Actors Alessandro Borghi & Miguel Rellán talk to Fest Track about characterizations, details and path in regards to their new period drama world premiering in the Special Presentations section of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario [Canada].
00:28I'm here in Toronto, Ontario for the Toronto International Film Festival.
00:58And one day, someone will know of the one who told us great stories, the best of all.
01:07His.
01:08Well, for one, I think we have really, we have two really, really complex characters in the way they, they act.
01:21And because, because of the things that they want to, they want to get to.
01:25And I think we build it in a way, but then when you see the movie, you can think so many things about their relationship and the way they act to get to places.
01:37Right.
01:38And I think that was one of the most interesting things that we worked together when we were kind of developing this relationship between the characters.
01:46We, it was, it was so much fun because at so many points, we didn't know what the characters really wanted because it was so confusing because for the characters in the movie, it is confusing the way they feel.
02:01Uh, sometimes they, they feel things that are contrary to what they should be feeling or what they, what they tell themselves to feel.
02:08Right.
02:09The, the mind versus the heart or the stomach.
02:12Yeah.
02:13Uh, whatever you, you kind of like this visceral fee, uh, feelings or, uh, impulse and then what your mind tells you, tells you to do.
02:20And I think that's something really, really interesting about they relate their relationship is that it's, you have this, this, um, this contradiction the whole time.
02:28And it's really seen, uh, in the movie and this contradiction, uh, can make you think so many different, uh, so many different, uh, things about the character and their relationships.
02:38And I think that's something really interesting for the, uh, for the viewer to kind of like solve and, uh, answer this, this, this kind of question.
02:46Do you not know your Mercedes?
02:51The hell on Earth exists.
02:55Miguel de Cervantes Cortina.
03:01No, please.
03:02A este lo mata con.
03:03Yo no soy nadie.
03:04Yo no soy nadie.
03:05Yo no soy nadie.
03:06Por lo que piden por nosotros de aquí no nos rescata ni el rey.
03:09Puede que estos caballeros le viren ahora por encima del hombro.
03:14Pero tú serás hombre de letras.
03:17¿Lo estáis viendo?
03:18Una mano con un pañuelo.
03:20La mano siempre se escondía.
03:22Hasta que se acercó un cautivo.
03:24¿Sabes quién soy?
03:25Yo soy Hasan Baja, señor Dejer.
03:27I, I think really that, uh, Ahsan has three great points in the movie.
03:33One is the exercising of power.
03:35The other one is the obsession.
03:37And the other one is the desire, no?
03:40And we, we try to find a way to express these different three points through the process without being so confused.
03:49That was the point.
03:50So since the beginning, I had the great opportunity to work with Alejandro.
03:54That is our director.
03:55That is great.
03:56And one of the most interesting stuff that I figured out since the beginning was that he has the whole movie in his mind.
04:05But really the whole movie.
04:06It's like, because he, he does.
04:08And he can describe it.
04:09Yeah.
04:10Yeah, yeah.
04:11He's amazing.
04:12He does everything, you know.
04:13He does music, editing, script and direct.
04:16So he, he knows everything.
04:18You just need to follow him.
04:20Hmm.
04:21And trying to, um, ask him help if you need to try to solve some problem that you have through this process.
04:28So for me, it was really important to take care about the background of the, of the character.
04:33And then I was like, all right, I really need to know, not, um, uh, Miguel de Cervantes, but Julio.
04:41To try and understand what was the best way to deal with him and to deal with each other as human beings.
04:46Okay.
04:47Because there is just one way to do this job and is to do it free.
04:50Hmm.
04:51No, to, to research really the, the best way to feel free to say something, to express if you have some doubts, all of that stuff.
05:00So since the beginning was like, okay, what do you think about that?
05:04Well, I hope for you guys and if you have kind of the best way to have it, get your coat.
05:12That feels good.
05:17I think that's all you get in mind.
05:18But in this case, especially, we had to feel free
05:48about our bodies, obviously, because we knew since the beginning that at some point
05:54we had to express our ideas, our thoughts, through our bodies, and we really talked
06:02about that, it was like, okay, what do you think about that, how do you think to deal
06:06with that, how it's going to be that kind of scene, and actually when that happened,
06:11it was like a liberation, but not because it was difficult or the stuff, because there
06:17is just one way to tell a story, it's just to put yourself at disposal of the characters.
