Jon Kortajarena: "If it weren't for the culture that we had in front of us to enjoy at home, we would have killed ourselves"

• "There are always prejudices towards a model interpreter, although the actors also run publicity campaigns and no one judges them for selling hair straighteners"

This November 27, Adso Films premieres

, the debut feature by French filmmaker and actor Julien Landais

1888

by Henry James. A captivating story of love, passion, dreams and obsessions set in the Venice of the late 19th century with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Joely Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave and Jon Kortajarena in the cast. The Basque, who already confesses himself to be more of an actor than a model, talks to

about what promotion means for him at the moment and encourages support for culture.

This Friday, "Los Papers de Aspern" premieres in cinemas throughout Spain, and on Saturday will be the official presentation at Azkuna Zentroa, formerly Alhóndiga Bilbao.

How do you feel that feeling in a 2020 in which practically all the premieres have been on other platforms and not in theaters? It is an experience that few have been able to live!

[Laughs].

I feel very lucky.

It is scary to think that people do not dare to go to the movies because of the coronavirus but it is also an opportunity because there is less supply and the production company has made a very brave decision.

Hopefully we reach out to people and they go to theaters. Has he ever shot with the new normal? We finished in January, I was in New York doing tests and the virus just started, so I stayed there.

All the projects he had fell apart and until today, his base was practically an airplane.

How is adaptation and the fact of returning to your land? The truth is that this has been one of the hardest parts, thinking that my lifestyle does not exist at the moment and even the way in which I relate has totally changed .

It has been a stop in the world that affects us all in some way.

When a film is based on a previous work, comparisons are usually made.

Are you afraid of disappointing those who have read the book?

Of course, it always happens when a movie is made from a novel, but it has been done very well, with personal touches from the director that do not reflect the history of the pages 100% and that allows a certain flexibility.

I hope those who have been able to read it like it a lot, one of the most important things is to understand the time.

Time was very slow, things passed little by little and they were very boring and recreating that moment in history has been complex, but very universal and current themes emerge, such as bisexuality, love, passion ... It is a journey towards another era that connects you with now.

In a period shoot and out of its habitat for months, how do you disconnect from the character? Disconnecting really is the easiest thing, the difficult thing is being focused.

Sometimes it is difficult to be there.

You can go to the bowling alley on the weekend and forget everything, but be there for 12 hours internalizing the character, the time and the work you are doing and you have done: there is the dispute.

Why did you accept this project? I read the script, it made me feel things and I wanted to work with the team.

I wanted to be an actor and make movies since I was 16 years old and, although I have not dedicated myself to it before, when I have had the opportunity, what I do is always with my heart and intuition.

Art is always connected.

It happens that there are times that you accept jobs with a conviction and then they are not as good as you thought and other times that you are not convinced and you end up loving it.

There is no magic formula to know if your experience is going to be good and you are going to be able to get what you have in mind but you have to take a risk and push forward.When you have been on the catwalks, does it cost more to be taken seriously in cinema?

Have you noticed the pressure of the "pretty face"? That prejudice is always there, but I have not felt it in the teams in which I have worked, but with people who have not wanted to test me for something like that.

There are things that you cannot change.

What is in my power is to tell the story of my character, work and try to convey it as well as possible.

It will also happen to people with other specific physical characteristics.

Beauty can be a plus if it fits the character, but if not, it can work against you.

A fuller person can see that a door is closed sometimes and others, instead, that it is a point in favor.

We all have qualities and attributes and the secret is to exploit them as well as possible as long as the channel is open.

Because if the channel is closed, you can already be the best actor in the world ... Does one facet predominate over the other or do they coexist in your case? For a few years I have been working much more as an actor than as a model, although fashion is seen much more because it carries that shine, but it is also ephemeral and goes very fast.

I've done several movies and a Netflix series for a year and a half.

I understand that people see me as a model and pay more attention to that part, but I don't feel that way.

I have had a natural transition, I am learning and experimenting.

Sometimes I do work as a model and sometimes as an actor.

There are always prejudices towards an interpreting model, although actors also run publicity campaigns and no one judges their interpretive ability because they sell hair straighteners.

Whoever wants to have prejudices is going to have them and that should not affect the way I act.

Is it more difficult for a public figure to create an environment of trust? Yes, but that also happens to a doctor.

Life is like that, you have to have intuition and be smart and protect yourself so that as little as possible happens to you.

There will be times when they get it folded and others when you catch it before time but, in general, I'm a super open guy, I trust people and if they fail me I think I haven't done anything wrong.

