We remember him as Rai, an arrogant and very sick young man from a good family who upset Chulito Pol (Carlos Cuevas) in the successful TV series. ‘Merlí: sapere aude’ (TV3 and Movistar Plus+). However Pablo Capuz (Barcelona, 1994) and had appeared in other TV series, films and plays since he decided to replace his medical studies with acting. After the international ‘Return of the Spy’, he is now an advisor to the president. Allende’s thousand days‘, Chilean-Argentine-Spanish miniseries, in which he is the only Spanish actor.
2 spread it Wednesday, 28 (21:45) Episodes 3 and 4 and all four episodes can be found on RTVE Play.
The story is told through his character. Tell me about Him.
Manuel Ruiz is Allende’s personal political advisor and is a character based on the real figure of Joan Garcés. He was studying for his master’s degree at the Sorbonne in Paris, and he came to Chile to hear that there was a figure named Salvador Allende in Chile who was making the transition from socialism to freedom, and he wanted to learn more because he had civil war and dictatorship in his own country, Spain. There was. And he becomes Allende’s walking encyclopedia and right-hand man. On September 11, 1973, the day Pinochet’s coup was bombed, Allende tells Ruiz to save his life and leave the palace because he must be the one to tell the story.
Is this what Garcés is doing?
As a matter of fact, his life was based on telling what happened in Chile, defending the victims who were tortured and killed, and paying compensation. He is still alive and the production company interviewed him to learn more about his personality and his relationship with Allende. He has never returned to Chile since that incident, but he has led a team of lawyers since 1990 and was the one who accused Pinochet. He has a Nobel for defending human rights.
So how did this role come to you?
Both casting director Roberto Matos and series creator Leonora Gónzalez decide to find out who will play the young Spaniard. Roberto knew me from ‘Merlí: sapere aude’ and hid my face because they wanted it to be weird. Leonora also finds a photo of me and thinks I look similar to Ruiz. When they meet, they see that they are thinking of the same person. They just threw me away.
What was it like working with Chilean translators?
It was a pleasure to work with Chile’s best actors and actresses. Famous, respected and supported by many awards, Alfredo Castro said on WhatsApp when they caught me: «Congratulations! Where can I see your work? I waited two minutes because I thought: “What do I tell this guy?” But he quickly told me: «The point of this is not to judge him. “It’s about respecting that.” I thought it was very beautiful. He is a very humble person, I learned a lot from him. While I was there, he wrote to me: “Do you have a heater?” “Hey, there’s going to be a water outage in the next few hours.”
The great are sometimes the best…
Yes, the entire cast is humble, very talented people with a job behind them that really impressed me. Sometimes there is a lot of ego among young people and it surprises me because we are just getting started.
“It moved me to think that 50 years have passed since the coup in Chile and that the far right is on the rise in the world.”
This was a blow to the Government and democracy.
When we shot Ruiz’s escape, there was a blue color key to put in some tanks. It was filled with soldiers and about 25 people from the far right came with a megaphone and shouted about the new sexual education law and that Allende was drunk. And they started insulting the director. It helped me a lot, it played in my favor. It touched me to think that 50 years have passed and the far right is on the rise all over the world. This is terrible.
Did you study this in school?
I had heard of Allende and Pinochet, but only just. But my heart sank while recording at the Palacio de la Moneda. Because the bombs fell there. And I went out through the door from which many escaped. I get goosebumps.
This is his second international series. Is it easier to work with so many platforms now?
There are so many productions, so much demand, but also so many actors and actresses. Sometimes people who are not suitable for the role are chosen. This is a bit complicated because I want to find interesting characters who escape the rules given to young actors, like in this series. I see myself in roles like Eddie Remayne in Ira Sachs’s ‘Passages’ as well as Ben Whishaw, an actor I feel very identified with. I love these different masculinities.
“I felt pressure in ‘Merlí: sapere aude’ because it was successful and Rai was a character very far from me”
Casting must have been difficult.
Too much. In the first six months of 2022, I did a lot: every other week. You’re a finalist and three months later they tell you no. And I appreciate you doing these things, right? But it takes a lot of time, money and wear and tear. It is an invisible work.
How did he succeed in his studies at Merlí? She is so attractive with Rai…
Enjoy it. Although he felt the pressure, Merlí was coming off three successful seasons. Moreover, Rai was a character very distant from me.
We believed it completely: very arrogant, very sick…
I was afraid to see how it would be received in the first season, but the feedback was very good. People really loved that kid who broke the hero’s head and achieved everything. And he had strange family relationships with his aunt. It was very sexually open, very contemporary. And he had an acidic sense of humor that made it a little difficult for me to get high.
What will happen next?
I’m at an art residency with a monologue I started writing in 2021, looking for projects. I have until April to rehearse it. Then they give you three or four days to show it and see if the programmers can fit it into the next theater season.