Every wrinkle you have Elena Anaya (Palencia, 1975) is like a line that can be read. 30-year acting career and a woman’s life approaching fifty without fear of age. It’s a scar he doesn’t want to erase as he gets older, because the important thing isn’t there. It’s a philosophy he’s always followed and reflected on after the series’ premiere. ‘Falling lies‘, just published’It’s time for the sky show’ (Monday, new episode). In the film, he plays an aesthetic medicine doctor who decides to lie to protect himself and eventually discovers society’s big lie.
Although he has a rich cinematographic resume, among others, Woody Allen And Pedro Almodovar (He won a Goya award for “The Skin I Live In”) didn’t reach the TV world until 2019, when it premiered. ‘MotherFaherSon’ (BBC), ‘Jett’ (Cinemax) and ‘Christmas Days’ (Netflix)From 2020 to 2022 it will be followed by ‘Professional’ (Movistar Plus+). He loves cinema deeply, but he believes in TV series and their power to reach more people.
It took him a while to join a TV series. Didn’t you receive an interesting offer or was it because the cinema took up all your time?
I’ve done some series abroad: one for the BBC (‘MotherFayherSon’, where I played Richard Gere’s Mexican wife), another in Toronto (‘Jett’, and another in South Africa (‘Professionals’), with Brendan Fresser. And Spain There’s also a small miniseries, ‘Days of Christmas’ (Netflix), but let’s say this is the first major format.
And who gives stars?
It’s a very choral series. The characters are all beautiful and important. Esther Garcia, producer of El Deseo, called me and had the chance to work with Pedro on ‘The Skin I Live In’. And there’s always a big guarantee when they call from Almodóvar’s record company. It came almost three years ago and I was crazy. There is no approach for me. The format or medium in which it will be seen is not that important. I’m still a movie lover and a huge proponent of movie theaters, so making feature films feels like a gift to me. But at the same time, it seems to me that it is more important for everyone to be able to sit at home with their family and enjoy the many new TV series and movies that are released without having to pay money every time, it seems very democratic to me.
What struck you about this story when you read the script?
The script itself. They sent me the first episodes and I saw a very interesting, light comedy with a very intriguing plot and, in my opinion, the character of Lucía is a strong female character who can make important radical decisions about herself. life. , is about lying to the whole family for protection and self-preservation so they don’t see how others see me, how they might judge me, or what I could be if that light isn’t seen. transparently of the day It felt to me like a story told by women directing the action. Maite (Pilar Castro) and Lucía are two friends that I always want to follow, to keep reading the chapters in an almost addictive way and to go along with them and see where this all ends. Then directors Félix Sabroso and Marta Font made a wonderful contribution to the story.
Also, if you don’t, are you lying because you’re acting like it won’t happen until you fix it?
Yes, there is such a thing as if I hide it, it won’t work. It is something we all believe, consciously or unconsciously. But I think, first of all, he hides it so as not to disappoint others. To avoid infecting them with the horror that had befallen him. The huge burden he carries on his shoulders. He knows that he is innocent and that he will find a way, no matter what it takes, for justice to be served and the person who used his name in the industrial espionage case to be found.
Lucía reaches the border. Would you react like this to an unfair situation?
I don’t know. I strongly defended Lucía at every step she took, because I, the actor who gave body, heart, life and form to this fictional character, had to make her mine, bring her into my domain and justify every action of mine. the things he did. In this case I imagine it is because there is no other. If the person who truly manipulated the truth for evil and gained financial benefit cannot be found, Lucía may go to prison.
There is another big lie underlying the entire series: the lie of aesthetic retouching. And this is reflected in the women queuing up to get Botox injections. We think we will be happier by looking younger. You really don’t agree with this…
The truth is, this doesn’t mean I agree or disagree; I believe that everyone is free to act and make the decisions they think. What was interesting to me was discovering how Lucía, after the tremendous blow she received, gradually reconnected with her most humble side, and through her undercover work experience, came into contact with many young girls queuing up to take an exam. Temporary intervention, which lasts a few months and then leaves the skin where it is, recognizes a need that is not so simple and cannot solve people’s lives that much.
Does this act as a trigger for you?
I think seeing this in others serves as a mirror for her and helps her understand that sometimes she is a victim of a social structure that puts us in the role of women having to be the most beautiful, best mothers. , the best spouse, the best professional, the best caregiver… And no, we all have flaws, we all fall, we have the right to come back together if we want. Lucía reconnects with something important and realizes that these needs are not her own, but the needs of society. It is a beautiful learning that everyone can somehow do on their own.
You’re open: You say you love getting older. Is this an important message to convey to this ageist society?
It seems like a privilege to be getting older and to have been doing the same thing for, in my case, 30 years. I started when I was 19 and now I’m 48 which is very lucky. It is also important for the public to see that someone they saw as a child is now an older person, who has traveled much more, has traveled much further, has much more life and experience, and to reflect this on my face. Growing old, living, waking up every day seems like a privilege. We only live once and even if we get older or our skin is not that perfect, we need to take care of the basic and important things. So what is perfection? What is beauty? I believe everything is much deeper. It’s not as superficial as our skin can be.