Wikipedia presents her as an Argentine model, journalist, actress, television host and writer. However, she identifies herself on Instagram as the artist and creative director of “Roses are Roses.”
Beyond labels and definitions, Andrea Frigerio A long time ago he embraced his acting facet with conviction and enthusiasm.
“Limbo”, “The first of us”, “You will want your sister’s man”, “Red”, “My masterpiece”, “The illustrious citizen” and the remembered first season of “Argentina, land of love and revenge” , are perfect examples of a search for constant challenges that put his interpretive quality to the test, in front of established artists such as Darío Grandinetti, Oscar Martínez and Guillermo Francella, among others.
Together with Francella, he reoffends in the recently premiered “Extortion”a film indebted to the traditional American film noir, a solid story of intrigue and suspense where Frigerio shines in the skin of a flight attendant who is involved in her husband’s criminal activities, with an idyllic existence that gradually begins to collapse and that You must become a survivor.
In the comfortable lounge of a hotel located on Calle Moreno, Frigerio begins the talk with NEWS.
News: Let’s talk about “Extortion”. I read somewhere that many scripts come to you. What drew you to this one in particular?
Andrea Frigerio: It is true that many scripts come to me and I read absolutely all of them, those who send me by mail or those who bring them to my home. In my career I have said many “no” and for me at a professional level the “no” are more important than the “yes” because I have outlined my trade in a very detailed way. In the cinema I recognize that I am much more permeable, more permissive because I receive a significant number of scripts and I understand that in Argentina carrying out a film project is an epic, an enormous job that involves a high dose of will, desire and effort, so I’m a little more benevolent, because I understand that if there’s something I don’t like, I can discuss it with the scriptwriter… But in “La extorción” the script was perfect. Very well written, with twists that I found extraordinary. Although I try not to choose characters that require little effort to build, roles that challenge me, in the case of this flight attendant I didn’t have much room to characterize someone other than myself, I could have used a lot of Andrea Frigerio to build it, however the script was so good. And there was Guillermo, who is my Pygmalion, the person who called me for the first time to be an actress, I admire him, I love him personally and the rest of the cast was spectacular, added to the fact that “La extorción” is a police, genre that I had never tackled…it was an easy yes.
News: He had just named Guillermo and his beginnings as an actress, he was referring to “Poné a Francella”…
Snack: Yes, I started working as an actress thanks to his wife María Inés suggesting that he call me, we weren’t even friends so he didn’t quite understand why but he did it, he tried me out, I stayed and I never stopped again.
News: Now the circumstances are very different, you had already coincided in “My masterpiece”, how was this reunion?
Snack: Guillermo is very rigorous to work with and the rehearsals gave us the pattern that all that cast had to play the same song, we were very in tune. Rehearsing is very important to get to the assembled set. The script was very firm and we had very little permission to improvise, everything was very embroidered, you just had to put the tablecloth on the table. We had talked about it a lot because the film enters a world little explored in Argentine cinema such as aeronautics on the one hand and the Secret Services on the other. It is something that we always see as only happening in other countries, but the Services also exist here and that is very well shown.
News: In the film there is an important presence of jealousy. How do you deal with that issue?
Frigerio: One is jealous of what he cared for and built, he doesn’t want to lose it, but we know that there is no love insurance, so we have to surrender to what we have to live. In general I am not jealous because I have no reasonI don’t even think I’ll give them to my husband, with whom I’ve been with for 32 years. We love each other, we take care of ourselves and we try to ensure that the other never feels insecure. But jealousy exists because we are human. The one who tells you: “I’m not jealous at all”, he lies.
News: You started working on films around 15 years ago, how was the transition from television to cinema?
Snack: I started making movies because I really wanted to do that. At that time, if in an interview they told me: “Is there something left unasked?”, I would ask: “Ask me why I don’t make movies, because they don’t call me! Call me to make movies!” (series). I asked for it so much that one day it was given to me and I continue until now.
News: They say that you prepare your characters a lot and that to build the therapist of “The First of Us” you relied on Jorge Bucay, is that true?
Snack: Yes it’s true. I do a lot of research into the character, as actors we have the possibility of living the lives of others and knowing how they move, what they think, the way they eat, all of this is part of our work. I have been very observant since I was little, I study all the details. When I’m waiting in a doctor’s office and I already find a character that interests me, I look at him, I notice how he moves, how he takes the candy out of his bag… I keep all of this in an internal library full of memories and then at some point I apply it. One can make the characters very smooth, the bad, the good, it is not my case, I like the characters that have their tics, their way of imposting the voice, their fears, everything has to do with how they stop, with what physique of how to stand in character and I work a lot on that.
News: “El primero de nosotros” was seen on Telefe but also streaming on Paramount+, a combination that does not always occur. Do you think that fiction today is more installed on the platforms and that open television was left for other phenomena such as Big Brother?
Frigerio: For me, the ideal formula would be for films to be released in theaters, because the experience of seeing them in a theater is completely different, even if you have the biggest television in the world, the cinema is a collective experience, a ritual. Look, when “Argentina, 1985” was released I was making a film in Uruguay and I had a free afternoon, so I went to a mall to see it, it was three in the afternoon and I was alone, but when it finished I stopped to applaud. even though the room was empty. The public is an indisputable plus. For this reason, for me first I want it to be seen in the cinema and then to go to the platform. Because it must also be said, the platforms were very important during the pandemic, they accompanied a lot and continue to accompany a large number of people who live alone, seek entertainment or learn things through what they see on the screen.
News: What do you think of the fact that the public watches less and less open television?
Snack: With respect to television, it is a reality. My daughter, who is 27 years old, has already told me ten years ago: “Mom, can you get me that giant screen that I have in my room? It’s a black thing I don’t use.” I suggested that she use it with the computer and she told me that the laptop was enough. She doesn’t really watch live TV, except for a football game or those mega popular events, but not other types of programs, she is aware of all the news, but because she watches and reads it on the phone.
News: Your mother was a rural teacher, you are the eldest of four sisters. Did that responsibility mark a bit the seriousness with which you always faced your career?
Snack: Yes, and I would add that my father was an engineer, and engineers tend to be very structured, responsible and meticulous, the course is very demanding and I think that it shapes your personality a bit. My mother, being a rural teacher, had to get up at half past four in the morning and hitchhike to Del Viso from Capital, never missing because the boys were waiting for her. This speaks of a home with people who are very committed to their lifestyle, I am the daughter of that, here I am. I went to school double shift and after school I had a thousand things, English, French, Italian, classical dance, tennis, piano, guitar and music theory. My parents saw to it that I had a very rich education and I had to carry out all those activities, that gives you a great sense of responsibility and that’s how I still am today. I am very grateful to them for the tools I have.
News: Just as Francella gave her her first chance as an actress, Juan Alberto Badía did it as a host. What do you remember of that experience?
Snack: Oh yes, divine Badía! Great person, I had my first driving experience with him, we had an entertainment program called 12+1 on Channel 13. The barbarasadas that I will have done! (series). He passed in front of the camera, he had no idea and he laughed out loud, he taught me with incredible patience. Beto and his sister Marisa told me everything, how to stand up, how to speak, how to express myself in front of the camera without fear. I came from a completely different world and instead of challenging me he laughed, we had a lot of fun.
by Leonardo Martinelli
