Features
Miki esparbé
actor
“Theatre is a marathon and filming is a daily sprint”
In a 2025 full of important projects, from the new film by Cesc Gay to a series based on the book by Cercas, Anatomía de un instante, on March 14 Miki Esparbé (Manresa, 1983) appears in the premiere of Wolfgang (extraordinari), a film adaptation of the novel by Laia Aguilar (Columna). He plays an actor who has lost interest in his son (Jordi Catalán), an autistic boy gifted at the piano, but circumstances give him a second chance. Directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera, it includes other renowned performers (Berto Romero, Àngels Gonyalons, Anna Castillo, Nausicaa Bonnín,...).
At 41, have you overcome the crisis of turning 40?
I don’t think there’s been a crisis as such, to be honest. I suppose that every change of decade forces you to do a kind of review to see where you are. But in my case, I suppose that the period from 30 to 40 has been very revealing from the point of view of personal knowledge, growth, looking back... So maybe I don’t think I’ve experienced a crisis as such.
In Wolfgang (extraordinari) you shy away from responsibility, as you did in your previous film, Una vida no tan simple.
There are some common denominators, despite being quite different films. Perhaps the two characters do share a certain vanity, each in their own professional discipline. They’re characters who are pushed to the limit, they have to put their knowledge into practice and see if it’s compatible with the type of life they want to lead. But, as much as being in crisis, . I think my character in Wolfgang is seemingly quite calm.
But suddenly he finds himself in new circumstances.
His life changes suddenly. And there’s some resistance at the beginning, but I don’t think I’m someone who’s actually living in a moment of crisis. There’s a part of the character, which has changed in the translation of the novel into the film, and that’s that my character is an actor. This has allowed us to play with this stereotype of the actor, or director, or people in this discipline, who can be a bit vain.
Was it difficult to work with Jordi Catalán, a boy who is also playing a complicated role?
No, it wasn’t. When you act with children you have to be at their service, they are the ones in charge. And it’s good that this is the case, among other things because they perceive work in the way that we try to perceive it. Our learning, our struggle on a film set is always trying to play, and they do that naturally. Then, the greatest difficulty, in this case, was above all knowing that the bulk of the film, the most transcendent sequences, always pivoted on his work. And, especially at the beginning, when we didn’t know each other so well, there was always this expectation to see if we could get as far as we wanted to go. This was his first major leading role. And watching him work was amazing, because it’s not common for such a young child to be able to integrate the resources of a shoot in such an organic way from a technical point of view so quickly. I won’t deny it was difficult, because there were complicated sequences, but not because of working with a child. Javi [Javier Ruiz Caldera] is also a director with a great emotional psychology who gets close to the actors, and he also made it very easy.
How is Asperger’s syndrome portrayed in the film?
It was one of the reasons that most encouraged me to tell this story. Beyond the fact that there was Javi and other variables, I especially wanted to do it because I think that part of the essence of what we’re telling in the film, like the novel, is based on trying to make autism normal. In this case we are reflecting a very unique, very specific autism spectrum disorder of a gifted child, but some others are represented that are more common: the literal understanding of language, sincerity, difficulty adapting to a series of routines, social interaction, etc. So, being able to put that in the spotlight and put it in a leading role seemed very brave to me. Basically, what the film teaches you is that the only possible path is through empathy, affection, love and understanding. This message interests me and as a citizen who wants a better world I think it’s a very powerful and very necessary message.
It’s also a film that talks about grief.
Yes, in the end we’re mourning the loss of a mother. Sometimes we tend to underestimate children’s feelings. And here the fact of giving him a space and treating him with the sensitivity that a child deserves is valued, but not from a paternalistic place, far from it, but almost as equals. It’s very important to know that just because they’re children they’re not oblivious to what’s happening or how.
Do you believe in second chances, another topic raised in Wolfgang?
Obviously, yes. They’re necessary. We live in a society where we tend to point out the right away when someone makes a mistake. But, on the other hand, we also have this kind of parallel discourse that everyone has the right to make mistakes and we have to be consistent. I am very much in favour of the latter. Error is the only thing that can allow us to grow and learn. If we don’t allow ourselves to make mistakes, we’re doing something wrong.
Interview Film & tHEATRE
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