Flora Borrego: “Adriana has been the voice for key messages to women”

Adriana is a wonderful character. And that is one thing she and Flora Borrego have in common. This young actress plays the role of a newly graduated engineer in the soap opera Asuntos Pendientes. When I suggested her to do the interview via WhatsApp, having into account that she is like a restless, hard-working ant, she rather found a time in her busy schedule and we did in-person. As soon as we started talking, I realized that it had been the best decision. As in real life, or at least in the soap opera, this young girl speaks with her eyes, those expressions on her face, her gestures…

If, by any chance, the interview tackles Bruno and Adriana’s disagreements, Flora unleashes and defends her character: “Just as Andro Díaz has a group of female fans, who support him no matter what, then Adriana is the one to blame and it is not that way. That relationship is alive thanks to Adriana as she was pretty sure of what she wanted. He did not.”

—And now I write about it and you read it so easily, but you need to see the vehemence with which she just said it. A special bond between you and the character you play?

—I could say yes and take advantage of it, but the same happens with all characters I play. It is a total and resounding sense of belonging with each character I play. I understand even the bad traits. I don't justify it because I have nothing to justify. People are the way they are. It may happen even with family where there may be four siblings and none behaves the same way. They are all different, and you accept it because it is your family and you respect and love them, the same thing happens with my characters. The characters are like children, not all of them are the way you want them to be, but still you love each of them.

—But are there converging points between Flora and Adriana?

—A 40% yes, 60% no. For example, on Adriana's birthday, Flora would have left with Bruno because what her father did to her was embarrassing. Flora Borrego would have left with Bruno and would have been on the side of what she believes it is fair, Adriana stayed. I still understand her, because she's actually tired, exhausted and she doesn't know who to believe because it's dad failing her, Bruno telling her that he's never going to be able to give her a life full of luxuries, after she's gone into a vacant lot, and faced with crime. She has seen things she was not used to see. She was threatened by the character of El Nene, so she no longer admits that, at this point, even when she left her home and learned how to fly by herself, he tells her: "I'm never going to be the man for you." The girl has shown that material stuffs have never been her motive.

—How did you get into Asuntos Pendientes?

—Via casting. They called and asked me if I would like to do the casting and I, of course, said yes. I had already given up a little bit on the casting stuff because I have not done many, on the contrary. So when people asked me why it took me so long to be involved in a soap opera, well I always said it is all my responsibility. I have not been that actress with so many casting on her bag. But this time the casting was targeting a special goal. They already had the parents in brilliant actors Indira and Ulyk, who formed a mix-raced family, so they were looking for mix-raced actresses, which was excellent for me. It always happens to me that I am not either a white girl or a mulatto woman.

—Once you find out you will play the character and begin to studying it, what elements connected you with Adriana?

—Look, I didn't know Adriana’s character would play the leading role. I get very nervous at castings and I'm sure there was an assistant director who gave me the right information, but I was very nervous and the only thing I understood was that I had to study a scene, that I was going to do my casting with Ulyk Anello, that's already a plus, because he's an actor I admire and respect, with a wonderful career. So, after they appointed me with the character, I started reading the script. I talked to myself and say: “This girl is involved in lots of scene…” and that’s where an assistant director told me: "of course, she's one of the protagonists,” and that challenge scared me a lot, but I like to face all challenges.

The other challenge, well, I am far from being a civil engineer so I had to study a lot. I had to read up lots of stuff and take some advices from great experts in the field. I always said that science women are different from humanistic women and women linked to art. Science women are more practical, more objective either in love, life, family, their children. They have an enormous sense of objectivity. Women linked to art is another story. We are more attached to romantic stuffs, poetry, and that posted a huge challenge. Therefore, some Adriana’s actions came from all these.

That’s what captivated me the most from Adriana. She was, in this regard, the opposite of Flora. We are somehow very alike, but we are pretty much different. I am more passionate woman than Adriana is. She remains in silence sometimes. Flora would never hide her feelings; I have this flaw. Flora is an emotional ticking bomb while Adriana is calmer. There are times where she remains in silence because she believes it is better, and Flora is always thinking the way she is going to tell her story for there to be justice. We have a different approach.

—What about the exchange with people on the streets, on social networks, do they advise you, suggest you anything?

—They don't give me much advice; they already take things for granted. They claim me especially now. But I will defend Adriana with all I have until the last episode number 80. It looks like she is naïve, but she is not. She knows that her father is manipulative and a controller, yes, and every time she has had to face him, she has faced him. But the true essence of Cosme, she does not know about it. So it has been rough weeks as the public is not as great with Adriana as before. They are even annoyed, but there has been a very varied response and that is nice, because it has been consistent with the transition of the character, who is not black or white. She has not been pinky. She is not the princess of the soap opera...It has had many nuances...

So yes, I have had a wonderful response, very varied, an audience that has loved Flora Borrego since forever, from the very beginning, but Adriana has polarized the public.

—What about working with Andro?

