The actors

We used a wide variety of actors in Domino, from professionals who are appearing on prime-time TV to a ten year old girl with no experience acting and, to the best of my knowledge, no desire to become an actress.  Each one of them worked hard, each one presented different challenges for me, the director, and each one really did a good job.  Some, in fact, did an excellent job.

It was a great pleasure to work with Antonio de la Malena, our star.  He learned his roles, he took the time to "put himself into the character," and he never complained when I said, "Ok, that take was really good, now let´s do it again, just in case."

Antnio de la Malena, playing Luis, takes a break during the shooting.

I found it truly interesting that he put himself into his role...taking a few moments before each scene and usually before each take, to be in the correct emotional place.  The reason I found it so interesting is that he´d never acted before and certainly had never heard of Method Acting, or Stanislavsky.  On the other hand, flamenco singing (and he is a flamenco singer, a cantaor) requires exactly the same kind of emotional commitment, which is why I chose him to be the lead, in the first place.

Other actors I want to point out are Nicolas Montoya and Javier Padilla.  Both appeared in several scenes, both were very professional and very prepared, and both also helped me in other ways.  Nicolas Montoya (who is in the popular television program Bandoleras) found me an actor when I needed one, and also found the location for the bank scenes.

Nicolas Montoya plays Miguel the banker.

  Javier Padilla played two roles, one a small one but needing someone with good body control.  (He has a beard in that scene, a no beard in the other, so he looks like two different people.)  Javier also found at least three other actors for me.  Every time I called and said "I need someone of a certain age and capable of a certain type of role," he would find me that person...or rather, he´d give me several people for me to choose from.

This brings me back to our lead character.  Antonio de la Malena is, along with Javier Padilla, responsible for helping me with the casting.  He found more actors for me than I can count.  I haven´t been in Jerez long enough to "know everyone," and without him, and Javier Padilla (plus Nicolas Montoya), well, I don´t know if I´d have been able to produce Domino.

Other actors include Salvador Valle, Esteban Viaña, José María Martinez, Rosario Heredia and Luis de la Tota.  I enjoyed working with all of them.

Salvador Valle plays Salvador the neighbor, who offers Luis a few hours´ work.

 The last one I especially want to point out, however, is that 10 year old girl, Marta.  She is a bit shy, and certainly not used to memorizing lines, putting herself in character, or anything of the sort.  She was very willing, however, and like all the rest, she never complained (except once, and that was not a complaint but in the first shoot, she got exhausted and started crying.  We called it a day, and thought of ways to keep her from getting so worn out in future scenes.)

Marta, seen here with Antonio de la Malena, plays the daughter of Luis.

Domino is the first real narrative I´ve ever directed.  It has been a real learning experience.  One of the most pleasurable memories I´ll carry with me from it is these actors....  Thanks to you all.

OUR NEXT POST will be an interview with our lead actor, Antonio de la Malena.