| Ivana Baquero Steps Out Of Pan's Labyrinth |
| Written by Danny Peary, TimesSquare.com contributing editor | ||||
| Saturday, 30 December 2006 23:15 | ||||
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Before meeting the young actress Ivana Baquero, I had read a bunch of her quotes in the production notes for "Pan's Labyrinth," Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro's extraordinary picture that mixes grim (as in Grimm) fairy tale elements and brutal imagery of Post-Civil War Spain. I was positive that some talented publicist had enhanced Baquero's words about her character and the film while making the translation from Spanish to English because the 12-year-old came across as wise and mature as an actress three times her age and with infinitely more experience. As it turned out, Baquero spoke excellent English and was even more impressive in person. Walking into a room of reporters, she boldly walked up to each one and offered her hand. When fielding questions, if asked for one explanation, she generously gave two or three. There was no ego, no airs, just a genuine eagerness to share her enthusiasm and ideas. There was little wonder why she was a media darling at the New York Film Festival. In "Pan's Labyrinth," Baquero plays Ofelia, a smart, rebellious girl whose ill, pregnant, widowed mother has married and come to live with a monstrous fascist soldier, Captain Vidal (a terrifying performance by Sergi López). She ventures through a labyrinth and into a fantasy world, but, oddly, it's populated by hideous creatures and is as frightening and cruel as the world she hopes to escape. It's a complex film for adults, but the young Baquero has no trouble explaining its mysteries. www.panslabyrinth.com
Director Guillermo del Toro and Ivana Baquero
Doug Jones as Pan and Ivana Baquero as Ofelia
In "Pan's Labyrinth," Ofelia eats a forbidden grape, which awakens the truly frightening Pale Man
Ivana, accompanied by her father, were in town to promote the film at the New York Film Festival
IB: I'm an only child, and I live in Catalonia, where my mother is from. My father sells machines. In addition to acting, I love biking and I love rock, like Nirvana, Pink Floyd and Genesis. I love soccer and football, any kind of sport. I don't know if I'm good, but I got an A in gym. I read books and comics, and love all movies, especially ones like "Lord of the Rings," "King Arthur," and "Troy," and thrillers. Q: You speak English very well, with only a trace of an accent. When did you learn it? IB: I started when I was three-years-old. I have attended an American school in Barcelona. I think my parents made the decision to have me learn English because they thought it would help me in the future. They had no theatrical background so they weren't thinking about it helping me as an actress, but doing any kind of work I chose. However, it definitely has helped me with movies. In fact I did my first movie because I knew English. Q: When was that? IB: I started the summer I was nine-years-old. Before I did my first movie, I didn't have much interest in being an actress. I didn't care if I was a psychologist, doctor, or anything else. My first movie was "Romasanta" starring Julian Sands. I went to the audition to see how it felt being in front of a camera. A week later they called and told me they wanted me for the movie. I didn't expect that. I did that movie and two others with the director, Paco Plaza. I learned from him and other people on the set, and I learned from my characters. I love learning, so that was one of the reasons I decided to be an actress. Q: How have your classmates reacted to your becoming a movie star? IB: Well, I don't tell them I do films. I don't go into school and say, "I just did a film and it's going to play in all the theaters in Spain and all the theaters in the world." But they end up knowing because they see the movies in the theaters or on TV. Q: Were you familiar with Guillermo Del Toro before making "Pan's Labyrinth?" IB: I knew who he was, but I'd never seen anything from his filmography. I liked his script for "Pan's Labyrinth" and when I was told I was going to be in it, I saw all of his movies. I do that before working with any director to see what kind of films he makes. I liked his movies. I liked how he could fuse two genres—as in this film with the Spanish Civil War and the fantasy. So I called him and said yeah, I want to do the movie. I wanted to learn from him. He was like my mentor during the whole movie. Q: Did your parents object to the violence in "Blade II" or his other films? IB: Before I see a movie, they usually watch it first, unless it's playing in the theaters and it's okay for kids. They let me see all his movies and didn't object. Q: At your age, did you know about the Spanish Civil or did you have to do research to understand the situation Ofelia is in? IB: Well, before doing the movie I knew the Civil War had happened and that it was bad and people really suffered. But since I didn't have anyone in my family or know anyone else who went through it, I didn't quite know what was going on. So, before doing the movie I told Guillermo that I didn't understand some things that Ofelia was going through. So he really taught me lots of things about the war, about the many widows, and about Franco, and he explained to me what was going on with Ofelia and what was going on at the same time in the war. He also gave me books and pictures about the Civil War. Q: Did you read fairy tales in preparation for the film or had you read them when you were younger? IB: When I was young I read lots of fairy tales, and though my school tells us to read more about history and stuff, I still read fairy tales whenever I can. And I did this especially when I was doing the filming. Guillermo sent me lots of scary, gothic stories, but he also sent me lots of fairy tales such as "Alice in Wonderland" and "Peter Pan," which I always have totally loved. These were in Spanish, and they definitely helped me a lot. He also sent me comics, which we both love. One was Japanese and had all these insects and focused in some way on war. He wanted me to get more into the world of Ofelia and more into what she felt. Q: In the film's press notes, you say that you talked a lot with Guillermo of things about Ofelia that aren't in the script. Can you elaborate on that now? IB: Ofelia is a very complex character and there were some things I didn't understand about her. So before shooting the whole movie, I talked with Guillermo about her and what she is going through. What I usually did was take a piece of paper and write "'Ofelia" as the title, and then I started writing about her roots, and about what was going on with her parents, and about the sicknesses she must have had when she was five years old. It was really interesting for me to be able to develop this very interesting character. I decided lots of things, such as that her father didn't actually die. Instead, he was lost in the middle of the war and never was found, so they took him for dead. And I decided Ofelia had chicken pox and all the normal sickness kids have. Stuff like that. Q: In the notes you're quoted as saying you think Ofelia is "even braver" than her evil stepfather Captain Vidal, who seems to be fearless. IB: I discussed with Guillermo that Ofelia was braver than Vidal because she could confront him. She would even hurt herself before allowing her baby brother to be harmed. Another reason I think she is really brave is that she's not selfish. She doesn't create and live in this magic world to make herself happy. Instead, she creates that world to make other people happy, and to make the world peaceful, and to make her mother believe again in fairies.
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