Miguel Herrán (Málaga, 27 years old) found out that he would become a father at 5,000 meters above sea level, in the middle of what he calls a mountain desert. “The area of the Himalayas we were in, the Spiti Valley, is almost like a natural prison. To get there we had to travel 58 hours in the 4×4, 13 hours in the first plane and two hours in the second plane. “Filming there was torture, logistical madness,” he explains, sitting comfortably on a chair, with that harsh but at the same time sweet gesture that has made this actor's face one of the most sought-after and recognizable faces of Spanish fiction the public. national. Daniel Guzmán (the actor known for Here There Is No One Who Lives who established himself as his grandmother's director) spotted him drinking in the middle of the street one evening and recruited him as a teenager suffering from his parents' horrific divorce process . Parents who looked so much like him. The role would give him a Goya, but also the opportunity to give a memorable speech that left his mother, who raised him alone, and Guzmán himself crying loudly from the audience: “You have created a child without illusions, without desire learning without even liking it, discovering and studying a new world, wanting to work and clinging to this new life as if there was no other. You gave me a life, Daniel. Thank you very much”. That was in 2015 and since then not a year has gone by without him taking part in an infamous film or in extremely successful series such as “La casa de papel” and “Élite”, which have allowed him to achieve his fame slowly maintaining pace and have a veritable legion of followers on social networks. To the list of television projects has been added Los Farad, which will be broadcast on Prime Video. And on January 12, “Valley of Shadows”, directed by Salvador Calvo, will be released in cinemas, which defines the production as an adventure cinema: in it, Herrán plays a mountaineer who comes with his partner (Susana Abaitua) and her son to make a route in an area of the Himalayas. They are brutally attacked and only Quique, the character played by Herrán , who is rescued by a native and taken to a remote village from which he cannot escape. This is exactly the situation in which he and his partner found themselves, who did not call him from a distance to inform him of her pregnancy, but rather him accompanied during the shoot. What could have been good news became cause for concern. “They told us that the girl could die from hypoxia. “The feeling of imprisonment was brutal because I couldn't go out to solve problems,” he explains, still with a serious expression.
Because after Herrán was discovered on the street and took part in his first big success as a natural actor, he developed a certain impostor syndrome, which he quickly put an end to by enrolling at the legendary William Layton School. “Before I studied there, I was always texted and I didn't even know where to start, but that was a situation that lasted for a very short time. In fact, I hear many of my colleagues say in interviews where I take it for granted that maybe I shouldn't: “I worked hard for my career, I took it little by little, I'm where I am. “Because that's what I work for'. I didn't suddenly do a project like Money Heist or Elite. These things make me angry because I don't think it's a coincidence that I'm here. I think there was actually a crossover with Daniel Guzmán, but the one who took the helm and reins of his career to get to where he is was me.”
“Before I tried to make my life as similar to that of my character as possible, I realized that it was a mistake.”Pablo Curto
Has the method made you a better actor?
I liked the method until I did Modelo 77 and met Alberto Rodríguez Librero. There I discovered another way to prepare the characters: the fewer, the better. Before I became very manic, I analyzed everything thoroughly. I stopped talking to my friends, I isolated myself. Back then, if I was in a relationship and my character wasn't in one, I would leave my partner. I tried to make my life as similar to my character's as possible to understand his personality. And I realized that this is a mistake. You can be a great artist and a shitty actor. The new generations, of which I no longer belong, come with a great desire to show themselves and others what they can do, and I understand that.
But again he seems to be talking about himself…
[Risas] I've often argued and said things like, “My character would never do that, you don't understand it, you haven't studied it.” Or “I'll tell you what my character feels and what he needs and what he wants.” I sacrificed everything around me. And one day I said to myself: No, man, put it into perspective. What do we do?
Was it meeting the mother of your future daughter that made you make the big change?
There was a moment in my life not long ago when I wasn't feeling well: I was doing the things that I normally do and that I enjoy, and I wasn't enjoying them. He was always in some kind of frenzy, somewhere else. I began to ask myself: why do you live so hecticly, why do you suffer so much from having everything you've always wanted.
Alberto Rodríguez Librero confirms this during the filming of Modelo 77, the film that tells the escape of 45 people from the Modelo prison in Barcelona during the transition and the struggle of ordinary prisoners to turn the inhumane treatment of all of them into a political cause. With the penal system taken over from the Franco regime, Herrán learned a different way of working. Although the challenge he remembers most is physical: “The first time I saw Miguel was in detention, on a video call. He was wearing a very loose t-shirt and I didn't notice his muscles. And then I meet a real bodybuilder on set. We had to put him on a special diet to lose muscle mass, and even then I caught him doing sit-ups during breaks. “He gave him a good fight,” the director remembers. “It became his recurring joke about how hungry he was. “He made me promise that after filming was over, I would treat him to a feast of steaks.” And so it was: Rodríguez Librero remembers this meal, which took place in his house, with genuine affection. “He's a lovely guy. It is hard and at the same time sensitive, restless but bright.” The actor's well-known and discussed physical preparation, which he bragged about on social networks for a long time, eventually became a heavy burden for him.
Does being a good-looking industry guy make you angry?
I don't think it is. Beauty is something incredibly subjective. And beyond that, I'll tell you more: There is a basic canon of this society that I cannot follow and that I will never follow, and that is size. People idealize you. Watch “Money Heist” and think, “Look how he treats Tokyo, I would like that.” Poor thing, the way she just treated him. “If he were with me, I would really treat him like that and he would be super in love.” But people see a man whose makeup, hair and clothes were done by professionals and imagine Úrsula Corberó, the 1, I'm 80 meters tall and I'm 1.90 meters tall.
