Why put yourself in that position? Why speak to real kidnappers? Weren’t you afraid of becoming a victim again?
“You know sometimes you just gotta, you’ve just gotta take the risk. What we’re doing is so important for my society. What we’re doing can change the lives of so many people. And if we are able to start the social movement that we’re trying to promote in this film and that we’re very, very close to starting because we’re getting a release in Venezuela that’s similar to the ones “Spider-Man” or “Star Wars” got… When you can do something as big as that and you risk your life, you do whatever you’ve gotta do because this is bigger than my life. This is the life of my society. This is the life of millions and millions of people.
I just did it respectfully and I just made clear to everyone I was meeting that I was here to voice the real problem behind it, and that I was gonna treat each and every one of the elements of this story with the same amount of respect. These guys are human beings – they admire honesty and they want to be represented, and they respected it. And I’m here and I survived and now it’s all for the good. And now it was all worth it.”
Has there been a reaction from the Venezuelan government?
“Not yet. There has been a silence, of course, in the sense that they haven’t done anything against us and they haven’t complained at all. We interpret that as support. We’re hoping to screen the movie at some point for the government and we’ll see how that goes. But I think it’s gonna go well because there’s really not much you can say against this film.”
But the film shows the military/police are either powerless or corrupt so that may not sit well with the government.
"Well the one thing I have to say about this government is that they have admitted that there is a problem of corruption in the army and in the police. That is such a huge reality that nobody denies it. Pretty much anywhere in Latin America I think it’s so known and such a huge problem that nobody denies it and that doesn’t worry me at all.”
The acting in “Secuestro Express” is phenomenal. This is probably Mia Maestro’s best performance.
“I never anticipated getting her because we didn’t have money to pay anyone and I definitely didn’t have money to pay anything comparable to what she usually gets. When she read the script she said, ‘I’ll do this for free. I’ll do whatever you guys need me to do to get this part.’
The only thing I wanted her to do was to become Venezuelan because she’s Argentinean. And she worked many months, not only in getting the accent right, but also in getting the gestures right. It’s a very different thing to be Venezuelan than it is to be Argentinean. And she did it.
I think even she was surprised with the result - as everyone in the audience will always be. This is not only Mia’s best performance, this might be one of the best performances of any actress of her generation that we’ve seen in the last couple of years. I think that it’s such a privilege for any of us to be part of a film that showcases a new genius of acting, and that for years to come is just gonna continuously surprise us over and over again. And, you know, I can only be pleased. I will tell you that Mia looks scared in the movie because she was scared.”
She was scared?
“Seriously. She was calling me at four in the morning crying, saying she was having nightmares. She was unable to turn the lights off when she was going to sleep. And it was because of the level of reality that each and every one of the actors got into each and every one of the scenes. It was because of the incredibly delicate political situation in Venezuela. It was because we were shooting in incredibly dangerous streets at four in the morning. That level of acting is something that doesn’t come across that easily. It’s under extreme circumstances and that’s how we managed to get it.”
I realize you wanted to make this feel authentic, but shooting there was really risky.
“It’s the way big things are done. And by taking big risks… Every one of us was convinced that it was necessary to take it. We had sometimes a bigger security crew than the production crew was. And we took all the measures to make sure nothing bad happened and the reality is when we explained to the people in each and every neighborhood what we were doing and the message we were sending, everybody would help.”
Did you expect that level of cooperation?
“Not really. I mean, you have dreamed that it happens, but when you actually see it happen and when you actually see an entire ghetto helping because they believe in what you’re saying then, you know, it gives you a little bit of a humbleness. At the same time, it gives you a lot of strength and helps you feel that you’re doing the right thing. That the risk you’re taking is actually not a risk but a privilege because you’re voicing the needs of millions and millions of people. And that doesn’t happen to every human being.”
