cast

The composer/singer/intellectual Caetano Veloso once wrote of Regina Casé that she is "one of the greatest artists in Brazil." Many Brazilians might well agree with Veloso's famous assessment, for Casé is a national treasure: people of the most varied social groups recognize themselves in this indomitable force of nature. Beloved but not idolized, Casé is typically thought of as a family member, an old friend who knows everyone intimately and understands their troubles and joys.

A native of Rio de Janeiro, Casé began her stage career 20 years ago with Asdrúbal Trouxe o Trombone, an acting troupe that she co-founded and which ultimately became one of the most innovative and successful Brazilian theater ensembles. Her acting debut, in the show Inspetor Geral, garnered her the State Governor award for Atriz Revelação, or best newcomer.

In her early years of acting with this group, Casé won some of Brazil's most prestigious acting awards, and became a major star. The Asdrúbal Trouxe o Trombone, thanks to such shows as the re-enactment of Ubu Rei (King Ubu) and Inspetor Geral (Inspector General) - not to mention the group's own creations, such as Trate-me Leão (which won Casé the prestigious Molière award) and A Farra da Terra - was an instant hit. Touring throughout Brazil, Trombone was soon welcomed by its fans with the enthusiasm usually reserved for rock stars.

To walk with Casé through the streets of Brazil (or to see her acting on stage or television), to witness how people relate to her and she to them, is to understand contemporary Brazil in all its complexities.

In the 1980s, Casé conquered Brazilian television as Tina Pepper, one of the most popular characters in the history of Brazilian soap opera. Her success continued as the most popular actor in TV Pirata, a weekly show that revolutionized Brazilian television comedy.

The transition from the '80s to the '90s was marked by her staging of Nardja Zulpério, and by the creation of her own television show, co-hosted by fellow Trombone alum Luíz Fernando Guimarães: the Programa Legal.

Nardja Zulpério is a tour-de-force monologue of nearly two and a half hours, portraying the busy life of a character that has one night to accomplish various tasks (one being the adaptation of Nietzsche's Zarathustra for the theater). The Programa Legal was an innovative mix of fiction, documentary, humor and journalism - and one of the greatest successes ever recorded by Globo, Brazil's premier television network. It was a critical and commercial smash. Regina Casé had achieved what few others have: popular success coupled with critical acclaim as an aesthetic innovator.

Looking back on her nine years with Globo, a time during which the unique Programa Legal morphed from a monthly into a weekly show, and changed its title to Muvuca, Casé feels that the year 2000 will be the best yet. Each step in her career has brought with it a new ingredient, resulting in the current concoction that is Muvuca. The show continues to take to the road in order bring into the homes of Brazilians everywhere the unimaginable which is occurring at this very moment in various parts of the country and indeed the world.

Casé never met the woman whose story inspired Waddington and Soárez to create Darlene on paper. "I've never seen even a photograph of her," says the actress. "Andrucha didn't want it, and I agreed. Right in the first reading [of the screenplay], I realized that in fact I had visited many Darlene houses -- not exactly the one in the film, with three husbands, but others. One with eighteen kids, another who already had some kids and fostered five more. I had already been inside their homes, talked with many women who solved their problems in remarkable ways. They may have difficult lives, but still enjoy their parties, find themselves attractive and sexy. I felt that I already knew many Darlenes.

"You don't see many people like Darlene in the movies," concludes the actress, whose forays onto the big screen are not as frequent as her theater and television projects. "If there were more stories like Darlene's, I'd certainly make more films."

At age 70, the still very active Duarte can look back on a solid career in the theater, movies and television. He is celebrated as one of the most authentic interpreters of Brazilian dramaturgy. His countless roles on television include acclaimed performances in O Bem-Amado, O Salvador da Pátria, Roque Santeiro, Meu Bem Meu Mal and O Auto da Compadecida. His best known films are O Crime do Zé Bigorna, by Anselmo Duarte, O Grande Momento, by Roberto Santos, Guerra Conjugal, by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, The Fall, by Rui Guerra, Sargento Getúlio, by Hermano Penna (which won him the Best Actor award at the 1983 edition of the Gramado Film Festival), Os Sete Gatinhos, by Neville d'Almeida, The Oyster and the Wind, by Walter Lima, Jr., and Boleiros, by Ugo Giorgetti. He was invited by the legendary Portuguese director Manuel de Oliveira to play the title role on Padre Antônio Vieira, and also starred in O Barão do Cerro Azul, by Paulo Morelli, playing the role of Commander Maragato.

"Osias is basically a backlands guy, a man from the northeast," says Duarte of his character in ME YOU THEM. "He marries Darlene and is fascinated by the woman. And it is this fascination that makes him accept the other two husbands, who, like him, are taken by the passion. These men cannot escape from that house."