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Las Tres Sisters - Valeria Maldonado - Part Two |
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The film Las Tres Sisters while primarily about the relationship
between the three primary Latina female characters, as seen through the
eyes of Mexican Americans, also has two amazing male actors, Cristo
Fernández as Kin and Adam Mayfield, the real-life husband Virginia
Novello (Sofia) as Harold, who plays Maria’s husband. Again, without
providing spoilers, we might describe Kin as being a combination of
mystery man and quiet hero, which works well as his character plays an
important role in both the story and highlighting an important part of
the Latina culture. Adam Mayfield’s character Harold is just loveable.
That is the only way to describe Harold. Although he appears
intermittently throughout the story, he is just the kind of guy that you
want to wrap your arms around and give him a great big hug.
So often male characters are portrayed in one light, as being stoic and
that is a stereotype drawn from generations of the expectations often
placed upon men in real-life with phrases such as “Come on be a man,”
and “Man up.” A certain
portion of society wanted to deny men the opportunity to be vulnerable,
to not feel emotionally moved by happy times, sad times, pain or joy.
The character of Harold runs counterpoint to that stereotype.
Valeria Madonado explains, “Adam Mayfield is married to Virginia Novello
in real-life. We always knew that Adam has a wonderful career, so we
knew we wanted him to be in the movie, but originally it was going to be
another part. Then we thought, no he should be Harold, so we rewrote
Harold. Harold was different (at first) and we rewrote him to cry,
because that is how Adam is. Adam cries all of the time, which I find
beautiful and it also is funny. A lot of the times I will go over to
Virginia’s house, I will knock on the door and open the door and Adam is
crying. I will go hey Adam, I will go hi, are you good? He will go yep.
Oh yeah, I was watching a commercial. I will say okay cool. I go in and
I will hang out with Virginia.
We are so used to seeing Adam cry all of the time and we are showing our
personalities through the characters that we (decided) to show this in
him. Also, you don’t see a lot of men on screen that cry all of the
time. We thought it was funny (Harold’s crying) and we also thought it
was endearing. We also thought it was a little bit of a conversation,
because oh, he cried. It is something that society does if a man cries,
they go eww.
Then Maria (the character) goes no I think it is sexy. We just wanted a
little bit of a conversation there. With my character (Lucia) it was
eww, but as a writer and producer it was to show men in a different
light. We were trying to show men and women in a different light than we
usually do. I think it is actually stronger to cry. There is this weird
thing when people think it is weak to cry. No, crying means you are
willing to face your emotions and that requires strength. Most of us are
usually avoiding our emotions at all costs. That is more weakness than
strength. Strength is feeling your emotions and letting them out and
letting people see you. My dad and
my brother also cry a lot, so I have just grown up around men who cry.
It requires strength and I don’t think that I can fully relate if I had
a partner that doesn’t cry. I don’t think I could understand that. It
would be like, what is wrong with you? Where are your emotions? I don’t
want someone who is blocking himself.”
We were two weeks away from shooting the
movie. We were in pre-production and we were in
Guadalajara,
getting ready to shoot and I remember a couple of months before being in
LA, before we went to Guadalajara, we had watched Ted Lasso. Then
we saw him and we thought he would be amazing (in the movie). (She
starts using thumb motions as though texting on her phone) hoping to
connect on Instagram. He was at the Emmy Awards and I thought (rolls her
eyes) he is never going to pay attention to us. We are a small Indie
film and he is at the Emmys.
As it turns out, he is from Guadalajara, which I did not know at the
time. On the closing day of the film festival, there he was. He showed
up with his sister Paloma who is also his manager and we were oh my god.
I will give all of the credit to our director Mar Novo. She saw him and
she pounced. There were five women, the three of us, Denisse (Prieto)
our producer and Mar our director. (Your writer has visions of a
flash mob). Mar went to him and said I have a movie and she brought
him to our little circle and she pitched it.
He said he would like to read it. He knew about our movie already. I
think one of his friends had auditioned. I am not sure if this is one
thousand percent true to the point I am making, but I remember him
saying he helped his friend self-tape for the movie. When we came to
talk to him, we weren’t just some crazy women. He read the script and it
turned out he was available. We didn’t know he was going to be in it,
until we were already one week into shooting.
