Rosario is the feature debut of Colombian filmmaker Felipe Vargas, shot in his home town focusing on a Latina lead, her family, traditions, and ultimately, her identity and how accepting her past helps her in the present. Starring Emeraude Toubia, David Dastmalchian, José Zúñiga, Diana Lein, and Paul Ben-Victor, it follows the titular Wall Street stock broker (Toubia) going about her day-to-day business when she received a call from her grandmother’s landlord Marty (Ben-Victor) informing her she has passed away. It becomes apparent Rosario and Griselda’s (Constanza Gutierrez) was strained before her death, following the split of Rosario’s parents Oscar (José Zúñiga) and Elena (Diana Lein). After travelling to Griselda’s building and meeting Marty as well as Griselda’s eccentric neighbour Joe (Dastmalchian), she discovers unusual markings on the body and a secret area in her home filled with books on Palo, an African diasporic religion that sees practisers use bones of humans and animals to invoke spirits. Soon, Rosario begins to think Griselda placed a curse on her granddaughter and a demonic entity is plaguing the building. Ahead of the film’s release on May 2nd, STARBURST sat down with Vargas and Toubia to talk about the film’s influences, the fun on set, and the representation of grief and the familial unit in horror.
STARBURST: Where did the idea for the film came from and how you got the project off the ground?
Felipe Vargas: I worked with an extraordinary writer, Alan Trezza. He’s Colombian American, and we immediately connected over that. The script had everything I loved in film and more. It was body horror, it’s a multi-generational family story like the one I grew up in, and it was just a bloody fun roller coaster ride of horror. It was very [Sam] Raimi-esque, so it was a perfect fit. I worked with this incredible team whose entire vision and goal is to create these Latin American stories, but through a genre lens and for an American or international audience. It came together very quickly, until the [WGA and SAG-AFTRA] strikes, then we had to delay. What made this project really special was that we filmed it in my hometown in Colombia, so it just felt very full circle and the perfect first feature.
Did the strikes mean anything was changed with the script at all?
It was a blessing, as I was able to just really focus on the script and make it the best it could be with Alan. It also allowed us to bring on incredible talent, because there were limited projects. We were under the SAG waiver because it was an independent film, so we were able to bring on David Dastmalchian and Paul Ben-Victor, who are legends and incredible actors.
Emeraude, what attracted you to the role of Rosario?
Emeraude Toubia: I love how her façade that she has at the beginning is completely peeled for her to fight for survival. It was my first time doing horror, it was something that I wanted to do and see how it was. I really enjoyed working with Felipe and with the entire team to explore this genre. More than anything, I loved being a Latina lead in the horror genre. Latinos are the people who mostly see horror films, and we’re not always front row and centre, and this and this time we are, and I hope this continues to create more opportunities for people like us.
What inspirations did you bring to the role? Did you draw from any of your previous projects, or anyone in your personal life?
ET: I feel like a little bit of myself is in this role. My insecurities, how I sometimes pretend I’m someone different to fit in, and thinking that that’s what’s going to make them like me. On the contrary, I feel it’s only harming myself. Trying to be as authentic as I can and feeling proud of where I come from is what makes me free, and it makes me blossom into something a lot more beautiful.
Visually, we felt like there were a lot of genre films, such as Evil Dead and The Thing, which the film pays homage to. What were your inspirations behind the film?
FV: That’s a huge compliment. The Thing is one of my favourite films, and Raimi is one of my favourite filmmakers. Italian giallo films that have a ton of colour also influence the film, like the work of Mario Bava and Dario Argento. Santa Sangre, that Alejandro Jodorowsky movie is insane and so much fun. Those are the big influences, and a little bit of Guillermo del Toro with the set decoration, the romanticised sort of horror and the love of monsters.
Grief and fractured familial relationships has always been prevalent in horror, but it feels like it’s something that has been explored more frequently in the last decade. Why do you think this is?
FV: Horror has always been a mirror of society, what we’re struggling with or what we’re dealing with. Over the decades, you see these horror trends. You have the paranoia of the ‘50s and then the final girl of the ‘80s and the ‘90s. Now, I think there’s a new sort of version of horror beyond the grief and the family relationships. It captures the chaos and the uncertainties of life. At Rosario’s core, it’s about sacrifice, what we give up to fit in, or what we push away to succeed. It’s about the sacrifices that our parents and our grandparents made for us to be where we are today, and the burden of that sacrifice.
ET: I think we all can relate to it. We all experience it, and that’s why it’s something that, no matter where you are, where you live, it’s something that you can relate to and identify with.
As well as the genre elements of Rosario, there are a lot of comedic beats in the narrative, too. How did you find balancing these two contrasting angles?
FV: All props to our writer and then to Emeraude for bringing that humour to life. Trezza has such a biting, searing sense of humour and sarcasm, and then Emeraude is hilarious and charming and delivers on those moments. It was the right script and the right cast just brought to life that humour, and I think horror comedy are the opposite sides of a coin. They’re so interconnected because it’s all about the surprise and the misdirect.
There’s a lot of heavy subject matter addressed in the film. Emeraude, how did you get yourself into character, and then how did you shake it off after filming?
ET: The beautiful thing about the movie is that Rosario is finding everything out as we do. She’s trying to navigate it, and it kind of just helps me, because I’m also trying to navigate it. So I was just playing with what comes naturally, as a human being, with how we’re always trying to find things out. I’m very in and out of roles, I’m not very method-y when it comes to acting and and I like to live in the imagination. When it’s cut, it’s cut, and I’ve been pretty good at that. The set was just so, so realistic and beautiful, and it guided me and let me be. Everyone and everything on set worked itself so I could just let go.
Despite the terrifying contents of Rosario, you so often hear that these heavy, scary films make for the most fun times on set. Was that true for you both?
ET: It was so fun. I would pull up a lot, and I had scratches on my face, I was hanging out with worms and cockroaches, running away from dogs, and being in the cold. In the moment, it felt really heavy, but I would do it a million times. It was really fun to be very physically involved with the film.
FV: It was such a blessing, because even though it’s a New York story, and we filmed partially in New York, the bulk of the film was done in Colombia where I was born, where I’m from, so to be able to go back home in a way with this first feature was incredible. I was able to throw my parents in as extras, and as Emeraude said, it was just a joy every day. This is the magic of movies when you blend special effects, FX makeup, and creature effects. The fire and blood and gore and vomit all coming together to create this creepy, gross, fun experience. To me, that is pure joy.
Rosario is in US cinemas from May 2nd.
