They were united by a memorable series and continued as brothers beyond the screen. Los Serrano was a social phenomenon, the history of our television and the most exported fiction before the emergence of streaming platforms. Fran Perea and Víctor Elías played Marcos and Guille, eldest and middle son of Diego Serrano (Antonio Resines). Both found love in the series but the relationship between them is the only one that has stood the test of time. “I think only Batman and Robin had such an affinity (laughs),” says Víctor Elías. So much so that Fran will be the officiant at her younger brother’s wedding on October 31, when he says I do with fellow artist Ana Guerra.
Life keeps them strongly united and this Friday they stop at the Apolo hall in Barcelona on the occasion of a tour throughout Spain commemorating their two decades of friendship: One plus one is 20, whose title recalls the chorus of the title song of Los Serrano –from the song One plus one is seven–, and in which Fran sings on the guitar and Víctor, her musical director, performs on the keyboards. Their next concerts will be in Zaragoza, Leganés, Pamplona and Bilbao before starting the festival season, Alicante, Gandía and A Coruña, among others.
What songs do we find on this tour that Víctor directs? What or who is Fran Perea singing about 20 years later?
F: I sing to life, to being here, to being alive, to continue with enthusiasm, with dreams. 20 years have passed and our dreams have been fulfilled, so we directly ask people at concerts if their dreams have also been fulfilled in this time. We have recovered songs from the first albums that were part of the Los Serrano soundtrack and we have made two different repertoires so as not to repeat ourselves.
V: The first year we were a little more afraid because we didn’t know how people were going to react and our surprise was that everyone, both the veterans who have been following Fran for twenty years and the new ones, had all the songs well learned. , so that has allowed us to play a lot in this show, to make it a little more spectacular. We have been very concerned about the timing, regarding it being very fast: people sometimes don’t even realize it. Come on, I don’t see people having time to comment with the person next to them or go order a Coca-Cola. I think that’s a pretty cool goal achieved.
Did it ever weigh on you to be Marcos and Guille for so many years? I’m talking about your relationship with people, etiquette, typecasting…
V: Mmm… Not really. Nowadays I would like it to be more distinct when I’m playing… But hey, this is happening less and less. It has been a matter of time, perseverance and my stubbornness, of wanting to be a musician and insisting that people know it. It is true that before it was not so distinguished and now when people see me on stage, in this case with Fran, it is obvious what we are selling, but if they see me playing with other artists they do not see Guille but Víctor as a pianist.
F: Yes, I believe that all of us who go through a phenomenon of success as brutal as that then also have to go through our period of acceptance. Of digestion. You can’t fight that, people know you for what you know yourself and you can’t change it. The moment you accept it you are much happier, you don’t fight with the world or with yourself. And that’s very good.
You are both actors and musicians. If the genie in the lamp told you that you had to choose, what job would you choose for the other side? Like “Now I only sing or play the piano but as an actor I think the best thing I did was…” and vice versa.
V: I would dedicate myself only to music and I would stay with
Fran, you can tell me your best work in both aspects because you have always combined them 50%.
As an actor I have done very difficult things but for me there is a before and after: the first day I went out to do Phaedra at the Mérida Classical Theater Festival. For me that was something very important. The entire process of working with José Carlos Plaza and Ana Belén. Understanding that way of seeing theater and respect for the word was very important for me. Perhaps for the things that have fulfilled me the most, they have marked me. It was a kind of catharsis at that time in my life and beyond the success of Los Serrano.
And for the musician Fran?
Well, I don’t know, I’ve done really fun things with music too. At that time, during the boom with Los Serano, suddenly you were singing for a lot of people; I remember one time on the beach in Alicante it was massive, concerts in which I sang Un andén de la Estación and everyone sang along with me. And then going to the Balkans with Travel the Word, writing a book… All that music has given me has also been very cool.
Victor, what is the best thing about Fran?
His talent in all its aspects.
And for him to be a perfect person, what would you take away from the equation?
(Fran laughs in the background)
V: Mmm…Ehh… It’s very complicated!
F: I am very heavy, I am very heavy.
V: He’s impatient, but like me. It happens to both of us. There are things that we get right at, even sometimes without dedicating enough prior love to them. But it happens that they always come out.
F: It’s like we trust each other, that we study on the last day.
V: That’s right, we got an 8 and maybe we could have gotten a 10.
F: As my father said, I am a dilettante.
What is the best thing about Victor?
I think Victor is a much better actor than he thinks he is. I directed him in the play I Sustained and part of my job was to give him that confidence, because to me he seems like a great actor. As the performances progressed, he told him ‘what a bastard’, because he is very good.
And what can’t you stand about him, if you can put it that way?
He’s a little unpunctual and that’s for me, I’m not picky either, but sometimes I say unpunctual shit to him, sometimes it annoys me. It can be corrected, huh. I get over it. I get over it because I love him so much. But Víctor is unpunctual not because he is inconsiderate or because he falls asleep because he is up at 7 every day but he always wants to finish one thing before starting another. Look now he has to go play with Ana and before this interview he sent me the premixes for something we had to record.
What is Fran like as a director?
The best. I admire him as an actor, as a director, as… brother.
How is Víctor as a directed actor?
Very obedient. We are both eager but we are effective. He learned the text very quickly; Obviously she was a little afraid but we were talking about his life on a level… getting naked in a brutal way and he hadn’t acted in theater for years. He has been working on this since he was very little and he has it in him. He has given priority to music but at any moment he could combine it perfectly.
Finishing talking, we ask Víctor if he has realized how he is different from Isa Pantoja. He is not very clear about who he is until he hears Chabelita’s name. And he laughs expectantly. The riddle, simple, is a key to talking about their wedding: the couple attended the IX edition of the Platino Awards, at whose gala Ana performed three songs in a musical production dedicated to Mexico that Víctor created and upon returning home, in The airport responded to reporters: “We had a great time, proud to carry our art, its musical direction and I my throat” to then joke “We almost got married in Cancun. There was such a beautiful waterfall…”
Well, Isa Pantoja did get married in Cancún, with the forgotten Alejandro Albalá. “Ahhhh… Well, there’s no way to have money, huh? (laughs)”, answers Víctor. Their wedding will be in Madrid on October 31 and, as is already known, the couple will feel very honored if Mrs. Letizia, Víctor’s cousin, accompanies them. The one who will not fail for anything in the world is Fran Perea, although she refuses to answer whether or not she will be accompanied. “I don’t let go, no, no, no.”