One of the best Argentine comedians of recent decades, William Francella He was the face of popular cinematographic proposals such as “The craziest bathers in the world”, “The Exterminators”, “An Argentine in New York” and “Papá went crazy”, among others.
In the past decade he became a prestigious dramatic actor and was able to star in titles as ambitious as “The Secret in Their Eyes”, “Animal”, “The Clan” and “The Robbery of the Century”.
A grateful man with codes, he meets again with Marcos Carnevale, who directed him in that unforeseen success called “Corazón de León”. For the first time he doesn’t have to think about filling theaters. Netflix serves as a haven for “Hail”in which he plays Miguel Flores, a charismatic self-proclaimed infallible meteorologist, who falls into disgrace after failing to forecast the precipitation alluded to in the title.
News: A couple of years ago we saw it in “The heist of the century” that filled theaters and this time we will see “Hail” on Netflix. How do you experience this paradigm shift?
William Francella: Well, change is inevitable as you say. Our work has not changed in the slightest because we carry it out in the same way as when a product is shown in cinemas. The project had the same stages: script reading, pre-production, shooting, post-production. Whether it is exhibited in theaters or on platforms has not changed us, but what has changed is the arrival of this new universe, which I welcome with open arms, from the point of view of the enormous source of work that is being created and that It was the dream of all artists. Today it is very difficult for us to find a technical team because thanks to these new production companies there is work and delays are generated in other projects or we have to look for people outside of those planned. So welcome the arrival of the platforms. Of course on the big screen has another adrenaline rushI like to watch movies on the big screen, but I like it this way too.
News: In “Granizo”, his character, Miguel Flores, is always right with the weather forecast but is wrong once and is treated like an outcast. Is that a sample of the intolerance that we live today as a society?
Francella: More than intolerance, of this new cancellation culture, right? This thing of blaming someone for an unfortunate phrase, some politically incorrect sayings or, in Miguel’s case, for having made a mistake in a diagnosis. I do not agree in the least with these escraches, with reviling someone you loved until ten minutes ago. In this case there are important losses and disturbances due to the hail, but the man has to escape, to leave the place where he lives. From the networks they vehemently enjoy that the guy is destroyed, they see him desperate and that’s like he feeds them. It is not a paradigm shift, it is society, it is something terrible with which I do not agree in the least. But I loved going through it from the interpretive point of view because in this film it has been one of the most important factors. With Marcos Carnevale we believed in the importance of emphasizing the issue of cancellation and at the same time what success means. Because success is ephemeral, in a minute it is lost and so much love they had for you was not true. As the daughter tells Flores: “People don’t love you, dad, they loved you because you got everything right. You failed to get it right once and became a meme.” You go from loved to hated. It’s awful.
News: Speaking of cancel culture, you’ve been doing humor for several decades. At this time with the reign of political correctness, is it more difficult to make humor?
Francella: Undoubtedly. Searching for current news in a sketch or sitcom format is not that easy. There’s a whole change and it will be necessary to adapt to it…or not go through the humor. Finding everyone’s satisfaction is not easy.
News: In his latest films, “Animal”, “Theft of the Century” and now in “Hail” the theme of fatherhood is very present. You have two children who have decided to follow in your footsteps in acting, how do you live?
Francella: With the peace of mind of having told them everything about this profession, of how difficult this job is, that they do not see me as a mirror to follow in the sense of achieving job continuity because it is not that simple. It is a very particular profession, you can get hooked on a job for a quarter and then be buoyant for the remaining nine months. It is not easy to make a living from this career. They know it, they love it, at times they have a lot of continuity and at other times they don’t. Now there is a specific juncture where perhaps there are more sources of work than in other times but they know of the risks that existed throughout their lives. Since we were young, we went to a bank to ask for a loan and when they asked us: profession? When they heard “actor”, a “stop, no…” came, because there is no way to guarantee a salary for a five-year loan. But As a dad, I am happy because they are living off what they love.ny that makes me feel more than full.
News: Do you still have ambitions to direct movies?
Francella: Yes, I already did it in theater and it was something beautiful, I loved directing “Perfect Strangers” so much! As soon as I find a script that catches me, I’m going to carry it out.
News: In Argentina you are one of the few actors who have managed to combine prestige and popularity, what is the secret?
Francella: It was a search, but not to find prestige. For many years I was a popular artist and I always wanted to play other content, to be called by the directors I liked and to be able to work on their projects, to trust me for heterogeneous roles. I communicated it all the time through reports and talks until they called me. It all started abroad with this wonderful Mexican trilogy by Cuarón, del Toro and Iñárritu who called me for “Rudo y cursi” with Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna. Then I continued with “The secret of his eyes” and something happened, the directors began to trust and that gave me a lot of happiness. I was able to show a different facet, a certain degree of darkness that I loved going through, then return to comedy. The truth is, I have a present that I always dreamed of as an actor.
News: Speaking of actors, Joaquín Furriel always speaks with great admiration and affection for Alfredo Alcón. What did Alcón mean in his life?
Francella: Someone I adored. I had the opportunity to work with him on “The Kings of Laughter” and I was lucky that he chose me. He had spoken with Pablo Kompel and Adrián Suar and told them that if he were to do comedy he would like them to go with me. It gave me a lot of happiness, we looked for a text, we found it and it was a dream process. All of us who worked with him loved Alfredo very much, we love him in the profession and in life. He was a beautiful companion, generous, very mischievous, we had a lot of fun. He was very nice, the public had solemnity towards him because Alfredo was anti-solemn wherever you look at him. It was very pleasant and beautiful to have shared that time with him, up and down the stage.
News: We are in the middle of 2022, the World Cup year and you have the habit of going to the World Cups. Are you planning to go to Qatar?
Francella: I’m in it, defining if I’m going or not. Because in the last ones I was, Germany, South Africa and Brazil… not Russia. And I was not mistaken, I did not want to go to Russia, it seemed to me that everything was a bit complicated. But I am very excited about this selectionI’m very excited to see what happens because it’s going to be Messi’s last World Cup, so I’m really looking forward to it, but I need to see if it’s that simple. They told me that in Qatar there is no possibility of going to other cities during the National Team’s breaks, everything is concentrated there and you can’t spend much time in Dubai either because the frequency of flights is low. But if everything works out I go, of course with my son Nicolás, we need to see how his schedule and mine are and decide, there is the possibility that we travel.
News: We have two minutes left. We need to know how he got to drink mojitos with Fidel Castro.
Francella: (He laughs) In 2003, in December, at the Latin American Film Festival in Havana, I had the opportunity to meet him. Through “I put Francella”the humor cycle that I did during 2001 and 2002, reached the entire Latin American public, it worked amazingly and in Havana, in particular, it was an explosion. There I was received as a Head of State would tell you (laughs), they took me everywhere with great love because the island stopped at the time the program was broadcast. Thanks to that popularity, at the time I had the opportunity to meet Fidel and share a mojito… good, several mojitos. Because the truth is that we spent an hour and a quarter together, it was unforgettable for me.
News: And what impression did Fidel make on you?
Francella: Thank you, an extraordinary character. He arrived in his fajina clothes, he was in very good health. He told me about the people around him who enjoyed the program a lot and got up with the cassettes of “Poné a Francella”.
Leonardo Martinelli
@leosadako
by Leonardo Martinelli
