When the Spanish Film Academy called the two actresses to offer them the “complicated and risky” job, as its director Fernando Méndez-Leite describes it, the two accepted just knowing who they had next to them. Maribel Verdú (Madrid, 54 years old) and Leonor Watling (Madrid, 49 years old) will present this year’s Goya Awards ceremony, which will be held in Granada on February 8, and will be the first female couple to lead the gala.
They will do so by avoiding the political discourses that usually populate these types of events, focusing, as Watling explained this Wednesday at the Academy headquarters, on “celebrating” Spanish cinema. “Each film already has a speech and a positioning, there is no need to tell it. There is so little space in the newspapers to talk about culture and now that we have it, are we going to fill it with politics? Don’t mess around,” said the actress.
The complicity that the two friends exude was, perhaps, the most striking thing about the presentation. The rest of the details, they confessed, they do not know or they do not allow them to say. Although different—“Maribel is very organized and I am more chaotic,” Watling said—both, as Verdú explained, understand life and work in a very similar way: “We are fun, we know how to prioritize and we know what the real problems are.” ”. Their adventure at the ceremony will represent their first work together. “I had always wanted to work with Maribel, this is the beginning of a new path,” said Watling. Choosing them was, according to Méndez-Leite, a kind of “revelation.” “I don’t think we need to give many explanations as to why they are the presenters. “They are intelligent, friendly, loved and respected by the profession and by the media, and magnificent actresses from the best Spanish cinema,” justified the president of the Academy.
A Spanish cinema that has had, according to the two actresses, “a great year.” “We have had very good seasons with great professionals and stories, but, in addition, now Spanish cinema travels more than ever and is seen all over the world,” Watling explained, with his partner’s approving look. The actress and singer also highlighted a change in the system: “The paradigm that women over 40 no longer work has changed.” In addition to her presence as an example, just look at the list of actresses nominated in the category of best leading actress: four of the five performers (Patricia López Arnaiz, Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore and Emma Vilarasau) are over four decades old. And in this edition, the Goya of Honor will go to Aitana Sánchez-Gijón (Rome, 56 years old)—the youngest woman to receive it—and, as Leonor Watling announced in an oversight that did not seem to please the president of the Academy very much, Verdú herself will be in charge of delivering it to you.
The presenters will be accompanied by two other women in the script: Laura Márquez and EL PAÍS collaborator Paloma Rando. “It makes me laugh because it seems like they are talking about mice, but the fact that we are four women is not that strange,” Watling said.
They downplayed the criticisms inherent to their next work. “We are not talking about military landings or national budgets, this is a celebration and for me it is a gift. The nominees are the ones who will really be nervous,” Watling said. “When you present the Goya awards you know that they are going to fall on you everywhere. That must be assumed. I will do it with love and respect and, above all, I will enjoy it. Things have happened to both of us that are strong enough to understand this as a gift,” added her companion. Furthermore, says the actress, “the ceremony has changed a lot, now we are mere drivers who leave three times and that’s it.” Of those other times they talk about, when the presenters had more prominence and the success of the gala fell on them, they both think of a name of their own: Rosa Maria Sardà. They will entrust themselves to her, they acknowledge with a laugh, before starting the night.
Both have experienced the ceremony from the stalls and as nominees. Verdú up to 11 times and winning two statuettes: for Seven French pool tables and Snow White; Watling was a candidate for The hour of the braveand for My mother likes women.
If colleagues and friends expect anything from their adventure at the Goya, it is that it serves to clear the way and as a premonition of more work together. And yes, says Watling, “that everyone should watch all the movies so they can get angry and criticize with substance when watching the gala.”