HOLLYWOOD - It is usual that when there's an important Hispanic part in a
movie, Hollywood delivers it to its big stars like Al Pacino (Scarface
and Carlito's Way), Meryl Streep (The House of the Spirits) and
Sigourney Weaver (Death and the Maiden), without worrying about authenticity
or reasonableness. It is therefore a very pleasant surprise to encounter
Trini Alvarado, a young actress of Latin origin who brought to life a pure
Anglo-Saxon role in the recently released new version of Little Women.
In this third and very respectable effort to bring to the screen Louisa May
Alcott's classic novel about the problems and virtues of four sisters who live
in the East Coast in the beginning of the century. Winona Ryder has the
responsibility of the center role of the sisters, Jo, who was previously interpreted
by Katherine Hepburn in the 1933 version, directed by George Cukor, and by
June Allyson in the 1949 successor, directed by Mervyn LeRoy.
The role Trini Alvarado plays is of Meg, the oldest sister, who was played
by Frances Dee and Janet Leigh, respectively, in the previous versions.
"I saw a magazine," Trini smiles, "that was selling dolls from Little Women,
and described each sister. Amy was the artist, Bess [Beth] the housekeeper,
Jo the writer. But Meg was only described as the oldest sister. She is quite,
like they say, conservative. She gives a lot of importance to the family, to the
laws of the society, to doing things the way expected of her. She is always scolding
her sisters. She dreams of having her own family, and she succeeds in this dream."
Trini confesses that's she's a great admirer of the book and the previous
versions of the film, even the television version for children from 1978
with Meredith Baxter, Byrney and Susan Dey.
"Every time that Little Women was announced in television I was there
watching," she admits. "I had seen the film versions with Katherine Hepburn and
June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Leigh. And both versions enchanted
me, because I like this story. I read the book when I was 10 years old. And
when I heard that they were auditioning for this film, I prayed to God, asking
for one audition, so that I could say that I had tried."
"I had taped the Katherine Hepburn version a long time ago," she
continues, "and I went to my mother's house to pick the tape to watch and
inspire me. It is very beautiful. The style of acting then was different, but I
like the film. I also like much about the 1949 version in Technicolor.
I really like the Technicolor."
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Trini was born in New York, her father is Spanish, from Jerez de la Frontera,
and mother is a Puerto Rican, her parents make sure not to let her
forget the Spanish language.
"My first language was Spanish," she assures, "My experiences with English were
very rare, because when I started to speak it, it was like Spanglish. But later,
at school and with TV, I learned English better."
"I have no sisters," Trini regrets, "that's why when I read the book I liked it so
much, because I wanted to have a sister. And now, working in this movie, I got
three."
Trini started her career in the world of performing at the age of seven, dancing
flamenco in her parents' dance company. Two years later, she debuted as
an actress in the musical Becca, playing later one of the main
characters in Joseph Papp's Broadway production, the Runaways.
Her film debut took place in 1979, when Trini was only 11 years old, in the
film Rich Kids. Since then, she has played Diane Keaton's daughter in
Mrs. Soffel (directed by the same person who made Little Women,
Australian Gillian Armstrong), Bette Midler's daughter in Stella,
wife of John Goodman in the biography of the legendary baseball player Babe Ruth,
The Babe; besides these, she's had different roles in films such
as Times Square, Sweet Lorraine, The Chair,
Satisfaction, American Friends and American Blue Note.
And after appearing as Susan Sarandon's daughter in Little Women,
we will see her in a near future as Anjelica Huston's daughter in movie
The Perez Family.
Trini says that it is not important for her if the characters are Hispanic or not.
"I like to play all kinds of characters," she points out. "As you know, it's
sometimes difficult to find work in this profession. And, thus, I like to
play a Hispanic, or Jewish, or whatever, as long as the role character is interesting
or the script is interesting."
"I am Hispanic," she continues, "and Meg, in Little Women, is not a
Hispanic, but even so they gave me the part. But I understand the situation,
I understand it because sometimes I see a film about Hispanics, where none of
actors is Hispanic, and I feel bad about that. I'd feel particularly bad if they
hadn't allowed me to audition, when they said that they'd already seen all the
Hispanics in Hollywood, which isn't true."
"It is true," she concludes, "that in The Perez Family there are Anjelica
Huston and Marisa Tomei, who are not Hispanics. But there are also various Hispanics
in the film, like Alfred Molina, Diego Wallraff, Angela Lanza, Lazaro Perez and
Celia Cruz. Marisa Tomei did a very good job, and Anjelica did also. I�ve already
seen it, and I believe that The Perez Family is a movie that one will find
very charming."
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