Felipe Camargo remembers rejection and says he lacked maturity when he saw success

Globo’s successful 1980s miniseries, “Golden Years” premieres on the Globoplay platform this Monday (9). Protagonist of the plot alongside Malu Mader, actor Felipe Camargo, 61, remembers that he was not mature enough to endure the radical turn his life took with stardom.

One week he was a 26-year-old theater actor, unknown to the general public, and the next he was heading the main project of the largest broadcaster in the country. All these spotlights and harassment from the fans, who always went crazy when he left the sea in Ipanema, messed with his head a lot.

“At Christmas, we always had the family together at home. There were some uncles I saw very little. Then I got home and I remember an aunt asking for an autograph. ‘But, aunt, we’ve known each other since we were little.’ I saw through these things how everything in my life had changed,” he recalls.

It was from Marcos that characters of weight and size on TV came. Camargo fondly remembers “Roda de Fogo” (1986), where he played opposite Tarcísio Meira [1935-2021], “Mandala” (1987), “Parting Bachelor” (1992), as well as films. “‘Golden Years’ put me on another level”, highlights the actor, who, in the midst of big projects, still married Vera Fischer, 70, with whom he has a son.

Now, he is celebrating 40 years in the profession and opens the game about career rejections, the departure from soap operas, the day he was “saved” from leaving the country after receiving a call from director Fernando Meirelles and talking about the new project for Disney+ which he says is one of the coolest things he’s ever done.

“I’ve lived a long time, but I still have a lot to live for. I’m grateful for 40 years in the profession, I learned a lot, sometimes the hard way, but I don’t feel consecrated”, he says. Read edited excerpts from the interview given to F5.

What are your main memories of “Golden Years” that comes to Globoplay?

This miniseries has only 20 chapters. I have many memories and all of them are very good, as she was a watershed in my personal and professional life. I started my acting career in 1982 and until this premiere of ‘Golden Years’ I was in the theater, with little notoriety. And when I found myself the protagonist of my first work on TV I started to be known all over the country, it was a radical change. It was a magnificent work by Gilberto Braga [1945-2021] and directed by Roberto Tauma [1949-2015]. With actors like Taumaturgo Ferreira, Malu Mader and Isabela Garcia, with whom I have ties to this day.

You started, overnight, to have legions of fans. What was it like at the time?

My private life has completely changed, as I didn’t leave the theater to do a cameo on TV. I was the protagonist of the most successful series in Brazil to date. I say this calmly, because it is the most reprized, the most sold. I remember a funny story from that time. I used to go to the beach a lot, I lived in Ipanema with my father. One day I went for a swim and when I came back from the water there were about 15 girls in a line shouting: ‘it’s him, it’s him’. I got scared and went back to the sea and went swimming away. He wasn’t used to fan harassment. My personal life has been transformed after ‘Golden Years’.

Are there other stories like this that happened to you?

At Christmas, we always gathered the family at home. There were uncles that I saw little. So I got home and I remember an aunt asking for an autograph. ‘But, Auntie, we’ve known each other since we were little’. So it is. I saw through these things how everything in my life had changed. I became Felipe Camargo from TV, a well-known actor. It was all of a sudden and I didn’t have the maturity to live with it. I was a Globo bet that wanted new faces.

How do you define your character Marcos and the plot?

She talks about love and is a kind of Romeo and Juliet. Two families, one upper middle class and the other (mine) lower class. Marcos was the son of divorced parents. In the 1950s, this was prejudiced. A divorced woman was almost a prostitute. And she didn’t fit in the head of Lurdinha’s family [Malu Mader, seu par romântico] for her to have a relationship with the son of a divorced couple. A conflict of the impediment is created that makes them fight for that love.

If we can draw a parallel, the character was rejected by his in-laws. Have you ever been rejected in your career?

I’ve had very difficult times, not receiving invitations to work, and it’s terrible. In 2022 I complete 40 years of profession, it’s a life, and this life is not in a straight line. Being an actor in this country is complicated, especially with a government that does not value culture. I saw a lot of people who stayed by the way, who abandoned or who went to try another branch. It’s not nice to feel rejection, but I had to work through it. I would never abandon what I do even in difficult times.

Was there a time when you felt valued and encouraged in the meantime?

There was a phase when I wanted to leave Brazil, go to the United States, study English. I had been out of work for a year. There were only things that I didn’t think were cool. But life is crazy. When I was literally packed, the [diretor] Fernando Meirelles called me. I thought it was a prank. He said he had a job for me as the lead in a series. It was ‘Sound & Fury’ (2009). This life is crazy and sometimes good things paint.

Your last soap opera was “Espelho da Vida”, in 2018. Did you distance yourself from them by choice or lack of invitation?

I even received an invitation to this 6 pm soap opera, ‘Beyond Illusion’, but there were many changes in direction and it ended up not happening. Globo entered with a policy of works by certain work and at the moment I am not hired. But I want to work, these streamings came to add up and opened the market. What counts most for me to accept a project is the character, and it can be in a play, series, film, streaming or soap opera.

Do you have new projects on streaming? Can you talk about them?

I recorded a series for Disney+ called ‘The Holy Cursed’ and it’s scheduled to premiere this year. I’m her protagonist. And I can say for sure: this was one of the best characters I’ve ever played in my life. I’m living a nice moment with the possibility of a second season. And this work appeared in the pandemic, so I feel blessed.

How is your character?

He is a cram school teacher and writer who falls in love with an underage student. The college discovers this case and sends him away. But the two marry and have a daughter. He is a staunch atheist and then his wife has an accident and is hospitalized. At that moment, something happens that I can’t say that everyone starts to think that my character works miracles. Then, a pastor offers me some money to do services in an evangelical church.

In these 40 years of career and with almost 62 of life, what assessment do you make of your trajectory until today?

I believe I am an insistent. Our profession depends more on dedication than on talent and we have to have a vocation. I did things I’m very proud of, like ‘Anos Dourados’ and my first play, ‘Capitães de Areia’. But I’ve also taken on a lot of bad work that I see today that they helped me to have strength and evolve. I have a legal recognition, but that doesn’t matter, because I only think about doing the next job well.

Would you say, then, that your trajectory is just beginning?

I did things I loved, I hated, I met cool people, others that weren’t cool at all, some whose friendship continues to this day. Now I enter a job with the freshness of someone just starting out. If there are people who don’t like my work, I will value those who do. Criticism… whoever does it is sometimes right, but at other times the guy didn’t understand what I did. I’ve lived a long time, but I still have a lot to live for. I am grateful for 40 years of profession, I learned a lot, sometimes the hard way, but I don’t feel consecrated.