Diogo was on a new Portuguese show called "Sei Quem Ele É" that recently premiered on RTP1. The show is hosted by esteemed Portuguese Casting Director, Patricia Vasconcelos, whom Diogo has called "crucial" to his career. Diogo was Patricia's first guest on her show, which focuses on the guest's experiences as an actor, from auditions to filming. As you will see, it also includes some amazing footage from Diogo's earliest auditions! Our equally amazing friend Dina kindly sent us the interview, and she even more kindly sent us the translation as well, posted under the video. Thank you Dina, as always!
Diogo on Sei Quem Ele É
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(Opening credits then video of Diogo doing an audition with Patrícia Vasconcelos (PV) from the year 1999 plays. After the video ends, Diogo laughs and the interview begins.)
PV: What does that feel like (seeing the video)?
DM: Very strange ... very strange ... I imagine that all your guests would have this type of reaction, because it's been so long, and at the same time is so genuine and authentic.... It's clear that over the years we learn techniques for this. But not there (the audition on the video.) There is a very crude thing, it's very authentic. On the one hand it embarrasses me, but on the other, it makes me proud because it is genuine, it's genuine, it's very authentic.
PV: In 1999 what age were you?
DM: I do not know ... I have no idea ... no idea. Incidentally, there was a period in my life when I was lying about my age.
PV: Really?
DM: Yes, yes.
PV: But why?
DM: Because, for example, I mean ... when I say I lied, it was only by 2 or 3 years. For example, at the time when I was 16 or 17 and the character was 18, 19, I said 18, I'm 18 years old. So I had a period of my life, where I said I was one age and was actually another, just a bit different.
PV: I didn't know you at that stage. Already thought you were 18 years old and found out that you were 18 years old. Do you remember how we met?
DM: If it wasn't for "Amo-te Teresa," it was surely for "Amo-te Teresa" that you mark meeting me. Not only by the project, but even before it, the way you approached me... I think you already had done casting for me for other small things, perhaps for some commercial, or something, or another movie that I didn’t get...
PV: No, I had you as like my student in Visual X ...
DM: Was that it?
PV: Well ...
DM: So ... it was there.
PV: You were my student in a acting class that I had at the time. By the way, I think you were not the only one I had. There was you, Soraya (Chaves), Maria João Bastos, Ricardo Pereira ...
(laughs)
DM: So that's it ... Yeah, maybe ... It's so many years ago that it is normal to get things confused. But for me, it was "Amo-te Teresa, where I knew you, because of the way you handled that project for me. Because I remember perfectly that you called me for the audition and then, that night, I remember perfectly, you called me and said: "Look, I want you to prepare yourself for this audition, because I think It has everything to do with you. I'm not doing this with a lot of people, I will send you the script because I want you to read the script. I think it will help you in the audition and so on. "And I was like (makes a gesture of fear) "Okay." I read the script, and after that we talked and you told me " Do you understand now? Do you understand now? "And I was like (rubs his eyes) "Well, I understand ... I understand perfectly. " I hung up the call and thought "The son of a bitch who gets this will have a damn bit of luck." Because the script was so good, it was so special ...
PV: It was made for you ...
DM: It touched me, had a lot to do with me. And the fact that you saw this, the ability you had to see it, touched me forever. Touched me perhaps more strongly than as a teacher who was in a classroom ... you know what I mean?
PV: Yes, yes.
DM: Because it was personal. There was a personal touch and it affects me much more over the years than people who eventually become the people whom over the years I see under social circumstances.
PV: But you know that my profession also has a lot to do with it. You, when you are reading a script and it is perfect for that actor, you fight for it, you see? I even remember meeting with the TV network that would be making the film (SIC), and saying "Bet on this kid, because this kid is absolutely extraordinary, and is made for this role." It's something I do a lot when I think there is a certain actor... but okay, we will not sidetrack the conversation.
DM: But still to answer the question of where we met, for me, in my mind, it's marked by that moment.
PV: For me too. I remember you perfectly as a student, but I remember especially ...
DM: I do not remember myself as a student.
(laughs)
PV: I did not bring pictures of you as a student...
DM: Good ... thank God ...
PV: It wasn't meant to be like a great shock. To reveal to you all of a sudden so many things. But anyway, with "Amo-te Teresa" it seems that your career took a great turn.
DM: Yes, of course, to be honest, that's where it all started.
PV: Up until then you had done small things.
DM: Yes, I had done little things, had started in the theater ... at the time I remember I had just done a João Lourenço play, in the former Teatro Aberto, called "The Winter Light," with João Perry and Margarida Marinho. At the time was perhaps the strongest thing I did, and was a big shock. João Lourenço, is João Lourenço, and I was 16, 17 year old kid who did not even know yet what I wanted to do, which path I should follow. More than that, I think much of the beginning of my journey was a big fight whether I was worth something as an actor, if it was worth investing in this medium. When I say "medium," I mean the profession. Not in the social context. That is another matter, which is still a struggle. But for the craft itself, I, for a long time, 6, 7, 8 years, I doubted. Maybe that's why I wanted to test my limits. I had an almost urgency in me to expand. I wanted to do things at the beginning that didn't have much to do with me. So I have been like that for a long time. Even today there's an urge to do things that sometimes people are like, "but why is he doing this? Why? Why in the the hell?"
