Q and A with Marta Gastini of Dracula3D

Marta Gastini has a pout that even a Carpathian revenant would find irresistible. When she speaks, her Allesandrian accent slips through in very rounded vowels especially in the A’s and the U’s when her mouth forms an almost perfect circle where a slight inflection, say, in the middle of a three-syllable word, makes an iambic.

Gastini is one of the few young, Italian actors to have made it to Hollywood. She starred alongside Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins as the possessed and very pregnant Rosaria in The Rite (2010). At this year’s Italian MOVIEMOV film festival in Manila, where a 20-minute show reel preview of Dracula3D was shown, she plays the beleaguered Mina Harker (nee Murray), the English gentlewoman who discovers she is the newly incarnated, former bride of a vampire. Also starring Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), Thomas Kretschmann (Blade2, Valkyrie) and Asia Argento (Triple X, Land of the Dead), Dracula 3D is set to be released in 2012 as the latest film by Dario Argento, a filmmaker hailed worldwide as a master of the macabre for works like Suspiria and Profondo Rosso. From where I’m sitting, Marta Gastini is a stunner. Her hesitant English is like the arching heel of a beautiful woman reaching for something above her head. When she says “Satan," pronouncing it with a long and melodic first “A" like in apple, it’s as if she’s enunciating some nascent mystery about to be disclosed. We sat down with her to talk about horror films, playing an iconic role, and the Italian filmfest that ran from Nov. 9 to 13 at the Greenbelt Cinemas. GMA News Online: How was it working with the father-and-daughter tandem of the Argentos on Dracula3D? MARTA GASTINI: It was amazing working with the master of horror and his daughter [Asia]. Absolutely amazing! Dario Argento is really a genius and he was really taking care of the actors. With me, he was really like a father. Anything special you did to prepare for the role of Mina? MG: I read the novel and I watched the movies, like the one Coppola made. I tried to make it a little bit different, knowing what was already done. I tried to create my own Mina. I hope it works! (shrugs) From what we’ve seen in the show reel it seems there is a deeper vulnerability to your Mina. Was this intentionally done to heighten her later empowerment, enabling her to kill Dracula? MG: Definitely! I think Mina opened the door to damnation when she gave in to Dracula. She came very close to be damned, no? Also in the movie he bites her but there is no exchange of blood. She gets very, very close to it but in the end, since she lived in the light, she is able to come back to herself. It was hard to prepare for that emotional rollercoaster of a scene. And I think the entire movie is a rollercoaster of emotions especially for Mina who is being pulled by forces around her and the tensions are many. You’ve already appeared in The Rite and, by next year, in Dracula3D. What is it that draws you to these macabre roles? MG: I don’t know why they cast me in this [genre]. Usually directors, especially in Italy, they see me as the good girl. People say I have a very girl-next-door face. But I guess what horror directors like is sometimes the opposite. You can be a very good girl but you play a monster or some other evil creature in a horror movie. It must have been strange for you to be cast as the lead in two major genre movies. MG: I must say that I am really happy because I am now learning to enjoy horror movies. See, before I wasn’t really into them. I scare easily! But I am starting to like them and starting to watch them in a different way. I am studying the acting, studying the way they are shot. Did you get up close to any exorcisms for your role as Rosaria in The Rite? MG: I always say that The Rite for me was a real learning experience, spiritually, especially since I am Catholic myself. I remember I went to a real exorcism [for research] before starting the movie. I remember that I touched the phenomenon so I was there really living the exorcism… I did see the exorcism of a very small woman who was just this tall [raises hand to four feet], she was very small and she really had unbelievable strength. It took two people to keep her still, holding her. She was really screaming and acting violently towards the priest and his prayer in a very animal voice. You’ve been dubbed “The Godmother of the Moviemov Festival." Why the special interest in Asia and the Philippines? MG: Many producers and myself think that Asia is the place to watch at the moment. The interest level of the culture, as far as movies and as far as stars being produced here, especially in the Philippines, is very high. It is really in the spirit of great cooperation that this festival was formed. It would be great if something concrete would come after this. Hopefully, a closer bond is formed. We’d definitely love to see you in more horror films. MG: I am definitely taking on more horror roles in the future. I am doing this new horror movie right now since we just finished the first season of Borgia [French-produced TV series about the rise of Spanish Pope Rodrigo Borgia, where Gastini plays the courtesan Giulia Farnese] and I am going back to Italy tomorrow. But let us keep it a surprise for now! I really hope it will be shown here. - YA, GMA News Photos courtesy of Rustan’s Corp and MOVIEMOV