Sydney Sweeney (Anyone But You, Euphoria, The White Lotus) stars as Cecilia, an American nun of devout faith, embarking on a new journey in a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside. Cecilia’s warm welcome quickly devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear her new home harbours a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors.
As Immaculate scares it’s way into Australian cinemas on March 21, Nick L’Barrow had the chance to chat with Sydney Sweeney’s co-star, Alvaro Morte (Money Heist), who plays Father Sal Tedeschi in the film, about the scene he thinks audiences will love, and how his acting process changes between film and TV.
Nick: Thank you so much for your time!
Alvaro Morte: Thank you for the interview!
Nick: Immaculate has some genuinely scary moments, but a lot of the horror comes through themes that explore religious rulings over a woman’s body, or the skewed male-power dynamic. What do you feel it is about the horror genre that is an interesting vessel to explore these themes?
Alvaro Morte: Actually, that was one of the things that caught me to be in this project. Of course, I won’t lie to you, the first thing that helped me decide to be in the project was Sydney Sweeney! She is such an amazing actress, and I can tell now [after] working with her that she’s just so amazing.
But apart from that, they sent me the script and what I was really, really excited about is that it wasn’t just another horror movie. It’s a movie that talks about feminism, it talks about motherhood, it talks about a world of woman controlled by one man.
The movie talks about many things that nowadays are so important to put on the table and offer it to the audience, over to the people. We’re talking about the culture here! The movie is a way of the culture, and the culture is what we have to try and do better as a society.
So, it’s an entertaining movie, of course! People are going to have fun in the theatre. But to me, the main thing was that you’re gonna have fun, you’re gonna get scared, but then when you get out of the theatre with your friends, you go to a cafeteria or something, you have material to talk about, you know?
I don’t know if horror itself, in general, makes it easier to talk about these themes or not. I don’t know. But what I do know for sure is at least this movie offers us a path to be able to talk about these things.
Nick: You’ve done a lot of television work in your career, and you’ve had characters that you’ve spent 50, 60, even 90 episodes with! I’m curious to know if your acting process or how you evolve a character when it’s a character like Father Tedeschi, who you only have a finite amount of time with?
Alvaro Morte: The biggest difference between a movie and a series is that normally, in the movies, you know where your character arc is going. But a character in a series – I don’t know if you watched Money Heist, which is a series I did, but I began that performance and that character as an absolute nerd! Like a librarian! And then suddenly, they came with a script where I was performing martial arts. And I was like, “What the fuck?!”
So, you have to transform your acting, your performance, according to the script. Which was very interesting because I have many colleagues that suddenly get these scripts, and they say, “Oh my God! My character would never say this. My character would never do that!” But it’s brilliant because if it surprises you, it’s going to surprise the audience. Your work as an actor is to try make it something that could happen, make it natural, make that transition.
The difference with a movie is that you have the whole arc, so you can work specifically here and there because you know the information as you go. I wanted to make Father Tedeschi someone who what kind of in the middle of nowhere. He’s a guy who has a degree in biology, but he’s also a priest, which is like, in complete opposite worlds. I believe that he struggles with that a lot.
So, in the movie, I was able to make decisions about what world he was stepping into, the science or the faith. But, at the same time, I wanted to make it blurry. I didn’t want to make it clear with all the information because I believe it’s much more interesting if I give you questions instead of the answers. That’s what I wanted to do! Even though I know the whole arc, it’s much more interesting for you guys who are going to watch it.
There are some great set pieces, great scares, and kills. Is there a particular scene or set piece that you’re really looking forward for audience to see in the cinema?
Alvaro Morte: I mean, there are many, many moments! When I belong to a project, I never look at my work. That would be kind of selfish, and I’m not that guy! So, I would actually never talk about one of my scenes!
But I think there is a scene that I love very much. The very last scene of the movie. It was done in just one take. Wow. But that’s what I told you Sydney Sweeney is just amazing. I think it’s a brilliant decision of the director [Michael Mohan], and it is absolutely, amazingly performed by Sydney. It has such a mix of feelings that I consider is the best one [scene] of the movie!
Nick: You mentioned Father Tedeschi’s studying of biology before he became a priest, and how different those worlds are! I’m curious as to whether there was an acting equivalent for you. Was there ever a different career path before pursuing acting?
Alvaro Morte: I actually began studying telecommunication engineering! I love science. I love science! I do believe the most intelligent people in the world are the ancient Greeks, and the people from the Renaissance, you know! People like Pythagoras, and Leonardo da Vinci who was also an engineer!
I am not saying I am that intelligent! But for me, it makes sense [of] my life. It makes me balanced, to be in both the worlds of the arts and science and technology.
I was studying telecommunication engineering in Canary Island in Spain, and suddenly theatre came across my life and I changed the path, like Father Tedeschi. And the key was faith. My faith wasn’t God, but it was the theatre. And I followed that path, and I think it worked!
Thank you to Alvaro Morte for his time, and to Rialto Distribution and NedCo PR for organsing the interview! Immaculate is in cinemas March 21.
