The best thing about a Zoom interview is to check that your interlocutor is who he says he is. If on the other side there is a couple of professionals, in the personal and work fields, even better. And if it’s about people as charming as Marta Hazas and Javier Veiga, this section packs a punch. The Málaga Festival has applauded the presentation of Amigos hasta la muerte, Veiga’s first opera as a director in which he acts with his wife, co-producer of the film. This project has already given them a handful of nominations for the Astarté awards, which the sixth edition of the Ibiza Ibicine Festival will present on April 22.
Married since October 2016, Marta and Javier, who met while filming, are not only a happy couple but also a couple who know how to work together, as we saw in Pequeñas coincidencias, the first original Spanish series of Prime Video, the idea and script of which are Javier’s. Now they risk everything with their own production company, Medio Limón, to tell the story of three friends, María, Nacho and Suso, one of them reveals a momentous secret to the others. “In literature, cinema and fiction in general love and family relationships are usually reflected, but there are also 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’s been exciting to see how our friends kept adding to it, both from a professional point of view because they liked the script and from an emotional point of view”, highlights Marta Hazas.
Next Sunday, March 19 and as part of the Wellbeing Congress organized by Cadena Ser, Marta and Javier will be speakers at the conference entitled ‘The seductive intelligence of humor’. The calendar comes to us to find out what seduced the presenter of El Club de la Comedia from an actress fond of bad jokes and vice versa. Marta answers. “Del Javi seduced me because he understood the profession the same way I did and he has the same sense of humor. But I’m not referring to that common place of ‘he made me laugh’ but rather the opposite: that he was amused by my stupidities. The opposite of the cliché; I was looking for a guy who would laugh at my bad jokes. Oh, and then his abs (laughs)”. Javier raises an eyebrow, looks at his beloved, and adds: “Marta had that optimistic spirit that seeks the part of enjoying life, that of seeing the glass half full. And although this is often understood as frivolous, I think it is precisely the opposite: with the luck we have to have fallen on the good side of life, frivolity would be to allow ourselves to be sad. I like people with a positive spirit and when something bad happens to them, they have the spirit to start dancing”.
Perhaps because they both face life with such a smile, they are impervious to the ugly side of reality: the most recent press headlines about Marta talk about her toned arms and elegant dressing, while those of Javi highlight his work as a screenwriter and now, as a director. “Do not worry. I have a well-placed and full ego. As Marta as a person and as Marta as an actress, it does make me a little angry, but as a producer, I say ‘very well, let them talk about it’. I don’t feel that I have to prove anything, that they can talk about what they want, but that people come to the cinema to see the film”. His half-lemon, of course, agrees: “It’s about things having an echo and repercussion and there aren’t that many people who are interested in knowing how I thought about this script, which Japanese authors I was inspired by. If they make it to the movie because of the costumes, great; if it is for the Galician landscapes, also; if it is because they remind me of the monologues of El Club de la Comedia perfecte. The point is to fill the patio with armchairs and to like what you offer”.
Two weeks ago, the director’s nerves started. Co-produced by TVG, Amigos hasta la muerte was filmed in O Grove (Pontevedra, Veiga’s hometown), Santiago and Ourense.
“It is an urban film and we opted for different locations in Madrid or Barcelona; the city of Ourense is also urban and its hundred thousand inhabitants are as urban as the others. The setting for the film was important and it turned out wonderful.” Marta, more Cantabrian than Miguel Ángel Revilla, nods: “Those of us from the north are 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 like shooting at home. I felt very supported.”
