A Day on the set of "The Cinderella Man"
*Exclusive Interview with Pedro Marques*

By Ivani from The Crowe´s Perch

"Pedro Marques is a young Portuguese born in Toronto, city where he lives today. He recently had the chance to participate in the shootings of "The Cinderella Man" and had already talked a little about his adventure on his site www.iPedro.com. Being also a Portuguese's daughter, I attempted to contact him and he kindly agreed to speak a little more about his experience.

Ivani : Are/were you already an actor or was this your first experience?

Pedro : This was my first experience as an actor. I was always curious about participating in a movie. I had lived for 10 years in Portugal, far from the spotlights of the US show business, so the idea of meeting and working with my idols of the big screen was only this: a dream. When I came back to Canada, I started to live my dreams. My philosophy of life was always that life is a collection of experiences. The more you have, the better. This would be just one more.

Ivani : How did the chance of working on Cinderella Man come up for you?

Pedro : In my professional life, I have always times when I work a lot and others when I have a lot of free time. It was in one of these moments of free time that I began to think about what I was going to do next. To travel to some place around the world where I hadn't been before was an option. When I was finally determined to go to Paris, an opportunity came up. On a night like all others, I was surfing the internet visiting a site of a friend of mine who was working as the lead actor in a horror film called "Daniel Redemption". I had already offered myself as available to participate in the movie if he wanted. I was clicking links after links and I stopped by a site that was asking for extras for a boxing movie that would be shot in Toronto. I knew I didn't have experience but I would try to send my photo anyway.

Ivani : Then you did not know that it was to work on "The Cinderella Man"? How were you chosen?

Pedro : I didn't know which film I was going to work on if eventually I was selected. In a few days I received a phone call from the talent agency. They liked my photo and wanted me to go to the studio to try on some 1930´s clothes. In the meantime, I was aware that Russell Crowe and Ron Howard were in Toronto filming a 1930´s boxing movie, so it was determined which film I was working on and that I was going to participate in a large scale production. Initially I was chosen to be a dock worker in a scene in the port but later, because I looked too young for the part they decided that I would be a spectator in the final scene of the film: the fight between Jim Braddock with Max Baer.

Ivani : How was your scene, could you give more details?

Pedro : I arrived about 6:45 am at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, an old hockey stadium which is as historical and important to Toronto as Madison Square Garden is to New York. It would be there that the production team would make the interior look like the 1930´s Madison Square Garden. Many people were already waiting outside when I arrived. All dressed up with yellow or grey shirts with black classic pants. We were sent inside where we passed through some security checkpoints to confirm that we were in the extras lists. We dressed our 1930´s clothes, in my case it was only a jacket and a hat, while other people were seated in the front of mirrors to have their hair cut and to be made up.
From that moment, it was waiting and waiting...

There was food: sandwiches, fruit, coffee, water. I met some people who I spoke with, other people played cards, and still others demonstrated magic tricks. After all, I was in a room with about 500 actors, people with strong personalities and entertaining skills. Every now and then, I opened the curtains, which had a view to the arena. Thousands of inflatable dolls could be seen which at a distance looked just like real people. It's incredible how low-tech effects still work so well in today's movies.

The arena was very modified to resemble Madison Square Garden, fake styrofoam walls were set up with lanterns and a lighting rig was hanging from the ceiling. When I looked through those curtains, it was as if I was looking through a door to the past.

More and more people were arriving. I think there were 1000 people there that day. We waited until about 11am.

Finally, people were asked to go downstairs and take theirs places. We entered the arena which was full of smoke to create the right ambience. Each section of the arena had its own production assistants who were directing us. The instructions we were given were for being in the background, moving, talking to each other.

I didn't want to be in the back after waiting for so long.

When the action began, as I was dressed up as a middle class person, I walked to the ring acting the role of an individual who wanted to reach the most expensive seats. I had spoken earlier to another actor, who was dressed as a policeman, to prevent me from entering that upper class area. It worked out!. The production assistants liked it and asked me to do it again every take for that scene. We did several takes with several camera angles and many times I was facing the camera at the front of the ring.

At a certain point in the shooting, Russell Crowe went up to the ring with a microphone and described to the extras the people they were playing. These characteres were living at the time of the depression in the United States and the idea of a poor man like Jim Braddock competing for the world boxing championship was a light of hope for better days. He described the emotion that we needed to portray/transmit.

Russell managed, with his speech, to motivate all the actors and right after, we made a good take.

Ivani : How it was working with Ron Howard?

Pedro : After a long day working on the scene of the entrance of Jim Braddock and Max Baer in the arena, the last scenes of the day would be the audiences' reaction to different parts of the fight. We filmed different reactions in one long string which would later be edited into the different parts of the match. The cameras were filming a wide shot of all the actors reacting according to Ron Howard's instructions. Ron was very enthusiastic and got everybody in a good mood despite the long hours we had already behind us. He was in the ring jumping and saying: "Now Jim is losing... BUT NOW he stood up... and now he is almost winning.... no! Suddenly Jim Braddock received a hard punch to the jaw and fell down...
now he's back in advantage again! ... and Max Baer fell to the mat... 10... 9... 3... 2... 1... Jim Braddock WON!

Everybody on their feet!!! Celebrate!!!".

As you can imagine, it was a funny end to the day despite the fatigue of a 17 hour shift.

It was 11 pm when we were finished. And we still had to pass through security and fill out our paperwork.

Ivani : You also commented that you had talked some times with Russell and to other central actors and that they had been all very receptive. How were these moments with Russell?

Pedro : I talked a few times with Russell Crowe and with others too. I told him he was doing an excellent job, that his entrance in the ring was very convincing. I asked him if he thought that "The Cinderella Man" was Oscar material. He answered me that he's sure that this film is going to be nominated. I had also commented that I liked "A Beautiful Mind" and that Ron Howard and Russell Crowe team was a winning one. He was nice, answered my questions and went back to the ring.

Ivani : What was your impression about Russell, after the shooting?

Pedro : Russell was different than I had imagined, besides being the main actor, he actively participated in the direction of the movie, motivating everybody to act according to the story. He was very professional and I noticed that he has a good sense of humour when I saw that between takes he laughed as he played with the other actors.

Ivani : You said that you had been invited for more scenes but perhaps it wouldn't be possible because you had already other commitments. Will you really not be able to participate anymore?

Pedro : Despite the long wait and a very tiring day, I liked working on this movie and I would like to participate in many more. Unfortunately, I am, once more, in one of those moments when I am very busy professionally. Weeks after my initial shootings I received a phone call to come back for further scenes, but I will be very busy until the end of this year so I had to decline. In January I'm thinking of going to Brazil for vacations but who knows I won't find another opportunity
ike this one?

(This interview was translated from Portuguese).

Ivani