ANA DEL BARRIO Madrid
Madrid
Updated Tuesday, February 6, 2024-00:03
The actor triumphs with 'The Curve of Happiness', which returns to the Madrid stage 20 years after its premiere. After starring
in the highest-grossing films of national cinema
, he disappeared from the big screen to return to the stage.
ASK.
What is that happiness curve about?
ANSWER
. The protagonist is Quino, a man who has separated and has to sell his home. He is still very much in love with his wife and doesn't want to do it. In the end, there are four Peter Pans residing in one house. He is a romantic character, but at the same time mischievous.
Q.
The play has been performed for 20 years.
R.
_ Pedro Reyes, Pablo Carbonell, José Ángel Egido, Ricardo Castella, El Monaguillo have passed through this role... They have all been incorporating gags and jokes into the script. I was a fan of Pedro Reyes and there are times when I am saying things that are his. It's a feature that's been alive for 20 years.
Q.
How would you encourage viewers to go see it?
A.
It's very funny. The women have a great time watching these four geeks. If women don't like a show, you can pack your bags. They are the ones who take men to the theater. We live off women. It's very ugly to say that, but it's always important that they like it. Sometimes, a group of 15 women gets together and comes to see the play. And that doesn't happen with men, who go more to football.
Q.
Is the dream of a separated man at 50 to spend a crazy night with a 20-year-old girl?
R.
_ In my case, it is not like that. When you are over 50, you are at a calmer point and I like to walk through the countryside with my dogs. In any case, this show is about the midlife crisis. What happens is that all the actors who played the show are already over 50.
Q.
Your character Quino boasts an emotional strength that he lacks. Can men show their vulnerabilities or are they still a taboo subject?
R.
_ For years man has always had to be something in life. If a man was the husband of a woman who was successful and stayed at home, he was very frowned upon by society, not only by men, but also by women. Being equal also means that man can fail, get excited and feel. All that is good. The woman could be 'the wife of' and he was well regarded, but the husband of the house was not.
Q.
Are there still many people who need a partner to guide the direction of their life?
R.
_ Yes, there are many men who need that. I am now single, but I recognize that the couple's value has been diminished, but they are wonderful. When you get that support from the other person and be able to support your partner, it's wonderful. Both people are strengthened and they move forward much better.
Q.
So, you'd rather be coupled than single.
R.
_ What I have are many friends. On my birthday, 90% of my greetings are from women. I always need the support of a woman in what I want to do.
Q.
Now that you're single and back on the market, you'll have to get on Tinder.
R.
_ No. I can't get on Tinder unless I say I look a lot like Gabino Diego.
Q.
Well, Sharon Stone announced the other day that she wanted to fall in love and that she was going to open a Tinder account.
R.
_ Ah!
Q.
After #MeToo, notions of masculinity and femininity have changed a lot. How do you see the new masculinity?
R.
_ I have not lost masculinity. The people I interact with are normal and I haven't had any problems. If they propose something strange to me, well, I know how to say no.
Q.
The other day the CIS survey came out that stated that 40% of men believe that equality for women has come so far that they now feel discriminated against.
R.
_ Yes, totally. I am in that 40%. I wanted to give way to a girl on the bus, she got angry and told me: "No, you go in." They are very strange things.
Q.
#MeToo is also emerging in Spain and three women have reported sexual assault by director Carlos Vermú.
R.
_ I'm not very aware.
Q.
Three women have accused you of sexual violence.
R.
_ It seems very bad to me that there is abuse for being a director. It is important to report it.
Q.
Do you take refuge in the theater because intelligent dialogues are ending in cinema?
R.
_ No. I have always taken refuge in the theater, even before making films. I have always liked being in contact with the live audience. The thing is that I have been lucky enough to make very good films. Now, I've been doing theater for a long time because I haven't had many offers in the movies.
Q.
You went from being in the credits of all the big movies to not appearing in any of them.
R.
_ Yes, I was nominated for the Goya for four years and won one. I also did Torrente and it was one of the best. But time passes. I don't know for what reason. I'll leave that to you to investigate.
Q.
We will have to launch a petition. Please hire Gabino Diego
R.
_ Many people tell me that they miss me at the movies, but I can't do anything there.
Q.
And what is that moment like when the phone stops ringing?
R.
_ One always has to think that it is lucky to be able to be working and filling the theater. That is a miracle because there are many colleagues who are even better than me, who are not working. That he could be making important films? Yes, but it doesn't just happen to me. How many great directors who have done wonderful things are unemployed? Tastes, formats have changed... Now films are seen in a different way. As my friend Rotaeta said, theater is the mother that always welcomes you. When I filmed
The Journey to Nowhere
and
Oh, Carmela!
, which were movies about traveling comedians, I thought that was the life I wanted to lead. Travel throughout Spain, which is a wonderful country and visit every corner. I feel very lucky.
Q.
What advice did Fernando Fernán Gómez give you?
R.
_ In
The Journey to Nowhere
he told me: "Don't worry, as long as you have your lip hanging, you are expressionless and you say this is that dialogue, people are going to laugh."
Q.
Is the worst thing for an artist indifference?
R.
_ Yes. What Lola Flores said: "Let them talk about you, even if it's for the good." I live my normal life, I take the bus and I always receive a lot of love. But that's okay because it also makes you feel like a human being.
Q.
Do you get into selfies a lot?
R.
_ The first thing they say to you is: "A photo?" And I'm like, "Hey, give me some conversation." It's like when an aunt says to you: "Do you want to take me to bed now?" In the end, I end up asking them what they do and they end up bored with me. I love asking people where they're from. Where are you form?
P.
From Madrid. Tony Leblanc assured you: "What Gabino does is very difficult because playing a fool is easy, but playing a semi-fool is very difficult."
R.
_ It is very difficult. People think that playing dumb is playing dumb. The fool is a human being, you have to do it for real and you have to give it life. People are not 100% stupid.
Q.
Did you make any films at the beginning without being sufficiently prepared?
R.
_ When I started
Bicycles Are for Summer
, I was 16 years old and had never done anything. I admit that it was a little green, although later they told me that precisely because it was green it was great. Later, I studied drama and I have worked hard on each role.
Q.
What is the most surreal thing you have had to do on a shoot?
R.
_ Many surreal things happen. Having to do a love scene in winter. Lie naked in the Casa de Campo with the heaters on. But come on, that's our daily bread in the movies.
Q.
You got to play in the Metro, what do you learn as a traveling musician?
R.
_ I played with a friend and then alone. We sang Elvis Presley, by Neil Young... Everything happened to me. One day an English teacher came by and told me that he wasn't pronouncing the song correctly... But he gave me money. Another woman gave me cakes because she thought she didn't have anything to eat. But, above all, it was the experience of performing in front of an audience.
Q.
Javier Bardem states that in a race what you reject is more important than what you accept.
R.
_ Yes, my first representative told me that and it is true. I have rejected many things. In order for people to see you with prestige, you have had to say no to many things. At that time, for good things to come to you you had to sacrifice yourself and not earn money. Making advertisements was discredited. If you made an advertisement, they didn't call you to work in the movies and if you made a television series, neither did you. In an actor's career there are many resignations.
Q.
And how do you learn to say no?
R.
_ I have never been guided by money, to be honest, but rather because the character gave me something and I could do something nice. That's the romantic part you have when you start. Then, over time you think, "I should have done this and nothing would have happened."
Q.
Have you had to pretend that you liked doing something you didn't like?
R.
_ No. Every day I woke up thinking that the film I made was a masterpiece. In that sense I have felt very happy with what I was doing. I have never done anything unwillingly, because this profession is a miracle.
Q.
Have you been able to lead your career in your own way or have they not let you?
R.
_ I feel very lucky for all the roles I have done. I have been lucky enough to perform twice at the Roman Theater in Mérida. I can only give thanks. People remember my roles with great affection and my films continue to be replenished every now and then. Now, I work with some wonderful colleagues in a function that takes 150 gigs throughout Spain.