Cristo’s character doesn’t show up until they are out on the road on the
pilgrimage. He came in on week three. At the end of week, one was when
we confirmed that Cristo was onboard. His one condition was that he
become the executive producer on the (film). Cristo was more than just
an actor; he helped us so much in postproduction. He connected us with
the Ted Lasso team and they helped us finish the movie, finish
the edit, put the music in and all of the sound. They did so much. We
were on the lot at Universal with the Ted Lasso team at the sound mix
studio. Cristo is a big, big deal in this movie.
We shot in 2021 and Ted Lasso was really famous in the U.K. and
the U.S., but no one in Mexico knew about it. Cristo would wander around
and nobody would know who he was and nobody knew what Ted Lasso
was. Apple TV doesn’t have as many viewers in Mexico. We would be
walking around and all of a sudden, a British couple that were tourists
would go oh Cristo! I found Ted Lasso, because I love comedies
with heart.”
Maldonado, Cross and Novello infused what could easily have become a
dark film, with the right balance of humor to keep viewers both
entertained and off balance, not knowing what was going to come next.
One example of that occurs when Maria is walking down a road, by herself
and talking with Harold on her cell phone. She is frustrated and tells
him she has a certain number of kilometers to go on her pilgrimage and
is bemoaning the fact (this is when you need to watch the movie to get
the full effect) that she doesn’t even know what that is in miles!
Valeria Maldonado says, “We love that scene. That scene was (originally)
much longer. The three of us came up with it. We cut a lot of it. There
used to be a lot of back and forth. My character (Lucia) and Virginia’s
character (Sofia) didn’t want to walk with her. Then she would go off
walking as you saw and when we came and found her, she cussed us out. (Valeria
pretends to drop F bombs without saying them and has her hands doing the
gestures). You never really see Maria being that angry. She is the
one who tells her sisters to leave her, to go away and she full on
cusses them out. Then she goes to that moment where she is talking to
her husband (on the phone). Her sisters go oh my god, we were assholes
and then they come back. We had to cut that whole (part) in between,
because it didn’t make sense for the movie and it was taking too long,
but the idea was so you could see Maria in a different place, when she
was really losing her patience. That is the little bit that we got to
keep. I love that joke. I think it is so funny. I don’t know how that
many kilometers are in miles.” Several Mexican traditions are highlighted in the film and that is one of the points of this movie is tell it from the perspective of three Latina women (editor’s note, Virigina Novello is Italian / Mexican). Not being familiar with Mexican culture, we wanted to learn about the authenticity of the traditions depicted in the movie.
“All of it, all of it. There are a lot of pilgrimages in Mexico.
Specifically, there is one pilgrimage once per year on the 12th of
December and there are millions of people throughout the country (who
take part). It is humungous. It is a holiday. Nobody works. It is a
(big) thing.
Originally, we wanted to write about that pilgrimage, but then COVID
came and we couldn’t have all of these extras. We couldn’t shoot in
those places, so we pivoted and we made it about this pilgrimage that is
real for the La Virgen del Rosario de Talpa de Allende (Our Lady
of the Rosary of Talpa) It is real. Virginia’s siblings have done it.
That is one hundred percent real. What is not real is the exact
trajectory. We wanted it to be the trajectory that the grandmother (in
the film) did.”
What about the Temazcal, the scenes in the movie when the three sisters
and Kin, go through a ceremony that also includes being in a confined
space that is very hot? “This is very real. A lot of people don’t know that here in the States it is a Native American tradition (as well) and in Mexico an indigenous one. Here they are called sweat lodges. I believe the Dakotas do it. In Mexico different tribes do it in different ways. A lot of people think you take (she names two alcohols), but no you are one thousand percent sober when you go into this Temazcal.
We did one (Temazcal) before shooting the movie. It is just about heat.
