1. MARC
LINK:
http://movies.about.com/od/interviewswithactors/a/cantantem072807.htm
Marc Anthony Discusses El Cantante
From Rebecca Murray,
Your Guide to Hollywood Movie
Marc Anthony Talks About Playing Hector Lavoe in El Cantante
Puerto Rican salsa singer Héctor Lavoe's story comes to life in El Cantante starring husband and wife singer/actors Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. Anthony stars as Lavoe in the movie which focuses on the singer's journey from Puerto Rico to New York and follows the progress of his career as it takes off while his personal life becomes increasingly complicated and dysfunctional, and his self-destructive tendencies take their toll.
Tackling the Story of Héctor Lavoe: Anthony felt it was extremely important to get the story right. "You know, I think you'd have to start with how sensitive I am to the artist. Artistry in general. You know, me being a salsero, or me being well known, being successful as a salsero, him being one of the forefathers, and his life being nutshelled was just annoying to me," explained Anthony.
"And what I mean by that is he accomplished so much and at the end of his life, you ask anybody about Héctor, 'Oh that's the guy who jumped right?' 'That's the guy who was a drug addict.' I'm like, 'He's a lot more than that. He's a man who struggled with many, many demons.'
I felt a huge sense of responsibility because I have a full understanding of the truth and what's perception when you're famous, and all that stuff. I know that he gave - not that he gave his life for his art, but that's the one thing that never wavered. That's the one thing that never, never lacked, was his art. Everything else in his life was up in the air, but I felt a sense of responsibility. Besides being a fan and him being one of our icons and a fascinating story to tell, just that sense of responsibility is what I tapped into."
The Preparation Process: Anthony described it as pretty intense. "I interviewed a lot of his colleagues, a lot of his musicians, business partners, his family, and nobody had anything bad to say about Héctor. That was amazing to me. I'm like, 'Are you kidding me?' Like not even the promoters who lost money when he would show up four hours late. I'm like, 'Does anybody have anything bad to say about Héctor?' Puchi on the other hand, I couldn't find somebody who would say anything nice about her. You know what I'm saying? That's really when it hit me. How the most likeable, charismatic artist can end up with someone who, you know, 'What was that about?' I just find it fascinating all the way around."
Asked to share his opinion on their relationship, Anthony replied, "I honestly think that he afforded her a certain lifestyle, you know? That's why she put up with a lot. She made herself indisposable in many, many ways. She was the one who was, 'I will save you from those bad people.' It's like, 'Okay.' You know what I'm saying? I just thought it was very, very interesting. Very interesting. I'm touching on something that I haven't in all these interviews and as you listen to your thoughts you learn things. And I think that was a big, big part of it. Now that I actually heard it come out my mouth it's like I finally said it and it makes more sense to me now than ever. I was raised with characters like that."
Jennifer Lopez as Puchi: Lopez co-stars as Lavoe's wife and Anthony can't envision anyone else in that role. "I mean what Jennifer brought to the part is everything another actress couldn't. I could not see any other actress getting into, just embracing it the way Jennifer embraced it, study it the way Jennifer studied it. She absolutely absorbed Puchi. Just hour after hour, day after day, just the tapes - because we had 11 hours of Puchi tapes that she left behind. It was like her final interview and it was 11 hours. And Jen would just… She just got it, she understood it. She needed to tell the story.
There are 20 layers to how Jennifer approached this part that I don't think anyone else would have been sensitive to. That's why I think she deserves all the respect from the world. She went places that she never went as an actress. I would just go to the set and just marvel at where she was coming from. Because one thing is the…you try reading it. Try it. You know what I'm saying? Being so completely convincing in the moment is just a marvel to watch. She was a marvel to watch. And I'm not saying that because she's my wife."
Working Opposite Jennifer Lopez: Anthony says their antagonistic screaming scenes were actually fun to film. "Because that's not our lifestyle," explained Anthony. "That's not how we live. It's like, 'All right, well, they're putting us in front of each other and we're going to beat the s**t out of each other a little. Let's have fun.' But though they were intense and we went to some ugly places, you could help that when you step off, across the room I see Jennifer and I'm like, 'That was crazy.' It's just so far removed from what our reality is. There's nothing attached to it. And that's when you really realize how dysfunctional this relationship was."
