Entrevista com o ator David Rasche

Abaixo reproduzimos o post de uma "gringa", como se auto define, Rachel Glickhouse, que hoje vive em Nova York e é casada com um brasileiro, mas também já morou no Rio de Janeiro e mantém em seu blog uma coleção de post relacionados ao Brasil e a sua experiência por aqui.

O post trata-se de uma entrevista. Rachel conversou com o nosso ator David Rasche sobre o filme Olhos Azuis e a sua primeira viagem ao Brasil. Confiram:

Do Blog: Adventures of a Gringa, por Rachel Glickhouse (Clique aqui para a versão traduzida pelo Google Tradutor)

An Interview with David Rasche

When I first got to talking to the PR person about the Olhos Azuis film, I mentioned it would be fun to interview the American star. I was really excited when she agreed, and I spoke to David by phone last week to ask about his experience with the film and his first trip to Brazil.

David Rasche is one of those imposing actors, one you'd expect to be really intimidating. Before I interviewed him, I imagined him as Cal Hartley from Ugly Betty. Apparently, I wasn't alone; David told me that he had quite an impression on the film production staff when he first arrived in Brazil, who expected him to be something like his angry, cruel character he plays in Olhos Azuis. All of us were pleasantly surprised to find that David is a very affable, forthcoming guy, and I was really happy to have the opportunity to discover that he, just like every other gringo I know that visits Brazil for the first time, had fallen in love with the country.

Though David claims he knew very little about Brazil before making the movie, he told me that not only did he love his experience, but now he follows Brazil closely in the news and has become very interested in Brazilian culture. He grew very fond of his Brazilian colleagues, who he says he hopes will be his friends for life. He learned about the food and the culture, Carnival, the beaches and the geography. He also learned about history ("I didn't know about the Dutch in Brazil," he admitted), exploring Olinda and old Recife. He quickly realized that Brazilians are insulted by the lack of knowledge gringos have about Brazil, since Brazilians tend to know much more about American culture and the US. In turn, he decided to learn as much as he possibly could about Brazil, and said he intends to have "a life-long relationship with Brazil," a place he finds "endlessly fascinating."

The film was shot in the interior of Pernambuco, as well as a few scenes in Rio. While in Pernambuco, the cast and crew stayed in Petrolina and filmed in a tiny village on the Rio São Francisco. He was taken aback by how primitive it was in the small town, where there are real cowboys, where women wash clothes on rocks in the river and where kids eat mangoes fallen from the trees. While Rio seemed to leave him starry-eyed with its beauty, he also confesses that he was "disappointed by the hard times" there. Nevertheless, he was struck by the stunning natural beauty and especially liked the intricate tile sidewalks.

In both cities, David was determined to try new experiences, like eating a real cashew fruit for the first time. He tried every new type of food and drink he could, and especially loved guaraná, feijoada, and farofa (which by the way, he pronounced beautifully). He also made an effort to learn Portuguese and picked up new vocabulary from his Brazilian acquaintances. During his learning experience, like many gringos who really open their eyes in Brazil, David realized that Brazilians have a love/hate relationship with the US. "There's lots of resentment toward Americans," he pointed out, especially toward the type of person he plays in the film. He noticed how deep national pride is in Brazil, and how it helps contribute to that "push-pull relationship with the US."

Luckily, David won over his fellow actors and colleagues, proving he's not like his awful character. In the film, David plays an angry, xenophobic border patrol agent with absolutely no regard for human decency. To prepare for his role, David got in touch with the immigration authorities in the US, and he visited an airport here along with one of the other American actors. Contrary to the film, the real officers were very friendly and accommodating, and using what they learned, the actors applied their knowledge during their scenes, even helped tweak the set design. Though it was easy to imitate the immigration procedures, one of the challenges of the film was the language barrier. On the set, all of the actors spoke different languages, making filming a bit tricky. Luckily, the director spoke Spanish, Portuguese, and English, and sometimes had to repeat his instructions three times for all of the actors to understand.

The heart of the film's plot, David says, is based on the idea that Brazilians couldn't come to terms with why the US would have a problem admitting an intelligent, employed, middle class man into the country. The man in question is the character Nonato, whose experience is based on a true story. David told me that both protagonists represent their countries in a way: a Brazilian speaking for Brazil, and an American speaking for the US, albeit from a very anti-immigrant perspective. David really liked the symbolism of the blue eyes versus brown eyes to represent the film's central conflict. "The days are numbered for blue eyes," he said. "It's the brown eyes' turn."

Photos courtesy of Coevos Films

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Leia também: Uma americana fala sobre o filme Olhos Azuis.