“With Berlin I would have a first drink, because I would do it with almost anyone, but a second, where it is already a decision, here it is no longer.” This is how Pedro Alonso (Vigo, 1971) defines his relationship with Berlin, the popular character from Money Heist who, starting this Friday, will have his own fiction on Netflix. A new trip to the past of this hedonistic and cunning character and a new robbery with another gang played by Michelle Jenner, Tristán Ulloa, Begoña Vargas, Julio Peña Fernández and Joel Sánchez.
In this prequel “we have gone through a wormhole and we are in a different galaxy,” advances the actor, who insists again and again that the tone of Berlin is totally different from that of Money Heist. “It is true that there are also robberies but it is a feel good movie that is closer to a romantic comedy.”
Alonso never imagined that this character would have such a long journey. “The thing is, I also buried it at the end of the first season,” he remembers. What attracts him most about him is that “he loves to slow down the action.” “I once read that communication was the art of stopping time and Berlin has incredible potential there. And then there is his sharp sense of humor and that he is a machine for dismantling human beings and systems of appearances.” That is where he assures that he would not have a second drink with him: “He is an emotional, Machiavellian and manipulative terrorist although, yes, he achieves absolutely fascinating moments of feeling and takes you to unexplored territories.”
Forged in Galician television series such as Rías Baixas and Padre Casares, Alonso recognizes that the popularity of this character has been “very crazy” but that it has not changed him. “It caught me at a certain age and I was able to establish a distance from what was happening.” He promised himself that when the phenomenon passed he would still be able to recognize himself.
He thanks Berlin for giving him the opportunity to travel, meet talent and even develop his own work. In that sense, he is enthusiastic about a personal project that will be released in 2024 and that he filmed before Berlin. A non-fiction film that he has written, directed and produced in which he crosses Mexico from the jungle to the desert “like a version of the Odyssey in search of ancient cultures and plants; a journey of meditation, healing, therapy and mysticism.”
Berlin says in the series that there are two things that move the world: money and love. What moves Pedro Alonso? "Curiosity. I am hungry for learning and intimate growth. In fact, that trip to Mexico has to do with tools to feel better about myself” because “more and more, my intimate, professional and spiritual life are becoming more and more the same.”
When asked what he would have dedicated himself to if he had not done acting, he answers that in recent years he has painted and written a lot. “If I had to choose only one activity, perhaps it would be painting because it relaxes me and because it is my way of working. I build my characters by painting. It is a way of enabling the intuitive.”
Looking at the past, in case he would change something, he recognizes that he had a time “when I thought I had wasted a lot of time for different reasons, but at this point in my life I understand that each step has a reason for being.” Even if it is a wrong step. “Making mistakes can be the necessary way to value something that you didn't see before; I take it as learning.”
I would advise, however, his younger self to have taken more care of his self-esteem. “I have realized that I have worked and moved a lot through intermediaries, that is, to get them to love me and recognize me, but forgetting about myself. You have to love yourself more in a deeper and more authentic way. Everything else is learning,” she advises.
Politically he feels disappointed. “The tone used by politicians fuels the fire and tension.” He asks that the political class be more honest and respectful because “if the example that one is going to give to one's children is the tone of current politics, the only thing that is done is dishonor the ideologies that you claim to defend.”
Reserved to talk about his private life, Alonso has had a romantic relationship with Tatiana Djordjevic for years. a hypnotherapist born in Paris of Serbian origin. The couple's daughter Úriel was born in 1999. “Having a real conversation with my daughter is one of the most beautiful things I can think of because it makes me think that all is not lost. And I also learn a lot from her.”
Alonso says he cannot stand “people who only serve their navel” and values, instead, “the humility of those who take nothing for granted.” And already in the final seconds of the interview he points out his desire to “be able to sit down with anyone and have a real conversation.” And after a pause, he insists before laughing again: “And then, the second drink is something else.”
