Raul or nothing
Music drama Raul Seixas: Eu Sou (Let Me Sing) charts the life of the musician and performer known as the ‘Brazilian Elvis.’ Co-creators Paulo Morelli and Pedro Morelli join star Ravel Andrade to talk about the legacy of Seixas and how they brought his life story to the screen.
He’s described as the father of Brazilian rock music, and even had a Google Doodle created to celebrate his life and work. Now an eight-part biopic about superstar Raul Seixas follows his rise to fame against the backdrop of his personal struggles and the political dictatorship in the 1970s and 80s.
Raul Seixas: Eu Sou (Let Me Sing) stars Ravel Andrade as the titular singer and composer, in a series that explores his cultural, political and spiritual influences as well as his personal and professional achievements and struggles.
Created by father-and-son team Paulo Morelli and Pedro Morelli, who also direct, it is produced by O2 Filmes for Brazilian streamer Globoplay. Following the show’s world premiere at French television festival Series Mania earlier this year, Let Me Sing is due to debut in Brazil on June 26.
Here, the Morellis discuss bringing Seixas’s story to the screen, while Andrade reflects on getting into character to play the real-life superstar.
Why did you want to tell the story of Raul Seixas?
Paulo Morelli: Raul Seixas has been part of my life since youth, and he shaped my perceptions. Brazilian music is so strong and diverse, and he brings something different from the other musicians – he brings rock ‘n’ roll. He’s called the father of rock ‘n’ roll in Brazil. He affected my view of music and my formation, and he affected my son as well, 30 years later. So when we were looking to do something about music, we thought about Raul, because he’s diverse, transgressive, chaotic and mystic. He is not easy to put in a box. He’s very interesting and represents the diversity of Brazil.
Is Raul still popular today or is it going be exciting for people to rediscover him and his music?
Pedro Morelli: This series is going to help the new generation to get to know him better, because he’s really huge. He’s kind of a Brazilian Elvis, but it’s been decades [since his death in 1989], so now a new generation will know who Raul is.
In Brazil, when you’re playing the guitar – and everybody in Brazil plays the guitar – it’s almost a cliché to say, ‘Toca Raul,’ which means ‘play Raul.’ Every time you’ve got a guitar, somebody’s gonna say toca Raul, so it’s like he’s everywhere.
His spirit and his music is part of Brazilian culture in a very deep way, and the most interesting thing about him is that he really lived what he was preaching. He was always talking about freedom and going against societal norms and people being square. He talked about and did that, and experimented with his own life, right until the end.
He was also outspoken against the political climate of the time.
Pedro Morelli: It was definitely a dictatorship [in Brazil]. Many artists were being killed or imprisoned and he was really brave.
Paulo Morelli: Like all artists [at that time], he had to find a way through his lyrics to say things in a way the dictatorship could not understand.
Ravel, what were your first thoughts about playing Raul Sexias?
Ravel Andrade: Raul is part of Brazilian culture. For people of many generations, he is an artist who really does not age. Today’s generation keep listening to Raul; their parents pass it to their children. But not as many young people listen to Raul, so we wanted to preserve his memory, and that’s why we did the series.
I have always had a strong relationship with music and lyrics. When I got the part, it was very important to my family, my parents, because Raul is an icon. It’s interesting to be able to act as this artist who is a walking metamorphosis, as he qualifies himself in his lyrics. He’s an artist who will never die, and it’s a privilege for me to be able to represent a person who will never die.
How did you prepare to play him on screen?
Andrade: It was a very hard job. Because he had a strong personality, he has a lot of tribute acts in Brazil, like Elvis. He had his own universe in Brazil, and he’s very mimicked – in our series, we have a story where people think he isn’t the real Raul.
I had to prepare my body, the way I walked; I had to learn all the music, playing guitar, singing his lyrics. His lyrics were huge because he was a philosopher. I had to learn about these ideas that were in his music, so I had to really dwell on the lyrics and learn them by heart.
It was huge work to attain his style. His way of thinking was very fertile and also very spiritual. He had his own way of seeing life, so there was some pressure, because Raul is an entity of his own. I wanted to represent Raul; for people to see Raul when they see the series. It was very demanding and I had to do lots of research.
The show moves back and forward through Raul’s life. What kind of story did you want to tell about him?
