By BETSY PICKLE
Thursday, March 15, 2007
It's good to be a god, even if there isn't a way to prepare for the job.
In "300," Rodrigo Santoro plays the self-proclaimed god Xerxes, king of Persia and conqueror of much of the world. But he wasn't able to find any cinematic role models.
"I'm really into films, so I do watch every kind of movie that you can imagine," says the Brazilian actor. "And for this character, I really went back there and watched, like, 'Ten Commandments.' "
But it didn't do any good, he says.
"This is such a unique character," Santoro tells reporters gathered for an interview at a hotel. "I've never seen anything like this guy."
Xerxes is a historical figure, but "300" is based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, not on historical texts. Santoro liked what he found of Xerxes in Miller's novel.
"It has a soul already," says Santoro, 31. "I just had to bring to life that character; he already existed, in my opinion. When you see the graphic novel, he's there.
"On the other hand, I did ... research in the Greek historian book, Herodotus, just to have more information on the historic (part). I found pretty interesting things from the real Xerxes, which is completely different from our Xerxes.
"(He was) different, tactically speaking, but at the same time, this is sort of like poetic license. You can't compare those two."
One thing Santoro learned was that the real Xerxes was not the heir to the throne.
"Darius, his father, had more sons," says the actor. "The power could have gone to any of them. But, for some reason, Xerxes got the power and became the king. There was a lot of controversy.
"This character is this self-proclaimed god who believes that he's above everything and everyone on the planet Earth, but he made it up. Ultimately, I think he's deeply insecure, deeply weak, unstable, sort of this megalomaniac figure, not even human.
"That's the way I tried to portray it because if you look at that figure, it's 7 feet tall, voice of thunder; it's a comic book. It was tricky, but it was a lot of fun."
A handsome and slender 6-foot-2, Santoro is best known to U.S. viewers for his romantic side. He's the artist involved with Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's epic Chanel commercial, and he was the object of Laura Linney's affection in "Love Actually." He joined "Lost" this season as Paulo, one of the plane-crash survivors.
He co-starred with Helen Mirren in the television adaptation of "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone." Art-house audiences saw him as Princess Di in the prison-drama "Carandiru" and as Tonho in "Behind the Sun," two of Brazil's most acclaimed film exports in recent years.
"300" producer Gianni Nunnari knew Santoro's work in Brazil and encouraged him to fly to Los Angeles to audition for Xerxes in "300."
"I actually freaked out because I was shooting something and I could not fly at all," says Santoro. When Nunnari suggested that he submit a videotaped audition, Santoro didn't think it would do any good because he was 35 pounds underweight for a role as a dying man.
"He just said, 'Well, you have nothing to lose. We have to cast,' " Santoro recalls. So with the help of a makeup artist who covered his long hair with latex, Santoro transformed himself into a facsimile of Xerxes and got the role.
Santoro says he chooses parts with his heart, not his head.
"I try not to trust too much my reason," he says. "I do believe that art ... you've got to feel it. And I do trust my instinct.
"I just play by ear. ... I really need to be challenged. ... That's the only way I learn, that I will grow _ as an actor, as a human being.
"And I do not like to be just comfortable, so it's hard for me to sit in a character for a long, long time. I like to change and to discover new things and to explore new things."
He understands why casting directors might want him because of his looks, but he doesn't want to be stuck in a stereotype.
"It is hard to play against what you look like since the industry tends to sell it because it's just easier to sell," he says. "It's nobody's fault. It's the way it is.
"This ('300') is a great opportunity to play against type."
(Contact film critic Betsy Pickle of the Knoxville News Sentinel at pickle@knews.com.)
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