Candela Peña: “Yes, I'm a punk, if that's fighting to be heard and respected”

You can agree or disagree with what he says and thinks (nothing is cut in his networks) but of course you cannot ignore his attraction capacity in front of and behind the camera. Without entering the canon, as she herself says, Candle Pea he has managed to make a respectable name for himself in the profession he adores and it leads him down the path of bitterness (in an economic sense). He complains of job instability but has a magnet that prevents him from disassociating himself from the interpretation. Nor does he want to, which does not mean that he is going to give in and close a contract at the cost of only one of his beginning.

Since she was little, she dreamed of appearing on the big screen. She saw herself projected onto the canvas that hung in the town square where she had enjoyed her so much passion for the cinema. She says that the business has changed, because of the tyranny of social media, and that bringing her vision to the roles she plays is still a struggle. Despite this, this winner of three Goya awards assures that she does not want to wear claimant weighs lo punky some of your responses.

Single mother, tiny but brave fighter, Candela Pea uncovers herself for TELVA in a unpredictable production which began with a movement of grace and almost ended with it in an inquisitive mode. Candela… that I did the interview for you at! At what point have I started to tell you about my life? From there we started talking about who is Candela Pea, about how the profession is, what is his lifestyle and why he has accumulated contempt without fail. “I try to be consistent with my thoughts, but not convince anyone.” Although keeping quiet is something that costs her (a lot), now she is concise, and that is appreciated (a lot, too).

Candela Pea: “I am what I am, without cheating or cardboard”

Says the great Estela Reynolds (a role played by Antonia San Juan in the series The one that is coming) that he show business it’s like a big poop painted in glitter. From afar it dazzles you, but up close it stinks and you want to vomit”. We should have asked Candela Pea what she thinks of this statement taken from fiction to describe the world of acting. reality: “Being an actor is not what people fantasize about which is to be on the deck of a sailboat with a glass of cocktail. This is not so.”

Let’s go to the basics. Who is Candela Peña?

Ugh, the basics. Well, a woman like many who goes through life. I try not to complain. I am passionate, I wanted to be an actress and that is what I do. Then life has brought me surprises that I have been accepting. I think I am someone brave, although insecure. I have many fears and anxieties, but I push forward.

At some point you have said that you are very punk…

I say a lot of nonsense that I later retract because I don’t always want to say the same thing. Nor do I always have the same lines of thought. It is very likely that I wanted to say that in some things I am out of the canon, but not because I say so or want to feel special, but because the system makes me feel that I am not a woman or an actress who is in the canon. I try to fight for characters where I also have something to say, that the character is not always supported by the vital plot of a boy or a gentleman. Punky in the moment we live is to fight because you are heard and respected.

What you say, does it happen more to them than to them?

It’s likely, yes. I am one of them and not one of them, so I don’t know what war they are in, just as I don’t know what war other women are in. I don’t want to be the flag bearer of anything. I know what I want and what I need, that is why I have always fought to get characters that the most obvious thing was not that they gave it to me.

Is there ever a time when you wanted to say something?

Yes, when I have seen that “say” is synonymous with “problem”, yes. Because of the people around me, with whom I work, my family, my friends who tell me: “Candela, you shouldn’t expose yourself to certain things”… But then I’m like a poorly thrown reed, the foam ends up coming out. I usually say what I think, without offending anyone and with respect, obviously.

What projects are you in now?

I am until March 19 at the Pavn theater with Contractions. Then we will go to Barcelona for a month and we will tour all over Spain. I’m also doing auditions because my goal is to look for good characters in the audiovisual, until they come out. In this of being an actress there is no goal, it is always the same, to be continued.

What does it mean to be an actress in Spain?

It is important to listen to actresses who have preceded you. To the older ones and the younger ones, but when you are young the speech of the older ones is tiresome. When you get older you see that it is not so, that it is true. It’s hard to find characters in which you’re the one leading the action at 20 or 30, so when you turn 40 things get more complicated. But hey, it’s my profession, I can’t settle into complaining and get paralyzed, I have to keep fighting and try to get characters that I like, no matter how old they are.

