Juan Manuel Torres Gómez (Juanma) was born in Almería where he currently lives. He is 59 years old, married and has four children. A gypsy from Almeria, he is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Spain and a great among action actors, especially of the western genre. He came to the world in 1962, the year in which the director David Lean filmed one of the best films in history in Almería, Lawrence de Arabia. At the early age of 7 years Juanma began to train as a specialist and action horseman, alongside his grandfather “Juan el Gitano”. Heir to three generations of filmmaker families: his aforementioned grandfather, his great-uncles and uncles, he has worked with the best professionals and producers, mainly in Europe and Spain. You can be proud of the career behind you, having participated in films such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Steven Spielberg, 1989) o Conan, the barbarian (John Milius, 1982), among many others of great relevance. Juan Manuel assures himself, without any modesty, that he is the past, the present and the future in cinema, within his profession, and not because he wants to be, but because he has it in his genes and has prepared all his life for it. His experience in the world of the seventh art helps him to train new generations as technicians and stuntmen and for this he has set up his own school “Actors of Action” in which he conducts courses and seminars and the occasional special event.
-Juan Manuel. How and when did you get into the world of cinema? And with whom was it formed?
-I always say: in my mother’s belly (laughs). I grew up in a family of film professionals, with the pioneers in Almería: my grandfather, my great-uncles and my uncles. My relatives were my teachers, stuntmen from the old school; I was forged with the best. We gypsies were the first film specialists to work in Almería when the spaghetti western boom arrived.
-Why do you do this?
–This is carried in the blood. But even so, you have to work and grow yourself to be a good film stuntman. And it is that when you grow up in this world (as I have already said) you gradually polish yourself as a professional and give it your all.
-What does it mean to be a film specialist?
–First of all, be a professional and have good characteristics for this job. You have to know this world of cinema very well and know how to interpret as an action stuntman.
–He has a long and successful resume within the film industry. Can you give me a brief summary?
–As a child-adolescent helper I have worked in Western films such as: The hill of boots (Giuseppe Colizzi, 1969), with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer; Agachate, damned! (Sergio Leone, 1971); Valdez coming (Edwin Sherin, 1971), con Burt Lancaster; o Chato, the Apache (Michael Winner, 1972), with Charles Bronson. And, in the category as stuntman or stuntman, in the following films (also in the western genre): The madmen of the black gold (Enzo G. Castellari, 1976); Two rogues in the West (Michele Lupo, 1981), with Bud Spencer; East of west (Mariano Ozores, 1984), with Fernando Esteso; Those crazy rustlers (Hugh Wilson, 1985), con Tom Berenger; Apache Kid (Claudio Fragasso and Bruno Mattei, 1987); Trinidad and Bambino: such for which (Enzo Barboni, 1995); Here it comes Condemor, the prairie sinner (Álvaro Sáenz de Heredia, 1996), with Chiquito de la Calzada and Bigote Arrocet; 800 reply (Álex de la Iglesia, 2002), with Sancho Gracia and Carmen Maura; Blueberry: The secret experience (Jan Kounen, 2004); among many others. Other films that are not of the western genre in which I have also participated as a film specialist are: Conan, the barbarian (John Milius, 1982), con Arnold Schwarzenegger; Never say never (Irvin Kershner, 1983), con Sean Connery; Warriors of the sun (Alan Johnson, 1886); Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Steven Spielberg, 1989), con Harrison Ford y Sean Connery; Asterix at the Olympics (Thomas Langmann y Frédéric Forestier, 2008), con Gérard Depardieu; o Exodus: Gods and Kings (Ridley Scott, 2014), with Christian Bale. I also participated in the sixth season of the television series Game of Thrones, in 2016, with Emilia Clarke. I have extensive experience as a film specialist in Spain and Europe, performing horse falls, jumps from great heights, driving with motor vehicles, carriages, horses, etc. I am the creator of the first School of Action Actors of Almería and founding partner and president of Almería Sol Tierra Films, SL In 2014 I won the award for work over three cinematographic generations at the Almería Western Film Festival (AWFF). I am an academic member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Spain.
-How are you doing today?
–Before phenomenal, now it is something very different. Because when I was young there was transparency, humility, professionalism and above all respect. Respect has not been lost, but it is no longer practiced.
-During these last years, what has been your most important work?
–My most significant initiative is to try to achieve within my possibilities that the film industry in Almería is transparent, a world of honesty and respect for film professionals.
–What projects do you have underway?
–I have my own training school called Action Actors. In it I teach to the kids what is not seen behind the cameras, giving talks and practices mainly so that they know the cinematographic world and everything they do not know about this profession, that of a stuntman or action actor, and of which unfortunately there is so much ignorance today. During this summer we have been carrying out activities for the young people who are the future, such as: informative speeches on the subject in schools and some live action recreations on a pirate ship in Roquetas de Mar. The team I worked with consisted of Rafael Talaverón González, Antonio Manuel Folqué García, Jesús López Erena (a well-known film specialist with a wide professional career) and Paco Torres Clemente. The project website is www.actoresdeaccion.com.
–Any special wishes?
–I hope that when the film producers come to Almería they find qualified people and that they pay what they are entitled to for their profession. That they do things well done.
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