• Beginnings Milena Smit, from a hotel receptionist in Murcia to Penelope's partner with Almodóvar

  • 'In the margins' Juan Diego Botto reinvents himself as a director, sincere, irregular and without cynicism, in the soul of Ken Loach

  • Mostra de Venecia 'Blonde' turns Ana de Armas into a myth and is confirmed as the great film of the year

Milena Smit

, a 25-year-old damsel from Elche, with a magnetic gaze and androgynous beauty, has already added two films,

You Will Not Kill

and

Parallel Mothers

, with two Goya nominations, two

Netflix series

-

The Snow Girl

and

Alma

-, and the Friday the 16th premieres

Dragonflies

in cinemas , a hypnotic drama about an entire generation lost on the outskirts of Madrid, although it could be anywhere in the world.

I liked

dragonflies and it reminded me a lot of

Euphoria

, do you too? Thank you, yes.

Total.

Euphoria

was one of the references that Luc Knowles, the director, had in mind, like

The Florida Project

, by Sean Baker, or

Kids

, by Larry Clark.

Having these references helped us, although we have created our own universe that combines a very beautiful aesthetic with the inner world of the characters, where there is pain, lack and injustice. Your friendship with Olivia Baglivi in ​​the film seems real. Did you already know each other? No, and it was very important to create a bond between us.

We hardly had time to rehearse: I finished

Madres paralleles

, and the next day I was already with

Dragonflies

.

But we agreed not to go out of character during the entire shoot, as we lived in one of the camping trailers where most of the film takes place.

That didn't bring much together, and I think it crosses the screen.

To this day we are still the best friends in the world. Your character is much younger than you, doesn't it remind you of your past self?

She feels trapped, and you left home at 17 chaining survival jobs. Totally, Cata is my most personal character, or at least the one most related to a part of me at a time in my life.

Luc took these similarities into account, and gave him a more relaxed tone of voice, more from the neighborhood, as if I were sitting down to talk with my friends. Did leaving home so young make you mature faster? It's clear.

I needed to feel independent,

and when you want that, it's no longer worth calling mom and dad to get the chestnuts out of the fire.

There were more or less complicated moments, but I am very proud to have walked that path to achieve the values ​​of responsibility and commitment that I have today. Drugs are key in the film.

You're still too old to go out, how do you deal with this issue? The truth is that I'm quite boring.

I had my time to go out, and now I'm filled with other plans, like going camping... It's great to party, and from time to time I can go out with my friends.

But I don't do it as a system anymore. You had a slump due to overwork, are you better? That was a year ago, so much movement took its toll on me.

Too much stress.

But I resorted to what I always resort to, which is going to therapy.

I recommend it to everybody.

I go to therapy even when I'm fine, because I have a very busy life and I like to take emotional responsibility for myself. What type of therapy? Cognitive-behavioral.

I studied it back in the day, and now I'm trying Gestalt, which is outside of psychology, but it's very interesting. Going back to

parallel mothers

, not only must Almodóvar's call surprise you, but that you had to make out with Penélope Cruz, how did you experience that scene? It also caught me off guard when I read that moment in the script.

It was about that.

But we didn't give it much importance, because it's not a very explicit sex scene, and Pedro was very careful with us.

With Penelope we had already established a very nice bond of trust.

Today our relationship is precious. Do you always get emotionally involved in everything you do? Yes, I am very sensitive, and I do my best to make the experience as real as possible.

And that creates links, inevitably. But you are also attracted to the sinister, right? Yes, I always wear black.

I'm pretty goth aesthetically, and I'm also into dark techno.

My favorite band is Lebanon Hanover.

You have about 20 tattoos spread over your body, will you get more? I started at the age of fifteen falsifying my parents' authorization, out of rebellion, and I would continue until I had my entire body tattooed.

But I'm an actress, and I have to stop.

Although when I see myself without tattoos, because they have put makeup on my legs, which is where I have more, I feel as if it wasn't me, as if I saw myself as bored. You have finished another movie, right?

Tim and Tina

Yes, it's about an ultra-religious family that decides to adopt some children.

The parents are me and Jaime Lorente.

There I do not look anything like the character, because I base my beliefs more on energy, the universe... Who would you like to work with? For me, the most important thing is to be happy with what I do, but I would love to work with Gaspar Noé, Joaquin Phoenix, Mia Goth... Mia Goth hits you a lot, another gothic princess... I liked that gothic princess, I don't rule out opening a secondary account on networks with that name.

Now my account is handled by my best friend, because I can't do it alone.

I don't only post work stuff, but also verses from my poetry, or phrases from books or songs that represent me.

It's a way for the audience to get the feeling that they know you, and that it's not all as out of reach as stars are often seen to be.

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Know more

  • Penelope Cruz

  • Pedro Almodovar

  • Elche