Despite the fact that the next day he offered a recital at Vorterix to say goodbye to his most recent album, “Palmistry”his second solo album, released last year through Sony Music, the actor, composer and musician Benjamin Amadeo He appears calm and loquacious. Tall, corpulent and very attractive (he has a beautiful eye color) he does not hesitate to find the most comfortable position for himself and the chronicler in order to chat in a relaxed way about one of his latest characterizations. Although, on the one hand, Star+ and Flow debuted with great fanfare, “World Robbery”a six-episode comedy series, in a soccer key, in which he stars alongside Joaquín Furriel, on the other, he is a co-star in the film “curb-in” by the Swiss-Peruvian director Gianfranco Quattrini, which can be seen at the Gaumont cinema.
It is a romantic comedy, a Peruvian-Argentine co-production, that portrays the new family forms, and that seeks to understand and learn about the subject, but without going down the line. The central argument has to do with accepting that there is not just one way to form a family and the way to tell it is through a story that appeals to emotion, laughter and tenderness.
The plot shows Facundo (Amadeo), a young Argentine who, after a love breakup, undertakes a healing journey to the fascinating city of Cusco, in Peru, where he meets Martina and Sofía (Ximena Palomino and Magdyel Ugaz), a Peruvian couple. of lesbians seeking to have a child, despite cultural prejudices. But without the resources to pay for more fertilization treatments, the first of them sees in him, without revealing it, the possibility of fulfilling their dream of achieving motherhood. At the time of that meeting, already in Buenos Aires, the young man finds out that he will be a father, travels to Lima to meet the girl again and begins an itinerary to integrate into his life.
News: When he filmed it, he was not a father, but now he is. Did the concept of his paternity change?
Benjamin Amadeo: Absolutely. I’m learning because I’ve only been studying for nine months (laughs). Fundamentally, I learned that the experience of being a father is non-transferable. It is a manual with wet and mixed pages. You remember what they told you, but it ends up not being clear. The recipes are different for each son or daughter, because they have different ingredients or procedures, so it is constant learning. And if you’re lucky or fit, it’s a couple learning. And if you do it alone, too. For all levels it has a different and very forceful difficulty, but it is a wonderful world. Now, when I see the film, the character I played resignifies me a lot and ends up being a father in this form of a new family that tells the story. It was a flash… Also, I traveled to the premiere in Lima with my daughter, who was four months old at the time, and it was very exciting.
News: In the film, her character wants to accompany the pregnancy and is present at the birth. Could he do it with his daughter?
Amadeo: Yes, totally. The pregnancy of my wife, Martina, and the delivery were wonderful for me. Also, a seesaw of emotions, of moments. I repeat, it is a non-transferable experience of fear, joy, everything. Endless of that seesaw. I think the delivery itself was the most wonderful thing I experienced in my life.
News: The film proposes a family model that, until a few years ago, we did not know, but it occurs more frequently. Do you think society will accept this?
Amadeo: Hope so. I honestly can’t guarantee that, but I look forward to it. Very little by little. Bah, I wish it was faster, but I understand that the times to change the mentality are very slow. But I hope that as a society we go, more and more, towards a path of total acceptance for the choices of the other. It’s like a wish, more than something I hope for. I’m not demanding that fate put him ahead, but I want it, as childish or as primitive as it sounds. It also happened to me, and I think this is interesting to say and share, that in the relative scale of values, rights and how advanced one society is from the other, we in Argentina, and I am referring very specifically to equal marriage and In relation to Peru, as a country we are more than ten years ahead. I understand that there it is not even under discussion or in the process of being dealt with. For this reason, when they say here “I wish we were more evolved” and then you fly for five hours and see that they are still behind, I feel that in our country certain areas have been conquered and they are already clear. They are not discussed anymore, and they move on to other topics. And at the same time, there are a lot of things here that we must improve together, as a society.
News: In relation to what you are commenting on, how do you situate Quattrini’s film?
Amadeo: I feel that it is daring and that it can bring controversy. In fact, the latter happened in Lima. But at the same time it is a comedy. It presents a reading of a very possible conflict within the universe of the new families, although in a comedy key. I found that interesting and a real challenge.
News: His character is very seductive, because he’s not a hero, on the contrary, he gets bumped around a lot (laughs). What attracted you?
Amadeo: That (laughs). The first challenge as an actor, when they bring you a script, is to get closer to the director’s idea that has been very clear for years. In fact, a comment that I always make to my fellow actors, when they tell me that they went to a casting because they wanted to play a certain character and they get frustrated that they didn’t get selected is: “Do you realize that it is not because of you?” .
News: Good observation.
Amadeo: I tell them all the time. There are friends who say “this is the one who likes castings, he is sick, he is crazy!”. It’s that I learned that. Of course, there are extraordinary audition situations where someone tells you “I went without knowing anything about the project, or what they were looking for and I broke it.” But ninety percent of the time, going for one actor or the other subscribes to the director’s idea of who can play the character he envisioned. More than when between when a film script was devised, discussed and written and the moment of calling the auditions, it took a lot of time. It is not that it was resolved in a meal the day before and they said “let’s look for the best”. So, if you stayed, you’re the best. You’re probably not the best actor, by the way. But everything you offered in that test coincides with what the director thinks: “Hey, this is what I had been imagining.” For me it’s a mechanism to bring me inner peace because actors audition all the time and one doesn’t stay in every movie or series.
News: Anyway, there is a reality, you are a highly sought after actor who can even choose to be involved or not. I mean that in addition to coinciding with Quattrini’s gaze, there was an interest in joining this project.
Amadeo: Completely. I went further to talk about the casting process, because what seduced me the most about “Embedded” was putting together with him and the art and characterization team, the stereotype of a leading man, with a look, shall we say, hegemonic. Very European and aspirational, although inside it is an emotional flan. Someone who is emotionally disarmed and needs and wants containment. He needs his Taurus, his house, his land, to love his home, his family, because he has that primitive desire inside. Also forgive their past stories and a true internal bustle. And all of that is absolutely not up to the standards of a leading man. That had to be built.
News: He is a tender.
Amadeo: A total tender! You need to be loved and you need to love because you have a lot to give.
News: At the same time, it is very lovable.
Amadeo: Absolutely. In that sense, there was a challenge and a very fun character to put together. In addition to sharing the filming with a mostly Peruvian team with whom I really enjoyed working.
News: What did you enjoy most?
Amadeo: I am going to take it to a very bullfighting plane: I love Peru. It really is a country that excites me for many aspects, but it has one that is very forceful and truly incredible, which is the food. So, everything in Peru resonates with me (laughs). They are taken out, they are crazy, how they are cooking. I understand that when they say “in such a country, you eat well” they mean that you do if you pay three dollars, because for fifty you eat well everywhere. There, in any corner, you can savor a delicious and cheap ají de gallina with bread.
