Celebrity Interview - Paz Vega - Comments

Paz Vega

Poster: Pamela Sauca Hunt 18/09/2006

ONE OF SPAIN'S MOST INTERNATIONAL ACTRESSES, PAZ VEGA SPOKE TO H! IN MADRID, WHERE SHE WAS OFFICIALLY PRESENTED AS THE GLAMOROUS NEW IMAGE OF MAGNUM ICE-CREAM.
(Translation: Pamela Sauca Hunt)

Enjoying great, and well-earned, professional success at the moment, Paz Vega has two films about to be premiered and various other projects in the pipeline. During the lavish ice-cream presentation, she revealed that her favourite Magnum is chocolate almond.

From what we've seen in their campaigns over the years, Magnum have used strong, elegant, sensual and self-assured woman? Do you consider yourself a Magnum woman?
Well, perhaps that's how people see me. I try not to regret what I do and I consider myself to be a confident person. When I take a decision it's because I'm quite sure of what I want; I might be wrong, but I consider myself to be a very dynamic person, with a lot of energy, so I believe that's perfect for Magnum.

I understand you are just about to launch Teresa, Muerte y Vida (Teresa: Death and Life) and have just finished filming 10 Items or Less with Morgan Freeman...
I have both those films to launch, as well as Fade to Black, Los Borgia, and a film I've just finished shooting in Bulgaria.

What will you be doing the rest of the year?
Well, all this means a lot of work, a lot of promotion.

Tell us about how different it is to film in Hollywood than in Spain?
The difference is that in Hollywood everything else is bigger, but sometimes independent films are smaller, low-cost productions, and they have them as well. There are a lot of interesting independent movies. In fact, 10 Items or Less is an independent film. But it's always good to work in different countries, to get to know other cultures.

Where do you feel most comfortable filming?
I feel more at ease here, because I have my family and everything here, and when you finish shooting and go back home, it's a pleasure. But you have to be here and there.

How is a normal day in your life when you are not filming?
Nothing special: I don't do anything. What I like to do is lie on the sofa and watch TV.

There are great differences between your character in 10 Items or Less and your role as Santa Teresa de Jesús, but you've filmed them one after the other. How do you prepare to portray two such different women?
I really don't know how I do it, because sometimes I've found myself working on a film and the next day walking into another set and getting into another character, into something totally the opposite, and I guess it all comes through at the end, somehow. I think that when someone understands their characters, like in my case, I defend them and have them very much within me, so it's easy to flow from one to another. I don't have to think about it: I just do one or the other. That's why I think Magnum's campaign is great because there are so many personalities all in one.

I understand that to be able to film Teresa you said no to other projects. Why did you want to be Teresa?
Because for any actress to have the opportunity to interpret a role like Teresa is a privilege, a wonderful gift, a treasure.

What's Teresa like?
Teresa is a very complex woman, very special, highly intellectual, brave, enterprising, a fighter, a risk-taker, and very modern; even today her life serves as a role model for contemporary women. The truth is, to put all this into context, inside a convent in Spain in the 16th century, seeing all that happens, her love of God and she can't have a normal relationship - her relationship is with God - it makes it all very intense.

Los Dos Lados de la Cama was the biggest box office hit in Spanish cinema in 2002... In the film you sing and dance and came out of it quite well. Would you do a musical in theatre?
Yes, I would love to do a musical, with a lot of preparation, a good project. The problem with theatre is you need time to take a break from other things, and I never have the time, I'm always doing something.

Throughout your career, and considering all the different roles you've portrayed, in Carmen, Lucía y el Sexo (Lucia & Sex), Teresa and Solo Mía (Mine Alone), in which you portrayed a battered wife, you certainly couldn't be said to have been typecast. How do you achieve this?
By choosing, saying no to many projects. In my case I usually say no, so the exception is agreeing to a script. I try to avoid all that, so I don't become typecasted. Therefore, when I'm offered a role that changes everything I've done until now, or provides me with something new, I say yes.

What is the role you'd particularly like to do?
There are so many. There are lots of incredible women throughout history from queens to fighters, even women who don't exist, just some fictional character created for a lovely story.

Of all the actors you've worked with, which one made it the easiest for you?
I have a lovely memory... firstly because it happened recently and secondly because it was really a tremendous honour to work with Morgan Freeman, to be able to work side by side with him. The film has us together sitting in a car talking, all the way through. It's a real "actors' film". There are no special effects; it's independent cinema, and he's a gentleman to work with. We laughed and joked. I never thought Morgan Freeman would call me to work in a film which he also produces. It's fantastic, wonderful.

In Lucia & Sex there were a lot of erotic scenes. Is it difficult to perform these kinds of scenes, then walk out onto the street feeling more desirable, maybe being watched closely by men?
No, it's not difficult; it's really a compliment to feel desired, always nice. I don't see it as something negative. The sex scenes are difficult but because of everything around them, it all gets very technical. You have to remember everything - you have to repeat the scenes - but you more or less always try to have a solid relationship with your co-actor. It's more about the discomfort of doing a scene in the water, as sometimes you are in the water all day and it's a nuisance, or scenes where you have to go up and down a mountain, as I had to recently... these are always uncomfortable scenes to do.

