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Paz Vega

A star is born

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- We meet a bright new talent on the Spanish panorama who, having played Carmen for Vicente Aranda, is in Rome to present Lucia y el sexo and longs for Hollywood

Lady luck was smiling when Paz Vega was born. The star of Julio Medem’s Lucia y el sexo [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
seems to be climbing the slippery pole of the international film industry without the slightest difficulty. Clearly the eight years she spent as a professional swimmer, a degree in journalism, four Tv series and eight films in just six years helped.
Not bad for a 27-year-old from Seville who is about to replace Penelope Cruz as Spain’s most popular foreign export. She shares Cruz’s Hollywood ambitions. “Next year I will go and study acting in the States,” she reveals during her visit to Rome to present the new film which will be released onto 40 Italian screens on 18 April. “I would really like to make it in Hollywood, but my home will always be Madrid. I wouldn’t say not to working in Europe, though.”
Lucia y el sexo took a reported domestic box office take of Euros6m and was well received in the US. The film tells a number of stories of love and sex that take place in Madrid and Formentera and can be interpreted in a number of ways. The final is an open book.”

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What is your interpretation of this film?
“That’s very easy. A writer confuses reality with fantasy and the real characters with those he invented for his novels. Lucia experiences her companion’s anxiety and decides to escape to a new life for herself. She ends up on the island that hides her companion’s mysterious past. In The Lovers of the Arctic Circle, Medem killed his protagonist off at the end. In the new film, from a certain point of view, he brings her back to life.”

Describe what it was like to play such a special character?
“This was my first starring role and I often felt disorientated. But I put my trust in Medem and his extraordinary skill in directing his actors. He guided me.”

Are there any similarities between you and Lucia?
“This role gave me an awful lot. But there certainly is more Paz in Lucia than Lucia in Paz. All the characters that an actor plays contain some of his soul. “

Tell us about your career?
“Last December I finished making Carmen directed by Vicente Aranda and co-starring Argentinian actor Leonardo Sbaraglia. The film is based on Merimée’s novel and not on the opera and is extremely Spanish. The colours of the film are mainly red and black. I also made a film called Tamtam, a romantic comedy. I am scheduled to go to Latin America soon to make two dramas, one in Ecuador, the other in Colombia.”

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