(Madrid) “Whatever you say, it is Berlin that speaks.” Two years after the end of La Casa de papel, a legendary series that haunts millions of fans around the world, the emblematic figure of Berlin returns, played by Pedro Alonso, back in a “spin-off” at the end of December.
Published at 9:55 am.
Marie GIFFARD Agence France-Presse
Netflix didn't want to let go of the story of the Machiavellian robber, who died quite early in the series but never really disappeared thanks to numerous flashbacks: Berlin was revived on the platform on December 29th in a pre-episode that bore his name.
Manipulative, psychopathic, to the point of raping one of the protagonists, then touching and endearing – the character of the “Professor’s” brother fascinated many viewers. To the point that production was able to continue despite his death, which was a challenge for the actor at the time.
“I told them: I don't know if I'm capable of playing a character who only lives in the past. Above all because he is a character who draws his strength from danger, the unforeseen, the unexpected,” Pedro Alonso told AFP during an interview in Madrid.
“It's true that when you make a character that works well, a lot of people change in a pretty crazy way, and whatever you say, it's Berlin talking!” And I can't and won't do anything about it.”
The 52-year-old Spanish actor does not deny that this character, “perverted, restless, difficult, very close,” sticks to his skin: “Is the seal of La Casa de Papel, the seal of Berlin, a very strong seal?” Apparently “.
And the eight episodes of this series, derived from “La Casa,” as its fans call it, will not erase that imprint.
“There is something of me in all the characters I play. This means that the way the character thinks agrees with me. Of course I have a Berlin in me. Because I have another character in me that I'm playing this year, who is a father, not an alpha male at all, an alcoholic…” he analyzes.
But, the fifty-year-old emphasizes: “I'm not an actor who wants to play a completely different character every time. I don't care.”
Global success
On the other hand, he was hesitant to start again with a project that grew out of a series with a disproportionate audience: “La Casa de Papel” was Netflix's first global success in a language other than English and the last season recorded almost 100 million views .
“When they asked me to do this series, I wanted time to think. And I was surprised not by the character, but by the exposure that represents such a great phenomenon as this. The question was, 'Do I want to continue sailing in these exposed waters?'” he said.
The new series revisits the codes of heist: a team prepares a heist, this time in Paris, thanks to the catacombs and “with a little more comedy and romantic comedy”, including a romantic intrigue with Berlin.
With his hoarse voice, one of his weapons of seduction in fiction, Pedro Alonso claims not to know “what we are talking about”. And to quote the Spanish actor José Sacristán: “At 20 we have the head that was given to us, at 50 we have the head of what we have experienced.” I can imagine that the voice is made up of what happened to us.”
For him, La Casa de Papel has a little Iberian touch that sets it apart in the production of series: “There is something like the temperature order of the characters, a kind of vibration in the emotional, in the sentimental and even in the…” physical, very distant from the Anglo-Saxon references we have for heist films. Like an effervescence of the senses.”