“I have so much left to do!” says Belén Rueda (Alicante, 60 years old), while serving coffee to a journalist, photographer and her representative in the kitchen of her house. Just brand new The dress, He has finished filming a series and seems to have banished laziness from his vocabulary. She goes up and down the stairs to pose surrounded by clapperboards, shows family photos, talks about movies and whatever comes up. There is so much left to do, yes, and also to say.
Ask. Yesterday, when I came home at night, I came across the sign for The dress. I thought how does it feel to be the scream queen.
Answer. I like it a lot because I think that horror has many colors, and contrary to what many people think, it is very difficult as a genre. Both on a technical level and in interpretation, because the line is very fine between being scary or funny. I really wanted to make a horror film, because I hadn’t made one in a while. As an actress you complete certain boxes, even if they are infinite, and your own personal experiences serve to contribute to the characters. Over the years, directors rely on you more to know what you think about the project. I have the privilege of being able to participate not from when I receive the script, but a little before.
P. You don’t stop working, they say about you.
R. When they tell us that actors are unstable, I always say: imagine starting from scratch every time, with a new boss, colleagues, workplace… When I arrive at a new project I like to make a psychological observation so that when we are filming and tensions arise due to time or whatever, we all row in favor. As you do things it seems that you only have to do big projects, and The dress It’s something small, we are four actors. The protagonists are Vera (Centenera) and I, my daughter (Belén Écija) with another character and the school director (Elena Irureta). Well, we are actually five characters because we have to include the house. It is a story that is similar to things that we have all experienced, in which there is separation, abuse and the fear that all of this produces in us. Because fears are always with us, so you have two options: pay attention to them and let them rule our lives or deal with them.
P. What has it been like working with your daughter?
R. There is a moment when the limits are erased, but I have to confess that since I have not worked with her many times either, sometimes I stay looking at her as a character, but I also have thoughts that go through me, and I say: “Oh, how grown up! Since when does she know how to do this?” I feel very proud and calm knowing that my daughters are independent.
P. When I was posing for photos I realized that his face, for many of us, is home. How do you live with fame?
R. When I need to touch down I always turn to family. And I think that when you are at a point in your career and at a certain age, it is important to remember, more than the triumphs, those moments when the phone didn’t ring. It has happened to me and to everyone. Mine with acting was always a dream, but I didn’t know if I would be able to do it. It was I myself who put obstacles in my way, because I thought I had to make a living, it was an idea based on the information that came to me. For me, the most important thing in all these years is to think that nothing is impossible and to work, above all to work. Self-help is very good, yes, but you have to prepare yourself every day.
P. Let’s talk about labels. How many times have you heard that “another TV celebrity playing at being an actress”?
R. Many. Realize, also, that actresses of my generation have had great moments. First because of my age, because I did out to sea 40 years old and a woman. Come on, they made me understand: “You just arrived but you should be leaving.” I felt it and without any impunity, we talked about 2004. Now at least they give you some excuse, they make it up a little. Well, not really. See? We can’t let our guard down, you get a little careless and we go backwards. What do you do about that?
P. That’s what I say. What do we do?
R. It depends on the moment in your life, because many times we demand that younger people openly say what they think about the issues and it is true that at that age you have strength and passion for everything, as if it were the only thing. When you are older you also do it because you have more voice, but from a calmer place, which does not mean that you are not combative, but that you have more arguments than anger and injustice, which are also valid. I now look back and realize that there are things that I have not reported because I thought they were normal. I was born in ’65, and ten years later Franco died, and you have a behavior that you think is the only one. Take that away, think that you are to blame for a man approaching you and saying such a thing, because you are very nice, because you provoked him, because you gave him two kisses… All of this has educated you in a certain way and you have to take off those layers. I now have much more freedom to say what I think. And I’m going to say it. So I didn’t do it, and it was out of fear. Like when I had a stroke in 2019 and I didn’t tell it because I thought they weren’t going to hire me.
P. What makes you restless?
R. What is happening with ICE is amazing. That a single person with a group decides about the lives of others in that arbitrary, random and en bloc way. I believe that civilizations advance because the rulers have been pressured by society, otherwise we would not advance, because power is very comfortable.