Imanol Arias, Ana Duato and producer Miguel Ángel Bernardeau meet at the headquarters of the production company Ganga. The interview took place 10 days before the broadcast of La 1, this Wednesday, the 85-minute episode that ends, Cuéntame como paso. Arias and Duato need no introduction. Their faces are forever linked to those of Antonio Alcántara and Mercedes Fernández. Bernardeau is the author of the original idea on which the series was based and its executive producer, as well as Duato’s real-life husband. This is the first interview the three have given together in the series’ 22-year run. The event will later be attended by director Agustí Crespi, who has more than 120 episodes of Cuéntame on his resume and has been associated with the series since its conception, and screenwriter Jacobo Delgado, coordinator of the last series of episodes and in Cuéntame since the second season.
On one of the walls of the room are the over 80 awards that the series received during its run. Anecdotes immediately appear. Like remembering moments with Tony Leblanc, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Enrique San Francisco and so many other great names of Spanish cinema who appeared in the emblematic TVE series. Or how they took inspiration for the aesthetic of San Genaro from Madrid’s Valdezarza district, next to the production company’s headquarters. Or the tours they took through La Mancha until they found the places that would serve in the fiction as Sagrillas, the town of the Alcántara family. Or how the Parador Alcalá de Henares was built on the site that used to be the open field where Carlitos and his friends played. Or how many times Ana Duato reminded Imanol Arias to stand tall.
More information
Duato arrives at the appointment with a photo in which the two actors appear dressed as Severo Ochoa and his wife Carmen García Cobián for the miniseries about the life of the Nobel Prize winner that TVE broadcast in 2001. And another anecdote comes to light: Ana Duato did not originally want to play Mercedes Fernández, but another actress who did not want to be involved in a project that was born with the idea of a long run. Although Duato technically didn’t give the physical or age profile intended for Mercedes, this photo with her age convinced her that she could be Merche.
Ana Duato, Miguel Ángel Bernardeau and Imanol Arias, in a 2008 image provided by the production company.Peyri/RTVE
“I always wanted to do series. Part of the Cuéntame team was already in another film I produced, Thieves Go to the Office,” says Miguel Ángel Bernardeau. “Back then I was already talking about wanting to do a series about our childhood, my family, the neighborhood… One weekend we escaped to the Parador de Altea [los guionistas] Patrick Buckley, Eduardo Ladrón de Guevara and I told them about the series and a first draft emerged that was very similar to what we had published. “It was the end of an era and the beginning of a new one, so it starts with the arrival of television,” says Bernardeau. From the writing of this idea to the filming, eight years passed, during which the series passed through the offices without anyone giving it the green light. “People didn’t want to remember that time, Franco and so on. But I said that when my father told me about his childhood, I would have given anything to see it in pictures. And I am sure that when I talk to my son about my childhood, he will be happy to see it in pictures. They approved it on TVE and we had to put the series together in two months. When we premiered, we only had five scripts. We wrote, shot, edited, all at the same time. This year we shot 32 episodes in a row, which were nominated for an Emmy in 2003,” the producer continues.
The director Agustí Crespi and the screenwriter Jacobo Delgado at the Grupo Ganga headquarters. Jaime Villanueva
Although Merche was not clear from the start, it was clear that Imanol Arias would be Antonio Alcántara. “I’ve been waiting for him for years. “They didn’t approve the series, nor was Imanol there, and we were lucky that he was available when they approved it,” recalls Bernardeau. What began as the personal story of the producer became the story of an entire society. “I talked to Imanol about my father being lame and we even talked about whether Antonio should be lame. But the beautiful thing was the journey from my father to his father, who he ended up playing, and his father and mine merge with that of many Spaniards. This is the greatness of the series, which has become a collective, unique and unrepeatable creation,” adds the producer.
The political vicissitudes didn’t appeal to the series either. “A question we are often asked is whether we as screenwriters receive ideological cues. And surprisingly, I have never received any hint or suggestion, either from one government or the other. It’s strange because. The kids’ auditions were hilarious. There were those who thought that to have a seven-year-old child you had to have a ten-year-old child and then Tito Fernández [otro histórico director de la serie] and I was firmly convinced that he should be his real age. There were some very talented ten-year-old boys, and then there was an eight-year-old boy, Ricardo [Gómez], that was Marlon Brando. Getting Ricardo right was one of the big successes of the series, it was awesome.”
Ana Duato, Imanol Arias and Alicia Hermida, in a picture from 2003 provided by the production company Larrode/RTVE
For her, life and work have been closely linked over the last 22 years. Imanol Arias recognizes it without a doubt. “As an artist, I feel absolutely calm, as I have done for much of my life. And if I continue working, it’s because I want to do something new, but in peace. Tell me it completed me. It took up almost half of my time as an actor and is therefore also important for my personal development. Tell me that you have suffered from all the virtues and relapses of my life. “It was like a napkin at a big banquet, full of sauces, drops, wines… but there is always a little bit of purity that kept us there,” says the person who played a man who was a nurse, printer , head of a construction company, general director of the Ministry of Agriculture, winemaker, and he can sell you a car, as well as a hostess club flag. Even Imanol Arias and Ana Duato’s respective children brought the young versions of their parents to life. “The first time my son went out to do something important coincided with my divorce, and that has always been a big pain in my life. Everything failed because the news that day was that Dani [Daniel Arias] He was in Cuéntame and the resemblance and how good he was was incredible. “I hugged him and told him he had saved one of those awkward situations in my life,” the actor recalls.
