Two Juan Pablo Villalobos enter the Obaga bookshop in Barcelona together. They’re both wearing a white T-shirt, a gray sports jacket, and even two identical pairs of blue leggings. This meta-literary scene was not part of a new episode of Black mirror, it happened on a Thursday night in the Catalan capital. One of the two, indeed, was the renowned Mexican writer, and the other, the actor Darío Yazbek, responsible for bringing Villalobos to life in the film adaptation of the novel No voy a pedirle a nadie que me crea.
“If it was another one of my books, I wouldn’t be as nervous as I am today,” reveals Villalobos to La Vanguardia. Winner of the Herralde award, No voy a pedirle a nadie que me crea stands out as one of the author’s most intimate narratives. It is a work of autofiction, set between 2004 and 2005, when Villalobos arrived from Mexico to Barcelona to do a doctorate at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Despite the fact that he works with autobiographical material, the argument is not limited to reality, and immerses the reader in a universe where absurdity ends up being normal and hilarity is intertwined with everyday life and surrealism.
In the plot, Juan Pablo’s dream of studying in Barcelona turns into a nightmare when he inadvertently becomes involved with a criminal group that forces him to seduce the daughter of an important Catalan businessman. The plot unfolds at times like a drama, delves into police intrigue and even incorporates romantic elements. It integrates different genres, but at no time does it lose sight of humor.
The film had a special presentation in Girona cinemas. The real Villalobos, the fictional Villalobos and the director, Fernando Frías de la Parra ( Ya no estoy aquí ), were present. “The most difficult thing was to choose what should be left out and what things should be translated to the screen”, explains the director, who was also in charge of the film’s script. For this reason, the author’s help throughout the process was crucial. “There are things about Juan Pablo in the film that I recognize and they are not in the novel”, admits the same author. The adaptation effectively captures the essence of the book and, while taking liberties, manages to expand the universe created by Villalobos without abandoning the original spirit of the book.
“For a film to work as such, some things have to be sacrificed and others have to be created”, explains Villalobos. The first big difference is that the film is set in the present day. The epistolary question, very present in the novel, is replaced by text messages and WhatsApp audio. The city of Barcelona remains the main protagonist, but the locations are not exactly the same. The UAB is replaced by the Pomeu Fabra University (UAB) and Plaça del Sol de Gràcia, “a crucial scene in the book”, is replaced by Plaça Raspall. “What interests me about an adaptation is what is not in the book. If you’re not willing to part with it, don’t sell the rights to it.” The casting of the film is as eclectic as the characters in the book. The cast includes the Catalan Anna Castillo, the Argentine Juan Minujín and the Mexican Alexis Ayala, among others.
“I am convinced that No voy a pedirle a nadie que me crea can be adapted to make a good film,” Frías de la Parra wrote to Villalobos in an email on January 25, 2018. Five years later, the first The author’s film adaptation is a success that has brought his work closer to a new generation of viewers. The film is now available on Netflix.
