Pablo O. Scholz
08/20/2021 7:00
Clarín.com
Shows
Cinema
Updated 08/20/2021 8:24 AM
Of course, it is not the same to see it up close than through a Zoom screen.
But it still impresses.
And if
you look closely
at Jason Momoa, Khal Drogo in
Game of Thrones
, and
Aquaman
for DC, you can see the three moles on the side of the left eye, and two scars on that same side of his face (one cuts him the eyebrow).
It was the result of a cut to the face with a broken beer glass at the Birds Cafe in Hollywood in 2008. He was awarded 140 points in reconstructive surgery and the assailant received five years in prison.
It is easier to notice his hair and long beard, and his multiple tattoos that he has on his arms (the one on the left represents a guardian spirit that returned in the form of a shark after dying; it is the shield of his family) and even in his chest.
Jason Momoa in "Sweet Girl".
"I would not do many things that my character does," he confessed to Clarín.
Netflix photo
Joseph Jason Namakaeha Momoa is also 42 years old, wife (actress Lisa Bonet, the young woman from
Alan Parker's
Satanic Heart
;
High Fidelity
), two children, Lola Iolani (14) and Nakoa-Wolf (12), an important selection of guitars at home and a production company, Pride of Gypsies, with which he started directing short films in the beginning.
Jason Momoa with his wife, actress Lisa Bonet.
He is the stepfather of Zoë Kravitz.
Photo Clarín Archive
The exclusive interview with
Clarín
is for the premiere, this Friday, August 20, of
Sweet Girl
, a
Netflix
production
that questions the pharmaceutical company, and in which her character, along with her daughter (Isabela Merced, from
Dora , the explorer
) tries to avenge the death, by cancer, of his wife.
-Jason, what do you know about Argentina?
-What I know is that I want to "go down" there because Patagonia is one of my favorite places on Earth.
I was just telling someone about it, that's why I want to go to Argentina, it's supposed to be beautiful, and they have a beautiful city, with a European aspect, too.
Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo, or Emilia Clarke and Momoa, in "Game of Thrones."
Photo Clarín Archive
Momoa - in Polynesian, the word "momoa" means dry - did not have a good time after the success of
Game of Thrones
.
He couldn't get a job, and he had to manage as best he could to support his wife and children.
But already in 2017 for acting in
Justice League he made
$ 4 million.
The following year, to star in
Aquaman
, he received 14 million.
And it is known that after "the
Black Widow
effect
" (the lawsuit that Scarlett Johansson made to Disney claiming that it lost 50 million dollars in profit when the film was released in parallel in streaming and in theaters), Jason have a compensation clause in case Warner did the same with HBO Max.
Filming with his friend, director Brian Andrew Mendoza, with whom he has his production company Pride of Gypsies.
Netflix photo
-Before “Game of Thrones” you founded a production company with your best friend, Brian Andrew Mendoza, and started directing short films. And now, on “Sweet Girl”, you go back to working with Mendoza. Was it your idea to carry out this project?
-Yes, in good part. Gregg Hurwitz brought us this script and we were interviewing directors. And then I looked at Brian and I said, why don't you do it, buddy? It's just me and it's exactly what we do. I am here for you. It is time for you to do it. I believed in it from the beginning and I knew it was going to be something that… I knew it was going to be at this level. So this is the movie that I put the most heart and everything in, in addition to my first movie that I directed (
Road to Paloma
, 2014).
I produce this one, and I have never had such a fluid production.
Each member of the cast was chosen by us, because we wanted him.
The filming locations were perfect.
The subject was amazing.
Our acting, our actors are perfect.
So it's really a dream come true.
And I must tell Netflix that this is the hardest thing I would ever work for anyone.
So he's my best friend and this is a very exciting project.
Isabela Merced, of Peruvian origin, is his daughter in fiction.
Netflix photo
-And which scene from “Sweet Girl” was your favorite when filming it?
-It's very difficult to say which one is my favorite, but I mean, I think that as an actor, the most challenging scene is the one that, you know, I was looking at Adria (Arjona), who was a beautiful and incredible woman, who entered the Film just for a few moments to really set the tone. I needed a woman that the public could believe, who would believe that we've been married for years, and then when our baby sings to her ... And since my wife is dying of cancer, that scene is ...