PV: "Why did he accept that role and not another?"
DM: Yes, exactly. And sometimes they can draw conclusions that are not true. Like "it's because he is in need" ... I think there is nothing more subjective, more fabulous than that, and if I didn’t do what I do, I would be a spectator, a lover of all of this. Lover of stories, movie lover, theater. I think that I'm essentially more than an actor. I am a lover of stories, a storyteller. I vibe with things that are not mine, but as if I was there. And this fascination, this love, this reasonating, would never disappear, whether I do what I do today or not.
PV: Maybe it would just be for you to do at home ...
DM: Well, maybe it would be for just at home, but there are so many times that at home turns into movie goers, other times it becomes clearer, scholars even, at its core. There's always the one individual who knows all about the movies, knows the names of the directors, knows the story behind that film. Maybe I was going to be that kind of person. As fate had it, I could express it in a more practical, more present, more real way.
PV: Look, I'll show you other images. Here, in this case, I think you'll recognize immediately what audition this is.
DM: Let's see ...
(Video of him with his co-star from "Amo-te Teresa," Ana Padrão plays.)
DM: It's so beautiful ... It’s special ... very special. In fact, for me it was a story and an absolutely special project. Maybe, even today, I still can’t see why. It has a lot of sensitivity there. Cristina Boavida was the writer of the script and there are so many subtleties and so many little things that help so much ... A kid who is 15 would say "because you like your bones?" (About the dialogue playing in the video.) Because? Why does a 15 year old kid ask that? Different kids ask different things. And we are telling the story of that kid, who's different. Often, as an actor, when they give me a role, I wonder "why we are we telling the story of this guy? Surely because he isn’t a common guy. Even if he is a common guy, there is a very specific feature that deserves to be told in this story. It deserves to be shown on film or on a television series.
PV: The co-star helps, right?
DM: Ana (Padrão) had just become a mother very recently. I remember that she was still in that craziness in which I am now, because I became a father again a week ago, and now I get it perfectly, but still, she had a fantastic generosity and I realized the kind of actor who was there, what she planning to do, and learned to play off of it.
PV: The planning of the actor? It's very good.
DM: Of course. There was nothing. There was a plan, an idea as an actor.
PV: Somehow the fact that Ana Padrão already had the career she had and it was the first time you were starring opposite her, did it scare you? Inhibit you?
DM: Well, quite honestly, no. Didn't scare me, never scared me.
PV: Because of her generosity ...
DM: Not necessarily so. Perhaps the biggest shock I had was the first time I suddenly found myself doing a soap opera here on RTP, “Terra Mãe,” that, in fact, I went from being a kid at home watching Nicolau Breyner, Armando Cortez, Lidia Franco, to seeing great figures, and suddenly, within 15 days, I'm with them, in a scene, doing what they do. This shock was so great, to 15 be years old when that happened to me, that moved me so much, that I thought, "is this for real?" From ardent fan to colleague. It's a great balancing act when you are 15. And you don't know anything about anything. Mind you, I never wanted to be an actor, or didn't dare to say it. I had absolutely no training, it was all instinct. It was all "this is what I do." I had no idea what a script was. Even these lights, when I started, they made me confused. You know? "Why are you pointing the light in my face?" "Because otherwise no one can see you, dude."
(laughs)
DM: Do you understand? And this shock was so great that I think then, from there, throughout my life, all the people I got to know, were all very deliberate, so it was never a shock as great as that initial shock when I was 15 years old. In that sense, I was much more concerned about if Ana (Padrão) would want to work with me, if we were going to be okay, than the fact that it was Ana Padrão, because that Ana was, and is, a great person. At that point then even, she had a very strong film career. She did wonderful things and is a great actress, apart from an absolutely fantastic person. Even today when we cross...
PV: You still talk about it?
DM: More than that. I'll confess something to you. She would let me, so what the hell. We give each other a peck on the lips.
PV: Awwww.
DM: Of love and affection. Tenderness. She says "you are the only one I do this with" because, in fact, we're bonded by this. It was also a very specific time of her life, she had just become a mother, etc., and the fact of making this film, how it has developed and also was my first, bonded us forever and is very special.
PV: Fantastic. Next followed another casting that I did that was "O Crime do Padre Amaro."
DM: It was???
PV: Do you remember?
DM: Yes, a few years later. I remember.
PV: I also did not bring you pictures of that.
DM: But hey, it would be fun to see. Would be cool. That was a funny proposal. I like roles whose responsibility, the structure of the story isn't told through me, because it gives us a freedom ...
PV: You mean, you like to jump ...
DM: Yes, I like to jump, because I think carrying the story and the structure of the film on your back, even if it is a series, it is a huge responsibility because, deep down, it's like the conductor who records the time of everything, and it ends up limiting the choices of what we can do.
PV: And you have a process of building a character? What are your methods?
DM: We all have our methods.
PV: How do you memorize the lines, for example?
DM: Memorizing the lines ends up always happening ultimately. For me, only study the lines if you don’t know what it means. So, for me, I have to understand, have to make sense of it within context. At the beginning of the character, I get the various fragments of role, the scenes, the key scenes, and create a picture of "Okay, what we are telling here? Where in fact are we supposed to go from here? Squeeze in and out of here?" Each has his process, but often, actors embroil in the subjective and personal perspective they have, and then leave the picture to the director or another. Sometimes this can be fantastic, sometimes it can be shocking. Because a person can cling so much to the idea that he has for that character, that he can't be flexible. It becomes more difficult to work across the board. Because there's no context. So, I prefer always to work from within the context.
PV: It is an idea. It is still an idea that you take to the director.
DM: Absolutely. What allows me to go from the context, it is to have more chances of discussion. That is, to show a director "mind you, we want the same thing. We want the story, don’t want just my take. "
PV: You're there to serve a character.
DM: Exactly. In the end, the argument turns out to be the same. My character serves a whole and that is my main concern. What I think or what I may discover, is always open to discussion and it is always subjective. But there, the conductor of the operation is the director. I can do whatever I want, he will put it in the movie only if he wants. It is not productive in any way to have friction.
PV: You know I always say that I think you (actors) are oddly generous, because you read the script but ultimately, with a known director, you won't know how it turns out until the end, right?
DM: Yes, yes.
PV: Now when is it not the case that you have to surrender wholeheartedly, because you will be completely naked, in terms of the delivery...
DM: And sometimes literally naked ...
PV: Well, exactly. But you have to give completely, trust the cinematographer, the director, etc, so you give completely, and then you have to hope that, in the end, the edit will be something that you are pleased with.
DM: Yes.
PV: But you never know, right?
DM: No, we never know.
PV: Has it happened to you that you do a job in which at the end, you say "oh Jesus..."
DM: More than that. I've had it happen where I've not even started work and I'm saying "oh Jesus this will not work."
PV: How do you do that?
DM: I can tell you that I am fully aware that there were things in my career I accepted, knowing that I was a casting mistake.
PV: But how do you do that?
DM: How do I do which? How do I perceive that or how do I manage it?
PV: But why did you go to that audition?
DM: I went to the audition because most of the time you go to an audition for a role and you wind up in another. You know that better than anyone. It is a showcase that is available in the industry, with regard to actors, and though you go in for a role, it does not mean you to have to get that role. You can get another, which fits you better. So going to the audition is part of my job. I have to show what I can do with a particular type of role. Then another thing is when you are called to play a character that you say to yourself, "this isn't right."
PV: This is a mistake.
DM: This is a mistake. And after waiting awhile to be pleasantly surprised, then you will become completely ungrounded. That is, if you yourself do not believe that it is the best character for you, you are going to become completely ungrounded. I can say that, for example, the first time it happened to me, has been so long that I can say, it was in the movie "A Noiva," by Luís Galvão Teles, with Catarina Furtado, in which I was a war General/Colonel, something like that, and Marco Delgado was the groom who went to war and I would eventually take advantage of this fact. There, I went in fully aware that the role was not for me. That it should be someone more mature, older, with some type of emotional baggage, which at the time I did not have. And I knew it. I was aware of it. Of course it was a Luis Galvao Teles' film, it was a film with Marco Delgado and Catarina, and you want to do it. You want to do it and have to do it. And then, there it is. I put myself in the hands of Luis and fully trusted him, but I knew from the outset, it would be very difficult to be a successful thing, from my perspective.
PV: Should we see another (video)?
DM: Let's do it.
PV: We will see another audition, one year later... in 2000.
DM: Okay.
(In the video, Diogo is speaking in muddled English and Spanish.)
PV: I love...
DM: My God, poor guy. He is trying so hard. Poor thing.
PV: You know the other day we had here Marco (Delgado) who said "well... I was such a "ham," if I were the director, I would not have chosen this actor."
(laughs)
DM: That's what happens ... Here, what I see is a guy struggling, poor thing. The script was most likely given to me right then. I was reading it and I was doing "Portunhol" (Portuguese and Spanish/Espanol.) "My God, help me."
PV: E o inglês…
(Both play around with the English accent that Diogo had at the time of the auditon back in 2000.)
DM: I'm gonna be honest. The absurdity of "I can't do it and that's why I'm going to do it," even today, I do that. I love to feel uncomfortable at work, because it means that not only will it be a challenge, but then, it will be like “after this I will know a little bit more than I did before, right? When we are always doing comfortable things ...
PV: Sure, to take you out of your comfort zone...
DM: Yes. So therefore it's horrible...
PV: No, It’s not horrible ...
DM: It's horrible in the sense that it seems like my heart's about to leap out of my mouth. You’re exposed there. You yourself know better than anyone, but often the people who are watching us do not know, but there can be 10 people there, right near you, looking at you and making you super uncomfortable. It's very intimidating.
PV: And how was it with the United States? How'd you make the transition, the trip was by plane, train? How was it?
(laughs)
DM: No. Transition was ... what I was telling you earlier, it goes back to that. The difference between what we are seeing now (the videos) and today, is huge. Of course I started working in a more normal way... making my path, making my journey, and then left to do auditions.
PV: Doesn't mean you left to...
DM: No, no, I didn't leave to do the auditions I was doing.
PV: They sent you requests...
DM: Exactly. For specific projects, mainly for things outside of Portugal, then I did the auditions. So for me, in the United States, it was the return to that. It was the return to that thing of "I'm not able. This is very hard." And this revived me creatively a lot.
