Fernando Tejero: «I will always be grateful to Dani Martín; “He’s my brother.”

In a few months we will see him in cinemas playing the Dominican priest Blanco de Paz: «Alejandro Amenábar has given me the most beautiful film role that could have been invented for me, a priest who betrays Cervantes. I can’t say much more, they cut off my head, but you’re going to like it,” the actor tells us in an interview with ABC.

Last June the team finished filming ‘El Cautivo’ in the Santa Pola Castle Fortress, transformed into the Algiers prison where Miguel de Cervantes suffered captivity in the 16th century. The actor specifies that this film, in which he plays one of the main roles, has also helped him get rid of the status of comedian that many attribute to him, when his dramatic spectrum is much broader than mere comedy: «I have played two characters. very media in series like ‘No one here lives’ or ‘The one that is coming’, but then I have made 50 more films, including dramas. In 2022, I was nominated for a Goya for a non-comedy character in ‘Modelo 77’, and people accept it very well. There is also the series Los Farad, in which I play a dramatic character that has worked great. I believe that the one who wants accepts you, and the one who doesn’t, doesn’t. I know that the role of Blanco de Paz is going to be incredible and will mark a before and after. I am very happy. The film will premiere at one of the international film festivals, but I don’t know which one yet.

This story of Amenábar is based on real events. Specifically, it will start from an episode in the life of the writer Miguel de Cervantes, when he was barely 28 years old, the writer was captured off the coast of Catalonia by Berber pirates, maintaining a captivity of five years in Algiers waiting to be rescuedwith several escape attempts. Fernando Tejero has worked alongside Julio Peña who plays the role of Cervantes (‘Through My Window’, ‘Money Heist: Berlin’) and the Italian Alessandro Borghi (‘Suburra’, ‘The Eight Mountains’). “It has been incredible to film with them, we are looking forward to seeing it for the first time.”

My ‘broder’ Dani Martin

Fernando is coherence personified; He comes from a bullfighting family. His father was a banderillero and organized bullfights in Córdoba, and two of his brothers have also dedicated themselves to those tasks. However, he is a fervent animalist and publicly states that “I don’t like bulls, and my family knows it”. His land pulls him a lot, and now that he has been further away for his filming, he tries to return to Córdoba whenever the theater allows it. “Blood is blood,” he says. Now that the heat of the “forty-somethings” in Córdoba has subsided, the actor will go visit his family. “It is difficult to be a prophet in your land, but I feel very loved by the people of Córdoba and I also adore them.”

But his other family is friends. Recently, we saw an image of Fernando on social media with Dani Martín, hugging him from behind while they are both sitting next to a table, which perfectly captures their friendship. “I love you infinitely, brother”he wrote. When asked how Dani is doing, he replied: “My ‘broder’ is great. Next year he will tour with his new album. We have been together and I have seen him fantastic. The only thing is that he is resting; It has become a little thin, but it is very good. It seems that when you retire to rest, it disappears, as if it weren’t there, but as I said: it’s great.

The friendship between Fernando Tejero and Dani Martín goes back a long time, when they both happened to be studying acting in Madrid. Dani became his guardian angel. As Fernando lived in a boarding house and his house was large, he invited him to live with his family in Algete. There, Fernando says: «I felt like another son. Carmen and Manolo, whom I love very much, are my second family. I will be eternally grateful to you because, today, I am still another son for them.

Furthermore, Dani Martín gave Fernando the best gift of his life: «He was the one who gave me Woodyhe brought it to me from London and he was my companion for ten years. He went through sorrows and joys with me, and he was a dog that the entire profession knew because I took him everywhere; It was like an extension of me. Woody was my friend, and I named him Woody after Woody Allen, who is one of my favorite directors.

Fernando prides himself on having a cast of friends that are second to none. Another of them is Luz Casal: «This summer I was able to spend a few days with her at the Festival of Light. She is my soul friend and I learn so much from her that she never ceases to surprise me. However, some of those friends have left. A few months ago, he said goodbye to his unconditional Julián Ortega, who died at the age of 41: «This is starting to get a little scary.. We are laying off a lot of people; Many young people are dying of heart attacks. “Julián had his whole life ahead of him.”