When filmmaker Sebastián Lelio sent the script for “A Fantastic Woman” to Daniela Vega it included a huge surprise: The celebrated director of “Gloria” wanted the Chilean singer to play the title role of Marina. Vega was simply shocked.
“I called him and told him he was totally crazy,” she says laughing. “‘How has it occurred to you I would be capable of doing this?’ And he said he was 100% sure I was going to be able to do it. And then I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ And then I took my purse and I went partying for three days. And then after the hangover was over we started working.”
As we speak Vega is eating lunch in a restaurant at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. There is an interpreter on hand (Vega understands English more than she can speak it fluently) and her brother has accompanied her on what has become a continuous number of trips to the United States and elsewhere to campaign for the movie. It’s been a lot for the 28-year-old who never thought she’d be an actress, but she notes, “I’m going through my best moment. Here, there and everywhere.”
The likely frontrunner for this year’s Foreign Language Film Oscar, “A Fantastic Woman” tells the tale of Marina, a transwoman living in Santiago who has to deal with the disapproving and cruel family of a lover who unexpectedly passes on. Lelio first reached out to Vega for information on what it is like to be trans in Chile through a mutual friend. A few years later the aforementioned script was in her hands, but despite her excitement about starring in the picture she still had ideas to contribute. For instance, in the movie, the audience is introduced to Marina as an Opera singer and that wasn’t exactly what Lelio originally had in mind.
“Marina [was supposed to] sing salsa,” Vega recalls. “I told Sebastian what if we incorporate a little bit of Opera. And one day I went into his office, closed the door and sang for him like a diva and then he said, ‘Alright’ and I won it!”