It is about this intense heat with these stones that have been warmed
before. They put water on the stones and it is like a super sauna. It is
so dark, we could not make it that dark in the movie. It is so dark in
the Temazcal. I wouldn’t know what is here (she holds the palm of her
hand up to her nose). I would close my eyes and open them and there
was no difference. That is how pitch black it is. I couldn’t tell when
my eyes were open. The heat is so intense you have to cover yourself or
lay on the floor, because it will burn you if you are up here. It lasts
for five hours. It can be very cathartic. People do scream and people do
(vomit). Somebody vomited when we went. It is very healing (Editor’s
note: We are hoping she did not mean the vomiting – don’t worry she
didn’t!). It is always a woman and a man who are leading it. In our
representation there is a part when they are going crazy and that is not
true. You can have a very peaceful Temazcal or you can have a moment of
feeling that way and then it goes down. For movie purposes it was easier
to show just that part which is when it gets really intense,” she
explains.
Valeria, what has been the response to the film from both the Latina and
non-Latina communities?
“Our world premiere for film festivals, which was way before theatrical
and streaming was in London. That was very random and we never thought
our movie would premiere in London of all places and it was incredible
to witness. It was our first time watching it on a big screen with an
audience. Eighty to ninety percent of that audience was non-Latino with
just a couple of Mexican friends of ours who were there, but everybody
else was not and they responded so beautifully. A lot of Caucasian
British men were the ones that were bawling. We have them somewhere on
camera, being so moved by the movie. It was incredible. (Many) times
they want to put us (she motions with her hands) this is a Latino
movie and it is only for Latinos. It is made to honor Latinos, but it is
not made only for Latinos. That is different. It might be made by
Latinos, but it is not made just for Latinos.
We also took the movie to Wilmington, North Carolina to this really cool
artsy film festival called Cucalorus, which was also majority white
Caucasian and watching them respond. What is really (interesting) is to
see if you are not Latino, you still identify with the film the (theme
of) family and the story about love with the comedy. It still touches
you. For the Latino community there is an added layer of seeing
themselves represented on screen.
We were very
purposeful about this; we wanted each sister to have a different
relationship to being Latina. In the Latina community there isn’t just
one experience. There are some Latinos that feel super proud and some
Latinos that don’t want to feel Latino (Editor’s note in Spanish
Latino is the masculine version of the word, as well as referring to
more than one, while Latina is the female version of the word). They
didn’t grow up with it and they don’t identify. Some speak Spanish and
there is a spectrum. We wanted each sister to be different. We wanted
Maria to be super proud of being Latina, but she really grew up around a
Caucasian community and she doesn’t speak any Spanish. She tries, but
she is failing, which is part of the comedy. We wanted Lucia to have a
little bit of a chip on her shoulder about how she has been treated in
the States and also not wanting to speak Spanish. She is sort of
rejecting it, in order to fit in. Then we have Sofia who is the opposite
and says, I am going back to Mexico. I am going to live in Mexico and I
am going to speak Spanish. She is proud of it.
All of these different examples of your relationship to being Latino
have (caused) Latino audiences to see themselves reflected and people
saying oh my god I have never seen myself on screen. I could see myself,
but I could also see my sister and my mom. That is so special and
especially right now we want people to see themselves on screen and to
see themselves in a beautiful light. We are not showing what most movies
and television shows do which is drug lords and crossing the border.
Those things are true, but they are a small part of the culture. (She
holds up two fingers barely apart) There are all of these other
stories,” she says.
This has been a long journey for Valeria Maldonado, Virginia Novello and
Marta Méndez Cross and we wondered how they are feeling about everything
that is happening now with the movie’s popularity.
“It is amazing and I think it is something that I am still trying to
understand fully what it means. Sometimes it is hard for us to stop and
realize what is happening. It is beautiful. There are these little
moments when I get to fully understand the scope of it. I am always
grateful, but there are moments when I can take a pause from working and
enjoy this beautiful huge accomplishment and so many people who have
collaborated for this to happen,” she says.
This movie is about three women, each of whom is looking for something
different in their lives. Yes, they are sisters, but they are very
different sisters. We asked Valeria Maldonado to tell us what she thinks
Maria, Lucia and Sofia are looking for in their lives.
