The best thing about a Zoom interview is to verify that your interlocutor is who they say they are. If on the other side there is a couple of professionals, personally and professionally, much better. And if it’s about people as charming as Marta Hazas and Javier Veiga, this section is top notch. The Malaga Festival has applauded the presentation of Amigos hasta la muerte, Veiga’s debut feature as director in which he acts together with his wife, co-producer of the film. This project has already earned them four nominations at the Astarte awards, which the sixth edition of the Ibiza Ibicine Festival will award on April 22.
Married since October 2016, Marta and Javier, who met while filming, make up not only a happy marriage but also a couple that knows how to work together, as we can see in Little Coincidences, the first original Spanish series on Prime Video, whose idea and script are by Javier . Now they are risking everything with their own production company, Medio Limón, to tell the story of three friends, María, Nacho and Suso, one of whom confesses a transcendental secret to the others.
“In literature, cinema and fiction in general, love and family relationships are often reflected, but there are few references to stories based on friendship. And it is a very important pillar: the passion and disappointments are practically as intense as with a partner or a family member”, explains Javier Veiga. “It has been exciting to see how our friends joined the bandwagon, both from the professional side because they liked the script and from the affection”, adds Marta Hazas.
Next Sunday, March 19 and within the framework of the Well-being Congresses organized by Cadena SER, Marta and Javier will be speakers at the conference entitled ‘The seductive intelligence of humor’. The calendar comes to mind to find out what seduced the presenter of El Club de la Comedia from an actress fond of bad jokes and vice versa. Martha answers. “I was seduced by Javi that she understood the profession the same as I do and that she has the same sense of humor. But I’m not referring to that commonplace of ‘it made me laugh’ but rather the opposite: that my stupidity made him laugh. Contrary to the cliché; I was looking for a guy who would laugh at my bad jokes. Oh, and then his abs (laughs).
On the other side of the screen Javier raises an eyebrow, looks at his beloved, and complements: “In Marta nests that optimistic spirit that seeks the enjoyable part of life, that of seeing the glass half full. And although this is usually understood as frivolous, I think it is precisely the opposite: with the luck that we have to have fallen on the good side of life, frivolity would be allowing ourselves to be sad. I like people with a positive spirit and that when something bad happens to them, they remain with the dancing spirit”.
Perhaps because they both face life with that smile, they are impervious to the ugly part of reality: the most recent press headlines about Marta revolve around her toned arms and elegant clothing, while Javi’s are based on his work as a screenwriter and now, manager. “No problem. I have the ego well placed and very full. As Marta as a person and Marta as an actress, it does make me a little angry but as a producer, I say ‘very good, let’s talk’. I don’t feel like I have anything to prove, that they talk about what they want but that people come to the cinema to see the film”.
His half lemon, naturally, agrees: “It is about things having an echo and repercussion and there are not so many people who are interested in knowing how I thought of this script, what Japanese authors have inspired me. If they get to the movie because of the dresses, great; if it is because of the Galician landscapes, too; if it’s because they remind me of the monologues of The Comedy Club, perfect. The point is to fill the stalls and to like what you are offering”.
Veiga explains that the nerves as a producer ended once the project was on track. Two weeks ago, the director’s own began. Co-produced by TVG, the filming of Amigos hasta la muerte took place in O Grove (Veiga’s birthplace in Pontevedra), Santiago and Ourense.
“It is an urban film and we have opted for locations other than Madrid or Barcelona; The city of Ourense is also urban and its hundred thousand inhabitants are as urbanites as the rest. The setting for the film was important and it turned out wonderful.” Marta, more Cantabrian than Miguel Ángel Revilla, agrees: “Those of us from the north look a bit alike; I had just done the program Rutas Bizarras (TVE) touring Galicia, several plays with Javi’s family and for me it was also filming at home. I felt very covered.”