Pilar López de Ayala had not filmed a film for seven years. Its absence shows the harshness of a profession of which only the tip of the iceberg can be seen. A tip that, in addition, usually comes accompanied by flashes, red carpets and awards. Stoppages, waiting times, projects that fall through, these are not usually counted, although they are the usual trend. In times of social media, success is sold instead of the everyday. The routine of an actor or an actress is not the premieres, nor the filming, but everything that happens in between.
The absence of Pilar López de Ayala is surprising because there is no doubt that she is one of the best actresses of her generation. He demonstrated it early, in that adolescent phenomenon called When leaving class which became an unexpected source of Spanish cinema. He also confirmed it soon, with the help of Vicente Aranda with a stark interpretation of Juana la Loca that gave him the Goya for Best Leading Performance.
There is no explanation why someone who has worked with fundamental filmmakers of recent cinema such as Jose Luis Guerin or Manoel de Oliveira can go seven years without filming, but that is what happened. The actress downplays it. He explains it naturally and with that shyness that breaks any prejudice one may have towards interpreters. His long-awaited return comes hand in hand with another return, that of Javier Rebollo, author responsible for several of the most risky titles in recent Spanish cinema such as The woman without a piano either What I know about Lola.
They do it with In the Sultan’s bedroom, a unique film, half Tintin’s adventure, half tribute to the pioneers of cinema thanks to the story of Gabriel Veyre, one of the Lumière brothers’ camera operators who traveled around the world recording with the invention that changed everything. López de Ayala provides the mystery, magic and tenderness of the protagonist’s partner, demonstrating, once again, that she is one of the most special actresses in Spanish cinema.
The first question is almost obligatory, you haven’t released a film in seven years, where have you been?
Well, traveling and also in Madrid, which is where I currently live. I started traveling a little to make a living because I wasn’t receiving projects in Spain. The first place I went was Buenos Aires. Then I went to Brazil, and since I saw that it didn’t go too well, I decided to start studying. Then I was also studying a film degree at a public university in the US. Quite a few years have passed like this. Quite a few, because I have lived it as if it had been my entire life.
How does an actress manage that?
Well, and people ask me and ask me strangely. I understand it, because it is true that there are breaks in this profession and we have to take into account that too. Success does not last many years in a row. It is a profession full of ups and downs, uncertainties, and changes. And you have to get used to that too. But mine, unfortunately, has lasted too long. The breaks have been too long. This profession is very complicated, but I think it has been a mix of circumstances. But for me there are two keys. The first is that I have received almost no projects. And the second is that those that have reached me in some way have not seemed to me to be necessary for my participation in them.
Is it difficult to say no when you are in a moment of hiatus?
For me, projects have to, I don’t know if I fall in love, but they have to transmit something to me or modify in some way, make me reflect or move me. I do not do projects for exclusively economic reasons. I can do other jobs for money, but I respect my profession a lot and it seems serious to me. There is something very playful and enjoyable about it and that is what being an actress means, working with that. But I do not accept exclusively economic projects.
It seems that we buy the Hollywood model, the red carpet, the glamour, and we do not show the B side, which is difficult to maintain. Should we claim that more everyday face of the interpreter?
I have always been interested in auteur cinema, independent cinema, that is, cinema that makes me enjoy my status as a spectator. And I have had very good luck because for years I have been hooked on characters and projects that conveyed to me something like cinema with art, with truth within. That investigate the characters, the human condition. Maybe I’m a little bad at it, because there is something a bit demanding, of not accepting anything.
As an actress, are you also demanding of yourself?
Yes, and I am very perfectionist. I don’t relax until I have something very worked on.
How did Javier Rebollo’s script come to you? It’s a nice coincidence that he also hadn’t filmed for a long time.
Yes, I think he has been there many more years than I have. But he is a director and he can afford it. He also teaches classes. He has other jobs. The script came to me through Lluis Miñarro. I received a call, he told me I have this project with Javier. It is an artistic, creative, very special film and afterwards I spoke with Javier. I follow him since What I know about Lola. I have always liked his cinema and well, I read a fascinating character and I immediately wanted to be part of it.
Did you connect early? Is it important to feel that connection with the director?
In some ways, yes. For me the director is the center of a film and the job of an actor consists a bit of adapting to the personality of a director during a shoot. Not just the personality. You have to understand what notes the story touches on with your character, what you want to convey through him. He is such an easy-going person, so elegant. Everything has been very easy and we have understood each other from the beginning. It has one thing, and that is that it gives you instructions during the shot, which is something that I had not experienced until now and I liked to experiment and it has been very easy. We have been building the character together and then if you do something unthinkable, he buys it from you too.