Which is the role you think you owe more to, either because it's allowed you to increase your range as an actress or because it's provided you with greatest professional satisfaction?
Teresa hasn't been screened yet, but I believe this is a turning point in my career. My career always has turning points because I'm constantly changing, but I think that especially in Teresa I have given everything of myself to the role, and I'm very happy with the result. I hope everyone likes the film and I am personally very satisfied.

When you worked on the short film El Incredible Hombre Menguante (The Incredible Diminishing Man) within Almodóvar's Hable con Ella (Talk to Her), you became an "Almodóvar girl"... How is it to work with Pedro?
It's like working with a genius, with all the good and bad things of working with a genius. Pedro is a person with a great deal of power and strength. He is very overwhelming person, a trickster in the best sense, who leads you to where he wants you to be. The truth is that working with Pedro is very intense, yet very gratifying on the other hand, because he brings out lovely things in you. So yes, of course it was a pleasure to work with him.

Which director would you like to work with if you were asked to choose one tomorrow?
There are so many. Well, let's see, if it had to be tomorrow I've always said I would have liked to work with Berlanga. I think Berlanga is god; the problem is he's no longer directing, because he doesn't want to. I know him and I love his sense of humor. Let's hope he writes something. I certainly hope so.

Tell us about your future plans...
At the moment, rest and film promotion all around the world, and then I have a few projects, one in France, two in the US - then wait and see what happens.

Before you used to live in the centre of Madrid but now you've moved to a quieter area. Is it because you were looking for more privacy or because the city stifles you?
I left because I really feel at peace in the countryside, all green; I need it. What I don't like is traffic, the noise. I also felt the same way before, but as I was on my own I wasn't going to live far away, in a house just by myself. But now I'm with my husband and I like having a dog; it's really great. I like cities for fun or to go out, but I prefer to live in a place which is a little bit more remote, like the countryside.

In the long term, where would you like to live, Spain or...?
In the long term, Spain. I'll always have something over there (US), an apartment or a house. l'll be coming back and forth if the projects are really good, but as soon as I've got some time I'm back here again.

Where is that place in the world where you seek refuge and forget about everything?
There are many places, but a place which is really close is Ronda. It's my grandparents' village, the place were I most feel at home. All my summers have been spent in Ronda.

Is it easy to go unnoticed there?
Completely. I go to the countryside with my grandparents - they have chickens, rabbits - and I love all that; it's what really gives me peace and relaxes me.

Where do you see yourself in another 15 years?
I don't know. I don't even know where I'm going on holidays now. Probably with children, I'm pretty certain - a few - and taking it easy, doing films, or not... The truth is I don't know.

THE H! QUESTIONNAIRE

What smells do you remember from your childhood?
My mother's lemon cake which she used to bake.

What was your favourite subject in school?
Literature and history

What person, still alive, do you admire most?
Madonna

And not alive?
Jesus of Nazareth

What's your idea of perfect happiness?
I think no-one is ever perfectly happy. If it were possible it would be wonderful.

What element of modern life gives you the most problems?
Internet - I don't like computers too much.

What's the worst thing about being a woman?
Nothing: there is nothing better than being a woman.

What word or phrase do you use the most?
"I love you."

What scares you most?
The absence of freedom or the absence of time.

What book would you always have in your library?
Lolita

What's the last film you saw in the cinema?
It's so long since I've been to the cinema...

What's the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?
To give my husband a kiss.

And the last thing you think about when you go to sleep at night?
The same thing: I give him a kiss.

What section of the paper do you read first?
The first page and the last.

How much time are you connected to the Internet each day?
I never go onto the Internet - zero minutes.

What's one thing you would you never leave home without?
Money

What alternative profession would you like to have taken up?
I would have liked to be a rock singer.

If you could travel in time, what era would you choose?
Any moment from the past - it fascinates me.

What's the most exotic place you've visited?
Hawaii

FAVOURITE...
Number? 13
Colour? Black
Animal? Turtle
Flower? Daisies
Sport? Swimming
Food? Anything my mother cooks
Hobby? Not doing anything.
Luxury? Having time

Star sign?
Capricorn (2 January 1976)

A Star Is Born

Born in Sevilla on 2 January 1976, she majored in journalism but dropped out of university after two years to pursue an acting career.
After two years at acting school she moved to Madrid and worked in bars while auditioning for gigs.
She met her Venezuelan husband (who is also her manager), while holidaying in Spain.
Her name translates into English as "peace meadow" (Vega is her grandmother's surname).
"I am only an actress when they say 'action' and I stop being an actress when they say 'cut'. I am a normal person outside of acting."

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