Mario Casas (A Coruña, 1986) He has been in the acting world for 17 years.. He’s always stood in front of the cameras, even winning Goya for his masterful role in ‘No matarás’, but this week Casas is taking another step in his career and making his first feature film as a director, ‘My Soledad’. Has Wings and his brother Óscar Casas as the protagonists.
How do you experience a premiere (which will be Friday) from the director’s point of view?
Promoting a child-like movie after almost three and a half years is much more than what you do as an actor. And the truth is, although I have beautiful nerves with butterflies in my stomach, I live with a lot of nerves. I’m looking forward to the next day and that the movie is already for the public, because that’s why we make movies; but also no, because I’m finally going to say goodbye to the movie. It’ll still be there, weeks to live, and then it’ll go to Netflix, but it’s true that that means I have to say goodbye to the whole process.
You were able to present it at the Antonio Ferrandis Festival in Paterna, how did you feel about the public reaction?
I made ‘My Loneliness Has Wings’ to reach the public, to activate them, to empathize with the story and the characters; This is for them. I was very nervous in Paterna. It’s true that I presented this and had to flee because I had a promotion in Madrid the next day, but I saw excited and curious people.
What did you get out of that process where you took the step of putting yourself on the other side of the camera?
During the pandemic, I started writing together with the film’s co-author, Déborah François, without being aware of “let’s try this”. The world had stopped and that was something I had wondered about for a long time, so we started writing. And it was like a machine starting to get oily, as if it were a matter of fate. Looking back now, I don’t believe I made a movie, shot it, and it will be released in a few days. And also with my brother. Everything went very well and the only thing left for me is to thank them for supporting me so much to bring forward the phrase ‘My loneliness has wings’.
A movie with so much at its core, is it even more special for that?
It’s not the story of my life, but it has my core. I wrote it too, and the movie is always with me. The periphery of Barcelona is a place I know, where I’ve been and where I’ve spent a lot of time, so I can write about it. Then, that trip they took to Madrid has a lot to do with the trip I took when I was 18 that changed my life and then never came back to fulfill a dream; in it, for an escape; but like it or not, it has something to do with what happened to me in that life change and what the characters will do.
Have you considered your brother Óscar for this project from the beginning?
Always. A while ago, before I started writing, I used to tell him that if he ever made a movie, I would do it with him. It was clear to me before I started typing the first words. I wanted to work with him, to live this first trip with someone as precious as my little brother. I also knew that I could take him to different places within the interpretation he had not experienced before. And I think Oscar has improved a lot in this movie; He was already a great player, but it seems to me that he made a splash, took another step in his career.
Was it easier to work with your brother, or vice versa?
Óscar is a very good boy, not an egoist. He’s a shining person, he’s a child of light, and I knew he wouldn’t give me any trouble with that. We talked about it on set and in rehearsals, and I told him that I would act like any actor, that I would be no different to anyone. True, we had moments of anxiety when we were shooting the movie because maybe he saw me in a more serious place, doing my job, more as a director and he might have been confused and a little insecure but I just tried to guide him, I worked with him as much as I could and he should be proud of what he’s doing because he lives his life. He did, he worked hard. I see what he’s built and I’m proud of what he’s done.
Candela González and Farid Bechara were not professional actors, did your acting experience help you manage them?
Above all, I tried to get them to trust me. I tried to guide you with my experience and it was easier as I went through these places. I know what it feels like to arrive at the first rehearsal, the first day of filming… I tried to keep them calm and enjoy this trip, because it’s something unique. They didn’t want it to end in the end. I tried to take good care of them.
He confirms that after this experience he learned to love the profession more. Will you repeat the experience?
If the movie works and the audience likes it, I would like to be able to continue directing. It is true that it is a much longer process, but I would like to combine it with acting. I’m new to directing and you mess up a lot, but I imagine there are many successes in that unconsciousness, but I learned a lot and I look at cinema in a different way. You create a project from scratch, and it’s a journey that captures what the word cinema is. I hope I can direct again one day.
He also has important projects as an actor…
I just finished a new movie with Rodrigo Cortés (“Escape”), the first film that Martin Scorsese produced in Spain, and I have another project between Barcelona and the Netherlands in November with new director Gerard Oms. He accompanied me as a coach all these years.
Despite having a solid career as an actor, are you still afraid of the phone going off?
This always is. If you think you’ve done everything and counted everything, then it sounds to me like we’re talking about a recession. You always have to be afraid because in any job it may happen that you do what you love today and do well and maybe not tomorrow. Life is too much. The only job I can do is try and work my best and say, “I’m a restless ass, I’ve done movies, serials and will try to direct, go a little further in my career in my profession, and see what happens.” The place for me is to work and do my best.
He mentioned Rodrigo Cortes. Did you or any other director have an impact on you that left your mark?
Rodrigo Cortés is a director I look forward to working with and I learned a lot from him. All directors have given me something, they have all taught you something, and it stays with you. I wink at the other works I do in the movie and the audience following me notices.
What do you want your personal stamp to be?
Feeling. This is a little movie with characters, with a script that talks about the history of these children, and what I want to work with is to get them emotional, to be alive, to reach the public. What I loved was that the characters had constant emotion, charisma, and going through it, even if it was just in their eyes.