The film is a love letter to cinema, to those who made it in the beginning, to the artisans.
Yes, and there is a bit of metacinema too. It’s curious, it is a film, as I told you, artistic and with touches of humor, but it is also an adventure story of an inventor who moved to Morocco to instruct a sultan on how cinema works. It is a story that also investigates the beginnings of cinema as an industry and how the authors imagine those beginnings were, but at the same time it is very entertaining and fun. So it has everything.
Do you have a founding moment of love for cinema or a film that said ‘this changes my life’?
I believe that it was as a result of starting to work with directors who transmitted to me everything I felt watching films that I decided to dedicate myself to this profession, which is European films. I was born watching that cinema, because in my house there was a taste for that type of cinema. I think it was at that time when we all sat around the television watching classic movies that I developed my taste for that type of cinema.
And the moment you knew you wanted to be an actress?
What I wanted was to provide my parents with a better future. And I wanted to be seen too.
It’s funny because normally interpreters have a story like, ‘when I saw Bette Davis.’ It is a very sincere answer.
I don’t know forever. It was later investigating. I think she wanted to be seen and also for us all to live better.
How do you handle being seen? Because you also started in a series like When leaving class which was a teenage phenomenon. Between being seen and being so seen perhaps there is a difference.
When leaving class It was a very beautiful time. I started in that series as a teenager, but I didn’t start there. I debuted before with Ricardo Franco in a series called I, a woman.
What a debut.
Yes, yes. Furthermore, he was someone who took great care of me and who knew how to understand the child that I still was and who treated me with a lot of love. So I have very good memories of him and Concha Velasco. When leaving class It was a very interesting stage for several reasons, because it made me known very early and I am very shy, I always have been. These clashes of shyness and popularity are sometimes not easy to digest. But he gave me many skills and a job and taught me that this profession that I had chosen has its side effects and that I had to learn to face it as naturally as possible and learn to live with it.
Has it been difficult for you to make that shyness coexist with such an exhibition?
I think there are many actors who are very shy and I think it is an ideal profession for shy people because it is about becoming another person. There is nothing better for a shy person, because we often hide in other characters. It’s therapeutic and helps you get to know yourself.
How does a shy person handle the red carpets, the Goyas…?
Well, the best that can be done. You don’t choose this profession for the sake of it or I don’t, but you put on the professional suit and face it. You learn because it is part of this job. You cannot avoid that responsibility, and journalists are fundamental and completely essential for our work to reach the people. I greatly respect the work of the journalist. If it is done with honesty and rigor, it is a job that helps you. I think it makes you be more critical and wiser with everything around you. And then you know that when you are promoting, you have to attend to all kinds of magazines and programs, but as long as it is with dignity and good taste, I am happy to participate in that.
You mentioned journalism, perhaps it doesn’t help that we always talk about the success of a film. The success of critics, audiences, awards… maybe we contribute to only talking about those great films instead of those that may be on the margins.
For me, success is closely related to personal satisfaction, to reaching the goals that you set for yourself and making them achievable goals, and not so much to the impact of the film. If you suddenly have so many spectators it is not something that has any effect on me, for me the important thing is in the route and enjoying the route. Success for me is not a goal.
Winning the Goya so young can be seen by many as a success, what did it mean to you, how did you experience it?
Well, curiously, there was a break after the Goya of Joan the Crazy and I spent about three years, it seems to me, without accessing a project that interested me. The next one I think was Obababy Montxo Armendáriz, and it was a character in a very ensemble film, but until then I had not read anything that might interest me. So my career has happened like this, with these types of pauses. I wish it had been another way, but hey, it’s a learning experience too.
Did you at any point think about quitting?
Yes of course. Everything goes through your head because it takes a long time and suddenly you have an identity crisis. Actors, if we don’t act, we don’t know who we are. So you think, but am I an actress or what am I? If I’m not doing anything, if they don’t call me, what is happening? Why am I not interested in this project? Do I have a problem? Is it me or are they not interesting? You ask yourself a lot of questions and everything runs through your head. But here we continue fighting.
Do you think about the future as an actress?
No, I take things as they come. I don’t plan so long term. When you have a certain experience, you also have other weapons to move with. I’m not as worried about work as before, and even less so now that I’m going to release two films. [también estrenará próximamente El Molino]. But that is also what life gives you, experiences.
Video of the full interview
Video: Nando Ochando and Javier Cáceres
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