Álex García: "The way to be healthy is to think that you are neither as good nor as bad as people say"

Theater

Álex García, actor and director, in the streets of the center of Madrid.

BERNARDO DÍAZ

"I am more macho than I would like"

"Luxury is a trap into which it is very easy to fall"

He triumphs in Movistar with the series

, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, chain plays that have swept the box office and with very good reviews, both with

, playing a member of

with hardly any props, and in

, surrounded by greats like Núria Espert and directed by Mario Gas.

Precisely this last text has so moved the actor

(San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, November 14, 1981) that he has decided to capture in a documentary everything that happened in the functions behind the curtain, interviewing his companions and sneaking backstage between acts.

of students at the Luchana Theaters and which can be seen this week at the

short film

.

"I thought ... How are we not going to share something so beautiful! And that's how

has arisen

. Obviously I don't do it to earn money, but to remember why we are dedicated to this," he still enthuses.

With experience in acting since he was just a child, he reveals that this work has impregnated him so much "without doing it pornographically," he clarifies, that he picked up the phone and called his mother to tell her.

"This paper, yes. This is it."

A function that qualifies as

.

And that is reflected in his documentary, in which you can see how the actors concentrate minutes before the show, one doing push-ups and going around the stage and Espert reading books in his dressing room at 84 years old.

"An entire library will have been read during the play, what a marvel," says García.

The most complicated thing, he asserts, is approaching the actors in those moments when they felt so vulnerable.

"I've been the enemy at home," he jokes.

Did you like the direction taken and maybe launches into a more ambitious project? The truth is that

I've ever had.

The

documentary

arises from a need to share everything that happens behind the scenes, when a very beautiful text and a group of very good people working together converge, but from

I liked to tell stories behind the scenes. camera because that of being able to give your point of view seems very interesting to me. He has starred in all records: cinema, television series, now he has directed ... but, would you say that there is a special magic in the theater? Undoubtedly, the direct With the public and the connection with the history so deep when being on tour for months or years makes it feel familiar, but that something can also happen to you while shooting, when you are in a production in which you tell a very powerful story that can touch someone.

It occurs in this profession and also in others.

It is extrapolated.

When in this short the figure of the technical chief emphasizes that he is tired of doing things that do not motivate him, I think it is a reflection that can sound like anyone in his work. What makes him say yes to a role, especially to Bad or controversial characters like a member of "La Manada"? I really wanted this role in

.

I had no doubt that Miguel del Arco was going to know how to deal with this issue and, when I saw the text, I knew that he wanted them to count on me.

If we let things happen and don't scratch on them, we flatten out as a society.

You have to put some topics on top of the tables so that they are clear and make you think.

For me, at the Kamikaze Theater it has been done with absolute respect for society. It has a season of characters that require great intensity and carry many emotions.

How do you prepare them? As in any other job.

You know what you have to do: tell stories with the greatest possible truth.

It is true that when the emotions are so strong you take them home.

But there are people who are very passionate about their jobs everywhere.

I'm thinking of a bakery that brings flour from I don't know where and lives it if something doesn't go well and has the same sensitivity as someone who is dedicated to interpreting.

It is everywhere, you just have to trust it.

Why did you call your production company "El Loco"? (Laughs out loud).

It has its history, don't believe.

When I set up the production company, I was in a moment of great existential crisis.

Either I left Madrid or did what I really wanted.

One day, in a low moment, I asked the Tarot cards that they had given me and I came up with

.

It is a card that means that you can be judged by society but the world knows that you have a good end, that it tells stories, and suddenly I was related to what was happening to me.

That same night I decided to co-produce

and set up my production company and call it that.

A good friend who is a designer, and a very good one, made me the logo. He has lost his Canarian accent, nothing shows, have compatriots accused him of losing his identity to act? On the basis that I am a Canarian but my My father is Galician and my mother is Catalan, and when I arrived in Madrid as a child I was rejected from various jobs because I was not well understood, I worked hard because changing accents has always been a lot of fun for me.

But not only did I take neutral Spanish, I did Galician, Argentine ... It seemed like a game to me, it was fun.

Associating accents with identity is an idea that I respect but do not share because my Canarian part is in many other experiences.

Tomorrow I am going to Tenerife to see my people, and I will go down to the usual cafeteria in La Laguna, or as soon as there are Carnivals I will return ... But the accents, which give us diversity, do not seem to me the DNA of a person .

Closing yourself to just one place slows you down instead of expanding you, because we are the fruit of the influence of many places.

