| Oscar-nominated Colombian actress finally getting noticed in her hometown |
| Category: 2005 |
from AP Worldstream / by Dan Molinski
Catalina Sandino Moreno, the Colombian actress nominated for the best actress Academy Award, was unable to get an acting job in her hometown - not even in a soap opera - purportedly because casting directors thought she couldn’t act, her brother says.
“Those dudes must be kicking themselves now,” Nicolas Sandino Moreno said Tuesday after hearing his sister was nominated for her role in “Maria Full of Grace,” her first movie appearance.
“Man, I am so proud of my sister’s triumph!” said the 16-year-old.
The nomination came as a shock for many Colombians. When the film was released here in April, it appeared in only two dozen theaters in this country of 44 million people and was pulled quickly amid poor ticket sales.
“It was far from a hit,” said Carlos Llano, distribution manager for Cine Colombia, which controls Colombia’s movie releases.
Sandino plays a teenage drug mule in the film, which was set in this Andean nation mired in a 40-year guerril la war but filmed in neighboring Ecuador.
Colombians are familiar with other celebrity exports, such as hip-shaking pop star Shakira and tattooed rocker Juanes, but the response here to Sandino’s Oscar nomination was: “Catalina who?”
Sandino, a 23-year-old Bogota native who now calls New York home, left Colombia three years ago partly because of her lack of success.
“I was in Colombia, no one took my picture and then suddenly here with this movie everybody wants a picture,” she told The Associated Press in New York after being nominated Tuesday.
Many Colombian actresses who have achieved success in their homeland have had their breasts enlarged or other cosmetic surgery. With Sandino apparently doing without such enhancements, Colombia’s main newspaper, El Tiempo, asked readers on its Web site: “What is Catalina Sandino’s magic?”
“The magic is that she didn’t get silicone, nor liposuction, nor did she dye her hair yellow, nor did she model in a G-string,” answered reader Car los Ramirez. “The magic is that she studied and prepared.”
In light of the Oscar nod, Llano said Cine Colombia would be giving the film another chance.
“We’re rereleasing it Friday afternoon, and something tells me it’s going to do great,” he said.
| A special day for the nominees |
| Category: 2005 |
from USA Today
USA TODAY’s Donna Freydkin, William Keck, Susan Wloszczyna, Cesar G. Soriano and Karen Thomas were working the phones Tuesday, getting the details from the stars about their Oscar nomination moment. Among the exchanges:
Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) was in New York.
Q: Did you believe it was going to happen?
A: “Oh no, not at all. It’s the Oscars. Too much. Too incredible for me.”
Q: Growing up in Colombia, did you watch the Oscars?
A: “Never. Maybe because I didn’t have cable at home.”
Q: What was your view of the Oscars?
A: “They were a pretty big thing. Every time we had a (Colombian) Oscar nomination, we went afterward and saw the movie with my family.”
Q: You got through the Maria premiere, but how do you feel about taking on the Oscars with all these huge stars?
A: “I’m just blessed.”
Q: Nervous?
A: “I’m not nervous. I’ve won a lot (of nominations) and have been able to talk to people that I’ve admired. I know I’m going to have good people around me, so I shouldn’t be feeling nervous.”
Q: Who are your personal favorite performances of the year?
A: “I liked Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) and Javier Bardem (The Sea Inside) and Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) and Imelda (Staunton of Vera Drake). A lot of the people who were nominated today really deserved it.”
Q: Have you seen all the nominations in your category?
A: “I haven’t seen Being Julia. I have to. I saw all the other movies with the women.”
Q: Who has told you they loved your film?
A: “Kate Winslet. It was fantastic. I saw her at the Broadcast Film Critics (Awards). She said she loved the film. I was like, ‘Oh my God — this is Kate Winslet.’ So amazing.
Q: How did you hear about your nomination?
A: “I was watching TV. My boyfriend was with me and I was talking on the phone with my mom in Columbia. It was an amazing reaction from my boyfriend and my mom. We couldn’t believe it was real. Screaming and crying.”
Q: Who will you bring with you?
A: “I don’t know. I would love to go with my boyfriend.”
Q: And an extra ticket for your mom?
A: “That would be perfect!”
Q: What will you wear?
A: “It’s too early, but everyone’s asking me about it. I’m so unprepared. I don’t know what to do.”
Q: You’re the Oscar newcomer …
A: “It’s just amazing that I’m nominated with people I admire. It’s a dream I never dreamt.”
Q: What was it about your film that got it so far?
A: “It’s a very, real human movie. I think people appreciate that. I think I’m because of my work and a lot of other people — my publicists, my agents — people who believed in me.”
Q: How will you use this opportunity?
A: “I’m showing that I can do a little bit more than people expected from me. It’s good exposure for me. I’m the new kid. I need exposure and this is the best exposure I could ever have.”
Q: What kinds of roles have you been offered?
A: “A lot of roles. All very different, but I’m just waiting for one specifically for me. I want people to come to me saying, ‘I thought about you for this role.’ When I read the script I have to feel that I could do it. After Maria, I have to do a very good movie.”
- W.K.
Visitors since June 14, 2007