On the Key to Hector Lavoe's Self-Destruction: "Hector had his music, man, and Hector was an artist and according to Puchi and his family he would curl up on her lap and cry because he hated his voice. Now if you imagine that being a reality, what people are saying you're the best at and what you're revered for, you actually despise and you don't see it. You don't get it. You feel like a fraud. There was pain. It was a sign of the times. I could throw a rock into a crowd of people who were musicians in the sixties and seventies and hit someone's who's used all that stuff. It was a sign of the times and he struggled with so much, with being a public figure.
I think that Puchi says - when she says, 'Guys like Hector didn't go to AA. They didn't go to therapy.' It wasn't as acceptable as it is today to talk about what you're going through. He had demons. Boy, he had demons. He had enablers; he had fame. Again, she said it again, 'Everything you need for a good man to break down.'
2. JENNIFER
LINK:
http://movies.about.com/od/lopezjennifer/a/cantantejl80207.htm
Jennifer Lopez Talks About El Cantante
From Rebecca Murray,
Your Guide to Hollywood Movies.
Jennifer Lopez Unites on the Screen with Hubby Marc Anthony in El Cantante
Jennifer Lopez has added movie producer to her lengthy resumé with the formation of Nuyorican Productions. Lopez formed Nuyorican Productions in 2003, and El Cantante is the first film from the fledging company. Starring the real-life husband and wife team of Lopez and Marc Anthony, El Cantante tells the story of the legendary Puerto Rican salsa singer Hector Lavoe.
The Decision to Produce El Cantante: Lopez says it was an easy project to decide to take on. "I just loved the idea of the first thing out of Nuyorican Productions being this type of story. Kind of musical, which is a big part of who I am. It being Puerto Rican, just the whole kind of story, a very passionate love story which I always kind of love that idea as well.
It just had all kind of the makings of things that really spoke to me."
Jennifer Lopez' Take on Puchi: Marc Anthony described her as "a bitch on wheels" but that's not how Lopez views the woman who inspired her character, Puchi, Hector Lavoe's wife. "We have different points of view and I think you have to when you play characters. You do have to see them from her side. For me, I do feel like she was not a perfect character by any means. But at the same time, I do feel like she loved Hector and I felt it was my responsibility to put that in there. I would always tell Marc, I said, 'If it wasn't for Puchi, Hector would have died a long time ago. She's the one who pulled him out of it.' We'd get into discussions like that. He's like, 'No, no, no. She would keep doing drugs.' But I think we both agreed on the fact that they did love each other. The door was there. For 20 years, either one of them could have walked out and neither one of them did."
Asked how much input she had in making Puchi a more detailed character, Lopez replied, "It's funny. Once Leon [Ichaso] came onto the project and we talked about what he wanted to do with it, we had these tapes of Puchi. I think it was his decision to tell it from her point of view because we had this. We talked about it. He's like, 'Well, I [talked] to Fania Records and I think the way I'm going to do it…,' because he did the rewrite. He wrote the script. It's when that kind of took place. When I first got the script, I knew I was going to produce it. I wasn't even sure I was going to be in it."
Letting It All Out in Emotional Scenes: Working opposite her spouse meant that when Puchi and Hector Lavoe squared off in the film, the real husband and wife team had to let it all hang out on the set. But Lopez says the intense screaming sequences were actually fun to work on. "Obviously, they were very intense," said Lopez. "Really, you can't fake things like that. You have to really go there emotionally but at the same time, when we were done, I think there was a sense of satisfaction that we were telling the story or that the scene was real and that we had captured something real and gritty on screen. That's what we wanted to do. We wanted to just make these people human. The joyous things we wanted to be joyous and the funny things we wanted to be funny. Things that were funny but not funny, it was all about those nuances. It was the same thing with the screaming kind of fighting ways they would go at each other."
Shaking It Off at the End of the Day: That wasn't difficult to do according to Lopez. "No, not at all. Not for us. I think it was more like an adrenaline rush afterwards. We'd be going home and driving home to Long Island in a car. He was like, 'Yo, that was great, right? That part when I pushed you, you weren't expecting that, right?' 'No, I wasn't.' It was more kind of like, 'Okay, we're doing this. We know what we want to do.'"
