ARGENTINA: MADONNA ARRIVES IN BUENOS AIRES WHILST PREPARATIONS FOR HER FILM 'EVITA' ARE MADE IN BUDAPEST
Record ID:
445359
ARGENTINA: MADONNA ARRIVES IN BUENOS AIRES WHILST PREPARATIONS FOR HER FILM 'EVITA' ARE MADE IN BUDAPEST
- Title: ARGENTINA: MADONNA ARRIVES IN BUENOS AIRES WHILST PREPARATIONS FOR HER FILM 'EVITA' ARE MADE IN BUDAPEST
- Date: 18th January 1996
- Summary: (BUDAPEST, HUNGARY)(JANUARY 21, 1996)(REUTERS TELEVISION) VIEWS OF BUDAPEST EXTERIOR VIEW OF SZECHENYI THERMAL BATHS, ONE OF THE LOCATIONS BEING CONSIDERED FOR THE FILM CORRIDOR INSIDE SZECHENYI BATHS WHICH MAY BE USED FOR A SCENE SET IN A HOSPITAL IN THE FILM EXTERIOR VIEW HOTEL GELLERT, WHICH WILL FEATURE IN THE FILM MANAGER OF HOTEL GELLERT, DR ANDRAS RUBOVSZKY, SAYING "IT'S PUBLICITY, IT'S MONEY, IT'S GOOD BUSINESS, WE CAN SHOW OUR CULTURAL LIFE, THE ARCHITECTURE OF BUDAPEST AND THE HOTEL GELLERT" EXTERIOR ETHNOLOGICAL MUSEUM, ANOTHER PLANNED LOCATION INTERIOR ETHNOLOGICAL MUSEUM, BEING CONSIDERED FOR PART OF THE FUNERAL SCENE IN THE FILM LASZLO SIPOS, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF MAGIC MEDIA LTD, SAYING "OF COURSE, MADONNA IS VERY POPULAR AND HALF OF THE PEOPLE WHO CAME FOR AUDITIONS, THE PHONE IS ALWAYS RINGING, EVERYONE WANTS TO BE INVOLVED BECAUSE THEY JUST WANT TO SEE MADONNA AND ANTONIO BANDERAS"
- Embargoed: 2nd February 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA / BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
- Country: Argentina
- Reuters ID: LVAASM6RA735PRGRFFZUE01CHB9M
- Story Text: Media in Buenos Aires say police briefly detained Madonna's driver and secretary after their limousine allegedly hit a fan on Tuesday. The local DyN news agency says police released the two after checking their papers in the suburb of Munro. Local television says one of Madonna's bodyguards was also in the car. It wasn't clear whether police will press charges. No details on the fan's injuries were reported. Fans have kept a vigil near Madonna's hotel, hoping to get a glimpse of the singer, who arrived in Argentina on Saturday for the filming of "Evita." Argentine President Carlos Menem on Friday (January 19) joined a chorus of disapproval that will greet Madonna when she arrives in Buenos Aires to begin portraying Eva Peron in a film version of the musical Evita.
"... Evita is a real disgrace," Menem said in an interview with Brazilian daily Jornal do Brasil. "The musical is a libellous interpretation of Evita's life." The newspaper said Menem turned up his nose when asked whether he favoured the choice of Madonna to play the role of the radio starlet turned first lady who assumed an almost mythic status after dying of cancer at the age of 33 in 1952.
"Well, if they've decided it's going to be Madonna, then it's going to be Madonna and I've not got anything against her," he said. "But the masses who still believe Evita was a true martyr are not going to tolerate it." Madonna promised a wary Argentina on Thursday (January 18) her portrayal of Eva Peron in Alan Parker's movie of the hit musical "Evita" would not insult the memory of the woman.
"I'm thrilled to be coming back to Argentina. I'm happy to be able to have a chance to portray such a great and inspiring woman," said Madonna in a statement read to Reuters in Buenos Aires by her agent in New York.
Parker's choice of the U.S. pop star known for her erotic stage antics to play the revered champion of Argentine workers has already sparked protest. Graffiti has appeared on the road from Buenos Aires' airport, where she is expected to arrive Saturday, saying: "Viva Evita! Out With Madonna." But Madonna's press agent Liz Rosenberg told Reuters the star "has no intention of portraying Eva Peron with anything but the greatest respect. She has had a seven-year quest for the role, fell in love with Argentina on a tour there a few years ago, and has read everything about Evita." British director Parker landed here on Thursday only to find he and his cast, which also includes Spanish heart-throb Antonio Banderas, may be declared "persona non grata".
Marta Rivadera, deputy of the ruling Peronist Party, which still evokes Eva's memory despite policies that would make the champion of the working class turn in her grave, plans to table a motion in parliament to have the cast made unwelcome.
She is also urging job-hungry Argentines not to work as extras.
"Don't prostitute yourselves for 30 pesos (dollars)," she told the thousands who have queued for jobs on the $60 million movie of the Andrew Lloyd-Webber/Tim Rice stage hit.
"Our history is being attacked and our dignity offended, Peronists are being insulted and they mean to humiliate us with lies," she told the local news agency DyN.
Eva, a poor girl from the provinces turned radio starlet, was the second wife of Gen. Juan Peron, who ruled Argentina with huge popular and union support from 1946-55 and 1973-74. She died of cancer in 1952 at the age of 33 but is still the centre of a mystic personality cult.
"Evita is like a saint to us and the working class here owes everything to her," said Lena Saavedra, an activist in the Peronist Women's Group in the working-class suburb Lanus.
"We are not against Parker nor Madonna. We love her songs. But we are against a film that treats Evita as if she were a whore, which is not true," Saavedra told Reuters.
A group called Organization Command has been spray painting the city, expressing their disapproval of Madonna as Evita.
President Carlos Menem, who often evokes Eva despite free market reforms that turned Peronism on its head, is backing a home-grown Eva film starring local soap star Andrea del Boca.
Parker, director of box-office hits such as "Midnight Express," "Fame" and "The Commitments," has promised Argentina "It is not my intention to make an offensive film." He starts filming Feb. 8 with Britain's Jonathan Pryce as Peron and Banderas as a working-class narrator called "Che." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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