Jimmy Barnatán is an actor -El día de la Bestia, Torrente, Hermanos de leche or Los Serrano-, writer -La chistera de Memphis or Una noche en el St. Johns- and leads the blues band Jimmy Barnatán & The Cooconers, who performed at the Glorieta de Teruel during the first edition of the MIL Festival. Surely for this reason he is not very clear about which vocation comes before and which after, or if they are all sides of the same coin. The Spaniard participates as one of the professional actors in the VI Buñuel Challenge that concludes today, shooting the short I only asked you for the fucking keys.
-Should we put actor, writer or musician in front of your Wikipedia entry?
-I’m not sure. I just know that I am a very selfish guy and I really enjoy everything I do. I think sometimes even too much.
But man, that’s not being selfish…
Yes, yes, frankly it is. But come on, I say it without blush. I squeeze everything I do, to the limit. When I have to act, I want to serve the director in the best possible way, which is what an actor has to do. Stop creating, that’s what directors are for. Really, I always say that we are an instrument, an essential hindrance, and that we must know how to be at the service of the conductor, which is what he plays. And when I sing I want to do the best blues, to be better every day. And when I write the same thing, I try to relate and narrate better than anyone else.
-The thing about shooting a short film in 48 hours has a lot to do with squeezing yourself… there is no time for flourishes or doubts.
-There is no time for philosophical discussions, exactly. In this work it happens that on many occasions, and I say this from experience, spontaneity is diluted in superfluous and expendable conversations. Here, however, in the Buñuel Challenge, it happens like in a daily television series, you have to work and work, no nonsense. And work quickly, with tension and with a clear objective and a well-defined time horizon that suits us all very well. Time is money, here more than ever. But that’s really cool, because either you get your batteries, or you’re over! (you are dead). They can’t fire you here because there isn’t time to find a replacement, so you have to be alive no matter what.
Experience
-And on top of that, in just two working days you will have your movie finished… what more could you ask for?
-Clear. See you later! What is done in Desafío Buñuel is very cool. It is an experience that every director should have. When you start directing, you always take temporary licenses, but shooting in these circumstances helps you value time. And not just the directors, huh? Also the actors, which is a despicable guild…
-Poor…
-No, no. Listen to me. They are convinced that they are immortal, and this type of thing like the one we are doing in Teruel returns them to mortality.
-A challenge like this is more like theater than cinema?
-To me it is that, frankly, the theater is not something that excites me. A lot of work and so little money. Although it is true that in the theater there is an anxiety that is wonderful. Mamen Camacho taught me a lot about theater, because she is passionate about that genre. But it is that she is a real actress, I am a liar. And that anxiety makes it something very special, it’s true, but I’m a little too old for that. I am left with the anxiety of the music, of playing live, which in the end also means facing other types of demons.
-Tell me about the short film you’re working on, ‘I only asked you for the fucking keys’, and the role you play.
-I have much more voice than body. I can only tell you that.
-What about Buñuel?
-Everything in this rally has it because Desafío Buñuel is already quite surreal in itself. Putting five groups that don’t know each other to work, because although it may not seem like it, this is a job, in the same space, it’s already quite surreal. Surreal and wonderful as Buñuel was. I have had the opportunity to delve into the work of this turkey, and if there was something that characterized his work, his way of living and his way of acting with the rest of his peers was freedom. He basically did what he always wanted. And I think that the scriptwriters and directors who participate in Desafío Buñuel have fully exercised it. We, the actors, now have the mission of personalizing that freedom that they have had, inspired by the first Spanish film director to win an Oscar in Hollywood.
2023-09-03 09:51:36
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