l i f e s t y l e MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2016 MUSIC & MOVIES Q &A Sonia Braga plays the role of her life at 66 Morocco’s Prince Moulay Rachid, left, welcomes Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin Morocco’s Prince Moulay Rachid, left, welcomes Egyptian actress Youssra. before the royal dinner. The 16th Marrakech International Film Festival This file photo shows Brazilian actress Sonia Braga during an interview about her new film, “Aquarius,” in New York. — AP photos hile female actors are fighting for more and better roles in Hollywood, Sonia Braga got Wthe part of her life at 66 in Kleber Mendonca Filho’s “Aquarius”. The Brazilian star is getting rave reviews for her portrayal of Clara, a widow and retired music critic reluctant to sell the seaside apartment that holds her most cherished memories. “Ms. Braga is a living embodiment of the glories of Brazilian cine- ma,” said The New York Times. “A breathtakingly intu- itive actress, she’s beautifully aged into an aristocrati- cally sensual physicality, and makes Clara’s firmness mingle with tenderness,” said Variety. “When I got the screenplay it was one of the most beautiful gifts I was getting in my whole life,” Braga told The Associated Press in a recent interview in New York, where she lives. “I was reading the best screen- Morocco’s Prince Moulay Rachid, center, Australian actor Jason Clarke, left and play that I ever read. Every word made sense. Scene to Italian actress Jasmine Trinca, right, attend the royal dinner during the 16th scene made sense to me, through the end.” On top of Marrakech International Film Festival in Marrakech, Morocco, Saturday. The festival Morocco’s Prince Moulay Rachid, left, welcomes Italian actress Jasmine Trinca. that, “Kleber was giving me a movie that I was going runs from December 2 till 10. — AP/AFP photos to do in my mother tongue after 20 years working in the United States, I was going to be speaking in Portuguese again,” she said. “I called him immediately. Well, I didn’t call him IMMEDIATELY because I had to breathe before I could call.” “Aquarius “ debuted last May at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was the only Latin American produc- tion competing for the Palm d’Or, and was recently nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Although many considered it a natural contender for the foreign film Oscar, Brazil submitted David Schurmann’s “Little Secret” instead, reportedly because of the “Aquarius” cast’s protest against the interim administration of Brazil’s Michel Temer at Cannes. Braga said she and her cast-mates had no regrets about the protest and that she would do it over again without question. As Mendonca Filho put it, “Aquarius,” which had a limited US release in October and is still opening in different cities around the country, represents Brazil, regardless. Braga talks more about the film, and her life: AP: In the film Clara has gone through a lot, including breast cancer, yet she can be as subtle as strong. How was it to play such a complex character? Braga: Clara and I would come from different places: she is academic, I am intuitive; she has a family and I’m not married, I don’t have kids. So we had a lot to negotiate, but the basics of the character, it was there. So we’re talking, Clara and I, but at the same time we are commemorating this opportunity that Kleber was giving us to play this for the audiences. AP: Kleber said you were very generous with the cast and crew and that you were delighted to work with non-actors. Braga: He said, “Sonia, there’s something that I Elsa Zylberstein attends Ceasefire pre- Moroccan transvestite, actress and Morocco’s Prince Moulay Rachid, left, miere during the 16th Marrakech dancer Noor. welcomes actress and producer Fatima need to tell you: sometimes I work with non-actors”. Saida Jawad And I said, “Really? That’s fantastic! Because I’m not an International Film Festival. Harandi known as Raouia. actress either!” He said, “What do you mean?” “I’m scared of rehearsals, I’m scared of doing all this because I don’t feel like I’m an actress. I never went to school for actors, I’m not academic, as a matter of fact More than cookie academic actors intimidate me a little bit, so you are gonna work with people!” The way I see it, I belong to the film as any other department. I like visual arts, and sellers, Girl Scouts what I love doing is participating in the making of it. AP: It is very refreshing to see an actress leading in her 60s. Do you hope it will open the doors to enter music industry more and better female roles? Braga: Well, the doors are there, and they closed. A reporter told me it is very rare to see a woman of my age in the movies. Right! In the movies! But they have been for so long in very serious and important posi- tions in life: scientists, prime ministers, candidates to be the president. ... There is a barrier with the lan- guages also, and with the accents as well. Today we find many actors, they are Latin, they are Hispanic, they are living in the Unites States, they are American, but very rarely you find them in a lead role. AP: It is evident from the movie how comfort- able you feel in your own skin. Braga: I did things in the movie that I usually don’t Billy Chapin, child actor in In this file photo, Liz Rose, one of three winners of do and that had a little anxiety about: I had to sing the award for song of the year for “Girl Crush,” pos- and I can’t sing, unfortunately. I can’t play the piano, es in the press room at the 49th annual CMA and I cannot swim. But sex, I think I’ve been there ‘Night of the Hunter,’ dies at 72 Awards in Nashville, Tenn. — AP before (laughs.) It’s not so difficult to do. ... To be he Girl Scouts of the USA are used to making you naked or even making love in a scene to me is very illy Chapin, a child actor known for his roles in “The for Jamie.” His first big on-screen role was as the “Diaper smile with sweet cookies, but now they’re hop- important if this is a movie about a couple or sensuali- Kid from Left Field” and “The Night of the Hunter” has Manager” Christie Cooper in the 1953 baseball film “The Kid Ting to soothe your ears with sweet music. The ty. It’s a sort of moralism to think that this shouldn’t be Bdied. He was 72. Chapin’s sister and fellow former from Left Field.” The family film also starred Dan Dailey, organization announced Thursday that they’ve record- seen in the film. When was it that people decided as a child actor, Lauren, announced the news on Facebook Anne Bancroft and Lloyd Bridges. ed an original song for the first time, featuring backup society that your body is in one place and your sexual- Saturday. She wrote that Billy had died Friday night “after a Billy’s most recognizable role came in 1955 in the film noir vocals from actual Girl Scouts. “Watch Me Shine” was ity in another place, something like a hat, or a coat, long illness.” “Billy was a wonderful brother to both Michael film “Night of the Hunter” directed by Charles Laughton and written by Liz Rose, who has won Grammys for her that when you leave home you hang it and when you and me,” Lauren wrote. “And he made us proud of all the starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish. work with Taylor Swift and Little Big Town, and Emily come back home you say, “Ah! Let’s wear my sexuality! great films he was in... He will be greatly missed.” Billy, Although it was considered a critical and commercial failure Shackleton, who sings lead on the song. I might wear it tonight”? It is something that belongs Lauren and their brother, Michael, were all successful child at the time, in 1992, the United States Library of Congress The track is being used in a Girl Scouts PSA called to your body. Women at my age they are making love, actors during the 1940s and ‘50s. selected the picture for preservation in the National Film “I’m Prepared,” which praises girls for being leaders, they are feeling sensual, they flirt, they have Billy, born “William McClellan Chapin” is the middle of Registry, forever preserving its legacy. After “Night of the problem solvers and innovators. It’s available on iTunes, boyfriends, they have a sexual life. They are just not the three siblings who were all born in Los Angeles. Apart Hunter,” his film career declined, then his television roles Google Play and Amazon Music. A portion of the pro- being represented in the movies. — AP from several stage appearances as a newborn, Billy got his wrapped as well until his career in Hollywood ended in 1959. ceeds will go to the Girl Scouts organization. — AP start in 1951 in the Broadway production of “Three Wishes Hollywood Stars and Icons Lost in 2016. — Reuters.