Mexican actress Lucero during the premiere of the series “El gallo de oro” in Mexico City on October 17. Media and Media (Getty Images)
“Big eyes, a snub nose, a little mouth that I love,” sings the amazed teenager Pedro Fernández in the role of Pablo to 14-year-old Lucero. The scene, shot in a forest, corresponds to the 1983 film “Coqueta” – one of Televisa’s best received and most popular productions – in which both singers and actors were the protagonists. 40 years later, Lucero Hogaza León, better known and remembered by the Mexican family as Lucerito because she began her career at the age of 10 in children’s programs such as Chiquilladas, retains the description of the song on her smiling face, as if the time and die Idyll with its audience was timeless.
Now, more than 10 years after her last participation in the soap opera Por ella soy Eva (2012), the so-called “girlfriend of America” returns to the screen in the role of Bernarda Cutiño, La Caponera, in El gallo de oro, a series , which is inspired by the novel of the same name by the writer Juan Rulfo. Lucero, she says, was looking for a character similar to what she had done with iconic characters in successful and unforgettable productions such as “Lazos de amor” (1995) or “Soy tu dueña” (2010), in which the Actress played women in different areas of interpretation.
“I fell in love with nothing, nothing. Nothing captivated me enough to keep me coming back until Juan Rulfo introduced me to this story, which I found extremely attractive and very interesting. It is not the same version that we have seen on other occasions with The Golden Rooster. This is a unique and exclusive place where people discover things that aren’t even in the book. It’s a great project to return to the screen,” says the actress.
Lucero, in a promotional image of “El gallo de oro”.Alberto Oviedo
Rulfo’s novel was written between 1956 and 1958, but was first published in 1980. Before its release, it was used by Gabriel García Márquez and Carlos Fuentes for the screenplay of a Mexican film of the same name directed by Roberto Gavaldón, which was released in 1964. Likewise, in 1986, Arturo Ripstein directed his own version of the story in a film entitled “The Empire of Fortune.” According to the synopsis of the 10-part series, it is set in 1940s Mexico and follows Dionisio Pinzón, a shy town crier whose passion is cockfighting, who falls in love with Bernarda, known as La Caponera, a sensual and impulsive woman who makes a living earned by traveling through the cities of Mexico and singing at palenques (fairs). The meeting of the two will change their happiness forever.
“It wasn’t easy at all to develop the character because this woman is really very different. He speaks differently, he curses. She behaves completely differently than me, she is a woman who drinks tequilas and sings because she just feels free. He fights when he has to fight and doesn’t accept things just because society says so. She is a woman who is very much ahead of her time. For women today, she is like a hero,” says Lucero.
Along with his co-stars, including actors such as José Ron, Plutarco Haza and Luis Felipe Tovar, Lucero spent 20 weeks away from home filming in San Luis de Potosí and Hidalgo. She admits that after so long without the cameras and demands of a television, it was difficult for her to be separated from her children Lucero Mijares and José Manuel Mijares, the result of her 14-year marriage to the Mexican singer Popularly known as Mijares. The actress says that she can no longer say yes to any character. He is not conformist. He has become more demanding when it comes to selecting his players. His experience climbing levels and seeing the results he has achieved with audiences over the years is the reason why he has always demanded more of himself.
“You can’t say yes to a character because they’re cute or kind; or being confronted with a story that has many flaws but is “beautiful.” At a certain point you start to round everything out so that everything really has weight, that it fits well with what you’re longing for. You always have to evolve, take steps forward and not take steps back,” says the actress.
Lucero and José Ron, protagonists of the series “El gallo de oro”.alberto oviedo
Lucero, who, in addition to acting, has built a musical career with more than 30 albums and successful singles such as Ya no or Electricidad, this year 2023 celebrates the 40th anniversary of his first album Te prometo and his first leading role in the cinema, Coqueta. This year also marks 30 years since the first TVyNovelas award, which he received for his leading role in “Los relatives poor” (1993). Lucerito, as many still call her, has witnessed the changes and evolution of female characters in the Mexican audiovisual industry. “The world has woken up and women have a different agenda,” she says.
“When I was very young, the female characters were naive women. Now they obviously have more courage and courage to confront and confront injustice. There is a development in the characters, like in La Caponera, because even though it is from that period, it can be in the foreground. We need more strong female characters who are role models for other women. I’m not saying that she is exemplary and that you have to be like her, but in fiction she becomes a hero for those women who try to please a rude neighbor or the man who kisses me every day on the bus or in the subway. Bahn attacks, to answer or to confront him. It’s very nice to be able to see this evolution among women in the world and through screens,” she concludes.
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