Ines Sastre : The Hollywood Interview

[Ines Sastre in The Lost City]

Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2006 issue of Venice Magazine. For those not in the know [very possible here in the States, although she's a big celebrity overseas], Ines Sastre is an international supermodel and actress. She's been the face of Lancome, has been directed by Antonioni, and was here for the press tour of The Lost City, directed by Andy Garcia.

Ines Sastre:Belle of The Lost City
by Terry Keefe

While some might have chosen less challenging fare for their first American starring role, Spanish movie star and supermodel Ines Sastre jumped right into the deep end of the pool with The Lost City. The film tells the story of the Cuban revolution in epic style, with Sastre appearing opposite the likes of Bill Murray, as well as Andy Garcia, who also directed. But then, she's no stranger to rising to the occasion, having landed her first big role at the age of 13, in Spanish director Carlos Saura's film El Dorado, where she performed with international star Lambert Wilson [perhaps best known on these shores for his work in the Matrix sequels as the Merovingean.] Then, in 1996, she achieved a modeling and acting double crown of sorts when she followed in the footsteps of stellar beauty Isabella Rossellini as the face of Lancome and also landed a starring role in the legendary director Michelangelo Antonioni's Beyond the Clouds. Along the way, she also found time to earn a degree in Modern Literature from La Sorbonne in Paris, and surprised more than a few when she chose to begin that degree instead of signing up with the Elite modeling agency, whose famed "Look of the Year" supermodel contest she had won around the same time she was accepted into the university.

And now she has come to The Lost City, Andy Garcia's labor of love which he has been developing in some form or another for some 16 years. The film frames the Cuban revolution through the eyes of the successful Fellove family, specifically its three youngest sons who, in Godfather style, all choose very different paths in life. Garcia plays Fico, who owns Havana's classiest nightclub, El Tropico; Nestor Carbonell is Luis, who is killed during a failed assassination attempt upon the dictator Batista, and whose wife is Sastre's character Aurora; and Enrique Murciano plays the youngest sibling Ricardo, who goes off into the jungle to fight alongside Fidel Castro and Che Guevarra. Sastre's Aurora becomes romantically involved with Garcia's Fico following the death of her husband Luis, but after the revolution occurs, their relationship splinters as she becomes a fervent supporter of Castro, while Fico opts for exile in New York. Beautiful to the eyes and ears, The Lost City recreates an elegant island paradise which feels lifted from a dream, and it shows perspectives of the Cuban revolution which have rarely been depicted in narrative film. Garcia, working from a screenplay by the late, famed Cuban writer G. Cabrera Infante, paints Batista and Castro with the same despotic brush. But he reserves his sympathies for the Cuban people, most of whom are depicted as working from a motivation of love for their country, regardless of which side of the political coin they are on. Through his huge cast of characters, Garcia illuminates the numerous broken dreams, as well as the many fulfilled ones, which came together in the Havana of 1959. Sastre's Aurora is at the center of that struggle, as the symbolic representation of a country torn in many different directions.


35 days is a short schedule for a movie with the type of scope of The Lost City. Let's talk about the shooting, which couldn't have been a walk in the park.
Ines Sastre: We had to move fast. You know, sometimes when you have to do a lot of improvisation, you end up having good results. On the other hand, sometimes when you think about things for a long time, it doesn't come out so well. This all came out really well, thank god. It helped that everybody who was involved with this project really wanted to be part of Andy's dream in making it, which took him 16 years. Everyone was really motivated. And at a certain stage on a schedule like this, you just work on adrenaline. You're moving all the time, always either talking about the movie or working on the movie. When you finish, that's the hardest part because you're used to being full of that adrenaline. It takes a while to go back to your other self again. You're like, "Whoa, where have I been?" But even if I cry a lot onscreen in this film, I also had a lot of fun making it [laughs]. It's my first American film and I'm very proud to be involved with such talented people. Andy was starring and directing, so I had to be really focused and ready for him.

Did the pressure show on Andy?

No, he's very calm. Andy always managed never to be grumpy. Which really works for me. He gave the actors a lot of freedom and a lot of respect. Which works much better than a lot of shouting, you know? He gives you a lot of trust and confidence and space. But if you need him, he's always there.

The sets and costuming of Havana are extremely lush, detailed, and almost intoxicating. Did you feel as if you were transported back in time while you were on the set?

