Interviews
Vinicius Machado – Beautiful & Twisted
By |
By: Jamie Steinberg
What are the recent projects that you are working on?
I’m currently shooting two projects, which I cannot yet announce, unfortunately. But I promise my fans and readers that soon it will be made known. I can say that one is a television show and the other one is a film; however, I do have other projects coming out that I can definitely boast about. I just had my SONY pictures feature titled Beautiful & Twisted premiere this past Saturday night on Lifetime. It was a hit. Ratings were great! My fans tuned in and I got a lot of my supporters tweeting and emailing me about how crazy that real life story was. Most people didn’t even know that it was based on the real life story of Ben Novack, Jr. I got a call from Florida from a friend who watched it and said that he was dumbfounded that that really happened. I assured him that it’s factual. I also have another feature film scheduled to come out this year sometime called Wild For The Night, another thriller, not based on a true story. In that one I play a gangster struggling with early stages of Tourette syndrome. Then, I also have another crime drama called Misfortune also coming out this year sometime in which I play a diamond trafficker. As most people know, Season 2 of “Power” is scheduled to come out this summer as well. I’m really excited about that as I’m just as much of a fan of the show as I was involved in it. I’m currently also working on distribution deal for my book titled Hollywood Dreaming and I am gearing up for production on some new self-produced projects, also self-written. I have a special coming up in April with Globo’s Planeta Brazil, a television program internationally acclaimed. They have offered to cover my career and do a story on it for my native home, Brazil. We are taking it internationally. I don’t stop. I stay on the grind. And I love it.
Please tell us the premise for Beautiful & Twisted and about your character Gonzalez.
Beautiful & Twisted is based on the true story of Narcy Novack killings of her husband Ben Novack, Jr., and his mother Murphy Brown. Ben is a millionaire heir to the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel fortune. When he’s found brutally murdered, police work their way through the tangle of intrigue surrounding his marriage to Narcy, a former stripper, whom they identify as a prime suspect. I play one of the hit man hired by Narcy and her brother Cristobal to kill Ben and his mother. My character was a common criminal low life scumbag who would do anything for money. When offered the opportunity to kill for it, he doesn’t hesitate and becomes a one of a kind hitman.
What made you want to be a part of the film?
How often do you get the chance to work with the beautiful and extremely humbled Paz Vega? In all seriousness, she’s gorgeous and super incredibly sweet. Literally. The reason I joined the cast was because the story was so shocking and profound. Seriously this lady was really deluded and completely evil. I usually play the evil characters myself so I’m used to seeing the usual written, but this one was unique. I learned so much by just watching Paz Vega play her. This was a new type of evil, one that I hadn’t yet been exposed to artistically speaking. So, it was a moment of opportunity for me to grow. It was also my first SONY pictures, which is a huge deal, and among many other factors. I’m glad I chose to accept the offer for it and am privileged to have been a part of such historical contribution to the cinema world. Beautiful & Twisted is just that, by definition to the T.
Was there anything you added to your role that wasn’t originally scripted for you?
I always seek to stretch my characters beyond the given on the page. Yes, I did. I added the haircut and style, both designed by myself. When I showed up to the set with it, they were first unsure what it was, but then grew to love it once they understood what I had done with it. I gave him a slightly different edge then my typical gangsters. Specially being that I was playing a hit man here, though I was representing a Latino stereotype – a cholo per say who was hired to be a hitman, it had to be different. I had to differentiate not only what people perceived of me from my usual characters, but also to be able to convey that this was a unique person, someone willing to go that far for practically nothing. I had to be precise, I had to do it right, and I think I nailed it.
Did the chemistry with the cast come instantly or did you spend time to bond?
You always bond more after spending more time together. So, that’s always a given; however, most of the time we don’t get days and months, not even hours to get to bond with anyone. Most of the time, the rule of thumb in the industry is that time is money and if you’re on someone’s clock you better be able to get where they need you to be artistically without any questions or doubt. On the contrary, you just simply don’t work. With that said, we bonded immediately because we had to and then with the amount of time we ended up spending together we actually really bonded. So much so that we would have lunch with Christopher Zalla, the director, and share personal and intimate things about our lives. Generally speaking, what dictates whether the cast bonds or not is almost always ego. But when you’re working with humble people like Rob Lowe, Paz Vega, Candice Bergen, it’s always a true delight. Everyone in this film from catering to production was just pleasant to work with. And the truth and proof of this statement is the fact that most of us are still in touch and friends over Facebook and instagram still to this day.