Playing a Couple and Being a Couple: Lopez said that it wasn't an issue as they weren't a couple at the time she first became involved in El Cantante. . "I got this script like five and a half years ago, you have to remember," explained Lopez. "Marc and I have only been together three and a half years. At that time, I just called him. It might be even longer than that, maybe six years ago… But I called him right away. I knew that he was the person to play Hector Lavoe, a Puerto Rican salsa singer. They even looked a little bit alike. They really [favor] each other and I knew he knew this world. So I called him right away, I think maybe a month after I got the script, before Leon, before the rewrite, before anything. Just, 'You are the person to play this role. Do you want to do it?' And he was like, 'Oh, he's my idol. I'll do it.' I said, 'I don't know if I'm going to even be in it, but do you want to do it?' And he said yes."
Helping Out with Wardrobe Choices: Lopez was very much involved in getting together her character's wardrobe. "Actually, me and Sandra Hernandez, obviously, but my makeup artist Scott Barnes also. We really worked together on the whole look, every period, and making sure it was very specific and true to the time and everything like that. Scott did an amazing job with the aging makeup and with all the different periods and all the nuances. He just did a really great job."
On Fame and Celebrity: It's a lot different now then it was at the height of Hector Lavoe's popularity. "Back then, it's like Puchi says, it was the '70s. Everybody was doing drugs and hanging out. It was music and it was rock n' roll, and it was all this kind of stuff. I think it's just a little changed now.
For me, I've never been in that type of scene so I don't know. I don't know it. For me, my fame experience was a whole different thing than what they went through. I think I still had the same kind of thing that hits you like, 'Oh my God, what is this?' That makes you shake and shiver a little bit and get anxiety and makes you want to escape, which I do understand. Like escape your own skin because it's such a weird experience you could never really explain it to anybody."
On Her Music: Lopez says that part of her career is going great. "The Spanish album's doing really well. We're only on our second single right now. The first single did great and the album has been doing very well internationally as well as here. We also have my English album coming out."
LINK:
http://movies.about.com/od/interviewswithactors/a/cantantem072807.htm
Marc Anthony Discusses El Cantante
From Rebecca Murray,
Your Guide to Hollywood Movie
Marc Anthony Talks About Playing Hector Lavoe in El Cantante
Puerto Rican salsa singer Héctor Lavoe's story comes to life in El Cantante starring husband and wife singer/actors Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. Anthony stars as Lavoe in the movie which focuses on the singer's journey from Puerto Rico to New York and follows the progress of his career as it takes off while his personal life becomes increasingly complicated and dysfunctional, and his self-destructive tendencies take their toll.
Tackling the Story of Héctor Lavoe: Anthony felt it was extremely important to get the story right. "You know, I think you'd have to start with how sensitive I am to the artist. Artistry in general. You know, me being a salsero, or me being well known, being successful as a salsero, him being one of the forefathers, and his life being nutshelled was just annoying to me," explained Anthony.
"And what I mean by that is he accomplished so much and at the end of his life, you ask anybody about Héctor, 'Oh that's the guy who jumped right?' 'That's the guy who was a drug addict.' I'm like, 'He's a lot more than that. He's a man who struggled with many, many demons.'
I felt a huge sense of responsibility because I have a full understanding of the truth and what's perception when you're famous, and all that stuff. I know that he gave - not that he gave his life for his art, but that's the one thing that never wavered. That's the one thing that never, never lacked, was his art. Everything else in his life was up in the air, but I felt a sense of responsibility. Besides being a fan and him being one of our icons and a fascinating story to tell, just that sense of responsibility is what I tapped into."
The Preparation Process: Anthony described it as pretty intense. "I interviewed a lot of his colleagues, a lot of his musicians, business partners, his family, and nobody had anything bad to say about Héctor. That was amazing to me. I'm like, 'Are you kidding me?' Like not even the promoters who lost money when he would show up four hours late. I'm like, 'Does anybody have anything bad to say about Héctor?' Puchi on the other hand, I couldn't find somebody who would say anything nice about her. You know what I'm saying? That's really when it hit me. How the most likeable, charismatic artist can end up with someone who, you know, 'What was that about?' I just find it fascinating all the way around."
