Guillermo Francella in his most original role: he voiced the villain of the animated film La gallina Turuleca

There is always a first time for everything, even for a guy with as many years of career as William Francella (67). The popular actor gave his voice to the villain of the animated film The hen Turulecawhich has just been released and aims to revitalize the downtrodden box office of Argentine cinemas during the winter holidays.

In the middle of a round of notes at the production company Pampa Films, Francella referred to his first experience as a dubbing actor in this film centered on the character immortalized by the song of the Spanish clowns Gaby, Fofo and Miliki in the ’70s.

After his first shoots with large platform productions, Guillermo also spoke with Clarion about the changes that are taking place in the industry with the explosion of streaming; of the phenomenon that he lived with Hail and Netflix; of the crisis that cinema and broadcast television are going through, and of his pending desire to direct a film.

For now, the proposal to make him speak to Armando Tramas, the villain who wants to appropriate Turuleca in the filmcame from the producer Luis Scalella, a friend and partner of the actor in perfect strangersthe comedy he directed on stage a couple of years ago.

“Luis tells me: ‘Can you give me your voice in an animation?’ I told him that he had never done it. But when he showed me the film… this emblematic title, seeing the technical invoice, seeing that many actors in the world usually do the voices, I said, why not? “

-What challenge involves making a voice of a character without putting the body?

-It’s a very special tone. If I speak to you daily or I speak to you marking the accentuation, it doesn’t work. You can’t put the body on it either. But hey, I talked to the voice director and the animation director, and when I put the voice to him, he began to have a flight that I liked. I had fun. It was a nice experience, and now I want him to break it all.

His debut in a children’s

Although Francella is a figure that challenges all generations, her idyll with the youngest occurred with films and strips not exactly designed for that type of audience. In that sense, this is also a debut.

“Yes, this is childish childish. I never went through it. A lot of projects I’ve done weren’t aimed at them but they get hooked. I think we shouldn’t think: ‘Now we work for boys’.

I think you have to go with the same truth because they are not assholes. If it’s stupid, they get distracted and leave. Now, if there’s something wrong with them, they’re going to be hooked. I think this is naïve, white humor, and it’s going to be appealing for the winter holidays.”

-Is it a bit of the humor of Gaby, Fofó and Miliki and of that time?

-It’s that humor that we also liked when we were kids. We saw the Disney world: Mickey, Pluto, Donald Duck. then came Monsters Inc. and that other move.

-Movies that started to include parents too…

-Absolutely. Remember that half rough thing of The Lion Kingwith Scar and death, the same Coconut. And the kids get hooked just the same. I think they should never be underestimated. It generates a lot of expectation in me that it premiered in 170 theaters. I hope it goes well

streaming vs. cinema

The hen Turulecaa Spanish-Argentine co-production directed by Eduardo Gondell and Víctor Monigote (with the voices of Flavia Palmiero, Sofi Morandi and Agustina Cirulnikamong others), won the Goya and Platinum awards from Ibero-American Cinema for Best Animated Film.

Francella says that the character makes him “fly back to when he was a kid”. But rather than traveling to his personal past, he prefers to focus on the present: on the film attracting many Argentines to return to the cinema, a sector that continues in crisis after the pandemic.

“The theater, being face-to-face, returned. The rooms are very good. But the cinema, if it’s not Marvel’s, none works. Then 100,000 spectators are celebrated as if it were a success and in another time they stood watching over you. Nothing is going. It’s weird”.

-Do you think it has to do with the explosion of streaming, which competes directly with cinema?

-The advent of platforms is wonderful. But they also create comfort. The bigger and bigger televisions, with better definition, surround sound. The pandemic also reduced, everyone stayed at home.

There’s Amazon, Disney, Star Plus, Paramount, Apple, Netflix. And in all you have beautiful options. But people aren’t going to the movies. It’s not good. I don’t think it’s fear, because they go to the theater with a mask. I don’t know, I think it has to do with comfort. And it happens in the world, huh. I come from Spain and there are also few people in the cinemas.

The Hail phenomenon and what happens with air television

In March of this year, with the premiere of Hail on Netflix, Francella showed that she is more relevant than ever. Despite mixed reviews, His first project in the streaming world became the most viewed non-English speaking production on the platform.

“I never experienced anything like it. Sure, Netflix is ​​a platform that has 240 million subscribers. Sometimes they put movies or series that no one sees. But this was such a boom that they themselves called me to tell me: ‘Guillermo, I need to tell you that what is happening is overwhelming.’ And in the whole world. It was a huge inclusion. I traveled and they told me about the meteorologist in places where I am not known. Because my films have traveled, but never with this massiveness, “he says.

-In addition to making many blockbuster movies, you were part of that high-rated air TV with “Brigada Cola”, “Naranja y media”, “Poné a Francella”. How do you see it today?

-Well, the air TV is ready… Some entertainment programs, questions and answers, newscasts are seen. But not even sport is seen on open TV. And fiction, sometimes there is one from Polka, or one from Telefé, and no more. He has lost a lot of audience. Turkish novels are coming with other tempos, another timing.

And they can be seen, but never with the ignition we had. She was lost, she was lost. I’m not telling you that it will disappear, because they said the same thing about the radio and it never did. But the trend is that boys don’t watch more TV. Some parents tell me that in the rooms they no longer have a TV, they have a computer or a tablet. And that’s significant, right? They are with YouTube and other things that they can watch whenever they want.

-At the labor level, do you think that the new platforms come to expand the offer?

-I think so. Now, for example, directors look for an art director, an assistant director or a cinematographer, they can’t find one because they are all taken by all the series there are. They do season one, season two and three of each series. This generates regularity in work sources.

-Even for the actors?

-Also. I believe and hope that there will be more. We always claim fiction, that there was not so much fiction. I have actor children and I can tell you. Our profession is wonderful, it has nice moments, not so nice moments, and it has moments of parentheses, like any activity. But living from this profession is very difficult.

More TV, more movies, “Married with children” and a pending account

After HailFrancella filmed the first season of The one in chargethe next series by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat in which he stars alongside Puma Goity and which will be seen in October on Star+.

The production of this comedy – Francella plays a building manager who meddles in the lives of the tenants – announced that it will have a second season and that filming will also begin in October.

“We will see what happens with that series from a platform that does not have as many subscribers. But it is supported by Disney, ”she says.

And he adds that he also filmed a movie for HBO Max, a shoot that took almost two months. “Is named the conspirators, directed by Martino Zaidelis. But they gave them a window of five or six weeks for the cinema, and then it goes to the platform. That is for January 2023 ”, he details.

-And there you already get fully involved with Married with kids.

-Yes, I will have very limited times because Luisana is about to have a family and it is going to come quite fair with time. But hey, let’s rehearse, we’re very excited. He is going to be cute.

Do you want to direct again?

I really liked directing. Much. And if I have a good script, a good story, I want to direct. It also makes me want to direct in cinema, it is a pending subject. But all the projects that I read and like, make me want to act them. So if I act and direct, I can’t. I’ll see.

CJL