Clara Galle and Julio Peña: "Not all powders are fantastic"

• PABLO R. ROCES

  @Pavlinrodriguez

  Madrid

Updated Friday,23June2023-00:36

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Send by email

Comment

• Interview Jennifer Lawrence "Every day that passes I feel older"
• Idols Nicole Wallace: "I've learned that in love is important"
• Interview Lola Indigo: "I'm bisexual, that's why I get to say that I like them without giving it more thoughts"

If anyone expects to find in Clara Galle (Pamplona, 2002) and Julio Peña (San Sebastián, 2000) the prototypical pair of teenage stars, they are not looking where they should be. Because beyond the success of Across the Sea, the sequel to the teenage phenomenon Through My Window, which Netflix premieres this Friday, these two young actors do not seem to be interested in fame in the least.

"I don't think much about it or have anxiety about whether the fame ends. Maybe suddenly I'm not in mainstream movies that everyone knows, but I don't really care. My life does not depend only on the films or series I shoot being seen by everyone, I have other passions such as painting or writing, and for something I am studying Art History, "she details. And he continues: "I'm more afraid that my friends will stop calling me than that they will stop calling me to work. Because if it happens, I will call my friends and there I will see that everything is fine. Which is a, yes. But if they don't call you, you ride something."

Find out more

The Chimpún Interview.

Eva Santolaria: "I have the feeling that the industry sees me as brainless"

• Writing: IÑAKO DÍAZ-GUERRA Madrid

Eva Santolaria: "I have the feeling that the industry sees me as brainless"

Chimpún Interview.

Miguel Ángel Muñoz: "Real Madrid took alcohol out of my life and that helped me not to get lost or become an asshole"

• Writing: IÑAKO DÍAZ-GUERRA Madrid

Miguel Ángel Muñoz: "Real Madrid took alcohol out of my life and that helped me not to get lost or become an asshole"

The start of this conversation occurs with Clara Galle attacking her umpteenth toast with avocado of the morning while her partner laughs. "Do you have your period? I need it today." And both laugh as only two inseparable friends do, who have emerged in the middle of a shoot full of impossible loves, sexual scenes and power games that have nothing to do with real life. Because the toxic vision of his characters in many aspects of life have not penetrated reality. "Do you know what it's like to go to the shoot and tell Julio that you don't have self-esteem or encouragement that day and that he doesn't have to force me? That is having a real friend, "explains the actress to whom a good part of the fandom of the saga insists on sexually relating to Julio Peña. "We go a little further, I don't have this relationship with absolutely anyone. And people will think that there will be something murky or messy, but no. We have a beautiful relationship because we don't demand anything from each other and we let ourselves be. And if people think we love each other, it's true, we love each other," Galle says to the approval of his partner.

My life doesn't just depend on my films being seen all over the world, for something I study

Clara Galle

Question. Is there a danger in transferring toxic love mechanisms to young people with these films?

CG. The point of view is risky for teenagers, but I think it does more damage to the idealization of love than the harsh reality. You can try to make something work at first, but if there is something that prevents you from evolving, it is better not to move forward. In addition, the film is for people over 16 and their parents decide it.

Q. How important is it to show that from a female point of view?

CG. I am very connected to female empowerment and I think it is very important, since I was little I have been very clear that I wanted to build my life independently. But even with that speech I have ended up in relationships where I prioritized the other person more. That is why it is important not to stop repeating this message that we sometimes forget.

And, among the many issues that this adolescent phenomenon touches, with a legion of crazed fans in each act of the two protagonists, sexuality plays a central role. Especially from a point of demystification, that it is not always an incomparable experience, very far from the classic romantic comedies, where more or less this trilogy could fit. "That taboo has been broken for a few years. Little by little, but it goes. And there is an important issue, that sex is not always passion or wonderful, there is more decaffeinated or reunion sex. Not all the powders you throw are fantastic and you throw fireworks. Because you can be tired or with your head elsewhere And that's fine if there is understanding, whenever there is desire you have to keep trying in relationships, "says Julio Peña after a new exchange of glances with his friend.

Question. Perhaps we have idealized a certain suffering in love relationships?

JP. It is necessary to see it from another side and not as something bad, but as something that can happen. There are times when you have to face more raw things to continue evolving. I don't think we're romanticizing, nobody is going to want to live through a situation like that. And many will realize that they live that with their partner or the person they like. I think that before it was done more than now because the model of life was to grow, study, work, partner, children and die. It sounds crude, but it is so. Now we are starting to take a little more charge of what we want to do with our lives.

CG. I think in this film you see suffering that nobody wants, we are not romanticizing suffering at all. On the contrary, we are showing that everyone suffers in relationships when they stop idealizing them. It is not a pretty suffering, but it is necessary. It is important to look inside yourself to know what to tell and it is brave because we all like our good things, not the bad ones. We have an intimate journey to take and we have shared everything. But it has been precious to coincide in values.

And, in the middle of all that trip, with the twenty just begun, is when these two actors have exploded a bomb in the form of excessive success that will still have a third continuation that will now begin its shooting. "Let's hope it doesn't take so long for it to be released like this one," says its male protagonist with some sarcasm.

I'm more afraid that my friends will stop calling me than that they will stop calling me to work.

Julio Peña

However, neither of them has given up their daily lives in this time. Clara Galle continues to dedicate herself to her writings, her painting and her studies in Art History, while Julio Peña continues to mount plays with his colleagues in independent theaters in Madrid. "It's that for me this job is not all about making big productions, and I can't think that acting is going to be ephemeral because it's going to be my life. That's what I want it to be. I'm not afraid of losing my job, I'm afraid of running out of ideas of what to do next," he explains. "You also feel the emptiness when you finish one project and you don't immediately have another. But for me acting is just as important as passing a subject of the career. Maybe we have a weird way of life," she adds.

Q. Has this situation not overwhelmed you at any time?

CG. We have a very normal life, we have naturalized the boom and we have not lost our previous life. We have changed absolutely nothing about our routine except that we have many more opportunities. There are very specific days that I have to go to premieres or deal with fame, but most of those days are invested in my family and my friends. And I do not do it because I myself demand an imposition, it is that I am happy like that and if they take that away from me it is not worth it. And there is also the fact that this can be ephemeral, that it helps a lot not to freak out and not suddenly change your life because this boom can last you a month.

JP. There are parts that you can't control, you have no say or vote, like the fans stopping you on the street, and you have to take that in the best way. Of course it shocks, but you also get job opportunities that I didn't have. In the end, the work of all artists on a daily basis is like any other person, even if it is a work of the host and we are tired like the rest. Fame changes your life to the point that you want it to change.

They chose that point not to exist and continue to see each shooting of the saga as "a back to school". "It helps infinitely the care we have given ourselves. Luckily we have had to do this together. Because without that trust maybe it would have been harder to face this."

And, embraced, they leave the room.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more

• cinema
• Films
• Netflix