Asked to share his opinion on their relationship, Anthony replied, "I honestly think that he afforded her a certain lifestyle, you know? That's why she put up with a lot. She made herself indisposable in many, many ways. She was the one who was, 'I will save you from those bad people.' It's like, 'Okay.' You know what I'm saying? I just thought it was very, very interesting. Very interesting. I'm touching on something that I haven't in all these interviews and as you listen to your thoughts you learn things. And I think that was a big, big part of it. Now that I actually heard it come out my mouth it's like I finally said it and it makes more sense to me now than ever. I was raised with characters like that."
Jennifer Lopez as Puchi: Lopez co-stars as Lavoe's wife and Anthony can't envision anyone else in that role. "I mean what Jennifer brought to the part is everything another actress couldn't. I could not see any other actress getting into, just embracing it the way Jennifer embraced it, study it the way Jennifer studied it. She absolutely absorbed Puchi. Just hour after hour, day after day, just the tapes - because we had 11 hours of Puchi tapes that she left behind. It was like her final interview and it was 11 hours. And Jen would just… She just got it, she understood it. She needed to tell the story.
There are 20 layers to how Jennifer approached this part that I don't think anyone else would have been sensitive to. That's why I think she deserves all the respect from the world. She went places that she never went as an actress. I would just go to the set and just marvel at where she was coming from. Because one thing is the…you try reading it. Try it. You know what I'm saying? Being so completely convincing in the moment is just a marvel to watch. She was a marvel to watch. And I'm not saying that because she's my wife."
Working Opposite Jennifer Lopez: Anthony says their antagonistic screaming scenes were actually fun to film. "Because that's not our lifestyle," explained Anthony. "That's not how we live. It's like, 'All right, well, they're putting us in front of each other and we're going to beat the s**t out of each other a little. Let's have fun.' But though they were intense and we went to some ugly places, you could help that when you step off, across the room I see Jennifer and I'm like, 'That was crazy.' It's just so far removed from what our reality is. There's nothing attached to it. And that's when you really realize how dysfunctional this relationship was."
On the Key to Hector Lavoe's Self-Destruction: "Hector had his music, man, and Hector was an artist and according to Puchi and his family he would curl up on her lap and cry because he hated his voice. Now if you imagine that being a reality, what people are saying you're the best at and what you're revered for, you actually despise and you don't see it. You don't get it. You feel like a fraud. There was pain. It was a sign of the times. I could throw a rock into a crowd of people who were musicians in the sixties and seventies and hit someone's who's used all that stuff. It was a sign of the times and he struggled with so much, with being a public figure.
I think that Puchi says - when she says, 'Guys like Hector didn't go to AA. They didn't go to therapy.' It wasn't as acceptable as it is today to talk about what you're going through. He had demons. Boy, he had demons. He had enablers; he had fame. Again, she said it again, 'Everything you need for a good man to break down.'
2. JENNIFER
LINK:
http://movies.about.com/od/lopezjennifer/a/cantantejl80207.htm
Jennifer Lopez Talks About El Cantante
From Rebecca Murray,
Your Guide to Hollywood Movies.
Jennifer Lopez Unites on the Screen with Hubby Marc Anthony in El Cantante
Jennifer Lopez has added movie producer to her lengthy resumé with the formation of Nuyorican Productions. Lopez formed Nuyorican Productions in 2003, and El Cantante is the first film from the fledging company. Starring the real-life husband and wife team of Lopez and Marc Anthony, El Cantante tells the story of the legendary Puerto Rican salsa singer Hector Lavoe.
The Decision to Produce El Cantante: Lopez says it was an easy project to decide to take on. "I just loved the idea of the first thing out of Nuyorican Productions being this type of story. Kind of musical, which is a big part of who I am. It being Puerto Rican, just the whole kind of story, a very passionate love story which I always kind of love that idea as well.
It just had all kind of the makings of things that really spoke to me."
