Íñigo Gastesi Talks About His Role in The Stillness in the Storm

Elena del Olmo Andrade

Last Tuesday, May 9, three days before the premiere of The stillness in the storm, I had the opportunity to interview the actor Iñigo Gastesi. With numerous acting projects in film, television and theater, Gastesi takes the lead with Daniel in the first feature film by his brother Alberto. After the screening of the film at the Cines Renoir Princesa in Madrid, the actor shared a few minutes with me to talk about his vision of the film, the experiences during the filming and the background of a film in which so much passion and affection have poured .

Elena del Olmo | What was your first impression of the film? Whether it’s when reading the script or talking to the director for the first time.

Íñigo Gastesi | Well, here is something, not different, but special, and it is that I have known the project almost since its genesis because Alberto is my brother. Then he told me: “I have an idea for a project, a meeting in an empty apartment for sale between two people.” And from then on I was very interested, but it is true that later the project was kept in a drawer for a while and when we can say that the possibility of doing it was started and everything, well for me, for two reasons, one for the professional as an actor to find myself in this challenge, to prepare a character that perhaps I have never prepared until now, the main one, where he is the transmitter of the whole story together with Loreto and if possible the other two characters. Well, on that side with a lot of desire and on the other hand also because Daniel has some things, not all of them, but he does have some things that Iñigo also has, especially over time, as he gets older, as he completes different stages that They tell us all that they are the stages of life and that I have loved delving into it, digging, asking myself questions that perhaps I had not asked myself like Íñigo, so it has been a real pleasure, really.

I have seen that it was a very free production process, very independent and with limited time and resources. As an actor, how did you live it?

We were so clear about the character that with the text changes there was a certain freedom, a certain improvisation but always on very solid foundations.

I start from behind, we just shot at the end of July and the Zinemaldia is at the end of September, so we had to edit it in less than a month. In fact, they waited for us. And now I go back to the beginning, being a small film with a small budget and not having any partner to accompany you or to finance the project, on the one hand, it is much more risky but, on the other, it gives you much more freedom of decision , of adaptation… As an actor, what I have experienced has been absolute clarity on Alberto’s part, and also on mine in terms of understanding what the character is and in the construction of the character from the beginning. Once the character was built and the guidelines that Alberto saw as necessary were very clear and very well understood, there has been a process in which there were almost daily rewrites of some scenes, so we have played well, many times Not the actor’s nightmare, however we were so clear about the character that with the text changes there was a certain freedom, a certain improvisation but always on very solid foundations. Sometimes I read an interview and I feel that people are going to think that we were going “Come on, let’s shoot”. There was a very clear idea and a very, very clear horizon and a very clear destination, although at some point there was some improvisation and more freedom than in other projects.

You had a good shooting experience, in which you felt heard.

This usually happens, normally there is a listening to the actor and his proposals are listened to. In this project, in rehearsals, there has been a lot of freedom with whatever came up at the time. There have been some very long conversations, each defending their position, but this process is still a process of artistic creation in which the result is one that can be seen on the screen. But the process, in the end, has been really cool.

The aesthetics of the film caught my attention: the black and white, the chiaroscuro, the format, the geometry… Did you know these decisions from the beginning? Did it change your vision of the film?

My colleagues did know, I am going to tell you something that I have not told anyone. When he told me about the project at the beginning, it was an image that my brother had had, when I talk about the genesis and such. There he did mention black and white, he had always been clear about it. I forgot. I focused so much on the character, on Daniel, on his things, I liked the project so much and keeping an eye on whether or not it came out that it was during the camera tests when I saw that it was in black and white. Although well, that was a few months before filming, then it was already clear to me.

Watching it I have thought of countless movies that touch on the same themes. When building Daniel, did you have a reference point in mind or something that inspired you?

I didn’t have a reference before but when it was time to start working, listening to the director and the cinematographer they gave me some references to some films. And, well, by coincidences in life I have always thought that you have to pay attention to the signs of life and I focused a lot on Taniguchi, on The Walker from Taniguchi, more for the young version of Daniel, who is a character who enjoys the moment more and such. And there I did see countless movies, to give you a reference even though I have not prepared the role around it, much less, Summer of 85. That character is something else, but I noticed the way he sees life. For the adult version I have not had references to a specific character, but there are endless movies that talk about these issues from different points of view, but I do not have a specific reference. It was a bit of an accumulation of many stimuli, of taking traces of each one and of previous works as well.

Related to that, with how easy it is to empathize and identify with Daniel, what do you want people to take away from your character?

Well, I would like you to find it interesting, on the one hand, the character and, on the other, the work I have done to get to him. I would like that, having seen a slice of life of these two characters, they could have felt some closeness, empathy, something that touches them and that perhaps makes them consider some things that I am considering as an actor, preparing this character, which are so beautiful and it’s what you talk about, the issues that are in our day to day and that makes us human.

With all your previous jobs, in theater, television, and all that experience, how has it helped you to face this project?

When an unknown face is seen on the movie screen as the protagonist, people believe that this is their first job, despite having also been on television.

When an unknown face is seen on the movie screen as the protagonist, people believe that this is the first job, despite having also been on television. Theater it is true that in recent years I have been doing more. This last work that is now on tour is called Meeting with Kandido Uranga, who is a giant of the profession and is also almost like an acting father for me. When it’s time to shoot The stillness in the storm It has helped me, everything adds up, everything is experience. Although a television series, one day in which you say a sentence, everything adds up. As for the physique of the character, the physical preparation that there is also, I had to gain weight and find a way to walk, find a way to be.