Just when I was talking to Brian, it was written that I had to stay there alone, and I just couldn't do it, and you know, I feel… And I was talking about this before, that my dad could never do it.
My dad would never cry around me.
And I felt like I wasn't paddling in the middle of the ocean.
And then I felt like I didn't want to do it in front of Isabela.
I wish I would get out of the room, and I did.
And that's why my heart was very torn.
Cooper faces the death of his wife, and with his daughter he tries to make the businessman who delayed the drug that would save his life pay.
Netflix photo
Born in Hawaii but raised in Iowa, he is 1.93m tall, 3cm shorter than Dwayne Johnson claims to be.
Jason is the stepfather of Zoë Kravitz, the daughter his wife had with musician Lenny Kravitz.
-You have the presence of an action hero, but with a look between tender and sensitive. How did you build Cooper?
-How did I build Cooper?
God, I don't know.
I don't know how to answer that question.
I apologize.
Me…
Momoa prefers mountain climbing and sports than "wasting time" at the gym.
Netflix photo
-It's okay. Cooper, your character in "Sweet Girl", seems to reach an extreme decision, but what would you do in a similar situation? Or what things blow your mind?
Well, I wouldn't do the things Cooper did, but I wouldn't do a lot of things my characters do either.
So I find it interesting to play those kinds of characters that take that level, you know, even the act of tragedy and horror that she and I went through when we saw her mother die.
I have never been through a great tragedy.
My grandparents, my mother and my father, my people are still alive in my close family.
So even getting to those places was a huge challenge for me as an actor.
So that was an experience.
I hope that answers your question.
In his scant spare time, when not engaged in Buddhist studies, he enjoys climbing and mountain biking, snowboarding, skateboarding, and even roller hockey.
Momoa wanted to be a marine biologist.
"My first love is with nature, I try to change some things. And instead of complaining, I like to do."
Netflix photo
-On the screen you can have the bearing of a warrior, but in your life you are an entrepreneur, an activist, a man concerned about nature. And not many people know. Can you tell us something about that?
-Well, I think my first love is with nature, and wanting to impose environmental studies.
I went to school, I wanted to be a marine biologist and a wildlife biologist.
So I feel, I think nature found me, and then I fell in love with the process and, you know, it was a long struggle.
And twenty-three years later, I'm on a podium and I can really make a difference and try to change a few things.
And instead of complaining about it, I like to do it.
I love helping and fighting for a cause that I believe in.
His fight with a journalist from The New York Times
A question about the sexual assault scene in the first season of "Game of Thrones" pissed him off.
HBO photo
Momoa played
Khal Drogo
in the first season of
Game of Thrones
, who abuses his wife Denerys (Emilia Clarke) on their wedding night.
And a recent
New York Times
interview
ended in the worst way.
The question in question was: “I don't know how long this all went on, but 'Game of Thrones' inspired a lot of discussion about its depiction of sexual assault scenes and its treatment of women in general.
Do you think differently about those scenes today?
Do you have any regrets? ... "
With Emilia Clarke in "Game of Thrones".
HBO photo
The answer: “Well, it was important to represent Drogo and his style.
You are playing someone who is like Genghis Khan.
It was a very, very difficult thing to do.
But my job was to play something like that, and it's not pretty at all, and that's what that character was.
It's not my job to say, "Wouldn't I?"
Actually, I've never been asked about "Do you regret playing a role?"
We'll put it this way: I already did.
I would not do it again.
To close, Momoa tells the journalist: “I was discouraged when you asked me that.
It feels disgusting… It is a question that feels disgusting.
I just wanted you to know it".
The sequel to "Aquaman" is already filming.
And it has several titles, such as "Duna", to be released shortly.
Photo WB
Everything to come
Jason is in the middle of filming
Aquaman 2
, to be released in December 2022, directed by James Wan (
The Conjuring
).
Much earlier, this October we will see him in
Denis Villeneuve's
Duna
as Duncan Idaho, who serves Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet).
He has finished shooting the western
The Last Manhunt
, whose story he co-wrote.
He also shot
Slumberland
, a Francis Lawrence (
I Am Legend
)
family comedy
, and it is rumored that he will remake
Cliffhanger (Total Risk)
as the mountaineer that was Sylvester Stallone.
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