Sour Grapes?

Newcastle Herald

Friday March 26, 1999

FERNANDA Montenegro, the 69-year-old star of the Brazilian film Central Station, accused Hollywood of favouritism in awarding the Oscar to Gwyneth Paltrow over her and said Life is Beautiful wasn't worthy of victory.

In an interview televised in Rio de Janeiro, Montenegro described Paltrow as `this romantic figure, thin, pure, virginal'.

`They don't have much of this type of actress in American cinema,' she said. `It's an investment.'

As for Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful, which competed against Central Station for best foreign film, Montenegro said: `It didn't deserve to win. I think even Benigni recognised this. As a film it was weak. I thought it was just him that won, not the film itself.'

And as for Paltrow herself, she plans `to have a . . . whole pack of children running around by the time I am 40'.

© 1999 Newcastle Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home