Maggie Civantos: “I felt more humility in the scenes where you had to break down emotionally than in the intimate scenes”

What was it like playing Olivia, a character who goes through various transformations throughout the series?

When I read the script, he was a character that I had great respect for, for many reasons. For example, we all have a story from a novel or movie in our minds. But they made it clear to me from the very beginning that this was a much fresher adaptation, an update of the character. They needed a somewhat clean look that didn’t have all the weight and shadow of what we already know. So it was a relief to know that I could make it mine. Although I was impressed by the intensity of the work and, above all, the emotional demand. He is a character who goes through all states: good, terrible, and even worse. He is a character who descends from heaven to hell. It was a challenge. But I love learning a lot and improving a lot with him.

There is really great interest in Turkish TV series, but this is not like that, it is a series adapted from a novel by Antonio Gala, which later turned into a movie by Vicente Aranda, and which he does not want to approach.

I chose not to do this too much. I watched the movie a long time ago, but I didn’t want to review it because we wanted to build something new. And it is true that it has nothing to do with Turkish TV series because it will be instrumental in the revival of a literary classic. It has nothing to do with it because it’s another story and the way it’s told is cinematic. It goes a little outside the genre.

Its name is ‘Turkish Passion’, but with the current reading it could be ‘Toxic Relationship of Turks’.

Definitely. I think his current perspective has him more focused on an extremely toxic relationship. We are now very conscious that the first thing is to love ourselves, and this series reflects that. Olivia stops loving herself and loses control. She says: “I let him cheat on me.” Maybe because I need to feel things. But what he experienced was passion, not love.

Although it is surprising that a woman who is so intelligent, so independent and knows what she wants falls into this emotional dependence, it is more common than thought.

Yes it does. And the way we work to get some understanding is that it’s like a drug. Love, in quotes, and passion produce chemical reactions in the body similar to those produced by drugs. That’s why we always play from there. Because some behaviors were difficult to understand. And we came to the conclusion that we do not need to understand anything, we need to feel it. It’s a deeply universal story because it talks about human passions and emotions that we all know.

She took twerking lessons to prepare for her character. Was he looking for more sensuality?

They are my things. I like to make each character move a certain way. I think our body tells a lot about us and the style of dancing can define a character and also make a certain energy work. For Olivia, she clearly felt like she needed to work on the sexual side. Earth and fire. And I can find all of this in African music and twerking. And I decided to twerk. For others, I learned to ‘break dance’ or tango.

Was it difficult to face intimate scenes with Turkish actor İlker Kaleli, whom you just met?

I’m handling this well. There is a team that helps and accompanies us, and we had privacy coordinators in Madrid. Moreover, you are working with a professional actor like you. We both have some experience, and although I haven’t done that many intimate scenes, if any. So you take it naturally, with professionalism. Although for me the most intimate thing about this series is the fragility of the character. That’s what fascinates me the most: working on a character who is so emotionally broken and in the service of someone else. It was much more difficult to put myself in his shoes and live with him the journey of searching for freedom in which he was lost.

These scenes are choreographed, but you make them natural.

I am pleased to hear that. Because when you set out, you say: yes, I’m going, I’m going all the way. Having worked with Iñaki Peñafiel on ‘Express’ for two seasons, I trusted the team and wasn’t going to worry about these scenes. If I said yes, here I am. Because if I’m like Olivia, it’s that I’m a passionate person and that’s how I do my job. I am also a dancer and my relationship with my body is healthy. I don’t have that kind of humility. When I was working on scenes where you had to break down emotionally, I was more modest than when I was working on intimate scenes. Although I totally understand all actresses because at some point you can feel vulnerable. Actually, I won’t deny it in some scenes, I felt that way because there is a lot of body exposure. But then I tried to do the exercise of giving and trusting, which is so important to me as an actor.

Have you done anything crazy for love before reaching these levels, or do you regret not doing it?

I think at some point in your life you do crazy things for love. But you do these things because you want to, and sometimes it feels like you’re looking off the cliff. I think it’s natural to seek out these feelings, especially when you’re young. It’s natural for emotions to cause you to lose your mind a little at some point. But that’s what time is for, you bring it all together and find balance.

I was previously talking about ‘Express’, a series whose second season was not broadcast in Spain when Starzplay stopped working there. Want another platform to save?

Oh yes, he is my favorite character! Let’s see, I enjoyed Olivia a lot, but Barbara is another thrill for me – perhaps because I’ve spent more time with her over the past two seasons. You can never choose because Olivia taught me so much, but Bárbara made me travel from one place to another in a show that has so many facets… And character is so important because it goes from action to being at home. Family. I hope there’s a miracle there and people can enjoy it because it’s a brutal show. I pray for this.