The work that Candela Peña and Tristán Ulloa do in The Asunta case, the series that Netflix premieres this Friday, is truly shocking. They play Rosario Porto and Alfonso Basterra, the parents who were sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder of their daughter. They are a physical copy and have recreated that personal and couple part that was hidden in that dark relationship that ended up perpetrating an atrocious crime that remains inexplicable.
Why did you accept this series? Did you think about it a lot?
Candela: Not me. Then you think about it and say, oh my god! Tristan, on the contrary, cheered up afterwards.
Tristán: At that time I was in a different energy, and putting myself in another genre required time. And that time was spent understanding the story, not because I didn’t want to.
What have you learned from The Asunta Case?
T: It wasn’t about doing what has already been done a thousand times with this story. To judge or say what we think, we better stay at home. It seemed more interesting to us to consider other things. Are we infallible as a rule of law? Do we all know how to assume our responsibility? Throwing one more stone in a collective stoning did not contribute anything new. Do we know how to manage this as a society? Is it possible for two people to enter a trial already convicted?
And what do I take away from this? Finally being able to work with Candela Peña (laughs).
C: We have made Rosario Porto and Alfonso Basterra, but then there is a character who is the intersection of the two of them: their truths, confidences, pacts… All of that had to be built.
Candela, you proposed to the producer of the series to be Rosario Porto. How did this initiative come about?
C. I didn’t have anything clear, I was out of work and I would have done what they offered me, which was the police [lo acabó interpretando María León]. I met with the producer to talk about that character and, before he arrived, I asked my representative if he knew who they had for Rosario Porto and he told me to shut up. Two minutes into talking to the producer, I asked and I remember that they told me that they didn’t have anyone, but they named several actresses and I thought, ‘well, I could do it too.’ And I asked them if I could do the test. They did it for me, because that was more than 30% of the character…. Those wigs! I was unconscious, but I prepared very well for the test.
Are you going to see the series? Do you like to see your work?
T: Of course I’m going to see it. Before it didn’t happen to me and it was difficult for me to see myself, but now I’m starting to enjoy my jobs. There are very powerful scenes between Candela and I that I have in my mind and heart and, beyond the editing that may have been done, I know what I experienced and what we went through together and we keep it as a treasure for ourselves.
C: Some headlines have come out saying that I was not going to watch the series, but what happened is that I saw that scene, a very intense one between the two of us. [Tristán Ulloa y ella], and it had nothing to do with what I remembered. But, since I’m not an executive producer, I said: ‘I prefer not to see it and I’ll see it when this is over, because if not she’s going to give me something.’ It had never happened to me before, but this character is like ‘my treasure’ and I was scared. But yes, I will watch the series with all my love, my family and a party. And another day I will see her with Tristan.
How did you prepare for the character of Rosario? Did you look closely at the few images there are of her?
C: A lot, but having to do it in Galician has helped me. I was afraid of my two coaches, because it took me so long to say “Alfonso” with the tone that you will see in the series. that there were scenes in which. In order not to screw up, I kept quiet. The two characters had a wonderful physical composition, they are characters from whom you could get a lot, with a very specific appearance. Her hair, her dancer’s movements as if in a dancing position. firstshort stride, tiny… That work has been interesting, we have worked a lot on them.
And in your case, Tristan?
T: Their XL t-shirts, their shorts, their Crocs… You catch two or three little things, like the posture of their shoulders and feet… It’s difficult, because the fear was falling into a caricature. It had to be done seriously and without laughing at the character, far from it. It’s about being committed to the way you talk about it, look, walk and dive headfirst.
C: It’s amazing how a small detail helps us a lot. In Santiago it rains a lot and this woman and this man always wore her flip flops and he wore Crocs. The wardrobe has a choice that in something so specific modifies your walk, your back and everything.
This series has created a lot of expectations. How have you dealt with everything that has been talked about and what people expect? Why do you think we are attracted to true crime?
C: I have enough of mine to pay attention to the gaze of others, I have done the best I could and now let them see it however they see fit. The morbidity exists because the human being is a catapult of pooping.
T: The miseries and the dark sides fascinate us because there are things about ourselves that we recognize there and it makes us ashamed to recognize them. It’s a license that allows us to revel in darker characters. There is a fascination with the dark, not the bad, but at least the transparent aspects of our personalities.
C: A person’s worst act does not define a person, we are all much more than the worst thing we have done in our life. We all have despicable or disgusting mini-acts, more or less small. So, as an actress, you can make that little thing big and we would all be able to do things that we would never have imagined.
Tristan, have you talked or thought about the possibility of approaching Alfonso Basterra?
T: It is logical that you ask me, but I don’t know if it is important that I spoke with him or not. An actor’s kitchen often has to stay there and there are things that I prefer to keep to myself. The important thing was to approach the work with rigor and commitment and with respect, of course, what has arrived and how it has arrived is part of the mythology that personally does not interest me.
Assuming I had spoken to him, he’s not going to tell me anything he hasn’t said in 10 years, nor would I have been interested in what happened or didn’t happen. What interests me, as an actor who is going to play a flesh and blood character, is knowing how a man feels when he sees his other half after two years, when they enter the courtroom, vilified by everyone and sentenced. and. I’m interested in knowing what he felt, how her gaze looked, how she didn’t turn to look at him. Whether they are guilty or innocent is not up to me, if I had spoken, I would never ask them that. I would have asked him how he felt in those situations.
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