“They definitely don’t know that they are looking for anything. I think
Lucia is looking for direction. Her work situation just changed and she
doesn’t really know what to do with her life. I think Lucia is looking
for, what do I do with my life? She doesn’t (realize) she is looking for
healing. She is looking for healing with her family. She is angry. She
knows why, but she doesn’t know fully why. I think she is looking for a
practical thing. I can say this, because it is right at the beginning of
the movie. I got let go, so what do I do now?
Sofia in practical terms is looking for a place to sleep and for food.
She has run out of money, so she just needs that. I think she is also
looking for healing with her sisters, because she has been running away
from them for many years and their issues,” she says, carefully
considering each thought before expressing it.
As for Maria, we would be giving you a huge spoiler, so watch Las
Tres Sisters.
It seems to us here at Riveting Riffs Magazine, that Lucia is also
looking for acceptance and the mere fact that her name keeps being
mispronounced by colleagues with whom she has worked for a long time,
underscores that.
“Yeah, yeah, that is beautiful. I definitely think she is looking for
acceptance and recognition. I think in her work environment Lucia feels
undervalued. This is something that happens to me sometimes when you are
just seen as a Latina or oh, she is an actress, but a Latina actress.
Lucia is seen as a Latina lawyer and that’s it. There is no place for
her. They are not really looking at her work. They are not really
looking at her as an equal partner. I think Lucia is looking for that
recognition. She feels that she needs to be fighting for it, so she can
be seen,” says Valeria Maldonado.
Valeria, was there something that you learned about yourself in making
this movie?
“I learned so much, I could talk for an hour about it. For starters I
(found) I could do things that I didn’t think I could do, like writing.
I have always liked writing, but I have never done screenwriting. I
(learned) I could produce. There are all of these skill sets as we have
evolved throughout the movie. There are so many things that you don’t
know that people do, before a movie is released. Whether it is quality
control, making sure there is no pixelation in the DCP. I was, what is
DCP and what is pixelation? What is QC? All of these things that we
learned and I say we, because I think the three of us evolved as
filmmakers together. Oh, now we are learning about distribution and now
we are learning about marketing and how do we put subtitles? That is
what I mean when I say I can do things that I didn’t know I could do. It
is not just the writing; it has been every step of the way. This is how
you do this and this is how you do that.
I learned how beautiful it is to work as a team. Our way of creating and
procreating the three of us and Denisse as well. The communication that
requires, the self-awareness that requires, the growth that happens as a
human being. It is a family.
I think in the United States we have a very individualistic approach to
everything. I for sure still have that sometimes. Having this be a team
effort is really different. It is a constant dance between the three of
us and how do we share and support one another. If I had just stuck to
being individualistic and worried about (just) myself I would not have a
movie. I would not have any of these things and I would not be the
person I am either. It is because we worked as a team that (we were
able) to create and what we have been able to create. It was teamwork on
a very, very deep level,” she says.
Las Tres Sisters, as already noted in our conversation with Valeria
Maldonado has caused men and women, Latino and Caucasian to cry. This
writer has watched the film twice and will likely watch it a third time
and both times I have had tears. It is a deeply moving movie, with just
enough humor to keep it firmly entrenched as a dramedy.
During last season’s major awards another independent film enjoyed
exceptional success and was the recipient of numerous major film awards.
That film was Sean Baker’s Anora starring actress Mikey Madison.
Riveting Riffs Magazine would suggest to you, the reader that Las
Tres Sisters should be recognized in the same breath as that film,
worthy of Academy Award, SAG Award and Globe Award nominations and
perhaps the recipient of the awards themselves. Given this inflection
point in history, the quality of this film, the writing, direction,
production and the layered themes, in our twenty-one year history, this
may be the most important interview that Riveting Riffs Magazine has
published.
You can watch the trailer for
Las Tres Sisters here.
#LasTresSisters #ValeriaMaldonadoActress #ValeriaMaldonadoInterview #RivetingRiffs #RivetingRiffsMagazine
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As
for Cristo Fernández, she says, “He is so great and he is also great as
a human being. There is a reason he became famous on Ted Lasso, because
he really does have this charm. It is very natural for him. 