He is 15 years old. He is the son of a prestigious actor, he chose the same path as his father and they pose together for the first time

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Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Matthew McConaughey, Leonardo DiCaprio. With some pressure and unprepared with the order, Lorenzo Machin (15) share with HELLO! Argentina your list of favorite actors. It’s a fall Sunday and, on the other side of the table, his dad, the talented actor Luis Machin (56), raises an eyebrow and says amusedly: “I don’t rank in the top 5.” In addition to the last name and some physical features, father and son share the same passion for acting. Far from wanting his eldest son to follow another path, Luis has nothing but pride: “Due to job instability and economic ups and downs, many colleagues want his children not to be actors. For me, it is the best profession in the world: it is the only activity that, in one, allows you to be all the others,” he says.

Protagonist of series, soap operas, films and plays and several times awarded (from Estrella de Mar who won this 2024 as Best Drama Actor for the play Freud’s last session even a Konex for his career), Luis debuted in acting when he was in high school: at the age of 16 and in a school play in Rosario, the city where he was born. In his son, the passion was ignited much earlier. In primary school and at the age of 9, “Lolo” – as his family and friends call him – starred alongside his father autumn miraclea film that gave him a certainty: he also wanted to be in that world of cameras and seats.

–Do you criticize each other?

Luis: I believed that he was not critical at all, but, taking into account all the observations that Lorenzo made to me while we were filming autumn miracleit seems that yes… There is no doubt that I was a bore. [Se ríe]. She tended to direct him. It was difficult for me to see him as an actor: he saw him as a son.

Lawrence: autumn miracle It was my first job… and I had no choice but to face it. “Let the director direct me; “You are not the director,” she told him.

Luis: Lorenzo has character, and it was clear that he was marking my territory. That claim made me think a lot about our bond: I was having the opportunity to work with my son! On stage, I became capricious and controlling. So when we did wind dogs, I tried to distance myself as much as I could. I realized that I should respect his timing and not be so absorbing with him. While we sat down to chat about the characters we were going to play, we had another conversation… one about us, as father and son. It was a pivotal moment because, later, I relaxed: I feel that he enriched me because I was able to listen to his needs and it also helped me to detect when to take a step aside.

Lawrence: Since then, we have tried to separate the family relationship from work, to maintain that distance. When we did Dogs…we were together all the time: it was a month in a hotel in Rosario and during the pandemic! On the set, I treated him like another actor; and, behind the scenes, like my dad.

–When talking about Luis Machin, it is said that he is one of the most serious actors on our stages. In everyday life, is it the same?

Lawrence: Dad is very responsible with what he does. If he has to study a script, he locks himself in a room we have at home. I see all the time how he works, crosses out, marks, adds things… he has super clear ideas, but he chooses to be judged by his work and not by a public opinion of his that generates controversy. It seems to me that, when someone is better known in the media, the labels are a bit exaggerated.

Luis: Perhaps, seen from the outside, it may be perceived that I am very serious. Acting is an activity that is too focused on oneself and that, of course, generates vices. [Piensa]. I used to be a very self-centered person and it was difficult for me to think of myself outside of acting, the area in which I feel most authentic. Now that I am older, I recognize that, at another stage in my life, I was a bit of a grump. He had few fleas.

–What made you change?

Luis: Time, experience, blows… and having children. The arrival of my children “Lolo” and Aurora changed me in a surprising way. I appreciate it infinitely. I think I’m a better person since they were born. I started to enjoy things differently. Before, when I was young and had no children, time didn’t matter to me. That they came into my life made me not only stop at the needs of others, but also want to live longer to be with them and accompany them.

–How do you consider yourself as a father, Luis?

–I think that one always seeks to improve. Just like my dad, I work a lot; So, I try to share as much as possible when I’m with my children: we go to the movies, the theater together… we play cards. Compared to my childhood friends, I was a great father. When Lorenzo was born I was 40 years old and, with Aurora, I was 44. “Why didn’t you have me before?” they asked me. And I always tell them that everything happened when it had to be and with the woman it had to be. Although my childhood and that of my children have been different, I tried to transfer to them the bond that my parents had with me, which was very loving. When you grow up in a way and then you become a father, you want to pass that on; It is the best way to be generous with those who come. In my family, there were no actors. My mother liked movies, the circus, TV; She transmitted that passion to me. Although my father was curious about artistic matters [cincelaba bronce]What he wanted was to instill in me his love for football: he took me to the Newell’s field every Sunday and I liked that Sunday family setup. Although sports were never attractive to me, my dad and I had a beautiful and intense bond that didn’t last long. When I began to have more awareness and needed him more, he died. He was 56 years old and I was 16. He didn’t get to see me perform.

–And you, Lorenzo, did you become a football fan or not?

-Not much. [Se ríe]. Since I was a child, I was more attracted to theaters and recording sets than to sports. I found the extended theater days more fun than going to a birthday party. Your colleagues don’t always understand. And, in adolescence, when you take everything to heart, you start to think: “Am I doing something wrong?” If it hadn’t been for my parents, who took me to the movies and to take courses and because I have a group of friends with whom we share the same tastes, I would have felt a little alone.

Luis: With acting he was always curious and very perceptive.

–What plans do you share outside of acting?

Luis: [Piensa]. Board games… But it is cinema and theater that excite us! We comment on the movies and series we watch. Lolo has many more views than me.

Lawrence: This year I have already seen 217 movies. I have a record of everything I watch in an app: I write down the movies I like, rank them, and review them. On vacation, I watched five movies a day. And I saw Freud’s last session –the play that his father stars in at the Teatro Picadero– eight times: the first, to understand the play; but later, to analyze each movement and learn.

–Would you like to do another project together in the future?

Lawrence: We have already made two films and, during the quarantine, a streaming play in which the whole family participated, including my mother. [la actriz Gilda Scarpetta (52)] and my sister Aurora (11). “And I’m not going to be there?” Aurora said. We had lots of fun! It was a different experience not only because of the format, but because I could see Dad juggling generating income to pay the bills.

Luis: It was an extraordinary and very difficult moment. I remember thinking: “What can I do if I don’t act?”

–But the great slogan of the pandemic was to reinvent itself!

Luis: With what it cost me to invent! [Se ríe]. I had always been proud of having sustained my activity with desire for years and, the truth is, during the pandemic, nothing occurred to me. I felt like I didn’t have the ability to do anything else. At that moment, with great difficulty and a little anger, I organized talks with film directors and actors through platforms and social networks. We survived financially that way for almost two years.

Lawrence: Seeing him was, for me, a great example.

–So, Luis Machin is on your list along with Nicholson, Pacino, De Niro, McConaughey and DiCaprio!

Lawrence: Obvious! I inherited his passion for acting. Since I have seen him perform since I was a child, I always learn something from him. I admire that he is always studying, looking for works to do and that he is moved by doing what he likes and not fame. Recently, at the end of a function Wait for me, a play I was in, someone from the audience approached me. “You are just like your dad, you work just like him,” he told me. I am aware that many of the jobs I have done so far have been because I am “Luis Machin’s son.” Although that title can be a tool and it is great to act like Luis Machin, I would also like to have my mark.

Text: Mayra Andrade and M. Fernanda Sanguinetti

Makeup and hair: Joaquina Espínola

Thanks: Bar Napoles.