He studied medicine and music but chose to live as others. Miguel Rellán (Tetuán, 1943) has never stopped building a career in which he meticulously selected plays, but easily surrendered to cinema “if they gave me a few dollars”. Presenting at the Teatro Principal in Alicante on Saturday come homeby Harold Pinter. And last Thursday the second season Sorry for the inconvenience. Be retired? A big no.
Coming to Alicante with a game. come homeWritten by Harold Pinter, staging the life of a particular family with its lights and shadows. Come on, like everyone else.
Yes, I’m afraid so. What happens is that in this case Pinter chooses a family to talk about human just as he might choose a mechanic patrol. Pinter said his theater is difficult and it’s hard to talk about it because he understands that it’s contradictory and confusing, but trying to reflect on life that has been contradictory and confusing for me. Sometimes in rehearsals come home It’s as if we’re walking down a sidewalk in the street and a window has been opened on the mezzanine and we’re presented with a family view that we know nothing about. They love each other, they argue, they lie, they tell the truth to each other… And after an hour and a half the windows close and we continue to interpret what we see. This is Pinter’s third job I’ve done, and I think what he’s done in general is to put a mirror in front of us and tell us: don’t hide it, it’s you. It seems to me that in recent years the rate of stupidity has increased exponentially all over the world. Starting with those who sent us. And as always, we citizens are responsible for what happens to us because we elect politicians. This shows how important theater is.
How necessary is it for an actor to return to the theater from time to time?
I do theater all the time and occasionally make movies or television to fill half the fridge. Theater is real, cinema is the art of the director, they block you. It’s the same as singing rock or opera. Everyone is singing lately. But get on stage to sing. This is different. Cinema is image and theater is reality. Theater is a lie that the audience agrees, I pretend to be someone else and the audience pretends to believe it but knows I am not Ricardo III. So, in a way, even though we have so much footage and music all over the place, more people are streaming live now than ever before because it’s unpredictable. The best representation is as follows.
“It seems to me that in recent years the rate of stupidity has increased exponentially all over the world. Starting with those who sent us.”
Serials have given the profession an oxygen bubble in recent years. You set out with Antonio Resines. Sorry for the inconveniencewhich premiered its second season on Thursday. He seems a little skeptical of the world of images.
Not possible. My experience has been very good. If they offer me movies and my reps say they’ve given me a few big bucks, I’ll do it, but most of the time I’m not interested. I am a sniper. I’m going to shoot with Martínez Lázaro now, and I’m used to the part being cut, the things that cost you a lot of work not being seen, or the movie not showing. Therefore, I have a kind of distance. Another thing is working with friends. Juan Cavestany and Álvaro Fernández Armero are little more than they invented this series to measure a bit, as I love music and wanted a script written by a conductor. They called me to say they had found the story of a conductor and I was happy… but this was not the role for me, it was for Resines (laughs). Working with friends is very different, it’s great, but it doesn’t happen all the time and there is no choice but to accept certain things.
With whom do you not hesitate?
When I started I just wanted to shoot with Carlos Saura or Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón and in the theater with Nuria Espert and Adolfo Marsillach. I was very hungry until I realized that everything had to be done. Anyway, I don’t watch movies anymore. I also know how to say no very skillfully. But if they give me money in movies and TV, I will, not in theatre. Theater is very difficult, it requires a lot of discipline, it is a school for one; You learn to be generous with others and be generous with others, you lose your shyness, you learn to work in a team and you also learn a lot of culture. You should also choose your friends very well because you have lovers that you have to live with for two years.
Have the ways of making movies and TV series changed a lot in recent years?
Technically obvious. Cables disappeared. But it doesn’t feel like better movies and TV shows are being made anymore. Someone in charge of a platform told me that once again the quality has dropped for the demanding public. I have the impression that everything has been said. Inside journey, Homer told everything and Shakespeare finished it. It depends on how you count then.
“Theatre is a lie that the audience agrees with, I pretend to be someone else and the audience pretends to believe it.”
won a Goya for my aunt in 1986. Aren’t you playing another one already?
I do not know it well. I have a lot of awards, and I also have a graceful distance with awards. Unless you’ve convinced me otherwise, the awards are there to support something. You can measure who jumps the most, but how do you measure one player is better than the other? I say a lot about Camus when they give me a career, if you persistently dedicate yourself to an artistic discipline, sooner or later they’ll give you a reward, the hard thing is to deserve it. There are many things that I do not deserve and others that I deserve were not given to me.
An actor has no retirement age because there are characters from every generation in a movie, theater or TV show. Do you think about that moment?
No. Does someone engaged in a creative activity retire? Are they poets? Writers? He’s a dancer because he can’t lift his leg, but why doesn’t Vargas Llosa retire? In this business, the day you buy something your health is taken away and you’re half stupid because you have no choice. Chaplin said that there is only time in this life to be an amateur.
A few weeks ago, the Artists Charter was approved. Will there be a before and after the situation in the industry?
I do not know him. As El Brujo said, it’s like making the status of a knight wandering. What do they want? The unemployed get a subsidy? Firstly, there are many actors who are out of work because they deserve it, because they are bad, because they are not professional, they are just handsome. There are cloned, replaceable actresses who are only interested in being famous. And they have every right in the world. It’s easy to make movies and television, it’s easy to say the text – and now you can’t even say it because you don’t speak it – and it’s easy not to get hung up on the furniture. I saw a lot of delicious corpses that would eat the world. But being an actor is something else.
“There are a lot of players who are unemployed because they deserve it, because they are bad, because they are not professional, because they are just handsome.”
Now if you were called to recommend a movie, TV show or game, who would you like to listen to on the other end of the phone?
To a friend. Fortunately, I have a lot. Fernando Colomo to David Galán Galindo or Jorge Coira. Also, these would be great projects. I am usually lucky. What happens is that from time to time there is a child who believes in something. I make a lot of short films and there are inexperienced guys who believe that cinema started with Tarantino. I really like to learn, but it bothers me that they teach me at this point. There are people who are very stupid and very smart.
You are studying medicine. Have you ever thought that instead of trying to heal the soul, you should devote yourself to healing the body?
I studied medicine because my father was a doctor. But I’ve never regretted it. Man, I’d like to live three lives: one to be a conductor, one to be a doctor, and one to be an actor.