Juan Pablo Raba prefers to explore the gray areas of his characters because he dislikes extremes. The Colombian actor, born on January 14, 1997, in Bogotá, also dislikes the horror genre, always so disturbing, but he decided to tackle it to honor both the art form and a great friendship.
Remembered and loved in the country for his work in several national soap operas, Raba stands up to fear, on and off the screen, in the internationally produced film El Silbón, which premieres this Thursday, September 24.
Directed by Venezuelan Diego Velasco and filmed in English and Spanish, the film is based on the well-known and fearsome legend of the Venezuelan plains, also known in the plains of the neighboring country. The plot follows Sebastián Castillo (Raba), a man who, after the death of his father, returns from the United States to Venezuela with his wife Nicole (Diane Guerrero). The couple goes through a difficult time after the departure of their young daughter Daniela.
—How did you get involved in this project if you don't like horror?
—Diego (Velasco) is like a brother to me, and we'd been wanting to work together for a long time, to do something together. He's not just a director I admire; he's a person I like. He literally said to me, 'Look, I've wanted to make this film for a while now, and I've always thought of you for this role. Would you be interested?' Orson Welles said that you should work with friends, that he wasn't ashamed to say he worked with friends, and that he would hire them a thousand times over. And after so many years working in this field, I realize that's the truth. Working with friends is truly wonderful.
Projects come and go, but what ends up happening in the industry with friends is always magical. So, I never had any doubts, even though I don't like the genre, even though I hadn't done it before. Even though I don't watch scary movies, horror movies of any kind, well, this opportunity came to me and of course we're going to do it, but just once. Okay.
—And did you know the legend of El Silbón? It's known in Colombia; we share it, like we share many things. I think it's different, but I'm no expert on the subject. Like I said, I don't like anything related to scary stories, so I didn't know about it either. I consider myself a very thorough actor when I research my characters, but in this case, since my character didn't know anything about the legend, I didn't either. So, I'm not interested in learning much more than I already know.
—How did you create such a complex character who is going through two such intense periods of grief?
"There are many characters I create to accompany other characters, and that's what I focus on. I think that by creating this character, I concentrated on the person who provides support; who accompanies his wife in her grief, his mother in her grief. Doing that, I've often found very personal things I can work with. This time, I focused on creating that person you can trust, who will do everything possible to make you feel better."
—How would you describe it, apart from what has already been mentioned?
—I think he's one of those people who can solve even things he's not prepared for. And in that sense, I think he's what we'd call a true Venezuelan... or a Colombian. I think we have and share something very beautiful in our countries: we overcome everything. That's in our cultures. The way forward is the way forward.
—What would you like the audience to take away from this film? Look, right now, especially in Venezuela and Colombia, after what we went through in June and August… I really want to invite you to spend a little time thinking about other things, you know? Ultimately, the main goal of cinema is to entertain, and that's what it's all about, so, hopefully you can join us so you can think about other things for a little while, even if it's just for a little while, that would be a great gift.
—Does your dislike for horror stories have any reason, any origin?
—It scares me a lot; I really can imagine it. I get very involved in the stories, so, well, I get scared.
I mean, I'm the perfect audience; I scream and kick and cover my eyes, I mean, it scares me.
—With such a varied career, how do you choose your characters?
—I like being able to tell a story, and I like the character to have an introduction, a development, and a resolution. I like them to be complex, multidimensional. I prefer to explore the gray areas; I don't like things black and white, I don't like extremes. So, I like them to be challenging and to have to resolve issues related to the character. I think there's always a lot to resolve in this art form… In fact, I like it when I don't even see the character clearly at first.
—Do you have any projects currently in preparation?
—I'm still doing the podcast 'Men Do Cry' (Spotify, YouTube) and I'm waiting for the start date for filming the second season of 'Dutton Ranch' (a spin-off of the series 'Yellowstone'). And well, actors, even when we're working, are always looking for work. So I'm still doing auditions and developing a couple of projects I'm getting off the ground.