PV: But how did that move come about? How did it happen the first time? An agent...
DM: I made a film, a co-production called "Star Crossed" filmed in Porto...
PV: Yes, I know. I also did auditions for that movie.
DM: Okay, I didn't go through you in this instance.
PV: That's right. In fact, I'll tell a very interesting story. That was something I also wanted to ask you so I will ask here. Did you know that casting was being done?
DM: My agent knew that casting was being done, and she made a presentation. "I have this actor, with these characteristics..."
PV: That's very interesting, for example, it's suddenly a different process. Instead of it being me asking, it's the agent saying "I have this actor. Do you want to see?"
DM: Outside of here that happens a lot.
PV: And here today, too.
DM: From what I know, at the time, I had never heard of a such a thing in this genre. At the time it wasn't done, except outside of Portugal. So what happens often is an agent will say, "I have this actor or this set of actors. Are you willing to see them?" Of course it can depend on the production, on the director. They may well say, "Look, don't take this the wrong way but we already are making a deal with someone for that," or "we don't want to see them" etc. But the question is always based on respect.
PV: And from there, this movie ...
DM: Well, I made this film ... the film was bilingual ... was a modern-day adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, my character spoke mostly in English, one of the producers was American, and took the film to the United States, where it was seen within the independent film circuit. An agent saw it and got in contact with me. He told me he'd seen the film and he thought I had what it takes to get work in the United States and he'd like to start working with me. I asked "But how can that be done?" And then he suggested we start doing video auditions. That is, I would not have to move to the United States.
PV: What today is known as the "self tape."
DM: Self-tape, yes. I call it video casting because of our Portuguese language. For people to understand better. But it goes like this, we recorded ourselves in a particular scene in a particular role, and send in. Thus, I started to get into movies. Did "Red Butterfly," then I got a part in a movie with Al Pacino that had funding problems and today is on stand-by, but oddly enough still may happen . Of course now I'd find it a little difficult to do that with me, as I did another similar project "The Bible", where I was Jesus. It would be strange to suddenly be the father of Jesus.
PV: But, for example, when you go to one of these auditions, what do you say when they ask you to introduce yourself? You say that you are just an actor. You don't say you're a Portuguese actor ...
DM: My self-tapes don’t have me introducing myself.
PV: Ok.
PV: Okay.
DM: They don’t have that. They have only my height, my name. They ask. Often they ask, but I do not like. I do not like because even in Portugal, regardless of the perception that everyone has of me, any social impression I may have, the truth is that I could only do what I do, to acheive what I've acheived, as a result of work, always. Some like. Some people do not like. The choices I have made, to do theater, to do "Malucos do Riso" were not always seen as the best by many people.
PV: But the important thing is you feel good.
DM: Yes, but what I feel is that things have always happened as a result of work. It never was a result of people liking me or not liking me.
PV: That doesn't matter.
DM: No, it makes no difference.
PV: You think?
DM: We know very well that a small country like Portugal right in the center of the market, of course if people accept you socially, it is always easier to be able to work. We're not talking about the big time...
PV: You have future projects now?
DM: In my future? Yes. Yes, next there will be a film in Brazil, a cowboy movie, a co-production filmed in Brazil.
PV: How wonderful ... Great. Diogo, I have a big problem.
DM: Why?
PV: Because the conversation is so good, and is flowing so well...
DM: It was...
(laughs)
PV: I don’t know how many more questions I have for you, but I have to find a way for you to you come back here, because you don't even know how many auditions I have to show you.
DM: Let's do it.
PV: However, I have a challenge for you. For you to do an improv like that (snaps fingers) .... Do you have a minute? You'll pick one of these pieces of paper...
DM: Any one?
PV: Any one. And that will be the mood that you will use to improvise for this (she shows him another container with pieces of paper.)
DM: Oh. So this is the mood...
PV: Read it. Read it aloud.
DM: It's "anger." Better thing might have been for me not to read aloud.
PV: I'll take that into account for the next guest. See, I am also always learning, you see?
DM: Yes, the anticipation does not create the element of surprise.
PV: Right.
DM: And now?
PV: Now I want you to improvise around this sentence you are reading. What does it say?
DM: I won't say now. Now start doing what I suggested.
PV: Very well. I think that's very good.
DM: Wait.
(He pauses to concentrate.)
DM: Okay.
And Diogo begins to improv:
DM: I swear it wasn't me. Listen... (looks back) Stop! Stop! Calm down. I need two minutes. 2 minutes.
(turning back around) Listen. It was not me who did this shit, okay? It wasn't me. Because I was ... was ...okay, I was at the place, the person was there. I hit him but it was to defend myself. (looks back again) Stop dude. Stop. Two seconds. (Turning around, calmer) you have to understand that it was not my fault. Look at me. Look at me. It was not my fault. Okay? I love you. I love you. No, seriously. Look at me.Look at me. I love you. You have to believe me. (Turning back, shouting) STOP! Everything that they will say to you is not true, okay? So please believe what I say and look for someone to help me. Find someone to help me. (Rises) We'll talk later, okay? Stop... stop... stop.
(laughs)
PV: So sweet ...
DM: So is this ... I do not know ....