Why did you decide to be an actor when you were so young? I was lucky enough to work in television since I was 13 years old, I was at Carnival and did series, so it was always related to that desire to want to communicate.

At 17 I decided to come to Madrid as one more step to that impulse that I had since I was little to want to tell stories.

My parents understood me very well because it was a natural evolution. Have you been surprised by the good reception of "Riot Control"?

When you chain several projects with good criticism, how do you maintain that bar? With the theory of "not so much".

When something is good, one has to think not so much.

One day my friend Raúl Prieto explained it to me and a professor of his.

And I keep it until today, also with the "it's very bad".

I think the way to be healthy is to think that you are neither as good nor as bad as people say. And fame, how do you handle it?

With so many fans it is easy for one to lose their mind ... In my case, being lucky enough to be well known at the age of 13 and knowing that this is not real or at all comparable to what they call success or pleasure. to do your job well.

I knew that was not what I aspired to, although it is part of this profession and it is what it generates, especially on television, and it is even good in certain jobs so that they keep calling you.

But what really worries me is telling stories, and I know that if I go to El Retiro and what I have to tell is interesting, someone will stop to listen to me.

That's the base! What makes you regain your balance?

He lives in the mountains and perhaps that contact with nature, meditating or playing sports helps him regain his calm ... Being in nature helps me a lot and I meditate every day to keep my body clean from all the noise we put into it.

If you achieve that, the rest comes alone.

It helps a lot to be calm surrounded by trees. Who else, who less has contracted a platform: Filmin, Movistar, HBO ... "La casa de papel", which did not catch on on television, however, imploded on Netflix and became a worldwide phenomenon.

Is it an opportunity for Spanish fiction and for actors? Whenever territories are expanded it is good for our profession, but I think that we should not surrender to the platforms or underestimate them.

There is an audience that is there waiting for each weekly premiere, which is something that seems truly overwhelming to me, but they succeed, and that will make the level of what is told never be like it was before.

However, it makes many people work and that whoever wants to tell other types of stories, as I have done with the short of

, uses those means because, for example, it took three years and when I had a little money I put it in the documentary film.

There are spectacular stories, such as

in Movistar, and other more commercial projects that help you save for your next challenge.

What have you felt working at the Teatro de La Abadía with Mario Gas and such a powerful cast led by Núria Espert?

A lot of peace of mind because those who have been with you for so many years make everything very easy for you.

Núria is close and has an impressive background but fortunately I have worked with directors and enormous actors from this country, such as Javier Cámara, José María Pou, María Hervás ... For the better, I want to think that the best are the most normal.

Most of the good guys tend to be close.

That helps a lot to tell the stories well.What is life like on a set with the coronavirus?

Are producers heroes? It's a strange feeling.

The meals look like a jail, with everything full of screens.

Shooting orders are constantly being changed and it doesn't piss you off like it used to, when you were pissed off if they changed three orders in a week.

He has shown me the adaptability that human beings have but I would not like to continue like this for long ... His partner, Verónica Echegui, shares his profession.

Does that make him understand you better? With the subject of profession, when you are friends with someone or partner, it is difficult for him to understand well your hours and ways of working or even the subject of egos if he does not know what it is to be an actor.

In my case, dating someone who is so deeply dedicated to this is a gift.

It has been very positive and we also usually help each other and collaborate with the characters or certain situations. What project do you need to do? To tell you a lot, I dream of doing a play in which you can interact with him. public in real time.

It is something that has been done but I would like to have my version of all this with a text by Lorca. Where do you like to get lost in Madrid? In Hoyo de Manzanares, Parque Atenas and Chamberí, which is my neighborhood of all life.

In the Dehesa de la Villa I have very good memories, especially in the colleges. What takes you from this stage in which you are experiencing exponential growth as an actor and now you are starting to direct? As an actor, we have to listen to each other to tell well the stories and, as a director, we cannot forget the story we are telling.

In this year in which we have been forced to stop, I have seen a lot of cinema and, when history is ignored, it shows.

A movie can entertain, and it can also change a person's life.

But it has to be told with the heart. How did it happen to the refugee who hugged him in his documentary to tell him that "Incendios" told his story exactly? As you have seen, it happened.

It surprised even us.

He knocked me out and we're still in touch today.

It reminds you and shows you why you do what you do.

You never know when the protagonist of your story is going to see you.

According to the criteria of

Know more

Comments

This news has no comments yet

Be the first in give your opinion

0 comments