When Blanca Portillo is asked about her work as both an actress and a theater director and producer, she usually answers: “You have to shake consciences, not only criticize power, you have to drive the audience away, you have to move the ground.” This “theater maniac”, by his own admission, but also a movie and television lover, had a great day at the Malaga Festival yesterday and crowned him with his highlight – the Malaga Award. It was tonight in collaboration with the translator’s wonderful friends and colleagues, such as Asier Etxeandía and especially the director Gracia Querejeta.
After occupying the tables of the Teatro del Soho-CaixaBank for two days, representing Juan Mayorga’s monologue ‘Silencio’, Portillo played himself yesterday, a professional with an alarming level of personal demand. “As my career progressed, I won not in confidence, but in panic. I’m afraid when I come across any project. I feel the same discomfort everywhere, whether in the theatre, cinema or television. I see a red light and I’m scared: the camera goes to the bottom, not a spectator a few meters away. The truth is, my panic levels have reached levels a doctor should be looking at.” The woman from Madrid confessed.
Every time the interpreter goes about his business, he only finds a way to overcome his fear: «I tried to put the camera on my side honestly, always being as honest as possible, because when you don’t sing ‘La Traviata’ you can see everything”.
Characters
Two characters determined Blanca Portillo’s most popular trajectory. On the one hand its ‘7 souls’ Charlotte, because as usual, the actor’s face became popular thanks to television: ‘Tell me how it happened’, ‘The accused’, ‘Stolen children’, ‘Pepe’s beach bar’, ‘I know who you are’, ‘Them’ or ‘Promesas de arena’ but she admits that years later, more than twenty years later, many still call her Carlota on the street. And to join the first sitcom brand made in Spain in such an appetizing role.
The other essential role of his career is undoubtedly Maixabel in Icíar Bollaín’s film of the same name It’s about the widow of someone killed by ETA. “That movie was not just a professional job, it was a vital, intimate and personal journey. Meeting Maixabel and her family… She is a wonderful woman. They say we’re kind of weird sisters,” Portillo said yesterday.
Recognition like the Málaga Award has helped the translator these days look in the rearview mirror, the memories of his career, and reaffirm himself in the inevitable decision that changed his life: “When we were little, in my house we used to play characters and create stories in the dark. I think it was an education that I was not aware of.” When she began to study acting, she came to the conclusion that she had found her true vocation, her only vocation: “I don’t want to do anything else anymore,” I said to myself.
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And he continues to make his way along with other talents who rely on him. For example, Pedro Almodóvar, with whom he worked on ‘Los abrazos rotos’ and ‘Volver’. “I was extremely happy working with him. Pedro seeks, demands and has a very special sensitivity. He perceives what’s going on inside very well, he never leaves anything unfinished, and he builds the characters very well. With him I was able to develop and grow as an actress and I had the privilege of directing, creating and seeing him painting, as if you were next to Picasso, it is to be with a genius». The actor said yesterday.
Portillo also remembered one of his most outstanding works on the big screen: when he included a man named Fray Emilio Bocanegra in ‘Alatriste’. “was a man [el director del filme, Agustín Díaz Yanes] This is the courage that decides that the character should be done by a woman. The truth is, it was tough when I saw myself dressed as Fray Emilio and Viggo Mortensen was there. [el protagonista de la película] That no one in my life took care of me as much as I did, “remembered the woman from Madrid yesterday.
Tonight, in jeans, sneakers and a white t-shirt, plain and honest, very excited, In the most popular TV series, the most ambitious theatrical productions or the films for which he received awards, he won the appreciation of his colleagues and the public who have followed him for years. She introduced herself as she was, a woman, Blanca Portillo, an actress. He does his best for others.