When he woke up, Santi Millán was still there. Monterroso’s story is perfectly useful to introduce an actor whom we have been watching for decades because he has done practically everything: theater, film, series, reporting, collaborations on television and presenting such successful programs as Got Talent (Telecinco). Even sneaking onto the Oscars red carpet using a Caprabo client card as if it were a press accreditation. Versatile like few others, he now voices Reggie in the movie Vida Perra, now in theaters.
There are no historians, psychologists, police officers or criminals to consult here. How does one document to give a dog a voice?
I think that from the exercise of empathy, from the exercise of knowing how to put yourself in the other’s place, right? And I have never had a pet. But I do like them, I like animals and dogs especially because they have a point of unconditional love that I believe is one of the main traits of Reggie, of the character that I play, is precisely that. He has had the misfortune of running into an ungrateful life partner. But of course, the reality for him has been that, he is involved in a toxic relationship without knowing it. When abandonment occurs – because Reggie would never have made the decision to leave no matter how hard his reality was – he realizes that there is a different world, a better world where you love him but where others also love you. And they love you as you are without trying to change you and I believe that this can be perfectly extrapolated to human beings.
Have you seen yourself in that situation? Saying ‘I don’t fit in here, I better go somewhere else where I can fit in better’.
Yes, yes, I think we have all found ourselves in places where we don’t fit in, especially in times where your self-esteem or your security is more fragile, in times of adolescence where you need to be accepted to fit in… In the end what we are looking for is the approval of others. Well yes, there have been many times when I felt out of place. I am from a generation where a child doing theater was exotic.
Dog life has many meanings. The one that funny to me the most is the word dog as a synonym for lazy. What was that time a boss told you “you’re a dog”?
No, well look, the truth is that I am a person who, when I am not working, is quite relaxed, I am quite a dog. But I have a lot of predisposition to do things. I mean, in that sense I think they haven’t told me because I have always been very proactive. Be careful, later at home I take things differently (laughs).
Congratulations also on Got Talent, who is back and leading. What is the secret of the program’s success? The casting or the chemistry you have between the jurors and the presenter?
I think that is very important, it is a format that is a blockbuster, but apart from that, I think that the casting is very good. And above all, that the things that happen are real. Are real. And that’s what I really like the most. It is not imposed. The judges really live things and in first person. So, they don’t exaggerate emotion, not even when it’s fun… And you buy the reality show that occurs between them. My wife, who works in television, is often outraged by Risto’s assessment. And that’s wonderful.
Not long ago we saw Edurne connecting, contacting or wanting to contact her grandfather through the oui-ja.
But that’s how it is, and Edurne is also a person with deep sensitivity and if she comes to play, she is unstoppable. There is no imposture.
El Pueblo, on Prime Video, is already in its fourth season. When you start a project, a comedy series in this case, do you feel like it’s going to work or is there no way to know how the public will respond?
The fact that Alberto and Laura Caballero were behind them gives you certain guarantees because I think that in this country they are among the most talented. Not only because of what they write, but later, the sense of smell they have, that ability to sharpen everything, any indication they give you, are indications that add up and it is very easy to work with them. And yes, it is true that the first script reading you do, well, you see things, but I think that the screwed thing and the exciting thing about this profession is that you never know what is going to happen. In the end, this is about people connecting and it depends a lot on your mood, your situation, your needs, there are a thousand things: the same product seems wonderful to someone else, it seems creepy.
You appear in The Artists, also on Prime Video. Why should we see it?
It is very well made and has an aspirational point: these white-collar thieves, people who use their ingenuity to turn everything around and take the lead, are often… How I would like to be able to make this type of things, make fun of those people who want to make fun of you and turn it around. It also has a dose of humor and is very entertaining.
Catalan in Madrid, famous for many years, has he never tempted you politically on one side or the other?
No. In any case, I have not been a very active person giving my opinions or on social networks. When they asked me, I answered, obviously, but I believe that my opinion, which is subjective and particular, is worth the same as yours or that of my neighbor. To consider it any other way would seem pretentious to me.
Has the culprit or culprits of the leak of an intimate video of yours been punished?
No, we are still working on it, you know that justice moves slowly. The people who leaked it have already been located, especially the person who published it on networks, but now there is the exercise of Twitter granting permission to identify him personally. It’s a long process, but hey, I’m not in a hurry either.
Maybe because you are someone who likes you very much, there was much less blood than I thought there would be.
In the end, what hurt me the most was the exposure, especially to the other person and the family environment. They have to eat something that they neither prick nor cut and they don’t have to. That it came out in jokes, that people commented on it, I understand it; There were even things that I really found very clever and that I found very funny. And in the end it is healthy to be able to make things humorous. When you can make fun of something, it is usually because you are fine, it is about things that you have overcome: when your wound is closed, they can make jokes about it. If it is open, everything they say to you is going to hurt you. The humor seems correct and healthy to me. The problem is when we enter into value judgments without knowing the reality, the why, the how much, the… They don’t know anything and value from their personal situation without knowing what the other is. So I think that’s the mistake, blaming, accusing or pointing. I think that’s where we should be a little more cautious.
