INTERVIEW: Everybody’s watching ‘Nobody’s Watching’
Nobody’s Watching, which is currently playing New York City’s Film Forum, puts a unique spin on a story involving immigration to the United States.
Guillermo Pfening plays a 30-something actor who leaves his acting career and lover in Argentina to find new adventures in New York City. Pfening’s character, Nico, struggles to find his footing in the Big Apple, and he must deal with surprise visits from a former co-star and his former lover.
For his efforts, Pfening won the Best Actor award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox spoke with the movie’s director, Julia Solomonoff. Read that interview here. Hollywood Soapbox also exchanged emails with Pfening about his acclaimed performance. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What first attracted you to this role?
There were many things that attracted me to play Nico in Nobody’s Watching. First, the possibility of working again with Julia Somolonoff. I had played a supporting role in her previous film The Last Summer of La Boyita, and for this one, she offered the leading role, in a film show mostly in NY. So the idea of being in New York for five months also attracted me to the part.
But talking specifically in terms of the character, I was very interested in Nico’s multiple edges. Many Nicos reside inside of him: There is Nico the actor in conflict with his career because he no longer wants to do soap operas, the Nico going through a big emotional crisis, the paternal Nico when [he] is around baby Theo, but, fundamentally, the Nico that has to rebuilt himself from his ashes, to find himself in the [world]. He has to get up and be who [he] really wants to be. I think it is a character that goes through a major identity crisis, and all of these nuances represented a great challenge to me.
What was it like working with director Julia Solomonoff?
Working with Julia was an extremely enriching and a great learning experience. Julia is one of the most workaholic people that I know. She always want[s] more and never gets tired of searching for it. She keeps an intense work rhythm that, at the beginning, it took me a while to get used to, but only for a brief moment, and I was soon caught up in the same desire to go a little further.
As a director, she is always open to playing, to proposals. Julia always asks opinions and makes you engage in the character construction, and this keeps you in a continuous creative process. She also allows herself to doubt; she is open to the idea of not having all the answers, and [t]his is why her working process becomes so interesting. Julia submerses herself in search for layers of the character that make him tridimensional. Julia is an animal of cinema; she lives and breathes movies.
What do you feel the character and movie say about the world today?
I think the contribution of the film to the world comes from being ‘genuine.’ I believe that authenticity, perhaps more in certain social classes and in certain countries, is a value in decay. The world is lacking people that preserve the integrity and truthfulness of one’s own natural characteristics — to be oneself, in spite of the pressures from the others. …
What was it like filming in New York City?
To shoot in New York for me meant to live in New York — experience the city, breathe it, to take the subway at 6 a.m. to get to the set and come back to my room at Queens or Brooklyn at 7 p.m. at night. The production kept moving me from places. I also lived in the Bronx and in Chelsea. I had a lot of fun. I was happy and worked hard. At times, it was like being inside a dream and a dream that sometimes turned into nightmare because New York is a very individualistic city and a very lonely one as well. It is a place where you call someone you think of as a friend Sunday afternoon because [you] feel alone a thousand miles from home, and they schedule to see you in 15 days. This is very American, but I also met very cool people. And I always had Julia and her family to rely on. That always made sure I was not alone.
What’s next for you after Nobody‘s Watching?
I am now working in my new movie as a director, entitled Alice, that I am writing alongside Carolina Stegmayer, who will also share the direction of Alice with me. Three years ago, I premiered by directing debut Caito. I like to both direct and act.
As an actor, I will be shooting Bahia Blanca by Rodrigo Caprotti, followed by Matar al Dragon by Jimena Monteoliva. Afterward, I’ll also shoot La Ciudad Duerme by Tamae Garateguy and the Chilean-Brazilian coproduction La Caza del Hombre by Esteban Larrain, produced by Vanessa Ragone, the producer of the last Academy Award winning picture from Argentina.
Also, in a couple days I will be traveling to Zurich to represent Nobody’s Watching in their film festival.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Nobody’s Watching is currently playing in movie theaters, including New York City’s Film Forum. Click here for more information.