—We two made good chemistry because chemistry was born alone. That is, we didn't know each other from anywhere, it was the first time we had seen each other. We respect each other a lot from colleague to colleague. He had a girlfriend on set, he was in a very nice relationship, with a lot of emotional responsibility. I'm telling you this because we saw what a cute couple they were and because, logically, he spent a lot of time with her and we only saw each other when it was time to rehearse and to do the scene, it was not like with Belissa, with Joel Casanova, with Yía Caamaño, that we sat together at lunch, during breaks. We did not have those spaces to exchange, to get to know each other better and even so, when they said action, magic blossomed. I don't know how, but we had it figured out.

We were good colleagues and now we are great friends, because after the soap opera we have had to work a lot together, at the public’s request.

—We have read about some of that work on social networks. How did the idea come up?

—It was something that we wanted to happen, but it was uncertain. One thought "let's see if they connect or not," especially after our relationship in the soap opera, which was like Romeo and Juliet, amid a pandemic filming where self-distancing was essential. How do I kiss you with my eyes? How do I hug you with my eyes? How do I show you my love with my eyes? There was no physical contact that made our life easier.

Everything you have seen on social networks is the result of the public’s acceptance to our work together. And we saw it the first day we walked together after the soap opera was aired. We had an interview with Barbara Sanchez Novoa and it was the first time we were together on the street. He had walked alone, I did it as well, and the impact was nice. The people approached to you. But when they saw us together, the reaction was great. This, added to the reaction of people on social networks, led us to produce something for those people who cannot see us on the street as they are in other provinces. The experience has been beautiful. The acceptance has been wonderful.

It was an Andro Díaz’s idea, Pop Studio, who are two guys who do most of the visual work on the social networks and I, we are a family. The idea, at first, was mainly Andro's, but because it was already a need that the four of us felt, because even the guys from the photography studio were seeing the reaction that the photos were having, the reels of us.

—Do you watch the soap opera?

—Every single day, hahaha.

—And are you pleased with what you watch on TV?

—I have gone through several processes because I did not know how to watch myself. The day the episode of the series I worked, or the short series, or the teleplay, is being aired, I was scared to watch my work. Well, I have had to learn to watch myself with Adriana as the soap opera is divided in 80 episodes. You always say: more could have been done. The day you feel completely happy with your work, then you shall review yourself as an artist. But I am happy, and above all, calm. Adriana has been the voice of paramount messages for women, especially in the last episodes.

It is a pleasure. We actors and actresses, cannot find the cure against cancer. We cannot be part of these resounding actions. But we do, throughout art, contribute with our message. A lot of women call me every day on the street and say: thank you, I have been on Adriana's feet. I have been on practice at work and I have only made coffee, or I have had to face my father and I have not done it. Adriana always tries to implement that female strength. She is empowered by nature.

FLORA BORREGO BEFORE AND AFTER ADRIANA

—When did you decide acting was going to be your professional career?

—I will be always grateful to my mom. She was the one who realized acting could be the way. I liked dancing, modeling, singing, I mean, everything related to a direct contact with the public through art. But my mom realized that me and drama had a special connection. I always played and scared her as I pretended to pass out in the hall; for instance, I watch the TV program De La Gran Escena, and I staged everything.

It was my mom who enrolled me in the recruitment cycles of the National School of Art (ENA). And I must say I was tricked as I had huge respect for those tests. I went there thinking it was some tests on differ art expressions but no, when I was there, one of the professor said: do not stretch your body that much and spend your time reviewing your poem and a song. Here we do acting tests. So I turned to my mom and said: mom, these are acting tests, and she replied, yes, I know my girl, but if I told you, you will not be going to come, right? And so it began. I spent one year in a low profile trying to understand if it was what I wanted. I liked everything. But I still casted some doubts. Once I was in third school year, with Verse Drama and Psychological Drama, two completely distant terms, which demanded high level of concentration and an in-depth analysis of characters, that was it!

I had a tremendous support by professors like Ileana Chávez, Corina Mestre, a very nice staff who led me through the whole process and so I realized that acting is my life.

—Is Adriana your first major character on TV?

—I could say so, but it would not be fair. In the first teleplay I did, I did the leading role. But there is also one truth, soap opera is aired on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so audience is high. There it is the importance of soap operas. I said soap operas put you on the map. Then, if you add to this fact a magnificent direction as the one we had under Felo Ruiz, a wonderful director who was all the time by our side, then the result of all of it is the Adriana character you are watching.

—We watched you, for instance, in the short series Promesas, where you impersonated a young nurse and the audience loved her…

—I have been lucky. With every single role I have played, a video clip, or whatever, the audience has always supported me. I have been blessed in this regard.

—Immediate projects?

—Right now, I'm working on short projects. But they keep me dreaming because music is very present and I also owe it to Adriana, because it started with that character, with Felo Ruiz, with Teresa Janet, who was the musical director of the novel and gave me the opportunity to sing a song Tengo mi razón para quererte. I don't want to say much more, at least not yet. But the project has to do with music, with singing…

—Any character you would like to play?

—I have a debt and my dreamed character. The debt: I would like something like Chala in the film Conducta, adult, I need to enter that area, in that public that has such powerful stories to tell. Film directors like Daranas have made a very beautiful space for them, in style, with pride, and I would like to be part of it, of telling a character from that world, with those stories, with those strong psychological profiles and the dream is the female version of Achilles: a warrior.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff