Willy Toledo: "When hunger really appears, societies explode"

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Actor Willy Toledo plays Inspector Conte in the Netflix miniseries 'Midas's Favorites'.

The Madrid-born interpreter plays a dedicated police inspector who faces the powerful in the miniseries 'Midas's favorites', one of Netflix's big bets for the fall season.

"Dear Mr. Genovés".

In this way, the messages with which the

begin

blackmailing, via email, SMS or letter in a sealed envelope, the character played by

in the miniseries that occupies the first position in the list of Netflix views in Spain.

And all of them are faced with

(Madrid, 1970) recovered for major productions by

, who writes and directs this free adaptation of

story

.

And the veteran interpreter does not miss the opportunity, offering a deep character, full of nuances, capable of even making the viewer who is furthest from his political beliefs forget his prejudices.

Although many of them have threatened to unsubscribe from the

platform

upon learning of their participation in it.

What was it like to step into the shoes of Inspector Alfredo Conte? When you have a script as good as that of

, characters so well defined and written, and a director like Mateo, who cares above all about the interpreters. You have the job done in a high percentage.

Mateo never takes a shot for good until he believes that the actors have given him everything he asks for.

Besides, he knows how to get what he wants from us. What is his way of working? Read me the script several times.

Many.

Four, five, six times.

Try to find the motivation of the character, learn the text and say it.

And then put myself in the hands of the director.

When you trust a director as much as I do in Mateo, the job is quite easier, really, the miniseries is surprising because there are no compromises.

He has a tough script, which shows his version of reality in a crude way. Yes.

Notice that, despite being a series based on a story published in 1901, it shows that good literature is imperishable, you put it on your feet when you put it on your feet, be it in a movie, a series or a play.

In the end it talks about human beings, feelings and relationships that are universal.

And if they are well written, they are always current.

Jack London's story is a warning to sailors: "be careful this can happen."

These anonymous super-organizations like

could exist in today's society.

Why not?

We could look for parallels with some of the ones we already know.

It is a very disturbing series, with an absolutely chilling plot and a reality that shows, although it is a clearly fictional series, situations that we are experiencing.

When you see it, real situations don't stop coming to mind.

It is very impressive for what we can come to recognize ourselves in it.

Luis Tosar and Willy Toledo listen to the instructions of Mateo Gil.

Were you surprised to see that one of the issues to be discussed is the loss of power of journalism? It is that, unfortunately, the big media have become commercial companies.

The objective is the economic benefit.

Many of them are directly owned by large banks, investment funds ... Either as owners, for what they are owed or for the income from advertising.

In the end it has been distorted a lot.

And part of the democratic problems that we have in our current capitalist societies is the drift that the media have taken.

The series makes a staunch defense of those media that still maintain the press codes as irrevocable red lines, which are the control of power and the denouncement of their corruption and abuses. Would you have made the same decisions as your character? I know.

Inspector Conte is faced with an unusual case and is determined to solve it at all costs.

That's part of the show's appeal: the number of questions it asks you with virtually no answers.

I think that is what art should do.

He places the characters of Luis Tosar, Marta Belmonte and mine in an extreme position.

All his principles are questioned. Did the characters live better in ignorance?

Do we do it too? I know a lot of people who tell me "don't tell me, because that one is all fatal and I prefer to live my life quietly."

It seems like an absolutely selfish position to me.

I am of the conception that, if it goes well for all of us, it will go well for me.

That if we all do better, I do better.

Do you live in an absolutely unfair, harsh, cruel, violent society, in which rights are not respected and you prefer to continue living in ignorance because that avoids frustrations, sadness and putting yourself under the obligation to do something?

I take as an example the Immigration Law.

If you know how it works, it puts you in a position: you want to prevent that from continuing forever.

But many prefer to be ignorant.

Look the other way.

It is the easiest pose.

In

the three main characters decide to try to change reality, solve the case.

It is the position that they take, although then each one goes the way that comes out.

The principles of the character that Toledo plays are put to the test in history

Do you think that the 2008 crisis somehow sensitized us to the current pandemic? I have no answer for that.

I have no idea where we're going.

We have not recovered from the 2008 crisis.

Especially the people who suffered the most, the popular classes.

And now we are in another crisis perhaps more beast.

The other day I read that more than 70% of the small businesses that were open from January 1, 2020 to December 31, will be closed.

And forever.

Or at least, for a very long season.

We still don't know the suffering this second crisis is causing yet.

We are not really aware of the brutal consequences it is going to have for the working classes. How do you suppose people will react? I don't know.

In the series is the so-called "Spanish revolt" that Mateo Gil told, which was based on the French yellow vests.

This entire society is in the background in full swing, fighting for those rights that are being taken away.

I think it is an important part of everything that happens.

It seems that what is being portrayed is a society that is going to implode at any moment.

And that's probably what is happening now, although the streets are pretty quiet for now.

It is always said that when hunger really appears - and it appears, in fact many people are already suffering it - is when societies explode.

Let's see. Currently, there are doubts at all levels about the need to save health, the economy ... Taking care of health is essential, it is a priority.

But that means taking care of the public health system.

And of course, if we have to confine ourselves, we confine ourselves.

If you have to keep your distance, you keep it.

If you have to put on the mask, it is.

But hey, you are forcing me to close my small business, you are forcing me not to be able to go to work, so I am not going to collect my salary ... You will have to help me on the other hand, right?

But sending people to confine themselves without offering them any kind of economic alternative that allows them to pay for the apartment, electricity, water, gas, the children's school, transport, clothes, food ... I think not it can in no case be a solution.

In any case, due to many masks, safety distances, hydrogels and even a vaccine that arrives from here to whatever time it is ... All these are patches that are mitigating, in a hurry, part of the suffering that is being generated by Covid 19.

But, we have to be clear that, until the system that produces all this damage, which is the capitalist system, is finished, there is absolutely nothing to do.

The confrontations between Conte (Toledo) and Genovés (Tosar) are key to the future of the plot.

In what sense? It is more than proven, and published, that the capitalist production system, which is the one that is destroying the planet's biodiversity, is the one that, in turn, is creating all these types of viruses and diseases that are produced by the food production system, mainly meat, of large farms, with millions of pigs, millions of chickens, with millions of whatever ... It is more than proven that the massive concentration of animals of the same species generates those kinds of diseases.

And then when humans consume it, we become infected.

We can put a thousand patches, but the final and ultimate responsible for all that is happening to us, including Covid-19 and other previous diseases, is the capitalist system of production and exploitation.

In this regard, the current crisis has made many people rethink their way of life in, for example, large cities.

What do you think about it? It happens in developed countries.

But in third world countries they have lived with this type of disease for a long time.

Now the alarms have gone off because it has been our turn for European and North American white men.

It has been everyone's turn, but we only look at our navel.

We have never looked at other types of epidemics that happened in poor countries.

It was our turn because it was a matter of time.

It is a global, environmental, human, labor disaster ... No matter where you look at it, the capitalist system no longer holds up.

Either the model is changed, or this is going to implode.

Without absolutely no doubt.

I don't know if it will take 8, 10, 15 or 100 years.

But this is already untenable. Have you felt comfortable in a miniseries produced for a platform like Netflix?

Are you worried about the future of movie theaters? If there are no cinemas, there is no cinema.

Unless it is cinema directly produced to broadcast on platforms or on commercial television for a lifetime.

The situation is very difficult for everyone.

In our sector it is true that the platforms have been a breath of fresh air, a ball of oxygen for those who were suffering a lot.

A great majority of the technical and artistic teams of cinema and television five or six years ago were unemployed, surviving as best they could.

Now it is even difficult to find technical equipment because there is a lot of shooting for the platforms.

That production is quite assured, but you have to be careful.

Because we may be witnessing the creation of a bubble in terms of the number of platforms and productions that are being made.

And it can blow you up at any time.

It happens with everything in capitalism: when you exploit and squeeze every last drop of a product that can make them money, it can end up bursting.

And we all go to hell.

But, for now, it is true that it is giving a lot of work.

And a lot of quality.

The mode of production for a miniseries like

is exactly the same as for a movie.

The only thing that the duration of the shoot is much longer.

I have not noticed the difference with making

or

or any other of the films that I have done.

In addition, the platforms are daring to make series with content that commercial televisions previously did not dare with.

Or they didn't want to.

It remains to be seen what will happen to the cinema.

Because consuming television if there are

confinements

is easy.

But if movie theaters are closed, film production will end almost out of obligation.

It is a very dangerous and very bittersweet moment.

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