A FANTASTIC WOMAN — Daniela Vega and Sebastián Lelio Interview

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When I spoke with Chile’s Sebastián Lelio and Daniela Vega for the Oscar-nominated A FANTASTIC WOMAN on January 9^th, 2018, I started with the obvious question, why a film with a transgender protagonist, and why Daniela, who started the project as a consultant before becoming its star.

We went on to talk about the year of conversations between Lelio and Vega that preceded the script being written; the tension between law and desire; the impact of labels; why Vega insisted on changing the music that her character sings; how Lelio made the other music choices; and the planning and execution of one of the film’s most powerful and poetic moments.

We finished up with a discussion of how the film has been received around the world; and with the other two films that Lelio has coming out thWhen I spoke with Sebastián Lelio and Daniela Vega for A FANTASTIC WOMAN on January 9^th, 2018, I started with the obvious question, why a film with a transgender protagonist, and why Daniela, who started the project as a consultant before becoming its star.

We went on to talk about the year of conversations between Lelio and Vega that preceded the script being written; the tension between law and desire; the impact of labels; why Vega insisted on changing the music that her character sings; how Lelio made the other music choices; and the planning and execution of one of the film’s most powerful and poetic moments.

We finished up with a discussion of how the film has been received around the world; and with the other two films that Lelio has coming out this year, an English-language remake of his film, GLORIA, starring Julianne Moore, and the much bruited DISOBEDIENCE, co-starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams,  about forbidden love set in the world of New York’s Hassidic community.is year, an English-language remake of his film, GLORIA, starring Julianne Moore, and the much bruited DISOBEDIENCE, co-starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams,  about forbidden love set in the world of New York’s Hassidic community.

 A FANTASTIC WOMAN is a love story tinged with magical realism and mystery as Marina, played by Vega, a transgender singer, struggles with the family of her dead lover, a family still resentful that he left them for her. By turns poetic and explosive, it is a film that asks us to question labels of all kinds, while enchanting us with the richness of its cinematic language, and the power of his charismatic star. The film co-stars Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco, Aline Küppenheim, Nicolás Saavedra, and Amparo Noguera. Lelio directed from a script he co-wrote with Gonzalo Maza, and his previous work includes GLORIA, which he remade in English with Julianne Moore.