Characters he portrays Najwa Nimri (Pamplona, 1972) left its mark due to its disturbing magnetism. unforgettable ones Zulema from the movie ‘Vis a vis’ and inspector Sierra from ‘La casa de papel’…She’s now the paranoid Haruka of season two. ’30 coins’Premiered in October HBO Max, continues in the skin of his seductive and manipulative mother ‘Sagrada familia’ series prepared by Netflix It is already presenting its second season. We talked to the actor and with Manolo Caro (Jalisco, Mexico, 1984), director, creator of strange universes such as ‘The House of Flowers’ and ‘Someone Has to Die’.
The first season was more controlled, even though a lot of things were already happening or sensed, this time it takes action. Should things have been rushed?
Manolo Caro (MC): Yes, but I see it as a whole project. It’s not what I’ve been envisioning in my head for seasons. It’s like a third act where you have to get to a point. You get into this dizzying thing where the characters have to save each other and try to survive.
Even secondary characters will get in on the action.
MC: The idea was that they came to accompany this rhythm and these stories, not to create a new arc, but rather to discover what the secret of the Saints is and what it is. event.
Unfortunately, the controlling mother’s children are less and less locked away. Although claustrophobia is still felt.
MC: Yes, I think it has to do with the DNA of the project, the DNA of the characters inventing a new life, and that leads you to carry a lot of the past floating around and enter a microcosm where you feel like you’re in the middle. They are drowning because they will catch them at any moment.
Najwa, Gloria/Julia, family It came together as it was. And she deals with her children like a yo-yo: she lets them go for a while but then stretches them out to keep them coming back..
Nawja Nimri (NN): Yes, there is basically an ethos that is based on need more than anything else. A method of communication about a need and emotional blackmail that serves a paranoid mind. Unique and exclusive. But that’s all because of the incredibly hot cotton candy she makes so you can’t escape. Somehow we understood why they couldn’t let go of this teddy bear. Hence the ending Manolo prepared.
It’s tremendous, by the way.
NN: Trips were few. This is the construction of the character that serves a story that has this color, this structure, these dialogues, this packaging, now it has to do with a melodrama, now it has to do with a ‘thriller’. If it were looked at regularly, it would be understood as it should be understood. But it also works in a strange way because it all comes together in the end in a completely strange and magical way. It’s like a beautiful disaster.
“In ‘Sagrada Familia’ everything comes together in a most interesting and magical way”
Najwa Nimri
Protagonist of ‘Sagrada Familia’ (Netflix)
He describes Gloria/Julia as a warm-blooded being, a teddy bear. Is that why you always wear clothes made of warm fabrics and pastel tones, or is it a coincidence?
NN: There is nothing ordinary here. This man and I were taking on a round character with a brutalist structure in the background. It had the halo of Paris, Texas. We played with it: her hair was blonde and wavy, and so were the costumes. It started with textures, and because it was round, it was huggable. Not with edges.
In the background, Madrid’s brutalist architecture and houses decorated according to the personality of the owner are of great importance.
MC: Yes, I am an architect and I spend a lot of time in the Production, Production Design and Art departments because I am very interested in furniture, accessories, colors and in this series I was very interested in the world. cruelty. . And it was so nice to see Gloria with those looks, with a concrete building behind her. This composition was very striking.
Gloria is so attractive and seductive that the viewer sometimes empathizes with her even though she feels rejected. What kind of relationship did you have with the character?
NN: I’m not here to judge or evaluate that. Since I am generally very independent, it has been a process for me to understand this person and make them truly attractive. I had to justify a lot of pathology in order to interpret this man in his own code. It cost me a lot of work. But I’m very proud of how the final result turned out, because it was nice to see a person who was, in principle, hell. This takes a lot of work, because you have to see him go through an ordeal, a process, and it must be beautiful to see that. We had to do a handstand there.
He has imprisoned his sons in his Oedipus complex, and the one who survives is loyal to him, but his daughter rebels against him.
NN: This is a bit like a woman’s adolescence. I think it’s because I have a son. Likewise, creating a gangster is not too far away for me. If you see Barcelona, if you see Euskadi – look at ‘Patria’ – the mafia is there. Mother-child bonds with boys may also lead them to buy guns. It’s here on the side, the problem is we don’t give it a name. And what we see here among the colors is fiction for us. But come on, I knew where to turn to get the kid on the right track. “Honey, I love you so much. Take your gun and kill for me if you have to. I love it when you kill for me.” It’s not that far off.
Gloria/Julia is an extremely attractive woman, but she is not looking for a man.
MC: He just doesn’t have time. When?
NN: If it wasn’t so, I would be cheating.
MC: It may be related to the passport issue. (to laugh)
“Technologies have played a bad role in fiction because before you had to see yourself and now you send a message and that’s it.”
Since her neighbors ask her for help, she becomes everyone’s mother. There is always someone knocking on that door.
MC: Someone always knocks on the door, yes (laughs).
NN: It’s a praying mantis. The defense mechanism it has is the peacock show. Like the peacocks that appear in the series. Showing this accessible, warm and beautiful thing is part of their livelihood. With makeup.
That’s why the audience cannot escape.
NN: That’s great to see. This doesn’t happen to all my characters, but I even liked this one. I’ve played disgusting characters many times, but I think it’s more or less achieved with this one.
The story takes place in a time when there were no mobile phones. There are so many cabin models in this series…
MC: Doors and cabins (laughs). The thing is, it would be very complicated to do this story today because you’re sending a message and asking: “Did you do this? Did you kill her?” Technologies have played badly with fiction. Because you had to see yourself first. Even in romantic comedies to send you to hell. Now you send a message and that’s it. ‘The Holy Family’ was supposed to take place at that time and we needed lots of stands, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to meet each other on the road because everyone was running away.