Rodrigo Santoro talks ornathologist Tulio

Before establishing a career in the US, Rodrigo Santoro was one of Brazil’s best-known actors, starring in the Brazilian film Carandiru, which broke all Brazilian box office records. In America, he had parts in Love Actually, Lost, David Mamet’s Redbelt, Steve Soderbergh’s Che, Zack Snyder’s 300 and is currently filming the TV movie Hemingway & Gellhorn with Nicole Kidman and Robert Duvall. Playing Tulio, an eccentric scientist who’s traveled from Rio to Minnesota to help save the species, was something of a homecoming for the Brazilian born Rodrigo, who explains how a seat on a plane led to his starring role.

 

What can you tell us about your character?

My character is Tulio, an ornathologist who’s very particular about his bird studies, and he’s very passionate about his cause, which is to save the species, this Blue Macaw, now threatened with extinction.

 

Is that part of the story true?

Yes, that is really true – the species is really, really threatened. Tulio is on a mission. He goes to the States and finds out that there is one male there, in Moose Lake Minnesota, and he has to bring him back to Rio and put him together with the last living female of the species, in order to procreate and avoid extinction. But he’s just very honest and real about that cause – you can feel his love for the birds. It’s not superficial. He works very hard to persuade Linda and Blu to make the long journey to Rio.

 

How did you help develop the character?

We were always very concerned about making him very human and really soulful and really passionate about his cause, not a stereotype of some nerd.

 

You’re from Rio – did you get to use your regular accent?

Carlos told me to use my regular accent, but I had to make sure it was clearer.

 

 

And did you also voice the Portuguese version?

Yes – I did it in one day, when I’d had a year to do the English version. Though of course with the English version we were also creating the character.

 

Most of your scenes were with Leslie Mann, who played Blu’s best friend Linda – did you actually meet her?

I actually worked with Leslie in another movie, but this movie we worked by ourselves… us, the technicians and Carlos, the director. We never shared the scenes with the other actors.

 

How did you meet Carlos?

I met him in America – in fact, two times we were next to each other on a plane. The first time he introduced himself, and the next time he introduced himself again and the project. I thought this was meant to be, and was immediately thrilled and wanted to be part of the whole thing.

 

Were you familiar with his work?

I’ve been a very big fan of Carlos’ work for a long, long time – I’ve watched all the Ice Ages and they were always my favorites. I remember watching the first one and thinking it was a really interesting animation. I like animated movies, but not all of them, and Ice Age I felt was really interesting. I didn’t know he was the director when he first told me all about this project, but I asked him what he’d been working on. He said he’d done Ice Age, so that was even better. But when you first meet him he’s just nice and open and you can see that he’s passionate about things. I had the feeling that he knew what he was doing – he had this confidence about him, though it’s very subtle. There’s no arrogance, but you know he’s interesting.

 

How did you enjoy the voice artist experience?

It is my first time doing this type of animation, and it’s a very different process but I really enjoyed every bit of it. It’s very creative, and you are able to collaborate with the artists. I’m really proud and honored to be part of it, especially as it brought together so many amazing artists. It’s a really great package.

 

 

What kind of a director did Carlos turn out to be?

Terrible! No, it was great, awesome. He’s very sensitive and he really knows how to direct an actor. He’s a very nice guy and very, very talented – that’s my experience. In my case, because we’re both Brazilians, we had a lot to exchange, and we really improvised a lot. We were slowly building a character and able to really create, and I had a lot of freedom to do whatever I wanted to do.

 

How successfully do you think the movie has captured your country, and what do you think is Rio’s essence?

There is a stereotype, which is the guy that knows how to enjoy life, and there’s the positive and the negative point of view of it. The negative would be that you really want to enjoy life and not really want to work – though that’s not true. It is just a city that really inspires you: you wake up and there is a blue sky, it’s warm and you want to go out there. You’re probably going to stop by the beach, even on your way to work, and there’s this whole relationship with nature, which is impossible to avoid.

 

Are you from Rio itself?

I’m not from right here – I’m from a town 50 minutes from here, from the state of Rio, but not Rio the city, so I’m not the typical guy that has the accent and the swagger, but I think it’s a city in which people really like to have a good time and enjoy life. There are a lot of social problems in Rio as well, but there are many beauties.

Rio Film Page | Win Rio Blu-ray

Rio – The Ultimate Party Edition releases on DVD and Blu-ray 24th October 2011