“I’m a psychopath now, arrogant, arrogant, a bastard and dangerous.”. Chimo Bayo, perhaps the most iconic DJ in Spanish history, announced this. The symbol of the Valencian Bakalao Route of the 80s and 90s, which now replaces the bowls for the cameras. He is making his film debut, playing the role of a brainless drug trafficker who is the antithesis of the real Chimo Bayo, he said in an interview with EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA of the Prensa Ibérica group.
“He’s as cute as me, right? I have fans as young as 2 years old. Now I have turned into a dangerous and cunning gangster, when you meet him you don’t know if you will get out of there alive. But in reality I am very happy, because for the first time in my life I play a character that is not Chimo Bayo,” explains the 62-year-old Valencian, who is making his big screen debut.
‘He does this with film’When the night doesn’t end (‘When the night doesn’t end’). A feature film bearing the 100% Levantine seal. It takes place with the director from Alicante, actors from Valencia, and symbolic places of the period, such as the Cabanyal neighborhood, Spook or Masia nightclubs. It has the support of the Institut Valencià de Cultura and is included in the official part of many local festivals such as Alicante and Elche.
Heroes of the feature film Sergio Castillo, Roberto Hoyo, Álex Monterde, Álex Peral and Martín Doménech, very young players who were not born (or were in diapers) during the boom period of the famous Bakalao Route. And they play a group of friends who enter ‘Movida Valenciana’ from the capital of Turia and end up in trouble with a criminal named ‘El Holandés’. Chimo Bayo. He’s the only one of the cast to go through that phase.
Debutants
“My girlfriend is a little fed up with me, because I really warmed up to the role and ended up wandering around the house and playing ‘The Dutchman’,” admits Chimo Bayo joyfully. “I wanted to do the movie so bad that when they offered me I had to report how much an actor earns. “But then I told them yes, even if they didn’t pay me, I would do it because I really wanted to do it.”
He’s not the only one debuting. Bill Martin Domenech that and Sergio Castillo (who are also his roommates) say they just finished their drama studies and this is their first professional feature film. Very young players who had to face the elements of another time: “The most difficult thing for Sergio was to drive the Citröen 2CV of that time. It looks like he resisted the steering instead of the power steering,” he explains to this newspaper.
This will also be director Óscar Montón’s first foray into the world of fiction. He is one of the people who most documented Valencia’s constant celebration. He directed the ‘documentary’ in 2008.72 Hours…And Valencia was the city’ (2008). Now he shows this courage with this fictional feature film, produced by Eme Eme Producciones and Dacsa Produccions, which recently opened at the Ocho y Medio bookstore in Madrid.
Cars are exploding
“I was surprised that the director’s name was Óscar Montón. “Are we going to win too many Oscars? Winning one is enough”“I told him when we started,” hesitates Chimo Bayo, for whom the experience has been very useful, “I am now looking for a manager for future films, because I want to continue making films.”
The film was shot in iconic locations in Valencia. “Not only in the clubs where the action takes place, but also in places like the port of Valencia” 1987 Volkswagen Golf GTI I bought it for the movie set in 1986. It continued until the final scene in the harbor, when the engine hose burst and a significant amount of smoke emerged.” recalls director Óscar Montón. The Citröen 2CV driven by the heroes also meant enough in the final scenes.
The film depicts Valencia in the late 80s and early 90s. One of the main counterculture poles of Europe, where cities like Berlin or London were founded.. It’s a city that doesn’t sleep, thanks to a legal loophole that allows them to open at any time of the day or night, as long as they leave half an hour to clean the room between the end of one session and the beginning of the next. “I remember being the cleaning staff and personally sweeping the floors of the Spook room to reopen it as soon as possible,” Chimo Bayo now recalls.
A movement associated in the collective imagination with a number of clichés (synthetic drugs, powerful electronic music, violence), but a reference to the European music scene at the time. And a pioneer in combining a number of features, such as turning the DJ into the hero of the party, or matinee disco sessions where people wake up early rather than staying up late.
very professional
Regarding the shooting, Chimo Bayo says that he took the job very seriously “I didn’t want to know the real names of the heroes. When we met, the children started talking to me and getting closer. “I told them that I just wanted to know the names of their characters and that we would take videos and photos when the shooting was over.”
The heroes, on the other hand, had to make a commendable effort in documentation and mutation in order to enter a role that was not theirs in terms of generations. They are boys’ children generation Z to play a role Generation or ‘Boomers’.
“Since I was born in 1993, I did not experience the route. But I know this through my father, who also started a nightclub at the time and told me it was a great time. The route has been demonized, but this cultural movement where the main cities looked to Valencia because mescaline was used as a substance and they were doing things that had never been done anywhere else before, was something unique,” says actor Álex Peral.
Chimo Bayo is bargaining as usual. When asked if he knows Valencia, where he lives in this movie, or if he knows any ‘Dutchmen’ like the shady character he plays, he cuts off: “I experienced the route but I don’t remember it. “I would go into the booth and because the headphones were still wired, I wouldn’t let anyone in so they wouldn’t ruin my session.”
The feature film will have its official premiere in Valencia on October 27, but screenings are already planned in various cities in Spain’s Levante. Castellón, Elche, Gandia, Sagunto or Burjassot. And the presentation is being discussed in a room in Madrid. Chimo Bayo hasn’t seen it yet. He wants to do this in the company of his people. Those who have seen the film predict that it has all the makings of being this year’s national cinema sensation due to its originality and the freshness of the debuting cast.