Mario Casas: "Being a director has allowed me to see cinema from the inside out"

Mario Casas takes a leap into the world of cinema and makes his debut as a director in his new film Mi solitude has wings.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
28 November 2022 Monday 11:49
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Mario Casas: "Being a director has allowed me to see cinema from the inside out"

Mario Casas takes a leap into the world of cinema and makes his debut as a director in his new film Mi solitude has wings. For the project he has his brother Óscar, who plays the leading role along with non-professional actors. The brothers have been shooting some scenes for the film during the month of November in Barcelona and will continue filming in the center of Madrid.

The well-known Spanish actor, now a director, confesses that ten years ago he began to be interested in the world of directing: "I wrote some short films or long treatments, but I was ashamed to send the texts to the production companies", he assures in statements given to La Vanguardia . However, the time of confinement caused by the covid in 2020 helped him reflect and he felt the need to do something with his life, with himself, and he began to co-write with Deborah François.

“When you're a director, you realize what a long process it takes to make a film from scratch. When you are an actor you arrive at the set and everything is done. What I am learning has changed my life, it has changed the way I watch a movie. They have given me to see the cinema, to see the cinema from the insides”, says the director.

Mario Casas has decided to bet on non-professional actors in his new project. “I was watching a very real movie. I wanted viewers to be immersed in characters they don't know. So from this point of view it must have had non-professional actors, that the viewer would not recognize”. In addition, another of his intentions was to teach his brother Óscar the basic interpretation: “The first actor I think of when writing the film is Óscar. I wanted everything to be around my brother. My idea was to separate Óscar from professional actors. That would put him in a different place. It seems to me that placing Óscar with 98% non-professional actors was an opportunity to teach Óscar the basic interpretation. They do not act first, they are as they are. It is his first film and this was going to lead my brother to show freshness and naturalness ”.

The film is set in anecdotes of neighborhood people that Mario remembers from his childhood and adolescence in Barcelona and in experiences told “by colleagues”. They are stories that are not usually told, but that occur in real life. In the words of the director: "I want to tell stories of young kids from the neighborhood who have dreams and want to get out of there."

His brother Óscar Casas gives life to the protagonist, Dan, a humble boy who lives on the outskirts of Barcelona and who, together with his two friends Vio (Candela González) and Reno (Farid Bechara), rob jewelry stores and go to parties at a party without thinking about the future. However, the reappearance of his father, after being released from prison, will open Dan's eyes, who will realize that he must flee from that world of violence. Dan's change of attitude will put his friendship with his friends to the test, including a love affair with Vio.

Mario admits that “Óscar is doing a job that I absolutely fall in love with. I have never seen an actor work like this. I consider myself a pretty obsessive actor and I have never seen any actor give up life like my brother is doing. He has even lost 8 kilos to play the role. I really believe that he is a neighborhood boy when Óscar comes from more of the upper-middle class ”.

The selection process with the other two protagonists was long and took more than a year between different tests and castings. The director clarifies that "Candela has come to do 6 tests and in the last one we took her to Madrid to work with Óscar" - and adds that - "After almost 3 intense months of rehearsals, Óscar, Farid and Candela have managed to exceed all my expectations. They have become the characters that arouse blind trust, sensitivity, and overwhelming truth. It is what I had always imagined in the three protagonists. I feel privileged to be able to give the opportunity to some young people, who only give off talent and dedication. Hopefully I can guide them and give them everything they are giving me. It is being one of the trips of my life. If I have been able to change their lives at least during filming or for a few weeks, I am already very happy. Because they changed my life once and I hope I could have changed their lives somewhere”.

The shots of the film have been very long to bring out the freshness that the actors carry inside when the cameras are not recording them. Between all of them they have changed the text when they have seen it necessary and have included the phrases with which the actors felt more comfortable, reflecting naturalness at all times. Therefore, "it is being a job where we are improvising a lot." In addition, for the director "they are very good kids, very nice and they really want to grow up." For her part, Candela González confesses that "my last plan in this life was to be an actress." But, "the experience has been wonderful, I feel very good and I would love to repeat it, really". The director's brother corroborates the words of his partner and expresses with enthusiasm that "his personal and professional evolution is being very high thanks to Mario" and that from now on he only wants to make films with him.

“There are times when I get up in the morning and I feel like this is a simulation. It's being very emotional. I think it's being transcendental for us as people. I can't compare it to anything I've felt before. Working with my brother is something incredible, it's one of those unique things that one feels in life, like a singer who goes on stage in front of 100,000 people. I think it is difficult to explain with words”, Óscar expresses tenderly.

My loneliness has wings is a journey that takes place between corners of Barcelona and Madrid. Filming in the Catalan capital took place, above all, in outlying areas, such as Bellvitge and La Mina, and also in the streets of central Barcelona, ​​Badalona and Terrassa. Now they will continue filming in the center of Madrid, where the Lavapiés neighborhood will take on a certain role. However, at the moment the release date of the film is unknown, although it is expected for the end of next year.