Like fiery Ariana, Marise Álvarez She felt the need to venture into a new challenge as an actress following consolidating her career in local theater and cinema. The approval of a pilot for a five-year project for the Showtime network – before the pandemic – put her on a plane to Los Angeles. “We left,” she said then.
In March 2020 everything stopped, but the making of the pilot brought her closer to an important talent agency, and that was also an opportunity that, moved by her restless personality, she did not waste.
He came to the mecca of American cinema as an apprentice, to the point of having to learn to audition. “I have had to learn many things and on that side it has been important for me, in my career as an interpreter, to explore this other world that I did not know, but I do not deny that there is a lot of anxiety involved”he acknowledged while greeting the psychologist he religiously visits once a month to stay focused on his path.
“It’s very easy to take off, and say, ‘this is crazy’”. She continues.
After dozens, if not hundreds of auditions – a stage that she now assumes as a workshop to stay active while the phone rings for a second audition – four Wednesdays ago her name appeared among the cast of the new series Obi-Wan Kennobi (Disney+), in the newly released short film Mancha and in local movie theaters with the film Chopping ahead.
You definitely have to go on.
“There is something energetically regarding being here, regarding the dynamics of the city, that is, if you are not screwing with that (auditions), there are others getting into it for a long time”, he exposes. “I needed this challenge, my body asked for it. My soul asked for it and here we are in these, still learning”.
in the series Obi-Wan Kennobi embodies “Nyche”, the mother of “Corran”, a “force sensitive” child, who might become the next “Jedi”. She is a character that she has come to discover more as a viewer of the series than as an interpreter herself, due in part to the secrecy of Disney.
“That was a big thrill following many, many no’s. This was, ‘ok, I can’t get rid of it, I have to keep working for what I want and it catches my attention”he says over the phone.
That one did come following a long time, in which he auditioned with texts and characters that have nothing to do with galaxies. “The first character I auditioned was a female boss, the other was a politician, the other was a mother, the other was a sergeant, so it’s not (sci-fi/fantasy) related, they’re real characters, and It’s interesting, because even though it’s a science fiction world, they make you audition for everyday characters, so you don’t really know what you’re auditioning for.”
When he found himself in the immensity of the film studio, with technology created to bring to life the world in which the series takes place, starring Ewan McGregor directed by Deborah Chowher own pride moved her, it put her “nerves on edge”, even so she gave herself the opportunity to play on stage next to the comedian, Kumeil Nanjianione of his favourites.
“When we have a fellow actor who is in the game, that helps, because you get into the game and the nerves come out through the game, so I thank him, and everyone in the world in which I played, everyone colleagues were wonderful.”
True to the confidentiality required by the production house, he does not dwell on the development of his character in future episodes, although he leaves a good suspicion.
“We will see her out there, because she lives in that world where they are trying to save these Jedi,” he says without further ado. “The series is well done, it’s very cinematic, it’s like a long movie.”
It is urgent to prioritize local production
Marisé Álvarez is convinced that local production, for television or cinema, might compete at the level of projects like the one she has just done under the umbrella of Disney.
At first glance, you don’t have the technology or a studio with the same dimensions, but that’s not the case in any creative film destination either, he warns. For this, a budget is needed, because there is artistic, technical and production talent to choose from.
“What we lack in national cinema is that the Government gives us priority in terms of tax credits and in terms of budget, so that we have a greater capacity for economic resources, because cinema is very expensive,” he says.
She does not reject the granting of tax credits to foreign productions that choose Puerto Rico as a filming destination, because she has been nourished by that, “but it is important that we give the same or more importance to local projects.”
Celebrate “Picking ahead”
The arrival at the cinema of the first film by Teatro Breve, chopping aheadstill moves her, for the success it represents for what she considers her creative family.
“It is a very important project, because it belongs to the group that I have been in for 16 years, and the fact that a theatrical project has been maintained for so long in Puerto Rico is already an achievement, and that within the project we can challenge ourselves. to continue exploring, it is a gift”, he shares.
chopping ahead remains on billboard in Caribbean Cinemas.
