Essència Barceloneta

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Anna Castillo Ferré, actress

  • #5/2023, Barcelonetalent

People who are worthwhile, like Anna who, as the song by Los Secretos said, "I become normal once I get off every stage". She's a sweetheart.

This has been the case in all the interviews that have been done in this section. Initially we look for the character because of their recognised professional prestige and we end up discovering people who are close to us, simple, proud of their origins, their friends and family. 

 

 

Anna, with no family tradition, an actress by vocation and, I am told, even by obsession.

All children are obsessive about what catches their attention, like watching films on a loop, and I think we’ve all been there. But for me, more than the plot, I think what attracted me more were some of the characters in these films.

 

And from then on maximum support at home. Even influencing your sister.

 

At home I think they were a bit behind my objectives, they let me do what I wanted, but they were always on top supervising. My sister is different, I don’t think I’ve influenced her much, she has music inside her, as a matter of course.

 

When you were just 13 years old, you joined the youth music group Sp3 and later became Anna of the Club Super3. It marked the childhood of a whole generation.

I was in the Sp3 in a very good moment of the Club Super3, the bowling in the villages of Catalonia, the Súpers Festivities in the Olympic Stadium … it was a time of adolescence where training was mixed with fun.

 
These groups are a bit like “talent shows”: immediate but often short-lived visibility and popularity. You are one of those who knew how to make the most of it.
 
I have not been the only one, there are more female colleagues who, having started here, have made their way. In the last Goyas Vicky Luengo was also nominated, if you watch TCMS these days you’ll see Andrea Guash, and other SP3 colleagues who also continue doing theatre professionally. We were a good bunch!
 
 
In addition to not stopping working, you haven’t stopped training either.
 
I have been fortunate to have been able to continually chain projects, which has meant that I have always had to combine work and training as a rule. Now I approach training from a different perspective, not in such a lecture-based way.
 
 
When you attended a class leaving the set, didn’t you run the risk of thinking “what is he/she going to teach me?
 
The first thing I thought when I combined filming and studying was that I lacked hours of sleep, especially when I was doing my bachelor’s degree. But apart from that, I had the utmost respect for the teachers! My mother is one, and a very good one I’m told…
 
 
In 2016 came “El Olivo” and in 2017 you received the Goya for best new actress, among other awards. What did it mean to you?
 
At the moment there is a lot of joy and a little bit of anxiety to continue to be up to the task, but it is a step that I think has been assimilated, thanks to those who voted for me, of course.
 
 
A person who knows much more about cinema than I do tells me that a great actor is one who knows how to give the right touch of himself to his characters. Not more, not less. And that you know how to nail the recipe with every performance. Do we agree with him?
 
You have to immerse yourself in each character to find this touch, so during the shooting there is no other horizon. But I’m not the kind of person who takes the character home at night, I’m lucky enough to know how to disconnect, which saves me a lot of wear and tear, and even so there are projects that, when you finish them, you’re exhausted.
 
 
You seem to have had a pretty good eye for choosing characters and projects. You can do it and you know how to do it. 
 
I think yes, luckily, I can choose now, but as for knowing… I think it’s more a mixture of luck and instinct. Sometimes what makes you decide on a project is much more, after the script, the crew, the production, what’s involved…
 
 
How do you get out of one character to immediately prepare a totally different one?
 
It’s like the decompression of divers, you have to take a break, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer, sometimes something else. But I manage it well.
 
 
What does studying psychology help more: to interpret or to assimilate success?
 
To realise that I manage it better as a user than as a profession. Psychological help is useful for everything, be it work or pleasure. It helps to live a better life, it is part of what is considered to be good health.
 
 
You never stop, but it seems to be a special moment in your career at the moment. A lot of work and a lot of good work.
 
Don’t think so, this year has been a bit slower, except for two weeks from now when I start a new project, a film directed by Rodrigo Cortés.
 
 
Is it scary that this could end?
 
Every day, but this is a long-distance race, you have to know how to adapt to the circumstances. You learn that it’s something you can’t control.
 
 
What about Hollywood?
 
I would like to do something in other countries, France, Italy… even Argentina or Mexico. But I don’t see myself in certain places, although you never know …
 
 
Let’s leave the actress. Without knowing you, you give the image of a very “natural” person, not a diva.
 
Well, thank you very much! I think that regardless of your profession, your way of being with the world has to do with who you are and how you get along with others. I try to be empathetic and transparent; it wouldn’t matter if I were doing something else.
 
 
You speak openly about issues that other public people avoid: your sexuality and your political ideas…
 
You have to take sides in life, it’s not about being an example to anyone, it’s just that expressing your ideas should never be a problem.
 
 
Let’s go to the neighbourhood. Although you left early, you’re from Barceloneta. What memories do you have?
 
My link with Barceloneta is my parents, my uncles, my grandparents, the memories I have in the neighbourhood, with them.
 
 
If some of your friends were coming, what route around Barrio would you do for them?
 
I already do it, less than I’d like to, but as well as strolling along the Paseo Marítimo we’d definitely go to Jai-Ca, Vaso de Oro, La Cova… there are always places here that are a sure bet for a good time with friends.
 
 
Curiously, you recently returned to the film “Fácil”. I think you were even living in your grandmother’s house.
 
Yes, those were very nice months. I was living in Ginebra Street and I felt a kind of family connection with the neighbourhood and, in a way, a return to childhood.
 
 
A final challenge. As Almodóvar or Penélope Cruz did, will Anna name Barceloneta when she receives an Oscar?
 
I think what I’ll do is turn over, flatten the pillow and continue sleeping. Hahaha! It’s still a dream. But dreams are as long as you want them to be, and I’m sure Barceloneta would come up.
 
Thank you, Anna. We look forward to it.
 
 
IT ALL STARTED IN THE PLAYGROUND.
 
No, we won’t list her CV as an actress. When before the age of 30 she has already participated in almost fifty films, plays and television series and when the awards – a Goya and a Feroz included – do not fit on the shelf, it is more practical to refer the reader to Wikipedia. In any case, we were going to leave some films or awards unmentioned.
But taking advantage of having been direct witnesses, we would like to point out a fact that not even the most seasoned journalist of the heart has discovered: that the origin – or let’s call it the origin of the origin – of Anna is to be found in the courtyard of La Salle Barceloneta! That’s where her parents, Carlos and Alba, met. Some genetics experts might argue that the fact that they fell in love in such a playful situation as the playground is the reason why the girl became an artist. If they had met in the library, we would probably be interviewing a successful writer. Because the talent surely came from birth.
By the way, the next time you see her in the cinema or on TV, you can say to the people next to you, “Isn’t she a great actress? Well, this girl is from my neighbourhood”.
 
Anna Castillo
Anna Castillo
Anna Castillo
Anna Castillo

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