Rising star

While half of L.A. residents dream of getting a stint at the movies, Brazilian Marcelo Florião has had his share of the Hollywood dream. He is been producing and writing smaller plays and films while drafting the big American movie.

Cristina M. Leibscher

Movies are his primary passion. A talented, charismatic and humorous Brazilian, Marcelo Florião has come a long way. Today he's a successful screenwriter and he's now on his way to producing his own movies. Marcelo was born and raised in Rio Comprido, a small suburb of Rio de Janeiro. Fourteen years ago he dreamed of coming to the United States to study film.

His passion for film began very early during his adolescence. He occupied his time by watching American movies and eventually became fascinated with cinema. He loved American Film so much that he realized he had to come to Los Angeles and immerse himself in American Cinema.

"I am first, second and lastly a filmoriented person," he says, "having seen about 7,000 films, from the silents through my favorite decade, the 30's, to the present."

Today Florião has accomplished not only his aspiration of studying film in L. A. but also the dream of actually writing and producing his own movies and plays. He received a master's degree in Film and TV Arts from Columbia College in L.A., however, his main interest is writing screenplays. "Basically I am interested in a wide range of subjects both Brazilian and American," he notes, adding, "I also love European movies and I would say that I'm very influenced by Hollywood films as well as European films."

One of his previous projects included Autobiography of a Star, a play starring British actress Catherine McGoohan. Written and produced by Florião in 1994, the play is about the ups and downs of a Hollywood star who reviews her life as she writes her own autobiography. "I first wrote this play in Portuguese for Marília Pera (a prominent Brazilian actress, producer and director) who suggested many script changes for production in Brazil, though it never became reality," he laments.

Florião has also written several screenplay adaptations such as Prisoner of Rio, a Polish/Brazilian film shot in Rio in 1987 about British Ronald Biggs, of the "Great Train Robbery" fame, as well as the screenplay adaptation of The Prima Donna, a hit play in Rio being adapted for film production. "The play was originally written by Alcione Araújo, and it's about an opera singer with no talent who braves the hinterlands of Brazil to delight and disgust her audiences with her tragicomic tales and songs," he explains.

In addition, Florião translated into Portuguese and adapted for television two highly acclaimed Noel Coward plays: Waiting in the Wings and Present Laughter, also for Marília Pera. Other credits include a dozen additional unproduced screenplays.

Marcelo's current projects in production are Surprising Call and Joca Pivete. Surprising Call is a modern day Hitchcock style piece about three characters trapped in a nightmare of their own creation. The script was cowritten with Mineiro (from Minas Gerais state) Leonardo Veras who will also direct the movie with Florião, as a low budget film project to be shot in Los Angeles. Joca Pivete is based on a Brazilian book by Helvécio Siqueira e Silva. It's about a group of abandoned minors brought to a rural reform center where they struggle to reshape their lives. The film will be directed by Capixaba (from Espírito Santo state) Deonizio Pinto who will also produce it with Florião with the support of Pólo Cinema of Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo.

Despite all these accomplishments, Florião is still struggling for an opportunity in Hollywood. "This is a very hard business," he remarks. "In the beginning of my career I tried personally to deliver my scripts to big directors and stars, so I would attend Golden Globes and Academy Awards to meet people in the hopes that they would be interested in my scripts," he laughed. "Sometimes it worked, people would grab my scripts and even called me but it never got anywhere".

Marcelo also recalls the time when he worked in the offices of Hollywood producers and they constantly received scripts from well known actors and actresses. "People like Paul Newman and other huge stars were also trying to place their scripts just like I was so I realized that I was competing with Paul Newman trying to sell my scripts," he laughed. But the obstacles didn't stop Florião. Persistence is one of his greatest qualities.

However, writing and producing films and plays are not Marcelo's only talent. This gifted Carioca (from Rio) writer speaks seven languages, which he considers a "hobby." He's fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, German, English and Portuguese off course. "I have worked in jobs that required my use of these languages. First tourism for seven years, and now international film distribution, dealing with foreign clients."

Marcelo is interested in real life subjects and his favorite writers and producers are Woody Allen and Almodovar. "I like people-oriented films dealing with human nature and man's quest for selfknowledge and growth," he explains.

Marcelo resides in the Hollywood Hills and when he's not working he's either watching movies or talking about them. This L.A. resident of more than 14 years, who came from Brazil determined to pursue his dream, has shown his talent and the future looks very promising. We wish him well.