(The lights go out, the show is over, but we can hear Diogo tell her that the sentence on the piece of paper that he improved was "you get the news that you will be unjustly arrested.")
------
Wow. Diogo in that improv scene at the end, just wow. AMAZING, right? And another great, honest, revealing interview as well. Obrigada Dina for making it possible for all of us to enjoy this!
--Sara
(Opening credits then video of Diogo doing an audition with Patrícia Vasconcelos (PV) from the year 1999 plays. After the video ends, Diogo laughs and the interview begins.)
PV: What does that feel like (seeing the video)?
DM: Very strange ... very strange ... I imagine that all your guests would have this type of reaction, because it's been so long, and at the same time is so genuine and authentic.... It's clear that over the years we learn techniques for this. But not there (the audition on the video.) There is a very crude thing, it's very authentic. On the one hand it embarrasses me, but on the other, it makes me proud because it is genuine, it's genuine, it's very authentic.
PV: In 1999 what age were you?
DM: I do not know ... I have no idea ... no idea. Incidentally, there was a period in my life when I was lying about my age.
PV: Really?
DM: Yes, yes.
PV: But why?
DM: Because, for example, I mean ... when I say I lied, it was only by 2 or 3 years. For example, at the time when I was 16 or 17 and the character was 18, 19, I said 18, I'm 18 years old. So I had a period of my life, where I said I was one age and was actually another, just a bit different.
PV: I didn't know you at that stage. Already thought you were 18 years old and found out that you were 18 years old. Do you remember how we met?
DM: If it wasn't for "Amo-te Teresa," it was surely for "Amo-te Teresa" that you mark meeting me. Not only by the project, but even before it, the way you approached me... I think you already had done casting for me for other small things, perhaps for some commercial, or something, or another movie that I didn’t get...
PV: No, I had you as like my student in Visual X ...
DM: Was that it?
PV: Well ...
DM: So ... it was there.
PV: You were my student in a acting class that I had at the time. By the way, I think you were not the only one I had. There was you, Soraya (Chaves), Maria João Bastos, Ricardo Pereira ...
(laughs)
DM: So that's it ... Yeah, maybe ... It's so many years ago that it is normal to get things confused. But for me, it was "Amo-te Teresa, where I knew you, because of the way you handled that project for me. Because I remember perfectly that you called me for the audition and then, that night, I remember perfectly, you called me and said: "Look, I want you to prepare yourself for this audition, because I think It has everything to do with you. I'm not doing this with a lot of people, I will send you the script because I want you to read the script. I think it will help you in the audition and so on. "And I was like (makes a gesture of fear) "Okay." I read the script, and after that we talked and you told me " Do you understand now? Do you understand now? "And I was like (rubs his eyes) "Well, I understand ... I understand perfectly. " I hung up the call and thought "The son of a bitch who gets this will have a damn bit of luck." Because the script was so good, it was so special ...
PV: It was made for you ...
DM: It touched me, had a lot to do with me. And the fact that you saw this, the ability you had to see it, touched me forever. Touched me perhaps more strongly than as a teacher who was in a classroom ... you know what I mean?
PV: Yes, yes.
DM: Because it was personal. There was a personal touch and it affects me much more over the years than people who eventually become the people whom over the years I see under social circumstances.
PV: But you know that my profession also has a lot to do with it. You, when you are reading a script and it is perfect for that actor, you fight for it, you see? I even remember meeting with the TV network that would be making the film (SIC), and saying "Bet on this kid, because this kid is absolutely extraordinary, and is made for this role." It's something I do a lot when I think there is a certain actor... but okay, we will not sidetrack the conversation.
DM: But still to answer the question of where we met, for me, in my mind, it's marked by that moment.
PV: For me too. I remember you perfectly as a student, but I remember especially ...
DM: I do not remember myself as a student.
(laughs)
PV: I did not bring pictures of you as a student...
DM: Good ... thank God ...
PV: It wasn't meant to be like a great shock. To reveal to you all of a sudden so many things. But anyway, with "Amo-te Teresa" it seems that your career took a great turn.
DM: Yes, of course, to be honest, that's where it all started.
PV: Up until then you had done small things.
DM: Yes, I had done little things, had started in the theater ... at the time I remember I had just done a João Lourenço play, in the former Teatro Aberto, called "The Winter Light," with João Perry and Margarida Marinho. At the time was perhaps the strongest thing I did, and was a big shock. João Lourenço, is João Lourenço, and I was 16, 17 year old kid who did not even know yet what I wanted to do, which path I should follow. More than that, I think much of the beginning of my journey was a big fight whether I was worth something as an actor, if it was worth investing in this medium. When I say "medium," I mean the profession. Not in the social context. That is another matter, which is still a struggle. But for the craft itself, I, for a long time, 6, 7, 8 years, I doubted. Maybe that's why I wanted to test my limits. I had an almost urgency in me to expand. I wanted to do things at the beginning that didn't have much to do with me. So I have been like that for a long time. Even today there's an urge to do things that sometimes people are like, "but why is he doing this? Why? Why in the the hell?"
PV: "Why did he accept that role and not another?"