Jennifer Lopez' Take on Puchi: Marc Anthony described her as "a bitch on wheels" but that's not how Lopez views the woman who inspired her character, Puchi, Hector Lavoe's wife. "We have different points of view and I think you have to when you play characters. You do have to see them from her side. For me, I do feel like she was not a perfect character by any means. But at the same time, I do feel like she loved Hector and I felt it was my responsibility to put that in there. I would always tell Marc, I said, 'If it wasn't for Puchi, Hector would have died a long time ago. She's the one who pulled him out of it.' We'd get into discussions like that. He's like, 'No, no, no. She would keep doing drugs.' But I think we both agreed on the fact that they did love each other. The door was there. For 20 years, either one of them could have walked out and neither one of them did."
Asked how much input she had in making Puchi a more detailed character, Lopez replied, "It's funny. Once Leon [Ichaso] came onto the project and we talked about what he wanted to do with it, we had these tapes of Puchi. I think it was his decision to tell it from her point of view because we had this. We talked about it. He's like, 'Well, I [talked] to Fania Records and I think the way I'm going to do it…,' because he did the rewrite. He wrote the script. It's when that kind of took place. When I first got the script, I knew I was going to produce it. I wasn't even sure I was going to be in it."
Letting It All Out in Emotional Scenes: Working opposite her spouse meant that when Puchi and Hector Lavoe squared off in the film, the real husband and wife team had to let it all hang out on the set. But Lopez says the intense screaming sequences were actually fun to work on. "Obviously, they were very intense," said Lopez. "Really, you can't fake things like that. You have to really go there emotionally but at the same time, when we were done, I think there was a sense of satisfaction that we were telling the story or that the scene was real and that we had captured something real and gritty on screen. That's what we wanted to do. We wanted to just make these people human. The joyous things we wanted to be joyous and the funny things we wanted to be funny. Things that were funny but not funny, it was all about those nuances. It was the same thing with the screaming kind of fighting ways they would go at each other."
Shaking It Off at the End of the Day: That wasn't difficult to do according to Lopez. "No, not at all. Not for us. I think it was more like an adrenaline rush afterwards. We'd be going home and driving home to Long Island in a car. He was like, 'Yo, that was great, right? That part when I pushed you, you weren't expecting that, right?' 'No, I wasn't.' It was more kind of like, 'Okay, we're doing this. We know what we want to do.'"
Playing a Couple and Being a Couple: Lopez said that it wasn't an issue as they weren't a couple at the time she first became involved in El Cantante. . "I got this script like five and a half years ago, you have to remember," explained Lopez. "Marc and I have only been together three and a half years. At that time, I just called him. It might be even longer than that, maybe six years ago… But I called him right away. I knew that he was the person to play Hector Lavoe, a Puerto Rican salsa singer. They even looked a little bit alike. They really [favor] each other and I knew he knew this world. So I called him right away, I think maybe a month after I got the script, before Leon, before the rewrite, before anything. Just, 'You are the person to play this role. Do you want to do it?' And he was like, 'Oh, he's my idol. I'll do it.' I said, 'I don't know if I'm going to even be in it, but do you want to do it?' And he said yes."
Helping Out with Wardrobe Choices: Lopez was very much involved in getting together her character's wardrobe. "Actually, me and Sandra Hernandez, obviously, but my makeup artist Scott Barnes also. We really worked together on the whole look, every period, and making sure it was very specific and true to the time and everything like that. Scott did an amazing job with the aging makeup and with all the different periods and all the nuances. He just did a really great job."
On Fame and Celebrity: It's a lot different now then it was at the height of Hector Lavoe's popularity. "Back then, it's like Puchi says, it was the '70s. Everybody was doing drugs and hanging out. It was music and it was rock n' roll, and it was all this kind of stuff. I think it's just a little changed now.
For me, I've never been in that type of scene so I don't know. I don't know it. For me, my fame experience was a whole different thing than what they went through. I think I still had the same kind of thing that hits you like, 'Oh my God, what is this?' That makes you shake and shiver a little bit and get anxiety and makes you want to escape, which I do understand. Like escape your own skin because it's such a weird experience you could never really explain it to anybody."
On Her Music: Lopez says that part of her career is going great. "The Spanish album's doing really well. We're only on our second single right now. The first single did great and the album has been doing very well internationally as well as here. We also have my English album coming out."
thnx xxxx
Where most people see DANGER, I see a CHALLENGE!