06:23If you don't do that, it's impossible to tell a story, and the narrative is going to be
06:26really a mess.
06:28So at some point we were like, all right, we set perfectly the characters, so right now
06:35it's not us thinking about the scene, it's that we were sure at some point that something
06:40was going to happen at that point, and it was absolutely good for the characters.
06:44I remember the scene in the swimming pool, obviously, and I really remember the last
06:50scene that we have together, you know, because it's really something that it's, okay, now we
06:56are in contact, and our son especially thinks that we are going to be together at some point,
07:02physically and mentally and emotionally, and there you're going to go to a point that
07:07it's really questioning ourselves about, did I make a mistake, did I do something that
07:16was wrong, but it's not, it was just that there is a person here who was following freedom
07:22for real, and the other one was just keep exercising power, and now in a meaningful way,
07:33So a son started as a slave, then became king, and then coming back to slave, and the path
07:39of him is just going for the freedom, straight on, you know, it's difficult.
07:59That fruit is brought to Yusuf every morning, your old friend, Dorado, now he's called Yusuf.
08:26Could you talk about that, and finding sort of the rhythm of him, because it's like he's
08:35dancing, and you can tell when he's going into like a tango, but then you can see when
08:40he's coming back to a waltz and very, very formal, and you can see it sort of rise and
08:44fall with the bay.
08:46Yeah.
08:46Can you talk about that, and finding sort of that core in the background?
08:50It's a, that's a really interesting question, because Miguel starts at a really, really
08:57bad point, where he's almost defeated, when he realizes that he's not going anywhere in
09:04a long while.
09:04And then he, with Alejandro, we talked about starting humble with the storytelling, right?
09:16Just trying to come from a really humbling and almost frightening place, where he kind
09:24of like jumps to tell stories, and he doesn't know how everybody's going to react to it.
09:29And then, throughout the movie, he kind of like, he starts getting the attention of
09:38everybody, and he kind of like grows with that, right?
09:41And the figure starts getting more and more tall.
09:44And then you get to this point where he meets Hasan, and he has an intellectual match,
09:51right?
09:51And that brings him down.
09:53And that brings him down.
10:23I speak five languages.
10:29That's why I understand everything you say down there.
10:35But are you excited?
10:36Yeah, exactly.
10:37He wants to fight, to get up there with him, right?
10:40And this fight that they have, and this kind of like, okay, but this is your story, but
10:47this is a bad thing.
10:49This is a bad storytelling thing, because this is why, right?
10:52And Cervantes kind of like, has to fix that, and kind of like, find a better path.
10:57And that's the whole start of their relationship, right?
11:01This kind of like game they go through.
11:04And that's so interesting, because that gets him like, Miguel's ego grows even more, because
11:12he's able to do that, and there's this one scene where he brings his book, El Lazarillo de Tormes, and he makes him laugh.
11:19And that, for him, it's like, I'm just, I'm so up here right now.
11:25And he goes to, with the rest of captives, and he acts like it.
11:29And it's the first time he kind of stands up to his big nemesis in the prison, right?
11:35Which is his own ego, almost.
11:38Exactly, exactly, right?
11:40So I just feel it's so interesting.
11:43And the way I kind of balanced it, and kind of like went through it, is kind of like, where is my, where is the point of intellectual match that I have to get to when I'm telling stories?
11:56When I can be more relaxed, and kind of like that, and when I have to be, like, more in a, you know, fight, kind of like mentality, where I have to get to it.
12:05And, I don't know, it was so interesting.
12:08Honestly, the character of Miguel is, it's just so broad, and it was amazing to be able to portray him.
12:15¿Por qué te inventas la historia de mi ventana?
12:18¿Qué historias? Más historias.
12:19Y por cada historia que le complaciera, el Baja le prometió un día de libertad.
12:24¡Así pues, comprando que nunca nadie le dio a quitarlo!
12:28Así nació, el cautivo.
12:30Miguel, ¿qué estás tramando?
12:31¿Pero de verdad creen ustedes que alguien puede escapar de aquí?
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