Yes, and for a while, I was only attracted to 50s clothing [laughs]. Few movies have ever given me the occasion to get so inside a time period.

You've visited Cuba. Are there many traces of the old Cuba depicted in the film in today's Cuba?
It's like you say - only traces. But you can tell that it must have been amazing in Havana in the 50s. Such an elegant period, rich in music and writers. So at least it's kind of nice to give an homage to what it was.

You've screened the film to some native Cubans, now living in the United States. What were their responses?

It has been very moving to see people's reactions. For example, I recently had a very good response from a Cuban woman, whose sister was somebody similar to my character Aurora. She was touched and was crying and thanking us for having portrayed them in such a real and beautiful way.

I imagine you also felt a responsibility to portray a Cuban woman from this period as accurately as possible. Particularly in light of the fact that the character is very complex. She makes the difficult decision to support Fidel, while her lover does not.

I think I wanted to show, through Aurora, that when you make difficult decisions in life, things aren't always black and white. It was a very exciting moment in history, and I think a lot of us might have been like Aurora and decided to stay in such a time, rather than flee the country.

But is there anything in particular that you think she sees in the revolution that makes her want to stay?

Women had a very important role in the revolution. Especially with a woman like this who was so active in a political way. I also think she wanted to honor the memory of her husband. And I think she believed that certain changes had to be made and she believed these were the right things for her country. She really felt that she was doing the right thing.

It was striking that, after the revolution, Aurora was still dressed in nice clothing and was still very much the elegant lady she was before the revolution. That's different than what you would expect after a Communist revolution.

It's true. I think, at first, prior to the revolution and the restoration of the constitution, it didn't start like a complete Marxist/Leninist revolution. Remember that even our screenwriter G. Cabrera Infante took three years [to leave], which he finally did when they closed up the newspapers. Lots of people believed that they were needed for the country and they really wanted to get Batista out.

Do you think that, twenty years down the line, Aurora would have felt like she made the right decision to stay and support Fidel?

I don't know. You never know. With decisions in life, you take the good ones and the bad ones. Sometimes you regret them. Sometimes they teach you things about yourself. So maybe she regrets it. Maybe she goes back to New York. Maybe she stays in Havana and she's happy. That's for Lost City 2 [laughs].

It was an interesting choice that the complexities of the different sides involving the Revolution are shown. The character of your husband in the film tried to kill Batista but he probably wouldn't have supported Fidel either. He, and many others, were sort of in the middle politically. And that middle ground is something you've rarely seen or heard discussed when talking about the Cuban revolution.

Well, I think, again, it's because things aren't always so cut and dry in politics. You know, this story takes place in Cuba, but it could have happened in my country, or any country. There's a civil war. And in a family, sometimes everyone thinks a different way. Even with brothers and sisters who grew up in the same house and were educated at the same schools and had the same parents. People are different. In that sense, it's a universal story. I don't think it's specifically a Cuban thing. And I think one of the things that Andy wanted to show was how politics can really affect a family.

How familiar were you with the Cuban music depicted in the film, prior to shooting?

My father used to play the trumpet and loved Cuban music, so that music is something that I grew up with. The music was also a very important way for me to get into the part. Every single night while shooting, I slept to the music of the film. Particularly the love theme. I would sleep with my boom box and my music [laughs].

You were in Antonioni's film Beyond the Clouds at the age of 21, after taking a lengthy break from acting. Were you intimidated to begin working again with such a legendary directing figure?

No, in a way, not at all. At first at least. I was in the middle of my time at the university, and suddenly, Michelangelo Antonioni was calling for me. I remember we first met up and had a very nice lunch and laughed a lot. It was after lunch, when I took a plane back to Paris, that I realized, "Oh God, Antonioni wants you to be in his movie!" [laughs] I felt like the pressure had dropped in the plane. I started crying, because before that I had just kind of been busy doing my exams at the university. Sometimes, you don't think about things and just live the moment. And then, after the fact, you realize what you had just been through.

What was Antonioni like on the set?

I remember that I was one of the people who seemed to understand him the best. You know, sometimes you can have a director who talks to you a lot, for hours, and you still don't understand what he wants [laughs]. Then you can have a director who just gives you simple gestures, but you have a real connection, and you really understand that person, like I did with Antonioni. So sometimes communication isn't only about words.