Argentine cinema is in mourning. Luis Margani, the actor who brought Rulo to life in the iconic «Mundo grúa,» died at age 77. The news, confirmed by the Argentine Association of Actors, hit the artistic community like a bucket of cold water. He was a man who, with his work as an electrician and his stint in music, proved that talent knows no predetermined paths.
Margani did not find fame young. Born in Sicily in 1948, his story seems straight out of a movie. Before entering the world of acting, he made a living fixing cars and playing bass in the band Séptima Brigada, the ones who popularized «Paco Camorra.» But fate had an unexpected twist in store for him.
It was in 1995, at a barbecue in San Justo, that director Pablo Trapero recruited him for his short film «Negocios.» «I wasn’t going to back down,» Margani told a friend, and so his acting career began. With that workshop simplicity, he dove headfirst into cinema.
His breakthrough came in 1999 with «Mundo grúa,» Trapero’s debut feature. His character, Rulo, a crane operator struggling to survive, became an icon of the New Argentine Cinema. Far from being a fictional hero, Margani’s performance, charged with overwhelming truth, earned him the Silver Condor for Best New Actor and put him on the map of national cinema forever.
From there, his career was a whirlwind. He developed a solid filmography with films like «La fuga,» «El favor,» and «Palermo Hollywood»; on television, with appearances in classics like «Tumberos» and «Los Roldán»; and in theater, where he left his mark in works by Chekhov and Ibsen. He even shone in the series «El Presidente,» stepping into the skin of Julio Grondona.
His departure leaves a huge void, but also a lesson. Margani showed that vocation can find its course at any time and that authenticity always finds its reward. His ability to build characters from simplicity and life experience made him a unique actor, who made the stories he told his own.
«With deep sorrow we bid farewell to Luis Margani. Throughout his career he built characters of great humanity and authenticity,» reads the statement from the Actors Association. And that was his greatest virtue: showing us that art, like life itself, is built day by day, without fear, just as he faced his destiny that day at a barbecue.
q manera de llorar x un actor pedorro q se hizo famoso de casualidad el cine argento es puro verso manejado x zurditos q no saben ni hacer una peli q se muera Rulo y q se mueran todos los q bancan esa basura viva la patria y los tipos laburantes posta no estos farsantes FDO General_Pacheco77
Para mí se nos fue el Rulo, un laburante de verdad, no como esos actores pitucos que viven en una burbuja. El cine argentino perdió un groso mientras los oligarcas se llenan los bolsillos con recitales berretas. Esto huele a sistema cultural elitista, viva la clase obrera carajo!