(video courtesy of TVRECORDEUROPA/YouTube)
Diogo: Hello everyone, I'm Diogo Morgado and I will be the next guest on the program, GIRO, here, at TV Record. Let's talk, among other things, about "The Bible," which has been a great success worldwide. So do not miss it. Here, at TV Record. A kiss.
(video courtesy of GIRO TVRecord/YouTube)
HOST: Diogo, your career has gone beyond borders. But for those who have not had the opportunity to follow it, explain to me how it all started in this artistic medium.
Diogo/DM: Well, it all started ... is yet to begin. I do not like to use the word "career" for this very reason. This has been a snowball that has happened, and has been developing very naturally. But basically, it began at age 15 with an audition for a soap opera in 1997. After that role, I started doing theater, where I stayed for 2 years. Then, later, I returned to television, and things went well, happening in a very natural way. At the time there was a tele-film for one Portuguese channel (SIC), called “Amo-te Teresa,” which was very good at the time, because it served to grow, move and increasingly encourage the cinema in Portugal. Moreover, it was a very good initiative accepted by the Portuguese, which began precisely with this tele-film. It was a controversial story of love, which meant that from then on, people began to know me by my name, Diogo, and I felt a big difference with regard to people knowing who I was.
HOST: And now let's talk about the American miniseries. How did it all come about? How do you get that role?
DM: It was a very natural way. Basically they were looking for someone, they had already done several auditions. The place where we shot was in Morocco. And one of the local producers there already knew me from another job, and suggested my name. The producers saw my resume, asked me to do an audition, I did an audition, and it led to a meeting that was supposed to be 20-30 minutes, and it was a conversation almost 2 and a half hours about the project they were going to do. Part of the meeting was a conversation about what I thought about a project like this. And I said, I was sincere, but never from the perspective of just to please with my answers. To be honest because I thought "never in my life this will happen, so..."
HOST: Did you feel you had double or quadrupule the responsibility for this role?
DM: Yes, after I knew I had gotten the role, things took on different proportions. On the one hand I was very happy, on the other hand I was very scared because the only way to do a project like this, in an effective and worthwhile way, is to bring something different, bring something new. I started by reading everything I could, and something else, I went to Jerusalem, drinking from the source as much as possible.
HOST: You seriously strived for this role.
DM: It was the least I could do. Never forgive myself, if I did a project like this, disregarding the history and people, and the audience it is intended for. Therefore, at a minimum, this work (preparation) would have to happen. And then comes the interpretation that I did with it, the facts and how it is that we were going to reach the people.
HOST: What impact has this miniseries "The Bible" had on your life?
DM: In my life, it essentially has had an impact. The most profound impact is the personal one, is it not?
HOST: You were a believer?
DM: I've always been a very private person. Same in this respect, I'm a very closed person. I have my faith, but it's a very personal faith. And what this series made me realize and believe and change in me, naturally, was to realize that one person can make a difference in things that matter. There's the butterfly effect. There's the effect around what that person coneys, which can move in fact, a group of people. And this group can change another, and another, and another. And big changes start sometimes with a person. And I started to believe it. I started to believe more that my happiness depends entirely on doing for others. Does not depend on me. There is nothing I can do, for me, that will bring me happiness. I just can find it (happiness) when I look for in others. Sometimes I wake upset, bored, sad, thinking I have a problem, or whatever. And on those days I force myself to smile for other people. Do not feel like it, but I choose to do it. And I feel that the answer that comes across there, it relieves me. It is not only positive, like bringing happiness, but it also alleviates what I find to be less than well. It's like a snowball, the more you give, the more you receive, and you realize that only this makes sense. It only makes sense if we live for others.
HOST: But professionally, you felt also an impact, great recognition, not only here (Portugal), but obviously worldwide.
DM: It's a series that is running all over the world, isn't it? We've been in several countries. Now, for example, we will premiere in England. Been in Brazil, Australia ... In Australia, it was big. In Brazil there was also a very strong response.
HOST: Yes, the miniseries is airing on TV Record.
DM: Exactly. And so in that aspect, professionally, there are currently many more people who know at least one part of my work, or at least know me as an actor, who did not know me before.
HOST: I know everyone else has said this: "Hot Jesus." It was Oprah who said that to you. And I want you to tell me how it was to meet this person we all idolize.
DM: It was fantastic. I knew her as a fan. And it is no coincidence she is one of the most influential people in the world. In fact, she achieves one thing that, I think, is extraordinary... that she is not only extraordinarily good at what she does, the way she interviews people, it is with precision. She knows how to create a television moment when she wants it, the way she wants it, but, at the same time, she has so much authenticity. She is very, very authentic.
AT THE END: Hello everyone, Diogo Morgado here. I just wanted to wish you a great 2014 full of good things, and anything less that happens be just a shadow, and that all your dreams come true. A big kiss.
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Hear, hear Diogo! And I too want to say, Merry Christmas/Feliz Natal, everyone! May the true spirit and joy of Christmas stay with you always!
--Sara
