by Laura Linney
After a marathon promotional tour for a slate of new movies, Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro pauses to reflect on the nature of celebrity and his growing fame in America. Linney, Santoro’s Love Actually costar, gets the story.

Laura Linney: Hello, my friend.
Rodrigo Santoro: I feel very honored that you’re taking this time.

LL: Don’t be silly. How have you been?
RS: Very good. The whole year has been traveling to promote films. It’s been interesting. It’s kind of like digestion, where you look back and see everything you’ve done.

LL: It sounds like you’ve been able to do the movies you wanted. I know you were afraid your career was going to be you just looking really hot in a bunch of movies.
RS: Yeah, well, there is the whole commodity of it. Nowadays, I think we all have to fight to be honest. It’s not only about doing a great job but having the chances to do a great job.

LL: Where did you go this year?
RS: I went to Europe—Madrid and London—then New York for the film festival, then Rome and then back to Brazil. It all started in Cannes in May, because I had two films in competition. The first was Lion’s Den, an Argentine film. The other was Che [ Steven Soderbergh’s movie about Che Guevara].

LL: Did you walk up the Croisette? Up the stairs and turn around to see the sea of people?
RS: I did that twice. I’d been to Cannes, but this time I really got to enjoy it.

LL: It was so obvious when we were working together on Love Actually that it was just a matter of time for a snowball of work to hit you.
RS: Not really a snowball, but finally I’m feeling more artistically fulfilled.

LL: What else do you have?
RS: A movie I shot at the beginning of this year—it’s called I Love You Phillip Morris. It’s a true story about this gay con man, played by Jim Carrey. The guy was a genius, and everything he did was for love. I play the con man’s first lover. Ewan McGregor is also in it.

LL: Where did you film that?
RS: Miami and New Orleans. My God, I love New Orleans.

LL: It makes sense you’d like it there. You have another movie as well?
RS: It’s called The Post Grad Survival Guide. I’d never done a comedy before. I was coming out of Che and Lion’s Den. I spent two and a half months in the jungle with weapons and a lot of guys, and then this script came to me, and what I liked was that the role was written for a British actor.