DM: Yes, exactly. And sometimes they can draw conclusions that are not true. Like "it's because he is in need" ... I think there is nothing more subjective, more fabulous than that, and if I didn’t do what I do, I would be a spectator, a lover of all of this. Lover of stories, movie lover, theater. I think that I'm essentially more than an actor. I am a lover of stories, a storyteller. I vibe with things that are not mine, but as if I was there. And this fascination, this love, this reasonating, would never disappear, whether I do what I do today or not.
PV: Maybe it would just be for you to do at home ...
DM: Well, maybe it would be for just at home, but there are so many times that at home turns into movie goers, other times it becomes clearer, scholars even, at its core. There's always the one individual who knows all about the movies, knows the names of the directors, knows the story behind that film. Maybe I was going to be that kind of person. As fate had it, I could express it in a more practical, more present, more real way.
PV: Look, I'll show you other images. Here, in this case, I think you'll recognize immediately what audition this is.
DM: Let's see ...
(Video of him with his co-star from "Amo-te Teresa," Ana Padrão plays.)
DM: It's so beautiful ... It’s special ... very special. In fact, for me it was a story and an absolutely special project. Maybe, even today, I still can’t see why. It has a lot of sensitivity there. Cristina Boavida was the writer of the script and there are so many subtleties and so many little things that help so much ... A kid who is 15 would say "because you like your bones?" (About the dialogue playing in the video.) Because? Why does a 15 year old kid ask that? Different kids ask different things. And we are telling the story of that kid, who's different. Often, as an actor, when they give me a role, I wonder "why we are we telling the story of this guy? Surely because he isn’t a common guy. Even if he is a common guy, there is a very specific feature that deserves to be told in this story. It deserves to be shown on film or on a television series.
PV: The co-star helps, right?
DM: Ana (Padrão) had just become a mother very recently. I remember that she was still in that craziness in which I am now, because I became a father again a week ago, and now I get it perfectly, but still, she had a fantastic generosity and I realized the kind of actor who was there, what she planning to do, and learned to play off of it.
PV: The planning of the actor? It's very good.
DM: Of course. There was nothing. There was a plan, an idea as an actor.
PV: Somehow the fact that Ana Padrão already had the career she had and it was the first time you were starring opposite her, did it scare you? Inhibit you?
DM: Well, quite honestly, no. Didn't scare me, never scared me.
PV: Because of her generosity ...
DM: Not necessarily so. Perhaps the biggest shock I had was the first time I suddenly found myself doing a soap opera here on RTP, “Terra Mãe,” that, in fact, I went from being a kid at home watching Nicolau Breyner, Armando Cortez, Lidia Franco, to seeing great figures, and suddenly, within 15 days, I'm with them, in a scene, doing what they do. This shock was so great, to 15 be years old when that happened to me, that moved me so much, that I thought, "is this for real?" From ardent fan to colleague. It's a great balancing act when you are 15. And you don't know anything about anything. Mind you, I never wanted to be an actor, or didn't dare to say it. I had absolutely no training, it was all instinct. It was all "this is what I do." I had no idea what a script was. Even these lights, when I started, they made me confused. You know? "Why are you pointing the light in my face?" "Because otherwise no one can see you, dude."
(laughs)
DM: Do you understand? And this shock was so great that I think then, from there, throughout my life, all the people I got to know, were all very deliberate, so it was never a shock as great as that initial shock when I was 15 years old. In that sense, I was much more concerned about if Ana (Padrão) would want to work with me, if we were going to be okay, than the fact that it was Ana Padrão, because that Ana was, and is, a great person. At that point then even, she had a very strong film career. She did wonderful things and is a great actress, apart from an absolutely fantastic person. Even today when we cross...
PV: You still talk about it?
DM: More than that. I'll confess something to you. She would let me, so what the hell. We give each other a peck on the lips.
PV: Awwww.
DM: Of love and affection. Tenderness. She says "you are the only one I do this with" because, in fact, we're bonded by this. It was also a very specific time of her life, she had just become a mother, etc., and the fact of making this film, how it has developed and also was my first, bonded us forever and is very special.
PV: Fantastic. Next followed another casting that I did that was "O Crime do Padre Amaro."
DM: It was???
PV: Do you remember?
DM: Yes, a few years later. I remember.
PV: I also did not bring you pictures of that.
DM: But hey, it would be fun to see. Would be cool. That was a funny proposal. I like roles whose responsibility, the structure of the story isn't told through me, because it gives us a freedom ...
PV: You mean, you like to jump ...
DM: Yes, I like to jump, because I think carrying the story and the structure of the film on your back, even if it is a series, it is a huge responsibility because, deep down, it's like the conductor who records the time of everything, and it ends up limiting the choices of what we can do.
PV: And you have a process of building a character? What are your methods?
DM: We all have our methods.
PV: How do you memorize the lines, for example?
DM: Memorizing the lines ends up always happening ultimately. For me, only study the lines if you don’t know what it means. So, for me, I have to understand, have to make sense of it within context. At the beginning of the character, I get the various fragments of role, the scenes, the key scenes, and create a picture of "Okay, what we are telling here? Where in fact are we supposed to go from here? Squeeze in and out of here?" Each has his process, but often, actors embroil in the subjective and personal perspective they have, and then leave the picture to the director or another. Sometimes this can be fantastic, sometimes it can be shocking. Because a person can cling so much to the idea that he has for that character, that he can't be flexible. It becomes more difficult to work across the board. Because there's no context. So, I prefer always to work from within the context.
