Isabel Gomes

Raphael: Today Estúdio MVB is very special. Here by my side is the Brazilian actress that made Glitter. And now, Isabel Gomes! How are you?

Isabel: Fine. I'd like to thank everybody for the opportunity of being here. Thanks.

Raphael: Everybody wants to know a little bit more about you, a Brazilian actress that had a participation in Glitter, from Mariah Carey. Tell us about you. You were already a Mariah's fan?

Isabel: Since I was a little girl, since Mariah came out with her first album I'm her fan. I'm a big fan, I have all cds and since I was a small one I love her.

Raphael: What's your favorite song, that you listen all the time, at school etc...?

Isabel: They're "Hero", "Honey", "Heartbreaker" and "I Still Believe".

Raphael: Do you have all singles? Do you collect her products?

Isabel: I have it all. My room is full of Mariah everywhere. You enter in my room and think that's Mariah's house.

Raphael: Have you already been at any of her performances?

Isabel: Of course.

Raphael: Where?

Isabel: At Madison Square Garden, New York.

Raphael: When?

Isabel: In 1999.

Raphael: From "Rainbow"?

Isabel: Yeah, from "Rainbow". And I was also at her school, when she was there...

Raphael: "Homecoming"?

Isabel: Yes, "Homecoming" was in Long Island. There are more performances that I've already been, some old ones.

Raphael: Isabel, tell me something: are you American or Brazilian?

Isabel: I was born in the United States, but my parents were born and raised in Brazil. So, since I was a little child I'm half Brazilian, half American. And when I was five I moved to Brazil and lived here for one year. I learned Portuguese, stayed only with Brazilians, I thought Brazilians are very nice. I didn't want to move back to U.S., only my brothers did. And we went back to the United States, but I always come back here on vacation.

Raphael: Do you study in the U.S.?

Isabel: Yeah. I'm on high school.

Raphael: Do you study theater or have studied it at school?

Isabel: I always took theater course at school. Every competition at school I'm there. To sing or to act... I like to sing since I was a little child.

Raphael: How did you gained this job at Glitter?

Isabel: I have a theater teacher and when she knew through an agency about a film and that people were looking for a girl which was 10-13 years old. They liked me very much and contracted me.

Raphael: Did you make a test on that day?

Isabel: Yeah.

Raphael: And how was it? Can you tell us about it? Was Mariah there?

Isabel: On test.. no, Mariah was not there. There was only the director, the producer and my teacher. There were only three people inside a room and they gave me a lyric from a song and asked me to sing that.

Raphael: What's the name of this song?

Isabel: Lilly's Blues.

Raphael: This song is in Glitter?

Isabel: Yeah, it is.

Raphael: And what's this about?

Isabel: Well, I sing a little bit and my mother sing a little bit.

Raphael: It's a scene from the movie?

Isabel: Yes.

Raphael: The scene in which your mother is sick?

Isabel: That's right.

Raphael: Your mother's name is Lilly and she gets sick while she was singing and then you enter...

Isabel: Yes.

Raphael: What's this song about?

Isabel: At the time my mother is talking about drugs, that she wants her husband back, that she doesn't wanna live anymore... So then I come to her and I say: "Mom, quit dealing with drugs, take care of me..."

Raphael: So you basically, on film, created that song in time and enter singing it?

Isabel: Yes, that's it.

Raphael: Don't you know the lyric? When your mother is sick you get the microphone and start creating the song?

Isabel: Exactly. It's like if I were talking to her but I'm singing. So she starts listening to me and say "Oh, my God."

Raphael: Who wrote this song called Lilly's Blues?

Isabel: Mariah did.

Raphael: So, it was your first scene in the movie? It's also in the trailer, you... on this scene. And the others you did, there's how to tell us about it? Which was your second?