Perhaps the problem is that stories of women after a certain age are not told…

Well, this year has been very good for Spanish cinema. Many women are there thanks to quotas, absolutely necessary. But then neither do the awards come nor have all those women been favored. For example, movies like Basilwhich have gone a little more unnoticed or Five beads, that if it has succeeded for the actresses, but not for the director and the management team, crucial to give new visions. I have felt represented in the cinema, the maternal It has shocked me a lot. That film could not be written by a man, nor Five beads neither.

Have you felt judged for issues unrelated to your work such as your physique or your age?

More for giving my opinion. We are at a time when if you say what you think it is synonymous with a problem and it is terrible. You think that if you do your job well, sell it well, work hard… you’re going to get recognition and it’s going to be synonymous with more volume of work, but no. Perhaps you have given your opinion on something that someone has not liked and you are judged for saying what you think or for asking such absurd things as reading the entire scripts to make a series.

How do you feel about the profession?

I come from making movies, small projects, where the producers gave you the script. Now the big platforms, which on the one hand are wonderful because they give a lot of work, are also doing piecework. They want to tell things in a concrete way and the opinion of an actor does not matter. You are a vehicle, a tool. You have no name, they are the talent. So the only thing I can contribute to a project is to choose it, what differentiates me from another person is whether I want to do it or not.

Have they put many labels on you?

Yes, and some are terrible. I don’t even want to say it. If a person gives their opinion, and she is a woman, it is synonymous with a problem. I’ve met producers who have said, “I’ve heard things about you.” And you think: “Oysters, how terrible and how ugly.” This year I have found directors in an office telling me: “Swear to me that you will behave well.” A director I didn’t know at all! People like to talk a lot, it’s a small profession. It’s the same as saying “look, that one has retouched her face”. The system needs people to signal and feel better.

How do you live the red carpet moments?

I have never been a canon actress, I have never worked for my beauty. My career has endorsed me. I do not have a physique nor have I been a fashion vortex. I don’t follow trends. I am lucky to have the talent of designer Jorge Redondo, who dresses me and understands me because I love the red carpet thing, it bores me a bit. I am also very lucky that he is a friend and he enters into these delusions of mine that end up being artistic. I’m also not a person who can access Helmut Lang or Victoria Beckham clothes.

And how about that?

Well, it’s also part of how well known you are worldwide. There are brands that I don’t think work in Spain with people who don’t have a clear, more international projection. But come on, Jorge Redondo does not detract from anything. If he was 20, he would fantasize about other things. For me, fashion is part of expressing how I feel and I can express that with Jorge. I cannot go to Mara Gracia and do what he has done with Chiara Ferragni, which seems brutal to me. I like that fashion because it has speech. I have found that with Jorge Redondo.

How do you take care of yourself?

There are few that I take care of myself more, others that I am sadder. I have a good diet and I exercise, basic things. I have done yoga and now I do therapy. I take care of myself inside. For me it is essential to do therapy because I have comedowns. I am also a single mother and reconciling in this profession is complex. And it is also very unfair. You work it out and then suddenly you don’t have to pay for the light.

And a professional reinvention?

Now everybody wants to be youtuber, influencer, have many followers. A lot of actors get caught for that. I come from another era. I admire people who make content at home, with their own mobile, but it’s just that I’m even ashamed to record myself. I have never been able to do it. I am a fictional actress, my life is zero interesting.

How do you get along with social networks?

I am a nightmare. If I do a series, I’m a nightmare with it. I encourage people to consume culture that will set them free. And I tell the girls that they try not to use filters, that not everything is a maximum posturing and that the normal woman triumphs. I love filters and whoever says no is lying, Frances McDormand already says it. But someone will have to play granny, ugly or bad! I use the networks to encourage the aunts that nothing is happening, that this is bread for today and hunger for tomorrow. I think you have to relax a bit, we are what we are and you have to accept and love yourself.

Is this your demand for March 8?

I am not demanding at all because that is trying to make others think like you. I am what I am, I defend what I think, but without imposing anything on anyone. I try to be consistent with my line of thought, but not to convince the partner next to me. We have to treat each other with more respect and with more love because you never know the battle the person in front of you is fighting, so that’s my message: be nice or always try to be.