Tall, athletic, owner of a natural elegance and a beautiful face without time, the actor and musician Rodrigo Guirao He does not go unnoticed when he enters the Palermo bar where he meets to chat with NEWS. For more than a decade he has been in constant movement because he divides his working time between Argentina, Italy, Spain and Mexico. It is that, after his first steps on local television, he began an international journey that does not stop. He started with the Italian period series “Terra ribelle”, produced by RAI, where he played the main character of Andrea. It was followed by his first foray into Spain, where he debuted in the miniseries “Welcome to Lolita.” Later, the telenovela “Señora Acero” filmed in Mexico, to which “Rubí” was added, a Televisa production. Without forgetting his presence in the Spanish film “Solo química” and the Honduran film “A place in the Caribbean”, among other titles, here and there.
Now he is back from the United States, where he recorded “Juego de mentiras”, a shipment currently broadcast by Telemundo, to accompany the premiere of the film. “Smoke underwater”next Thursday April 20th.
Written and directed by filmmakers Julio Midú and Fabio Junco, it offers a unique look at love and male friendship. It addresses the stories of Julián, played by Mariano Martínez, a ranch laborer, and Patricio, in charge of Rodrigo, the boss’s son, who meet again in the field where they were born. The passage of time and being face to face will make them realize that that affection of children has become an indomitable feeling. It has the special participation of Luis Brandoni, and is situated at a historic moment in our country, the recovery of democracy in the mid-eighties.
News: How did you get involved in this national film?
Rodrigo Guirao: The actress Mimí Ardú, a dear colleague with whom we had worked on a novel and we got along very well, called me to tell me that Julio and Fabio, the directors, had the project underway, she would be part of it and they were looking for an actor for my character. She had told them about me, and that’s why she asked me for the link of “Until you untie me” an Argentine film by Tamara Garateguy where I acted, quite strong and played. They passed it on, they liked it, they wrote to me and then they sent me the script. I started reading it on the beaches of Tulum, since I had a week of vacation, after having taken some photos in Mexico City. I think that, halfway through reading, I said yes because I thought it was a beautiful love story.
News: Why was it important to you to tell this story?
Guirao: For many reasons. First I was moved and deeply moved. It had been a long time since something like this happened to me. Previously, I had already been asked to narrate love stories between two men, but they were for television and did not come to fruition, or they were situated in the context of soap operas or comedies, and the latter did not interest me. Second, because it’s cinema and I’m really passionate about doing it. The cinema gives you a wonderful quality of time to work. I will always read in a different way everything that is in cinematographic language. Third, because when I talked to the directors, who are extremely sensitive and open people, also responsible for the script, I felt that they wanted me to be in the film, which gave me a lot of confidence. I mean, it was up to me to get involved and I didn’t have to convince anyone. In my work it is very reassuring not to have to show what one can give.
News: How would you describe your character?
Guirao: Someone who, when he returns to the place where he grew up, in the Argentine countryside, not only reunites with everything he had left behind and his childhood friend, but also discovers who he was and who he is. He is married and has two children, lives in Europe, but drags the guilt for not having accompanied his father on his deathbed. He feels that he wasted his time and lived a life that was forced upon him and he didn’t choose. At a time, that of 1984, with the return of democracy, which in many aspects is not the same as today.
News: With Mariano Martínez, how did you approach the intense bond between your characters?
Guirao: We got along great right away, we even became friends. This helped a lot because we are playing two characters of the same age who are growing up together. The directors warned us that they believed in the spontaneous, which is why they were going to take very few shots of each scene and many sequence shots. They didn’t want to manipulate the risks we took as actors in editing. In that sense, Mariano is a generous and disciplined guy, I had wanted to work with him for a long time. The first scene we shot was the most difficult, which is the reunion of the characters and in which the conflict arises. In addition, we filmed in the midst of a pandemic, when the entire team had to swab daily, constantly wear masks, and obtain permits to travel to the location, which was in Saladillo, a beautiful city in the province of Buenos Aires.
News: Cinema has been talking about homosexual love for a long time, not only with the already iconic “Brokeback Mountain”. But, based on the fact that you work in the international artistic field, do you think that audiovisual art continuously accompanies the progress in the conquest of the rights of the LGTBIQ+ community?
Guirao: I think that a path began and a lot was gained, but there is still a long way to go. Today I just read a piece of news that in Uganda, by law, they voted for a death sentence for homosexual relations. This happens in 2023! So I feel that nothing is enough to change the mentality and customs that have been around for centuries. I think that at this time and with this film and character, I will also be a thermometer of situations of fear, hate, discomfort or mistrust. The other day, when I uploaded the poster to my networks, out of hundreds of comments, there were twenty with horrible discriminatory words. It is true that they are a minority and one, sometimes, is more attracted to that negative aspect loaded with prejudices. However, there were many reactions that repudiated those expressions. I want to say that we are advancing in the conquest of a more equitable society, but we cannot forget what is still latent. I remember the boy from Galicia, in Spain, who was killed two years ago shouting “faggot”.
News: How is your relationship with social networks?
Guirao: I try to have an account in all the applications that become fashionable because if I don’t enter, someone can enter and impersonate me. I have to verify an account so someone else doesn’t. But it’s a bit hard for me. I am one of those who had to adapt, understand them, surf them to live with them, get some benefit for my work. For example, thanks to the networks I can tell where I am working or living because it happened to me that in Argentina they thought I was in Italy, in Italy they thought I was in Argentina and in Mexico they did not know where. In fact, they once crossed me on the street and asked me: “Hey, now do you do something else?” (laughs). But the most important thing is that, in the networks, I was able to show my passion: I am a musician before being an actor.
News: It’s true, I found out from his posts where he is seen playing and singing in a Chicago bar.
Guirao: It is that in the first interviews as an actor, when he said that he was a musician, they did not delve into that facet, perhaps because they did not see it as relevant. In fact, when he said that he was going to play music, which he had been doing since before I started my acting career, they looked at me strangely. I learned to play the keyboard at the age of 11 and the guitar at the age of 16. I imagined myself a musician.
News: And when did you decide to dedicate yourself to music more regularly?
Guirao: At a time when I was doing very well at work, I felt that I was missing something. I also thought it was ungrateful because it had continuity and had dreamed of this present. One day I ran into a boy my age with a name like me on a set, and he told me that he was a musician. He made the same music: blues, rock, funk, and soul. I asked him to let me know when they were rehearsing, and I grabbed the guitar again. From the moment the first date came out, everything changed for me. I believe that music is my artistic, creative and emotional balance that balances with my acting career. Knowing that I have a show, I have to release new songs and get on stage to sing and play gives me enormous satisfaction and in many ways.
News: How are you affectively and personally?
Guirao: I am single and I live alone. When I have free time, I like to find used guitars, take them apart, put them back together, and change parts. I’m pretty good at fixing them. So I never get bored.