Isabel: This one I'm singing was not the first. I think it was one of the latest scenes I've done. But the first one shows me at home with my mother, I was playing piano and mom slept with a cigarette... on the couch. Then I took it from her and went to sleep and mom slept all night long on the sofa. We came from a poor family, but the problem was that my mother was black and my dad, white. And at that time, in 1968, black people were separated from white ones. So they got divorced and dad left me with my mom. My mother didn't have many things to do, so she had to sing. One day she slept with the cigarette and the house was on fire. She had to take me to a little school to live there. So, I grew up wishing to become a singer.

Raphael: On your first day on the set, you were there with the director, you were introduced... How was the people treatment? I know you had a radical change on your hair, you should look much more similar with Mariah...

Isabel: That's right.

Raphael: How was that?

Isabel: Well, it was hard for me because I'm brunette. To change it to blond like Mariah was strange. I didn't want "No, no, I don't to paint my hair."

Raphael: Did they also cut it?

Isabel: Yeah, a little bit, but very different from the one I had before. So, it was very different, but I was well treated by the director, producer and so one... They're nice, very nice people.

Raphael: When did you know you had been passed on the test, how was your reaction?

Isabel: I was very happy. It took a long time because there were more than a thousand girls that was trying to be part of the cast. And I looked at the tape thinking "Oh, I did it for nothing. I know they won't choose me." I had never been on film before and most of the other girls, 80% that did the test had already done films before. I even forgot about it, and then, at about two weeks later, they called my teacher and said that I had been chosen and that I had to go there to know them and they would send me the script.

Raphael: When your teacher received the message, did she called you at the same time?

Isabel: Well, I was at school and when I got home from school...

Raphael: You didn't know...

Isabel: No. I forgot about the tape. I said "I'll forget it cause they won't choose me." Then I was home with my brother, watching TV when the phone rings. I like hanging on the phone a lot. I didn't understand and thought strange her calling. All at once she... come to my house...

Raphael: For the theater classes?

Isabel: Yes.

Raphael: So she gives you particular classes?

Isabel: That's it!

Raphael: She goes to house even when it's not about school?

Isabel: Uh hum. So, I thought strange she calling me, I thought I did something wrong. She called me and told she had good news and I said "What?!" She said: "Oh, you have been chosen for the film. " I said: "Oh, I don't believe I've been chosen. No, you're kidding." I didn't believe it.

Raphael: There was anybody else with you at home?

Isabel: There was only my brother and I. My parents were working and my other brother was at school. So, I said: "I don't believe it, it's not true."

Raphael: So, there were rockets, you called your best friend and told everybody...

Isabel: Of course. Then the film was rolled in Canada. So she had to go there and I told my friends what happened. They said "Oh" and got very happy and when my parents arrived home they also got very happy. We went out for dinner to celebrate.

Raphael: Was there any friend that became jealous of you?

Isabel: Well, there's a friend of mine that is my best friend since we've known each other, last year. She got happy for me and she always called me while I was in Canada. She wanted to know how I was, if people were treating me right, if the director was a good man. And there are girls that like Mariah and said: "Oh, I hate you, you're on a film with her", but they were just kidding. [Isabel laughs]

Raphael: And how did they see your changes? They saw you changing yuo hair...?

Isabel: Yes.

Raphael: Did they start calling you Mariah Carey?

Isabel: The first day I arrived at school, I've talked about it just with two friends of mine, my best ones. I recorded while I was on vacation. When I arrived at school, I was blond. I didn't tell anybody, but people started recognizing me: "Who's that girl? Are you on Mariah's movie?." I didn't even know that people. "Hey Mariah!"

Raphael: So you started appearing in the school newspaper... "Isabel Gomes". Do they call you Isabel Gomes or there's any nick?

Isabel: Well, they call me "young Mariah".

Raphael: Young Mariah?

Isabel: Yes, or they call me Bella.

Raphael: Bella?

Isabel: Uh hum.

Raphael: So now do your teachers help you getting high grades or not?

Isabel: Yes...

Raphael: All of them from school, isn't it?

Isabel: Uh hum.

