When Álvaro Morte walks down the street, it is inevitable that someone will stop him and greet him as 'The Professor'. Although the one from Algeciras already has a good handful of roles behind him, this is perhaps the character that has brought him international fame, like the rest of his castmates from La casa de papel. Now, he wants to win over the public again by getting into the skin of Mario, the protagonist of Objects, the new film by Jorge Dorado that hits the cinema this Friday.
“He is without a doubt one of the most distinct and complex characters I have ever faced. He works in a lost property warehouse where he guards all kinds of belongings accumulated over decades. I found it very attractive to start from a character who has a better relationship with objects than with the people around him. As soon as I read the script, I knew that this was going to be my next challenge”, admits the actor to La Vanguardia.
Although, the real challenge, beyond bringing Mario to life, was also that the viewer did not see the professor on the big screen. “It is not something that I propose myself. It happens to the vast majority of actors who have given life to a character that in one way or another has left a deep mark on the viewer. In that sense, I think people will always identify me with 'The Professor'. And it's OK. However, we must not underestimate the public, which is fortunately intelligent and understands what an actor's job is, as well as knowing how to differentiate one role from another. For my part, in each project I try to escape a little from what I've done before and I think this film has given me this opportunity”.
In the 108 minutes of footage, Morte becomes a lonely guy whose shell only manages to pierce through Helena, a young policewoman played by Verónica Echegui. His life changes when he arrives at the warehouse with a suitcase rescued from the bottom of the river in which there are the human remains of a baby. Mario decides to investigate on his behalf and reaches Sara, a young woman trapped since she was a child in a human trafficking organization. A network that treats people as if they were objects.
Jorge Dorado reflects on this reality: “it is something that is present every day and that society lives from the sidelines. We can be more or less aware of human trafficking but in the end we sleep in our houses and take hot showers. What appealed to me was being able to tell an adventure story that could somehow create some social appeal." Of course, he warns, “the intention was not to make a drama or a film of social denunciation, but to expose something that happens and that, despite knowing it, we are not capable of stopping as a society. The fact that it is told from the perspective of the thriller or, I would even say that from the fable, makes the viewer reflect and become aware”.
An awareness that they have had in mind all the time during filming, as the filmmaker acknowledges, and that has led Morte to look at everything with a magnifying glass. “Álvaro is a very good actor and he has that professional point and at the same time obsessive with the details of the script, something essential for everything to close well. But there is a point where he takes you down as a director, in a good way. One day he gets up and tells me: 'That's it, I know what Mario needs. A helper to work with him! An older man about to retire. And of course he tells me this two weeks after starting to record. He is so stubborn that he was able to convince me that this was really necessary and it has been shown that yes, well, not only does he humanize Mario, but he also shows him to the public through his eyes", admits Dorado, who concludes that as a director "I like to listen, although you have to know how to select. In this case, the counterpoint has been perfect".
It is not the first time that Dorado and Morte have worked together, as they have already been hand in hand at El Pier. However, the actor recalls, “we met long before in a Miguel Hermoso production about the life of Lola Flores. I had a very small role, the sequences of which I recorded in three or four days, and Jorge was assistant director. Even so, they invited me to the filming party and Jorge approached me there and he told me: 'Sorry, Álvaro, I just wanted to tell you that I really like what you've done with this bullfighter.' For me it was as if the best critic in the world praised my work. I was thrilled that someone unknown from the team approached an anonymous actor to tell him that he had noticed something he had done. And that today we are both premiering a film in which he is the protagonist is something whose gratification is impossible to describe.