Paulo Morelli: Some people say you should choose just one period of time when making a biography, but we decided to tell the story from when he is 10 or 12 years old to his death. It’s his whole life depicted in eight episodes, because it’s so full of interesting moments, including his final moment, his burial.
But how do you avoid getting lost when doing this? We selected a thread to follow the story, and it’s about character. Raul creates a character, Raulzito, to become what he would like to be. But this very radical creature he’s created is a transgressor and goes to the end of possibilities. This creature destroys him at the same time that it immortalises him. So it’s the story of this creature getting bolder and bolder until it collapses the creator. It’s a story about a creature and its creator.
What did you want to cover beyond what the public may already know?
Paulo Morelli: We try to show various aspects of his life, not only the public one. We look at his family – five wives and three daughters with three of them. He has a very intense way of living; it’s not just the music and the shows. We try to depict something that people don’t know.
Paulo and Pedro, what was your partnership like as co-creators and directors?
Pedro Morelli: We are kind of used to it. We did a movie together, like 10 years ago – we co-directed a film. Now we’re prepping a new series we’ll shoot this year, so we never stop. It’s kind of never-ending.
We really got along and it’s a cool, collaborative creative process because we respect each other’s ideas. Making movies or series is all about collaboration. It’s a very collective art form. It’s all about taking the best of each other’s ideas and building it up. It doesn’t work well with everybody; you need to find a good partner. But every idea, even a bad idea, has something good in it or has some inspiration for something better. It’s all about trying to look at the other person’s idea from the right perspective.
What was your approach to filming and depicting the different time periods?
Paulo Morelli: We wanted to respect the creativity Raul brought to Brazilian culture, so we decided not to make a ‘square’ product. It needed to be bold – we had to be brave to try different things and not just follow the classical way of telling stories. Because Raul was like this; he was very creative and inventive, very different. He had a lot of kinds of music, not just rock ‘n’ roll, mixed with several influences. So we tried to bring his creativity to the project.
How did you work with the cast, and particularly with Ravel as Raul?
Pedro Morelli: There were lots of rehearsals all together, and then we each directed certain episodes. It was great working with Ravel in the rehearsals and discovering the character. Raul is such a big icon that people might look at it in a superficial way – we needed to find the human being. Despite all the crazy things he was doing, we were always in search of who he was and what was inside his heart and mind. That has everything to do with the way we decided to shoot.
There are also surrealist elements to the series.
Pedro Morelli: We really tried to get inside his mind and his creative process, going as far as we could.
Andrade: It’s a very collaborative because we had to represent this huge character. But I had my own connection with Raul. When you work a lot, you feel lonely as an actor. I was away from my city, from my home. I felt alone, but when I was rehearsing and during scenes, it was very strong, very intense.
This relationship between father and son [Paulo and Pedro], they work together but they are very different directors. With Paulo, I found I could contribute. We had a form of relationship. With Pedro, it was a different reality, a different direction, so it was a group effort but I had different personal relationships with both of them.
Like that? Watch this! Suggested by AI, selected by DQ
Elis – Viver é Melhor que Sonhar: A Brazilian biopic about the rise of singer Elis Regina, who became recognised as one of the country’s greatest voices.
The Get Down: Co-created by Baz Luhrman, this Netflix musical series explores the birth of hip-hop and disco in 1970s New York.
Treme: HBO’s series set in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans is a love letter to the city’s musicians and culture, exploring how music shapes – and is shaped by – its environment.
RELATED CONTENT
Back to life
Horror series Reencarne (Reincarnate) breaks new ground for Brazilian drama with the nightmarish story of a former cop who comes face to face with the spirit of his ex-partner. Star Welket Bungué, artistic director Bruno Safafi and writer Juan Jullian tell DQ more.
Fresh Justice
Eight years after Brazilian crime drama Justice aired, writer Manuela Dias is back with a sequel, Justice: Misconduct. She speaks to DQ about turning the Globo drama into an anthology series, rooting the show in real life and moving stories away from princesses and heroes.
At the sharp end
The creative team behind Brazilian drama Living on a Razor’s Edge discuss the inspiration behind this biopic of social justice campaigner Herbert ‘Betinho’ de Souza, comparisons to Pelé and the real-world impact the series is having.
tagged in: Globoplay, Let Me Sing, O2 Filmes, Paulo Morelli, Pedro Morelli, Raul Seixas: Eu Sou, Ravel Andrade