At the end of the day, it is the one who fails who has to take the account to himself.

Being open to people makes you grow.

If not, what a limited and cowardly existence.

I'm not interested!

It would be too high a price for success - he has 2.8 million Instagram followers who follow his every footsteps.

But he also set Twitter on fire for complaining that Glovo did not give him an omelette and had to apologize.

When you saw your name in the "trending topic" did you think that the networks are loaded by the devil?

But it is very important to understand the context.

Sometimes something gets misunderstood because you say it in a context where it doesn't work.

You have to be very careful with certain things but I prefer to be honest and sincere with the things that happen to me to live in a hypocritical mask in which I only say what I think people will like.

That is not me!

What interests me most about social networks is that they see who you are in an honest way.

There are already too many masks, too much hypocrisy and too politically correct to live from there.

There will be times when I screw up and get misunderstood but I take the risks, who knows me knows what there is. Filming in the United States is more complicated than in Europe.

Is it the moment of European cinema? Absolutely, it is a very good opportunity for European cinema to be more accessible and people can judge if what they like is what they have been put on a platter so far or a cinema much closer to your culture.

At least it's how I see things.

I connect much more. Netflix, HBO, Filmin, Movistar and many other platforms are spreading that FOMO syndrome [acronym for the English expression "fear of missing out" or fear of missing something] that has jumped from the networks to the last thing you have to see to be aware.

Does it happen or does not have time for anything? Jo, yes it happens to me.

With all this confinement I have had the opportunity to see a lot of things that at another time would have been impossible.

I've seen

,

, which is wonderful,

,

, the

series

, which is German and drove me crazy, and if it weren't because I was locked up I wouldn't have been able to follow it because it's a mess that you hallucinate.

And the last one to hook me is

, a story of a brutal heroin addict. What are your plans for this unusual Christmas, as far as possible? My plan is that there is no plan.

On the progress.

I do not usually plan normally and in these circumstances even less.

And it doesn't scare me either.

Nothing happens for not having plans.

And if I am with my family having a soup and some barnacles, I will be the happiest man in the world.

Since you mention the Christmas menu, do you have to have a diet to stay true to the parameters of fashion? No, I'm Basque and I can't diet!

If necessary then I'll run, but I love to eat.

I never did and now less.

Where do you get lost to find yourself? I miss shooting so much!

It is a great feeling to forget your problems, your anguish and get out of yourself.

Playing another character is therapeutic.

I have learned that yes, it can be very nice to travel and see new places, but the real wonder is getting lost in a good conversation with your family.

It's been so long since we really took the time to talk to each other!

I mean, we communicated but it didn't go deep.

Having this time has been great to realize how privileged I am having the people around me.

This stage of analyzing yourself and thinking within yourself, what has it been for you? [Sighs].

To face part of those demons that are always there.

You ignore them so as not to go through them, their darkness, and have a rebirth.

I have achieved it with many things that I had pending but others are still there.

I feel like it has been one more step in the direction of growing up and dealing a little more with my frustrations and my fears, with my ego ... It has also helped me a lot to see around me.

There has been an important cleaning of people that you can sense that they are not doing you well but you do not see it, and it has been an opportunity to finally see it.

On a personal level it has been an opportunity to see myself and see those who are next to me.

Why are people more afraid of the cinema, where there is a numbered seat with a safety distance and a mask always on, than of other environments, such as a bar? That blows me away.

The cinema is safer than a restaurant or a gym, and you can see the data on the cases, which have barely been infected ... It is a very good time to go to theaters, because you are going to disconnect from problems that have been rolling by your head for nine months, from the vaccine to the restrictions.

You can transport yourself to another time, take a wonderful trip, learn, feel ... Culture has saved us during confinement, if it hadn't been for all those options we had in front of us to enjoy at home, we would have killed ourselves.

People who appreciate and value that, insofar as they are able and interested, I ask you to support the culture.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• movies

INTERVIEWJavier Cámara: "Only comedy can save us from this situation we live in"

CineChristina Rosenvinge, actress: "Art and artist are asexual, it is the world that makes us sex"

The final interview Concha Velasco: "They have not raped me because I have given hosts and kicked in the eggs"

See links of interest

• News

• Translator

• Programming

• Films

• 2021 calendar

• 2020 calendar

• Topics

• Coronavirus

• CSKA Moscow - Real Madrid

• Maccabi Tel Aviv - Villarreal

• Olympiacos Piraeus - TD Systems Baskonia

• AZ - Real Sociedad

• Granada CF - Omonia Nicosia