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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 18 November 2017
Daniela Vega, trans actress,

stars in ‘A Fantastic Woman’

By JAKE COYLE leased “A Fantastic Wom- important what you do so
AP Film Writer an” on Friday for a one- much as who you are.”
TORONTO (AP) — In one week awards-qualifying Acting became, she says,
of the dreamy moments release. A larger release a kind of therapy. During a
of surrealism that punc- will come in February, but dark period, a friend sug-
tuate Sebastian Lelio’s by then, Vega might al- gested Vega join an acting
otherwise realistic “A Fan- ready be making history. class.
tastic Woman,” the film’s Some have speculated “After I transitioned, I be-
transgender protagonist, that Vega could be the first came very depressed. I
In this Sept. 9, 2017 file photo, Chilean trans actress Daniela
Vega, a cast member in the film “A Fantastic Woman,” poses for Marina (Daniela Vega), trans actor to be nominat- put all my energy into the
a portrait during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto. walks down the street but ed for an Oscar. process of going from a
Associated Press an extreme, exaggerated “When I met her, I loved child to a woman and af-
headwind makes moving her. I was fascinated by her. ter that I felt very empty,”
forward nearly impossible. I realized if I was going to said Vega. “It was a year to
She’s tilted, as if climbing make the film, I was never a year and a half before I
a mountain, as the gale- going to make it without a left my apartment. With the
force winds try to beat her transgender actress,” says darkness, I made art.”
back. Lelio, who is currently shoot- Lelio grants that such a de-
To watch “A Fantastic ing an English-language re- manding leading role for a
Woman,” Chile’s Acad- make of his “Gloria,” with little-experienced actress
emy Awards submission, Julianne Moore. “It was an was a major challenge
is to walk in the shoes of a invitation for me to inhabit for Vega, “and a huge
trans woman, to feel the new cinematic territories.” gamble for me.” But from
everyday indignities slung In “A Fantastic Woman,” their first meeting he found
at Marina and be awed by the older male lover of Ma- Vega — intense, poised —
her resolution in overcom- rina, a young cabaret sing- “a force of nature.”
ing them. er, has a heart attack and “She was in a certain way
Since its debut at the Berlin dies. While consumed with pushing things forward. I
Film Festival, “A Fantastic grief, Marina is subjected was trying to catch up to
Woman” has been cele- to endless debasements her complexity,” says Le-
brated as one of the year’s and harassments by doc- lio. “In the writing process,
best films and Vega’s lead- tors, police and the family I came across the idea of
ing performance as a wa- of the late Orlando (Fran- making a trans-genre film
tershed event. While nu- cisco Reyes), who resent his about a transgender wom-
merous high-profile stories choice of partner. an. It was a like a door that
(“The Danish Girl,” ‘’Dallas Lelio met Vega while do- opened and offered a lot
Buyers Club,” ‘’Transpar- ing research for the script. of freedom in terms of nar-
ent”) have won plaudits She was first a valuable rative opportunities and
for their portrayals of trans consultant on the film and style.”
lives, the 28-year-old Vega then its muse. When Lelio “It’s always oscillating be-
is trans, herself. The strength and Gonzalo Maza finished tween different genres,”
and authenticity of her per- the first draft, Lelio sent it he adds. “It’s a romantic
formance is a rebuke to to Vega and asked if she film that becomes a thriller
the filmmakers who have would play Marina. that becomes a portrait of
argued that it’s impractical “It was the hardest thing a woman. It’s a social film
to cast trans actors for trans I’ve ever done in my but then it’s a musical and
parts. life,” said Vega, speaking then it’s a ghost story.”
“If we broaden our gaze, through an interpreter. “I The rapturous response to
it will be more interesting, had to leave Daniela and the film and to Vega has
more beautiful,” Vega said enter Marina by creating caught each by surprise.
in an interview earlier this this contemplative, resilient But perhaps it shouldn’t.
fall at the Toronto Interna- character so different from They together created a
tional Film Festival. “If we myself. I’m much more ex- classic and indelible big-
can make more diverse plosive.” screen heroine.
colors, people, stories, it will Marina’s story isn’t Vega’s, “I admire her. I think she’s
be interesting. Uniforms are but the character began very different from me. I
for the military and the po- absorbing Vega’s identity think that she’s, internally,
lice, not for our thinking.” and experiences. Vega much more elegant than
Sony Pictures Classics re- had been singing and act- I am,” says Vega. “I con-
ing in theater and some structed her with the dig-
small films for several years nity that I see in women of
when she met Lelio. But for my family, friends I know,
her, her artistic ambitions people who have accom-
only came after her transi- panied me in my life. In do-
tion at 17. ing so, I tried to get Marina
“I wanted to be a woman, closer to the reality of what
first. And then singer. And it is to be a woman, not
then actress,” Vega said. necessarily a trans woman.
“For me, to me it’s not as Marina is any woman.”q