Julián López plays 'El Alber' in Matusalén, a forty-something rapper who works delivering pizza at home and whose maxim is: "aging is inevitable, but growing up is optional." He lives with his grandfather, but when he decides to get married, El Alber returns to his parents' house. His mother (María Barranco) welcomes him with affection as if he were a child and his father (Antonio Resines) challenges him to go to university and pass all the subjects of the first year if he wants to sleep in his room again and have a pay. At college he will meet again with Amaia (Miren Ibarguren), her youthful love, who works as a teacher and announcer, and will have her daughter and her group of friends as classmates. The hooligan comedy by David Galán Galindo, which talks about second chances and unexpected stories, hits the billboard this Friday to the rhythm of hip hop after its time at the Malaga Festival.
You worked for the first time with David Galán on the short film Push Up in 2013. How did he propose this new project to you? Did he write it thinking of you?
I don't know if he wrote it with me in mind, but it's true that he has been a big fan of the chanante and chicada universe and I think he had some of us in mind. When he proposed it to me, he was very clear that he could approach it and what made me most excited, in addition to meeting him again because we barely saw each other, was another opportunity to do a comedy that I saw was very funny. When he told me about the team he had in mind, I thought I could also meet many friends again. So I had all the ingredients and the best of them was obviously playing a rapper who is a character I had never done before and flirting with that musical discipline that is so difficult and that presented me with a challenge that I jumped into headlong.
You have also dared to sing all the songs...
Yes, because it was essential to be reliable, to be as real as possible, despite the fact that it is a comedy and has a commercial vocation. And that gives an authenticity to the character. Above all, I wanted to do it well, which was what worried me the most. They helped me a lot because I knew I was dealing with sensitivities. Like any musical discipline, rappers are very much their own and love what they do.
Are you a fan of rap or hip hop?
I confess not. I am a very music lover and a great lover of classical music since I was a child and then I have played many styles (laughs): rock, punk, black music, flamenco, jazz... I like many types and I have given them all a chance . In high school I listened to him passively and I didn't give him the opportunity that I gave him with the filming of the film. And not because of a question of rejection, far from it, but because of the fact that not all things fit into one's life. Since I got involved in making Methuselah, he has gained a place in my heart.
The truth is that there are not many Spanish films that deal with rap or hip hop. Do you think it was necessary to vindicate this culture in cinema?
Yes, and notice that I am not a friend of claiming things all the time while making films, because I believe in vindictive cinema but also as pure entertainment, perhaps because my generation has grown up with that type of cinema. But for something like this to have a place in Spain it was necessary. David is a rapper at heart. And I know that there is a very funny climactic moment on stage in the movie and David was very excited that a movie showed that feeling for hip hop culture. He knew that he handled sensitivities and I had a deep respect for doing that. Being aware that he was making a comedy and at the same time a portrait of a real rapper.
How have you felt in the shoes of 'El Alber'?
The lesson that the character has given me is to be authentic in life. With all the exhibitions we make on social networks and the way in which we are gripped by a thousand things and a thousand stimuli, it is increasingly difficult for us to be ourselves. And I said to myself: 'Damn, Julián, you have to be more authentic and yourself and stop thinking about the opinion that others may have about you.' I am very passionate and I think that is the point that I have the most in common with him. He is a guy who wants to take his passion wherever and whenever, no matter how old he is, and it is something I agree with. And then the character offered me things or places that he had not been to. That way of wearing clothes, the look, that the wardrobe team has helped me with. And the slang of hip hop culture. The character had very rich elements to want to do it upside down.
Growing up has nothing to do with him. And with you?
(Laughs) The passage of time is something that obsesses us all, and it obsessed me as a kid. The question of maturity is not something I think about much, but for a while now you look inside and see that you have more substance, that you reflect in a way, that you like to listen more than to talk... I guess It's something that comes alone.
What is your maxim?
I think that each of us has to do what we want when we want, within certain margins and with respect for the rest, that is my maxim. And I try to be true to myself. We would do better if we were true to ourselves.
In the film you have surrounded yourself with a luxury cast: Resines, Barranco, Areces, Alberto San Juan, Roberto Álamo, Manuel Galiana... but also with a generation of younger actors. How was the experience?
Wonderful. I am lucky to work in a professional profession and my colleagues are of many ages, both in the artistic and technical departments. It is the most enriching thing about a shoot when you surround yourself with older people and younger people. In Methuselah there are up to four generations of actors and actresses. I didn't know the younger ones and it was a joy because they were willing to listen and have a good time, to learn and teach the rest of us as well. We all did a lot together during the filming. There are people who are pushing with great enthusiasm and that is very nice. And on the opposite side, people like Manuel Galiana, who plays my grandfather, is cinema history. The cycle of life passes and we all learn from each other.
You studied teaching in music education. What memories do you have from that time? Were you a good student?
(Laughs) Well, I have very good memories of my university days, which were about flourishing and awakening. I woke up on many levels of life. I finished my degree because I wasn't going to upset my parents, but I have to confess that I did many things that weren't studying. It is a very interesting period of life. I have always been a late student, very confident in myself. My father always told me that it worked with the law of least effort and I knew it was, but he didn't want me to miss out on other things. I loved drawing, playing soccer, listening to music, reading... and while filming I remembered many experiences.
If you went back to school now, what career would you like to do? Journalism doesn't come out very well as an option in the film...
I don't have the soul of a journalist but I would like, for example, to work on the radio or something related to music. Well, I think now I would do something related to philosophy. I consider myself a thoughtful person who likes to think about life and today that would do me a lot of good. We lack time to think and reflection is something that is being lost.
How do you handle fame?
Well, how can I. These are things that are given to you and each person has to manage as best they can. I am a sometimes introverted person who likes to be with his people. It's something that happens to many actors and actresses and you feel how you get rid of all that when you're in front of the audience. It's something very exciting to see. I think the topic of fame has been greatly distorted. Both for what fame really is and for those who demand fame. The limits are blurred. I am very lucky that I come from a family with a very well-equipped head from a town in La Mancha that has been very good for me.
You have made quite a name for yourself in the comedy genre since the series La hora chanante in 2002 but we will soon see you in Los flashes, by Pilar Palomero, which is a drama. How have you felt in this new record?
Very good. Everything has been very natural. I met Pilar at a film festival in Almería and we connected a lot. She confessed to me that she saw something hidden in me that she wanted to explore, what she didn't expect was that she would give me the opportunity so soon. And I have to say that I am bravo for her because she has been clear about it and has made a brave decision, something that is missing in an industry like this. There is nothing like surprising. It is a drama to which it brings luminosity because it talks about reunions and losses but strips it of solemnity. And my character is one of the brightest. I would like to continue down this path and down that of comedy, which can be more absurd or conventional. There is everything and I am happy there. Obviously, as a viewer I consume many different genres and you want to try, play and explore new paths, feel the nerves in your stomach. If you don't relax and you end up being on autopilot.
Is directing part of that game in the future?
It is not in my plans, but life is teaching that there are things that are not in your plans and they happen. Why not? Yes, there is an idea that I have wanted to carry out for a long time on the audiovisual level that I conceived in the form of writing and I suppose that a kind of director is buried there because you keep making your selection of who would play the characters, how the scene would be done. .. even if later that thing sees the light and is directed by another person, in some way the thing of how he would direct it is being planted within you. I guess there's something hibernating there.