Miguel Ángel Bernardeau, Fernando Fernán Gómez and Tony Leblanc, in a picture from the production company.
Ana Duato is incredibly proud of Mercedes Fernández’s development and the opportunity she has had to reflect so many women. “Tito Fernández, who believed very much in this character, always said that Merche was the one who could evolve and change the most. For me it was an obligation to represent a woman who was a pioneer of her time.” Arias takes the floor: “There is something in you that radiates that Mercedes is capable. “They gave the character skills that would have cost more with another actress. “Ultimately, the characters relied on our communication skills to evolve,” says the actor.
The world in which Cuéntame was born on September 13, 2001, just two days after the collapse of the Twin Towers, is not the same world in which he will say goodbye on November 29, 2023. Neither the series nor society are the same, as Jacobo Delgado remembers. “I always think about the issue of women. How they’re treated in the show has changed in seven or eight years because we made that change too. The society, the conscience and the spirit of those of us who do it have changed.”
Manu Dios, Jacobo Delgado, Imanol Arias, Sonia Sánchez, Curro Royo and Ana Duato, the protagonists of “Cuéntame” with the writers of the last season of the series, in a picture from the production company.Meritxell/RTVE
Crespi, who directed episodes from the first to the last season, remembers that at the beginning it was a kind of “developed sitcom”, shot with a more theatrical system, with crazier scripts and with the most accentuated humor. That was the formula for seven seasons until the evolution of television fiction in general pushed it forward. “We changed the technologies to change the image and were looking for something more natural, more realistic.” The director also highlights the challenge that The Forrest Gump Effects presented in involving the characters in historical moments , as the film did with the character played by Tom Hanks. “We put a lot of energy into it. We spent hours and hours on the first film, and in the end a very small assistant director took over Franco’s role to get his hand at the right height and have the right perspective. We did things that would be difficult today,” he says.
Cuéntame has survived changes of government, an RTVE crisis, the comings and goings of actors and several internal earthquakes. It’s not easy to resist 22 years on television. And more on public television. “Without a doubt it is a miracle and it is a separate series. From the way it was approved and we had to put it together quickly, to the ending, which was also… let’s say pretty contradictory. They wanted it to end with a TV movie and I said no. The luck is that this lady [Amalia Martínez de Velasco, directora de contenidos de RTVE entre 2021 y 2022] From there it came out and in the end seven chapters were approved up to 2001, which seemed important to me to complete the series in the best possible way and with the reunion of the family a very necessary message.”
Directors, actors and other members of the “Cuéntame” team, in an image from 2003 provided by the production company Larrode/RTVE
Before this end, Cuéntame was already experiencing a critical moment. “Yes, with the financial conflict,” says Bernardeau, referring to the case for which Arias, Duato and Bernardeau were subpoenaed in 2016 for alleged tax fraud and subsequently prosecuted. “It was a conflict that exploited competition to make more money and became a problem for the network and that they couldn’t renew people who were guilty of something before they were put on trial.” When it is judged, it will be seen that we are not. But that put the series in jeopardy and we were about to move to Antena 3. Eventually the station was renewed. We wanted to continue at TVE and are still here because I insisted. In this house positions change and many people pass by, many fools too, but with the rest of the house we have and continue to have a wonderful relationship. It would have been unfair to the others who supported us. So yes, it was a miracle to survive,” the producer continues.
María Galiana and Ricardo Gómez during the filming of the finale of “Cuéntame”, in a picture from the production company.
The political vicissitudes could not influence the series either. “A question we are often asked is whether we as screenwriters receive ideological cues. And surprisingly, I have never received any hint or suggestion, either from one government or the other. And it’s strange, because Cuéntame in the end is a political series, not just politics, but in all the episodes they talk about politics, and that’s not common in Spain, where very few political series are made because those who decide, Be afraid of stepping on calluses. Tell me he skipped that and has been treading on calluses for 20 years,” says Jacobo Delgado. “From the beginning, the aim of the series was to be a series that brought the two Spains closer together. In the first few seasons they told me: “I love the show you’re working on, but it’s very red.” “I love your show, but it’s very bad.” That meant we were where we wanted to be had to. It’s a series about reconciliation and unification,” recalls Crespi. “Cuéntame is based more on what unites us as a country than what divides us,” Delgado adds.
Imanol Arias and Ana Duato taking a break from filming “Cuéntame” in a 2008 image provided by production company Peyri/RTVE
Now the series that told our story is saying goodbye and ultimately becomes a story itself. “I think it’s more than a series, it’s almost a national heritage,” says Ana Duato. “It was like these long rivers that start in Teruel and flow into Portugal, which go through all sorts of things, with moments when they are dry, dry, and then you don’t know how they do it, but they reappear .” adds Arias. “My daughters were five and seven years old when we started. Tell me, it was something I did because I thought I would watch it with them on a Thursday a few weeks later and it would be a way to communicate with them and show them the world, in that I lived,” says Crespi. “The series has featured couples and children… and I am among those who have a partner and a 10-year-old daughter born from Cuéntame,” says Delgado. “Years ago, Cuéntame ceased to be just another series and became the cultural heritage of the Spanish people,” he concludes.
You can follow EL PAÍS Television on X or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Get the TV newsletter
All the latest news from broadcasters and platforms, with interviews, news and analyses, as well as recommendations and reviews from our journalists
LOG IN