puan” has a great vindication of thought, a revaluation of intellectuality. How does he challenge you as an actor?
Subiotto: The actor’s work always invites you to enter some particular universe to which you do not belong, one day you are a doctor, the next a teacher and then a mechanic. I like to enter those worlds and in “Puan” in particular, all of us involved in the film have wanted in some very humble way to pay tribute to all the public education workers, which on the other hand is the place where I I trained since kindergarten. We worked with teachers who gave us the classes that we were going to give in the film, they allowed me to observe them to see how to compose my character.
News: Those moments at the university almost seem like a documentary, they are very well done…
Subiotto: Yes, I think that a very big success of the producers and directors was to choose the extras from among the students who actually study in those places and were happy to participate. They got so involved that suddenly the limits of fiction were erased and everything became a real class.
News: “Puan” has two directors, María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat. Bilardo said that he had led a team with Pachamé and since both gave instructions, the players did not know who to look at. How do you work with two directors in cinema?
Subiotto: The story is very similar to Bilardo’s, only here the directors have listened to each other so that their visions were not different but complementary. That added a lot, it was very rich, they put together a very interesting team.
News: Many do not know that you are in a relationship with Mara Bestelli, who plays your wife in the film. Have you been together long?
Subiotto: Twelve years already! We met working and we have worked together a lot, both in film and theater. We get along very well at work because we have a very similar view of action and we make a very good team.
News: “Puan” will go to the Goya Awards, but “Los criminales” was chosen for the Oscar. Any disappointment with that topic?
Subiotto: No not at all. It seems like a phenomenon to me and it’s great that there is the possibility of more than one film being in that type of competition. They are choices that one respects and this is so.
News: What does it mean to you to be filming something as emblematic of Argentine literature as “El Eternauta”?
Subiotto: It is very strong because it is a cultural icon. It has strong followers both in the world of comics and in film buffs, in addition to an important identity representation. It is a great honor to be in the cast of that series and I hope it does very well.
News: Were you called or did you have to do a casting?
Subiotto: There was rigorous casting for everyone except Darín and I thought it was very good. It is a large production and Bruno Stagnaro is a director with very clear criteria as to what he is looking for, until he finds it he will not stop.
News: In 2023 we saw him in “Puan”, in the last season of “The Bronze Garden”, in “División Palermo” and starring in “The Years” at the San Martín. Was this a year where he reaped what he sowed?
Subiotto: The truth is yes. I am an actor who is lucky to have a certain continuity of work, I am also a very hard worker. Perhaps because of that theatrical DNA that I told you about, working in independent theater makes us very stubborn guys with different projects all the time. I’m always doing films, theater or series, but this year several very powerful things came together. “Puan” has not been just another premiere, it is something that is just beginning and that exceeded all my expectations. Also soon we will travel with “The Years”, a work that I love very much and with which we tour for a long time, for a week to Japan. From there we go to Madrid with Luis Ziembrowski to participate in the Autumn Festival with “Brief Encounters with Repulsive Men”, directed by Daniel Veronese based on a text by David Foster Wallace.
News: Is it true that in the beginning you formed a duo with Juan Minujín?
Subiotto: Of course yes (laughs). With Juan we formed in the mid-nineties in what is known as Theatrical Anthropology, the Barbeano Theater. Afterwards we did a duet and a play in theater that we took to a lot of schools, it was a time of great learning that I remember with great affection.
News: I read a review of “Puan” that highlighted the humanity and verisimilitude of his character. Are those two of the highest compliments you can give an actor?
Subiotto: Completely. It seems to me that in acting the most powerful thing is simple and the simple thing is very complicated. In “Puan” I had the opportunity to investigate a lot in that territory and I have the feeling that María and Benjamín gave me a kind of beautiful gift where I was able to experience a lot of things that I had been learning from previous films, it was a character to pour everything into. that cinema had taught me.
by Leonardo Martinelli