What piece of advice that director Christopher Zalla gave you that you took to heart during filming?
Stay with the story! Such a sobering thought. Sometimes, as actors, we tend to get to much into our heads. The hardest part of the job is to let that go and move into the instinct. Most of the time the challenge is always just not having to do much figuratively. But then, on other occasions, we as actors get trapped into technicalities. We’re as organic as you can be, but we’re focused on the wrong thing. We’re concerned with our lighting being right, framing, the atmosphere, etc. Christopher brought about not only a very insightful direction for my character, but also gifted me with the wisdom of his expertise. “Stay with the story” today remains a key approach I use with my interpretations. We forget that we as story tellers are not the story, but a messenger of the story. We are pieces; however, the degree we are afforded to be involved, the privilege, is always in the story itself, never in our individual role. As an actor, that means everything to me. He enlightened my craft and enriched it in ways that I can never fully explain.
What were some of your most memorable moments from filming Beautiful & Twisted?
Other then the story itself? One of the locations. For a period of a few days we were in a mansion in Malibu. But we couldn’t set camp there, so we held our basecamp on the beach – literally a feet away from the sand. I remember waking up from a nap in my trailer and stepping on the sand, rejuvenating my spirit before heading to set for my scene. We ate on the beach often. While others were there for pleasure only, we were getting paid for it. The perks of a being an actor! The house, itself, was breath taking and inspiring in every sense. The land set overlooking the ocean from a cliff on the mountain. Right on the edge, unbelievable. The land so vast you could easily fit a football field in it. No joke. Beautiful. I really enjoyed that location.
You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans and are you looking forward to the instant fan feedback you will receive when the film premieres?
The entire industry has changed. You are no longer competing by the same rules all thanks to social media, which means that we have a bigger challenge before us. If ever we had to constantly be reinventing ourselves as artists, more so then ever now must we do that on a daily basis. What social media has done is bridged the gap between stardom and normality. You can now tweet Lady Gaga and she responds. You have a relationship, an ongoing relationship with Lady Gaga. No longer are you an idol far out of my reach only to admired from the distance. However, the pressure now to please and give and be interesting and hot, new, fresh, the talk of the day, the focus, etc. is on a daily basis. It’s so intense. They want more and more personal, so you are ever more vulnerably exposed then ever. It’s more dangerous now then ever to say the wrong thing or do something displeasing to your fans, etc. There’s many benefits to this as well, but I think people overlook the power of social media this way, from this angle. I was actually at the SU Magazine All Star Bash celebration event the night Beautiful & Twisted aired so I was not able to live tweet with my fans; however, my fans are so good to me that they tweeted anyways about it and tagged me on it. I actually received many feedback, love and support as they were watching it live for the first time though I couldn’t engage more with them then. I love my fans so much. I ended up watching it on Sunday night when it repeated on Lifetime and loved it. Since the premiere of it, Saturday night, I haven’t stopped getting notices and messages about it. I had a few people today text me and tweet regarding. I love social media for this instant connection with my fans. It’s special to have this. It’s important to me because it solidifies their love for me and my love for them faster then a bullet.
Fans enjoyed seeing you recently also in 50 Cent’s incredible new show “Power.” Is there anything you can tease about what to expect for Season 2?
Have you seen the trailer for it already? If not, you need to. it’s hotter and better then before. I think “Power” is here to stay for a very long time. That’s all I have to say about that.
What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?
I’m nothing without my fans. I love you all more then you know. Your faithfulness is a treasure that I cherish with my soul. You are everything to me. Thank you. To everyone out there who seeks and dreams of following my footsteps I will say… Stay ready. If you have to get ready, then you are not ready. Be prepared. Life happens. Don’t ever get beat because you beat yourself. And last, but not least, be fearless. Impossible is nothing. The future is an achievement. Follow me at @Vmachado82 on all social media. To you my all.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login