Raphael: Tell us your emotion. Was there any moment you met Mariah? Tell me why you're a Mariah's fan and how did you meet Mariah. Had you ever been to any performances of her?

Isabel: Well, she's very pleasant, but I thought, uh, people like her, rich and famous, would never pay attention on me, or would not even want to go there to see me or talk to me...

Raphael: She'd want to be distant, on a special chair...

Isabel: Yes, but she was very kind to me. She helped me in the film because when I did something wrong... instead of getting angry with her and saying "Oh my God, what a boring woman", I got happy because she taught me how to do things better.

Raphael: Did she oriented you?

Isabel: Yeah, she gave some clues. She told me I've done it right. "Do it, do that..." I realized she helped me a lot.

Raphael: So, Isabel, tell me more about your participation on the film Glitter.

Isabel: There was a part on the film that was when my house was on fire and on the following days she said that I was going to stay at a school and I didn't want to go. She said: "Don't worry, I'm gonna take you back." And I already have known she wouldn't. So I got sad because of that. I started crying and asked where she would go. She said: "Don't worry, I'll be back."

Raphael: So, this was your participation? Where did it happen?

Isabel: It was in front of my house.

Raphael: But it had already been on fire?

Isabel: Yeah and it was all burned. And there was a woman, she came from the school to take me at home. She had a car, so she took me.

Raphael: Does your participation ends at this time?

Isabel: Well, after that I meet two girls at school and I had a cat called Billie.

Raphael: Billie?

Isabel: That's it, Billie.

Isabel: So...

Raphael: But it's the same name from the character?

Isabel: Yes, it is. So I take it to school and the woman says "I'm sorry Billie, but you can't let... We don't allow animals here. Nobody have a pet here." I said: "So, I'll have to live in the street because I can't leave my pet." So she said I could stay with it. Then, I knew two girls, one called Rock Texada and other called Louise. We became friends in time, there was a birth of mine there... I had a lot of fun... The time passes by and comes Mariah.

Raphael: And a pet couldn't be absent on the film. Mariah loves animals. And Jack, Mariah's dog, have any participation on film? Because Jack always appears in video clips.

Isabel: No, he stayed out of this.

Raphael: But did you know him?

Isabel: Oh, he's very cute. Yeah.. he loves playing. And I love dogs. I played with him all day long.

Raphael: Tell me something, what did Mariah think when you finished your work and after she gave you all the clues?

Isabel: Well, she said I did a good work and that I have a great talent.

Raphael: Did she give you any incentive to follow this career, to continue it?

Isabel: Uh hum, she told me to continue cause I have a great talent and that I did a good job.

Raphael: Before you had a fan vision, you always admired her work. So tell me, how do you feel now that you worked with her because it's a dream every fan has, being by her side, know her, and even work with her. Is it a dream came true? Do you still have any contact with her? Are you going to be present at the premiere?

Isabel: Yes, it's a dream that I still don't believe because I love her. I still talk to her, we still have meetings.

Raphael: What are your plans for the future? Are you going to persist on this career? Or do you intend to come back to Brazil to try a soap opera?

Isabel: Well, I think it's good to have contact with both countries because I'm half Brazilian, half American, as I told you. So it would be wonderful if I could work here and there.

Raphael: Do you know if you're going to come with Mariah to promote the movie?

Isabel: I don't know yet. It'll probably happen.

Raphael: Well, Isabel, thank you for being here at Estúdio MVB...

Isabel: Thank you.

Raphael: Do you have any message for the Brazilian fans which are going to watch Mariah on film and watching you too?

Isabel: Well, I think that people don't have to think like me at the very beginning. I thought it wouldn't happen. People don't have to think: "I want to do something", but do something.

Raphael: Never lose faith, isn't it?

Isabel: That's it!

Raphael: As always Mariah taught us... Thank you and good lucky on the film.

Isabel: Thank you.

Many thanks to Mariah Vision Brasil.