But do you know that? Paul Newman Wasn't he big?
Yes, but did people know it or not think so because it was on TV? I suffered from this as a child: “Let's see, Miguel, I like you, but you're very small.” There are certain things in our society that people express their opinions about without shame. And there are others you can't mess with. I recently experienced this at the Tuschinski Theater in Amsterdam. A group of Spanish girls came up to me and said: “Can we tell you something?” “We didn't expect you to be small.” And I answer: Well, I understand, because it's not the first time it offends not me. But it's not pleasant to hear.
People with low self-esteem often perceive praise as almost an insult. Happens?
Yes. They tell you, “Damn, man, you did that job very well.” And you think, but what's wrong, what I'm doing is shit. I used to live with a lot of insecurities. I won't delve too deeply into the topic because it's unclear, but I'm a person who has been lacking self-love for a long time. I mean, I'd never had it, ever. And it was something that made me very jealous of the people I knew who were doing very well. When it comes to body, for example, I used to be a workout maniac and stuff because I never felt good. The day I managed to change that was huge for me.
Miguel Herrán, with a leather biker jacket by Louis Vuitton, a cotton T-shirt and wool trousers by APC.Pablo Curto
However, there is no denying that his physical preparation was an advantage in his latest film: “We did it because he is an adventurer himself, loves adrenaline and is very well prepared.” At Everest Base Camp there was a moment, in which I said: I'm having a heart attack. Altitude sickness is very complicated and he handled it very well. “His strength is impressive: there is a moment when he jumps into the frozen river in a mountaineering suit and dives against the current, that is impressive,” explains Salvador Calvo about the actor, whom he compares to Luis Tosar in his ability to be more relaxed Mood on set to enormous interpretive intensity in a matter of seconds. “He doesn't like to add excessive epicness to what he does. “It's more pragmatic.” He himself confirms this again and again: “What we do has a very great value: everyone watches TV, everyone watches series, everyone tries to distract themselves from life for a moment with a little entertainment, and we make sure of that .” But watching a bad series or movie won’t depress anyone. There are people who sacrifice everything for it, and then the difference really isn't that big.” The generic “There are people” is actually an allusion to his former self, which he no longer wants to know anything about. “If you had asked me two years ago how I saw my future, I would have told you: I would rather see myself alone in a room full of industry awards and recognition than with an incredible family and surrounded by my own abilities see.” Friends. And today I’m telling you that I think the greatest legacy I can leave to the world is that my daughter is a great girl.”
During filming Shadow Valley hit Neo-hippies like the ones in the movie?
I call them stoners. Where we went, Manikaran [India] and the entire area is a place where marijuana grows wild. In other words: What the film tells is real. You take a taxi there, look out on the street and marijuana plants grow out of the cracks in the cement. People there smoke, eat mushrooms, go to raves. There were a lot of buses unloading Europeans.
And then how can you give relief to your mind?
I'm much more earthly. I believe in what I see. Things that you do in therapy, on trips, in groups, you can also do alone. For me, for example, driving has a very therapeutic effect. When I was younger, I isolated myself from everything to analyze what was happening to me. Also because my life has undergone very, very big changes.
This mystery surrounding the turbulence of his life and origins has been part of Herrán's legend since the day he became famous. He is extremely jealous of his privacy and has no intention of clarifying what he means. But he makes it clear that his personal circle of trust is not the people in the world: “Everyone always talks about the great families that are created during filming and that we are all great friends afterwards.” That's a lie. It didn't happen to me. It's true that you get along very well after living together with these people for a long time, but for me they are professional relationships.” Also that one of the most important people in his life is still his mother, with whom he grew up in Malaga until they moved to Madrid together. “If she hadn’t been so great, my life would be fucking shitty right now.”
The actor is wearing a leather jacket, a cotton T-shirt and American trousers, as well as a Hublot watch. Pablo Curto
Do you have a better understanding of toxic masculinity and feminism because you grew up with your mother?
I don't understand many of the concepts used today, but it was important to grow up with a woman and surrounded by women, without a father figure. I've seen a lot of what men can do to a woman. I didn't see the other part, which certainly exists. I see myself as my mother's caregiver much more than many of my friends who also grew up with a father.
And what is the prevailing feeling when you think about your future fatherhood? Fear or joy?
It's funny, but I feel calm. In the basic package of living in society, there are about three big things to do: buy a house, have a child, and get married. I'm afraid of knowing how to help my daughter with whatever comes her way. But I think more about emotional deficits than economic deficits. The most important thing you can give a child is your presence. You can have better food, worse food, it can be colder, less, you can live in a nicer house or not. But if you are there for them, listen to them and really be there, I think that person has everything to gain.
You really like adrenaline. Will you give up all the risky practices you care about?
No never. Just when I found out I was going to be a father, I ordered the biggest, most powerful motorcycle available. If something were to happen to me, it wouldn't be absence. If I leave my family and start a different life, I will always feel like crap. But if I leave here today and kill myself on the way home, I can't avoid it and it has nothing to do with adrenaline because most accidents happen at traffic lights. My partner actually has a 750cc motorcycle. We're both savages and we won't stop doing these things. Then we would no longer have the life we want.
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