Interviews / Oct. 02, 2018
Director Marco Berger has several actors that he trusts for the main roles in his films. One of them, Manuel Vignau, captivated our audiences with his enigmatic and arousing roles in Plan B (2009) and Hawaii (2013). Because we owe everything to our followers, we decided to give him a call and see what he has been up to recently!
1. You started to play major roles in Marco Berger’s films. Please, share what it felt like to be selected and to work with him? And how has it affected you as an actor?
Me and Marco had made a short film called La Última Voluntad. From that moment on, the mutual desire to do a movie arose. In the beginning, we were going to make another story before Plan B, but this one appeared. We filmed during four weekends and It´s very surprising the way this movie turned out. Today, ten years after its premier in Argentina, and having gone through many festivals such as Rome, London, Havana, is now being released in Asia. We never thought something like this would happen.
2. Do you identify with the roles you played in Mr. Berger’s films?
I always try to identify myself with the characters that I have to create. In Plan B, Bruno, my character, has a certain darkness and mystery that I could also have. In Hawaii my character has a look that is superb and sensitive at the same time and that´s something that I can identify with also, so I can build my character from there.
Plan B
3. As a straight man, did you play the roles based on your gay friends?
Not in this case. I didn´t need to take elements to build "forms" or "models". The characters needed to reach emotional depths unknown to them, so, me too. That´s the common point between fiction and reality that I preferred to use for this work. I don´t believe in a dogmatic technique. I believe in intelligence and sensitivity to choose the best tools to improve my work in each film.
4. What was it like to play intimate scenes with your friend Lucas Ferraro? Did you two prepare for it before filming?
No, we didn´t "prepare" ourselves. It´s a game that we decide to play with confidence and friendship.
Hawaii
5. How did it feel like to kiss a guy on camera for the first time, especially with someone you already knew?
Nothing special. It´s part of the job. It has not special meaning to me.
6. You were very good in both Plan B and Hawaii, and the roles were quite different. Which one is more like you in real life?
Both characters have things that I can recognize in me. Bruno is smart, cold and calculating but when he falls in love with his friend, he cannot handle emotions and he surrenders to love. In Hawaii, my character comes from a different social class that he subtly flaunts, but he and his friend are the same if we talk about childhood memories and it´s from there that they connect with each other.
Hawaii
7. Has Mr. Berger ever suggested sex scenes in any of the films? How sexually explicit would you go as an actor?
As explicit as good cinema needs. Everything is up to the function that the scene has in the whole movie. The characters, the action, the relationships, in my opinion, are functions of a structure.
8. You haven’t done much acting in cinema. Have you been working on plays more? Will you act in a movie again soon?
I just finished filming Algo con una Mujer by Luján Loioco and Mariano Turek, a novel set in the days before the military coup in Argentina in 1955. I think I´ve made more than ten movies but I would like to keep filming always and it would be great to make a film in Asia sometime. Doing theater is like eating or breathing, I always need it. Every day. It´s the daily meal for my soul.
9. What do you like to do for leisure?
I like doing sports, being with friends, listening music, watching movies and reading.
10. Have you been to Asia or even Taiwan? What did you think of it if you have?
I´ve been to Japan a few years ago. I was shocked by the codes of a society being so different from Argentina. Traveling is a great way to learn. I would like so much to know more and more.
