He only works one day a year. Or rather, one night a year, December 24. It's bad luck to be incapacitated precisely on this date. Santa Claus is happily flying with his sleigh and reindeer (in full chestnut, of course) when he loses control of the vehicle and crashes into two oil-soaked bread criminals in Madrid's Plaza de Cibeles.
Santa Claus and one of the priests, Salva, end up at the same hospital. Father Christmas is well aware that he will not be able to perform his annual task, and convinces Salva to replace him. Santiago Segura brings Santa Claus to life in Joaquín Mazón's new film, La Navidad en sus manos, which hits theaters today.
Ernesto Sevilla, Pablo Chiapella, Unax Hayden and María Botto accompany Segura in this Christmas adventure, who explains the intricacies of the filming in a conversation with La Vanguardia.
When I was little, was it more about Father Christmas or the Kings of the Orient?
I was from what was there. I couldn't choose. But my mother was very modern and when she realized that with the Kings toys we only got to play with them for a couple of days before we went back to school, she started writing to Santa and my brother and I freaked out that that possibility existed. That of the Kings of the East was cruel, the monarchy has these vileities.
You are already the king of Spanish family comedy, but Mazón is right on your heels. Have you chosen to collaborate with the competition?
I like Mazón's vision of comedy because he has the audience very much in mind. I loved Cuerpo de élite and I found La vida padre very nice. Mazón takes a script and improves it.
After the series of Padre no hay más que uno and A todo tren, can you say that you have specialized in children's cinema?
I don't make children's films. I make family cinema, which is different, because it appeals to the parents, who are no longer forced to attend, and the children don't spend the whole film asking "what happened?". When I had my daughters, I realized they couldn't watch my movies and that opened up.
In La Navidad en sus manos he participates only as an actor. What do you prefer, acting or directing?
It's nicer just to act. More relaxed, because you dedicate yourself to it body and soul. Driving comes with many responsibilities and can be an ordeal.
How did he compose such a well-known character as Father Christmas?
We each have our own idea of Santa Claus. I imagine him as a generous, kind and adventurous person, a man of action because, after all, every December 24 he travels around the world to leave presents for children.
Did you hesitate before accepting the role?
They sent me the script and a list of four possible actors for the role of Salva. I said I would only do it if they gave it to Ernesto Sevilla. I also asked for more jokes. Sevilla said yes, they introduced more jokes and I got involved with great desire because my name is in the project and I can't lower the bar. I don't want to disappoint the viewers who follow me.
His duet with María Botto as Pimpinela will be much discussed...
It's a little absurd, but since I'm very kamikaze, it was funny. I'm a big fan of Pimpinela. I met them when they were performing in Las Vegas and they knew about me because Argentina is one of the few foreign countries where my films are successful. Then I met them in the Canary Islands when I was filming Vacaciones de verano. We were in the same hotel and they were already joking that I was chasing them. Now we are friends, I have seen them in Madrid and Buenos Aires and I always ask them for tickets to their concerts.
Although it is a comedy, La Navidad en sus manos also deals with serious issues such as the bullying suffered by Salva's son...
Bullying must be reported. When I was little they made me because I was fat. Children are very cruel by nature and can hurt you for anything. In the movies, the unforgiven get what they deserve, which is not always the case in real life. This is what cinema is for, at least this type of cinema, to sublimate the viewer's desires.
There is also a defense of public health in the film…
There is no one in their right mind who is not proud of Spanish public health. If you get sick in the United States, for example, you have to pay a hefty bill. A friend of mine got sick in Miami. He was operated on and was hospitalized for nine days. The joke cost him 290,000 euros. How do you deal with this?
You are thin now, how did you become Santa Claus, who is chubby all his life?
With a creative prosthetic belly, a hair-by-hair beard and the clothes, which always help.
He didn't make a new installment of Torrente so he wouldn't have to gain weight, but with this Santa he already has the solution...
Yes. The face will look thin without the beard, but Torrente's stomach is one of those that stick to the waist thanks to the potato chips. I can create a chubby Torrente with a thin face. The truth is that I would like to make a new Torrente because people are asking me to, but I don't see the time. I direct one film a year and I don't want to saturate the market.
