One of the greatest acting talents of recent decades in our country, a reference for various generations thanks to proposals such as “Sandro de América”, “Trampa para un dreamer” and “Soy gitano”, Antonio Grimau keeps the passion for theater alive.
He returns to the scene with a work that has the suggestive title “Let’s go, the kids” in which he shares a cast with Osvaldo Laport, Osvaldo Santoro and Raúl Lavié. A very good occasion for NEWS’ reunion with this formidable actor.
News: Is continuing to do theater a way to feel the public’s affection more closely?
Antonio Grimau: For me it goes further, it is a very great need to hold on to the vocation that I discovered at the age of 16 and even today it continues to be a lifeline, a shortcut to hold on to life, acting is a driving force to not stay still. In some way this attitude is linked to what the work expresses and at the same time it is framed in something I heard recently, a lady said: “Science has given us twenty years of life to people my age, let’s honor it.” One way to honor such a gift is to keep working, to stay active.
News: Does acting in theater have a special plus with respect to audiovisual?
Grimau: Yes, it is something special because theater is the mother of all disciplines. I believe that if an actor develops well on stage, he is probably suitable for film and television, but the other way around is not the case. As I have a theatrical training, the stage is where I enjoy the job the most, the place where I am most committed and where contact with the audience has a live tension that provokes a very particular enjoyment. Beating the emotion, the laughter and the reaction of the people in such a direct way is truly something privileged.
News: You are a Huracán fan like Ringo Bonavena and he said that the experience is a comb that they give you when you are going bald. What is the use of an actor’s experience at this time?
Grimau: It seems important to me that base of knowledge that one has gone through over the years, of meeting actors who have been references, of having experienced successes and failures. Learning from ways of working that worked and others that did not work is a fundamental basis, going through so many theatrical experiences always leads you to encounter something very different from the previous one, from direction to colleagues or facing a new text that causes certain consequences, everything is an adventure. That helps one stay alive through each journey like this one that we are undertaking now with “Vamo’los pibes”.
News: Why should the public see this work?
Grimau: I believe that regardless of the age of the viewer, although perhaps people with certain years of experience may find identification more immediate, they will understand that valuing time is vitally important. Receive the balance of life in a profitable way, where despite the years we still have projects, dreams and different ways of continuing to be interested in living.
News: Is “Vamo’los pibes” an ode to friendship?
Grimau: In a way, yes. The motto of the play is “Friendship never goes out of style,” because the fraternization of these three guys to help the fourth friend who has a problem becomes the possibility of a new future for everyone. There is the imprint of the madness of youth, of its impulse, that which colors the bond of these people with emotion when they think that their life is over and suddenly discover that there is a world ahead of them.
News: If we talk to fans of classic television fiction they will surely say that “Trap for a Dreamer” is a cult novel. Are you still a dreamer?
Grimau: Decidedly yes. I would tell you that even for astrological reasons, because I am a Pisces and my sign shows me a path of permanent dreaming, we tend to be a little floating in reality (laughs). Sometimes I think that this dreamy side has helped me in the profession, in a job where imagination is so important, it is easier to fantasize based on that attitude of life. It may not be the most practical for everyday life, but dreaming is important for art.
News: A while ago I interviewed Pablo Rago, a big River fan, and he told me that his greatest idol had been Pato Fillol. In your case, which Huracán player did you like the most, Loco Houseman or Brindisi?
Grimau: The choice is difficult, but the Fool had that mystique, that madness, pardon the redundancy, that earned him the nickname (smiles). Although both were great players, Houseman had a special magic.
News: Let’s continue with the heroes of the field. A couple of years ago we lost Flaco Menotti, what did his figure mean to you?
Grimau: It was great! El Flaco always seemed to me to be an extremely intelligent guy, a brain that is rarely found in the field of football, a coach with very firm theories and principles. I had the opportunity to get to know him a little during a plane trip to Mar del Plata and the contact with him was truly unforgettable, you realized that you were in front of a very rich guy inside.
News: We have seen him a lot in theater and on television, not so much in cinema, but thirty years have passed since “Wild Horses”, where he worked with the remembered Héctor Alterio and Leonardo Sbaraglia. How was that experience?
Grimau: It was very nice to be part of that film that has become a kind of symbol thanks to that famous phrase by Alterio: “The whore worth being alive!” The truth is that it expresses so many things! I have said it more than once, proving that it is really worth living despite everything. When we made “Wild Horses” I was just beginning to join some interesting film proposals, that was one of them and I really liked being there.
News: Héctor Alterio was already a phenomenon at that time, but Sbaraglia was just starting out. Needless to say, he has had a magnificent career and this year, for example, he broke it in the series “Menem.” At that time, did you already imagine that Leo could become such a good actor?
Grimau: I have a little anecdote with Leo. Doing a “High Comedy” program on Channel 9, being very young, he had many fears at the time of recording. Two or three actors encouraged him to be sure of what he was doing, because the truth is that, despite his doubts, he was doing it very well. In that young actor I found a very responsible and professional guy, really concerned and involved with the job, wanting to demand the best from himself. So it doesn’t surprise me that we now see him in great works like “Menem.”
News: It is inevitable to talk about “Sandro de América” and that great series that Adrián Caetano directed, how do you remember it?
Grimau: Well, I could talk to you for hours about that experience because there are a lot of connections that I never imagined. Sandro was my idol. We lived relatively close because he was from Banfield and I was from Lanús. That, due to the twists and turns of life, they called me to interpret it for me was very moving. I knew Caetano’s work and I had a great ambition to work on something directed by him, the fact that I was given such a character was incredible, it is a magical project where everything ended in an ideal way. That rarely happens in the profession; There is almost always a side that doesn’t quite satisfy you, but here everything was perfect, from the crew to the cast, all great actors who agreed to work with a lot of love because they knew that it was a kind of tribute to Roberto Sánchez. On television he was one of the best characters I’ve ever had in my life.
News: He made the reservation that Sandro was a milestone in his television career, but in theater, “Los invertos”, directed by Alberto Ure, was it a before and after?
Grimau: Absolutely. I was a leading man on Channel 9 in the afternoons who aspired to access important theater projects, but I was not lucky enough to be invited by any of the directors that interested me. At that time, television and text theater rarely interacted, there was a lot of prejudice in that sense. But suddenly that wonderful door of doing “Los invertos” opened and at the San Martín! Every time I passed through the door of the San Martín I asked myself: “When will I work in this theater?”, because to this day it continues to be the great theater hall, the true front door of the profession. I believe that when someone arrives at San Martín they can say that they have achieved something, otherwise, not. It was a dream call and it happened. Emilio Alfaro was in charge of the theater at that time and Alberto Ure, who directed the play, told me: “I’m going to try you out for more or less two weeks to see how you do in rehearsals.” Afterwards he confessed to me that on the first day he already knew that I was the actor for that character…however it had me in shock (laughs) It was an immense role that turned me around like an average, we achieved praise, awards and the recognition of important directors who from then on began to call me, those were the people I had always wanted to reach.