PV: It is an idea. It is still an idea that you take to the director.
DM: Absolutely. What allows me to go from the context, it is to have more chances of discussion. That is, to show a director "mind you, we want the same thing. We want the story, don’t want just my take. "
PV: You're there to serve a character.
DM: Exactly. In the end, the argument turns out to be the same. My character serves a whole and that is my main concern. What I think or what I may discover, is always open to discussion and it is always subjective. But there, the conductor of the operation is the director. I can do whatever I want, he will put it in the movie only if he wants. It is not productive in any way to have friction.
PV: You know I always say that I think you (actors) are oddly generous, because you read the script but ultimately, with a known director, you won't know how it turns out until the end, right?
DM: Yes, yes.
PV: Now when is it not the case that you have to surrender wholeheartedly, because you will be completely naked, in terms of the delivery...
DM: And sometimes literally naked ...
PV: Well, exactly. But you have to give completely, trust the cinematographer, the director, etc, so you give completely, and then you have to hope that, in the end, the edit will be something that you are pleased with.
DM: Yes.
PV: But you never know, right?
DM: No, we never know.
PV: Has it happened to you that you do a job in which at the end, you say "oh Jesus..."
DM: More than that. I've had it happen where I've not even started work and I'm saying "oh Jesus this will not work."
PV: How do you do that?
DM: I can tell you that I am fully aware that there were things in my career I accepted, knowing that I was a casting mistake.
PV: But how do you do that?
DM: How do I do which? How do I perceive that or how do I manage it?
PV: But why did you go to that audition?
DM: I went to the audition because most of the time you go to an audition for a role and you wind up in another. You know that better than anyone. It is a showcase that is available in the industry, with regard to actors, and though you go in for a role, it does not mean you to have to get that role. You can get another, which fits you better. So going to the audition is part of my job. I have to show what I can do with a particular type of role. Then another thing is when you are called to play a character that you say to yourself, "this isn't right."
PV: This is a mistake.
DM: This is a mistake. And after waiting awhile to be pleasantly surprised, then you will become completely ungrounded. That is, if you yourself do not believe that it is the best character for you, you are going to become completely ungrounded. I can say that, for example, the first time it happened to me, has been so long that I can say, it was in the movie "A Noiva," by Luís Galvão Teles, with Catarina Furtado, in which I was a war General/Colonel, something like that, and Marco Delgado was the groom who went to war and I would eventually take advantage of this fact. There, I went in fully aware that the role was not for me. That it should be someone more mature, older, with some type of emotional baggage, which at the time I did not have. And I knew it. I was aware of it. Of course it was a Luis Galvao Teles' film, it was a film with Marco Delgado and Catarina, and you want to do it. You want to do it and have to do it. And then, there it is. I put myself in the hands of Luis and fully trusted him, but I knew from the outset, it would be very difficult to be a successful thing, from my perspective.
PV: Should we see another (video)?
DM: Let's do it.
PV: We will see another audition, one year later... in 2000.
DM: Okay.
(In the video, Diogo is speaking in muddled English and Spanish.)
PV: I love...
DM: My God, poor guy. He is trying so hard. Poor thing.
PV: You know the other day we had here Marco (Delgado) who said "well... I was such a "ham," if I were the director, I would not have chosen this actor."
(laughs)
DM: That's what happens ... Here, what I see is a guy struggling, poor thing. The script was most likely given to me right then. I was reading it and I was doing "Portunhol" (Portuguese and Spanish/Espanol.) "My God, help me."
PV: E o inglês…
(Both play around with the English accent that Diogo had at the time of the auditon back in 2000.)
DM: I'm gonna be honest. The absurdity of "I can't do it and that's why I'm going to do it," even today, I do that. I love to feel uncomfortable at work, because it means that not only will it be a challenge, but then, it will be like “after this I will know a little bit more than I did before, right? When we are always doing comfortable things ...
PV: Sure, to take you out of your comfort zone...
DM: Yes. So therefore it's horrible...
PV: No, It’s not horrible ...
DM: It's horrible in the sense that it seems like my heart's about to leap out of my mouth. You’re exposed there. You yourself know better than anyone, but often the people who are watching us do not know, but there can be 10 people there, right near you, looking at you and making you super uncomfortable. It's very intimidating.
PV: And how was it with the United States? How'd you make the transition, the trip was by plane, train? How was it?
(laughs)
DM: No. Transition was ... what I was telling you earlier, it goes back to that. The difference between what we are seeing now (the videos) and today, is huge. Of course I started working in a more normal way... making my path, making my journey, and then left to do auditions.
PV: Doesn't mean you left to...
DM: No, no, I didn't leave to do the auditions I was doing.
PV: They sent you requests...
DM: Exactly. For specific projects, mainly for things outside of Portugal, then I did the auditions. So for me, in the United States, it was the return to that. It was the return to that thing of "I'm not able. This is very hard." And this revived me creatively a lot.
PV: But how did that move come about? How did it happen the first time? An agent...
DM: I made a film, a co-production called "Star Crossed" filmed in Porto...
PV: Yes, I know. I also did auditions for that movie.
DM: Okay, I didn't go through you in this instance.
