The incomparable Rita Moreno

Legendary actress returns to big screen in John Sayles' lates movie Casa de los Babys

Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only female performer to have won all four of the most prestigious show business awards - the Oscar, the Emmy, the Grammy and the Tony - Rita Moreno epitomizes the American entertainer. Singer, actress, and dancer, Puerto Rico-born Moreno (real name Rosa Dolores Alverio) moved to New York at the age of five, and is best remembered for her role as Anita in West Side Story, for which she won the Oscar.
The star of mostly stage during the past two decades with only sporadic movie work, Moreno briefly returned to television recently with a recurring role on HBO's drama series Oz.
But the now the fiery Latina is back on the big screen in John Sayles' Casa de los Babys, which follows six white American women (Darryl Hannah, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lili Taylor, Marcia Gay Harden, Susan Lynch, Mary Steenburgen), all but one over 30, who are impatiently waiting out their lengthy residency requirements in an unidentified South American country before picking up their adoptive babies at an orphanage. Moreno plays bitter and resentful Senora Munez, the owner of the hotel where the women stay, who must support a slacker son.
Tandem talked to the still-stunning 72-year-old Moreno when she was in Toronto recently.

It's so great to see you in a movie again.
"Oh, and it's so great to be in one again, especially a John Sayles movie.

He writes for women so well.
"Does he not? I call him the quiet American. Isn't there something about him that's kind of mythic? The way he looks. He makes me think of Gary Cooper with whom I did a film years ago. He makes me think of him because he's quiet, tall, imposing.

Handsome.
"Oh, I think he's sexy."

Totally. So sexy.
"He would die of embarrassment to hear all of this. He's always wearing shorts. John is always warm - he's hot. He has a kind of body temperature and in the dead of winter... I saw him in his office when I first went to talk to him about the movie, and the man was wearing shorts in New York! He gets hot. What can I say? He's hot." (Laughter)

You haven't done a feature film in a long time. What was it about this film that mad you come back?
"You know, there's only two words to tell you why I immediately decided to do the film: John Sayles. I can't think of one actor or actress who wouldn't just kill to be in a John Sayles movie and for good reason. He's a great writer. He's a great director. He only does his own film. I can't think of one actor who would say 'Well you know I'd just love to do this for you John, but I have this TV show to do instead.' I cannot imagine anyone turning it down. And I can tell you, it's not for the money. You wanna know what my perdeum was when I was in Mexico doing this? It was $30 a day! I made them take me to dinner everyday. It was a sad amount of money! I said 'I'll be damned with this amount of money I'm gonna pay for my own dinner.' (laughter) You do it because you know you'll be in a wonderful film and film is forever. It's a wonderful, marvelous legacy."

Tell me about Senora Munez.
"She's a woman who comes from a money family who lost all her money, who now is running the one hotel left in her family. In other words, she's a woman who lost her status. She's a woman whose husband has left her for a younger woman. She's a woman who's a mother of an absolute wastrel. I call him an 'armchair son. Now what happens in a country like that when a woman loses that kind of position, she loses an enormous amount of status and dignity so she overcompensates by being rather officious. She's not the nicest woman in the world. She's an interesting character because she's so different from myself and I really, really love that. The more different than I am the happier I am. The real challenge was speaking in Spanish."

The challenge?
"Yes, not speaking in Spanish but acting in Spanish. I tell you what a difficult time I had. I rehearsed for an entire month and a half at home."

You've never acted in Spanish before?
"No, never. And though it may seem, 'What's the big deal? You speak Spanish.' It isn't the same. You think in English so your mind gets so mixed up. It really gets very confused. It's not as if I've done it before. I'm sure Antonio Banderas has no problems going back and forth but he's done it most of his life. It gave me a lot of trouble."

Was that a concern at the beginning or does that come throughout the process?
"Well, what happened was I got the script to read it a lot at home and to my absolute astonishment and dismay found that I had a slight American accent when I'm speaking in Spanish. And I thought 'Oh my God, no it's not possible. I'm playing a woman from that country.' So I started to work that jaw. You have to use your jaw a lot when you speak Spanish unlike English when you can speak with your lips and be understood. So I started to say those lines out loud 10, 15 times a day. And then I turned into Gerald Ford, I couldn't speak Spanish and move at the same time. It was hilarious. Every time I go to move, I couldn't remember the words. It was Gerald Ford all over again. The only thing I didn't do was trip. So it's a good thing I started to work on that very early on. Obviously by the time, I got to Mexico to shoot, I was fine. But wow, it was difficult."

Did you share this with John?
"No! No, because I didn't want him to think he was going to be detecting an accent when I know I didn't have one. He's fluent in Spanish and what he does on every film is give each actor a biography [of their character]. Mine he wrote Spanish. He's fluent and he directed me in Spanish as well, which was really fun. I've never done it before. It was such a blast."

Most of your life you've been an advocate dispelling the stereotypes of minorities. Yet this role is a Hispanic one.
"Well, it is. But I'm not playing a stereotype or a caricature and I'm certainly not playing what I call a coffee whore, which is what happens very often, particularly to mature actresses who are of Hispanic descent. Usually they get a part in a movie and it's usually someone's wife who's forever pouring coffee and saying 'Why, what's the matter dear?' It's really going back to Leave it Beaver only with an Hispanic name. It's wonderful to be playing a real person as Hispanic. I love that. I never ever not wanted to do that. It's not wanting to play the cliché stereotype. And I think those days are over really because if you consider Oz, the series I did for six years for HBO, oh my god, I'm playing a nun, which is really hilarious."

I love that show.
"I have to tell you the reaction when I first told friends and my daughter what I was playing in that show. It was laughter and guffaws, really. I spoke to my daughter on the phone and I said, 'well I'm going to do this series and it sounds wonderful.' I kind of told her what it was about. She said 'Wow what are you playing in it?' And I said 'A nun. A psychotherapist.' And there was this long pause. And then I heard a 'bbblllzzzz. You're playing a nun!' "

Casa de los Babys is currently playing in local cinemas.

Publication Date: 2003-09-28
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3192