PV: That's right. In fact, I'll tell a very interesting story. That was something I also wanted to ask you so I will ask here. Did you know that casting was being done?
DM: My agent knew that casting was being done, and she made a presentation. "I have this actor, with these characteristics..."
PV: That's very interesting, for example, it's suddenly a different process. Instead of it being me asking, it's the agent saying "I have this actor. Do you want to see?"
DM: Outside of here that happens a lot.
PV: And here today, too.
DM: From what I know, at the time, I had never heard of a such a thing in this genre. At the time it wasn't done, except outside of Portugal. So what happens often is an agent will say, "I have this actor or this set of actors. Are you willing to see them?" Of course it can depend on the production, on the director. They may well say, "Look, don't take this the wrong way but we already are making a deal with someone for that," or "we don't want to see them" etc. But the question is always based on respect.
PV: And from there, this movie ...
DM: Well, I made this film ... the film was bilingual ... was a modern-day adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, my character spoke mostly in English, one of the producers was American, and took the film to the United States, where it was seen within the independent film circuit. An agent saw it and got in contact with me. He told me he'd seen the film and he thought I had what it takes to get work in the United States and he'd like to start working with me. I asked "But how can that be done?" And then he suggested we start doing video auditions. That is, I would not have to move to the United States.
PV: What today is known as the "self tape."
DM: Self-tape, yes. I call it video casting because of our Portuguese language. For people to understand better. But it goes like this, we recorded ourselves in a particular scene in a particular role, and send in. Thus, I started to get into movies. Did "Red Butterfly," then I got a part in a movie with Al Pacino that had funding problems and today is on stand-by, but oddly enough still may happen . Of course now I'd find it a little difficult to do that with me, as I did another similar project "The Bible", where I was Jesus. It would be strange to suddenly be the father of Jesus.
PV: But, for example, when you go to one of these auditions, what do you say when they ask you to introduce yourself? You say that you are just an actor. You don't say you're a Portuguese actor ...
DM: My self-tapes don’t have me introducing myself.
PV: Ok.
PV: Okay.
DM: They don’t have that. They have only my height, my name. They ask. Often they ask, but I do not like. I do not like because even in Portugal, regardless of the perception that everyone has of me, any social impression I may have, the truth is that I could only do what I do, to acheive what I've acheived, as a result of work, always. Some like. Some people do not like. The choices I have made, to do theater, to do "Malucos do Riso" were not always seen as the best by many people.
PV: But the important thing is you feel good.
DM: Yes, but what I feel is that things have always happened as a result of work. It never was a result of people liking me or not liking me.
PV: That doesn't matter.
DM: No, it makes no difference.
PV: You think?
DM: We know very well that a small country like Portugal right in the center of the market, of course if people accept you socially, it is always easier to be able to work. We're not talking about the big time...
PV: You have future projects now?
DM: In my future? Yes. Yes, next there will be a film in Brazil, a cowboy movie, a co-production filmed in Brazil.
PV: How wonderful ... Great. Diogo, I have a big problem.
DM: Why?
PV: Because the conversation is so good, and is flowing so well...
DM: It was...
(laughs)
PV: I don’t know how many more questions I have for you, but I have to find a way for you to you come back here, because you don't even know how many auditions I have to show you.
DM: Let's do it.
PV: However, I have a challenge for you. For you to do an improv like that (snaps fingers) .... Do you have a minute? You'll pick one of these pieces of paper...
DM: Any one?
PV: Any one. And that will be the mood that you will use to improvise for this (she shows him another container with pieces of paper.)
DM: Oh. So this is the mood...
PV: Read it. Read it aloud.
DM: It's "anger." Better thing might have been for me not to read aloud.
PV: I'll take that into account for the next guest. See, I am also always learning, you see?
DM: Yes, the anticipation does not create the element of surprise.
PV: Right.
DM: And now?
PV: Now I want you to improvise around this sentence you are reading. What does it say?
DM: I won't say now. Now start doing what I suggested.
PV: Very well. I think that's very good.
DM: Wait.
(He pauses to concentrate.)
DM: Okay.
And Diogo begins to improv:
DM: I swear it wasn't me. Listen... (looks back) Stop! Stop! Calm down. I need two minutes. 2 minutes.
(turning back around) Listen. It was not me who did this shit, okay? It wasn't me. Because I was ... was ...okay, I was at the place, the person was there. I hit him but it was to defend myself. (looks back again) Stop dude. Stop. Two seconds. (Turning around, calmer) you have to understand that it was not my fault. Look at me. Look at me. It was not my fault. Okay? I love you. I love you. No, seriously. Look at me.Look at me. I love you. You have to believe me. (Turning back, shouting) STOP! Everything that they will say to you is not true, okay? So please believe what I say and look for someone to help me. Find someone to help me. (Rises) We'll talk later, okay? Stop... stop... stop.
(laughs)
PV: So sweet ...
DM: So is this ... I do not know ....
(The lights go out, the show is over, but we can hear Diogo tell her that the sentence on the piece of paper that he improved was "you get the news that you will be unjustly arrested.")
------
Wow. Diogo in that improv scene at the end, just wow. AMAZING, right? And another great, honest, revealing interview as well. Obrigada Dina for making it possible for all of us to enjoy this!
--Sara
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