Blanca and Rubén, Rubén and Blanca, are ‘old’ acquaintances. They met for the first time in 2015, when they shot the miniseries Lo que escondían sus ojos (2016) and six years later and in another time. Because if their debut as a -cinematographic- couple took place in post-war Madrid, now they meet again in current Bilbao and on their way to the capital, united by Álex De La Iglesia and a car-sharing application in the film El Cuarto Pasajero.

The season of great premieres in Spanish cinema continues unstoppable in this end of 2022, although El Cuarto Pasajero was filmed in the summer of 2021. Blanca and Rubén remember the somewhat eventful shooting, in those months in which the pandemic did not give truce: the actor (Isla de la Juventud, Cuba, 1984) remembers that he had to spend two weeks confined to the hotel. They both remember it, with its own interruptions from the moment in which it occurred, as fast-paced, passionate and fun, as always happens when working alongside Álex De La Iglesia.

The character played by Blanca Suárez (Madrid, 1988), Lorena, did not come to her by chance but rather received a call from the Basque filmmaker to tell her that she had a role tailored for her: “Alex called me and told me that he had written a film and when did we start”, he recalls. This actress-director duo had already coincided in El Bar, and works again with the Madrilenian acting as muse of the genre of action, comedy and… the truth is that qualifying this film within one is complicated. Together with Blanca and Rubén Cortada, Alberto San Juan, Ernesto Alterio and Carlos Areces complete the cast that accompanies this couple on a road trip that begins well and continues as Álex De La Iglesia knows how to do: as no one expected.

This trip is very reminiscent of that crazy -and always denied by those involved-journey in BlaBlacar by Álvaro de Marichalar, which is now almost part of the recent popular imagination. “Yes, it was commented on the set that it was very similar to this anecdote”, they confirm. Thus, in that car, San Juan would be the driver, Suárez has had to be the fixed passenger who travels every weekend with him, while Alterio and Cortada could be the marichalares that disrupt a normally calm route. And, from that afternoon on, it ends up transformed into a road movie as wild as it is delirious because, between the action scenes, romanticism sneaks in and, of course, that trademark black comedy.

“Working with Rubén is always such a good vibe”, confesses Blanca. “It’s all relaxing, it’s cool that on a shoot, which is always a place of great stress and in a hurry, to have someone next to you who transmits so much peace”, she adds, while the actor laughs and says “yes, I’m always calm. Also, I feel very comfortable with her. And the same calm that I transmit from her I can also feel with her”.

That calm was not bad for them to work with Álex De La Iglesia, who is said to be one of the filmmakers who puts the most passion into his work. Passion and intensity, of course: “He doesn’t disappoint, he’s always on top. It’s a real experience, sometimes wonderful and sometimes it makes you suffer a bit because their stories, the scripts, are not usually easy. He not only writes what comes into his head, but he also does them”, says Blanca, emphasizing this last word a lot. “He is a very energetic and super enthusiastic person, he is almost like a child. When he likes something, he lets you know, but when he doesn’t like something that much, too. It’s very intense”, she concludes.

“I really like those moments of high energy”, adds Rubén. “You have to understand that this is not personal, that it is his job and he does it that way. I identified those most tense moments with the army, in his day I had a captain who was spectacular, he gave the orders and then he laughed. When I saw Álex giving the orders, I imagined him laughing inside”, recalls Rubén.

It was an intense and fun shoot, a spirit that is transferred to El Cuarto Pasajero, with moments of humor and a mess that escalates exponentially as the minutes go by. In fact, there are sequences in which you think you can’t get more complicated and, in effect, the complication goes up a notch.

Although it is very much a thriller, Blanca Suárez confesses that, when Álex De La Iglesia gave her the first script, he told her it was a romantic comedy. “But when I saw the first pass, I suddenly understood: yes, it is. It’s a romantic thriller ! There is some romanticism that is maintained throughout the film but during filming, as it was hard, I came to lose”, she explains. Yes, as surprising as it may seem, love is between chases, misunderstandings, cheating and A LOT of punches. The ones that Rubén also receives, whom practically all the characters end up hitting at some point. “And, in fact, Carlos Areces broke my face in one scene!” She remembers between laughs.

“I think people are going to have a great time”, says Blanca. “They leave laughing, it is a very enjoyable movie”. However, Rubén goes further and assures that there is a ‘very Álex’ residue left after having seen her. “It’s not just having a good time at the movies”, he says.

Both Rubén and Blanca are comfortable in this hybrid genre between comedy, romance and action. Although they recognize that making people laugh is not easy. This is where, in addition, they come face to face with whom they themselves have defined as ‘heavyweights’ of acting, Ernesto Alterio and Alberto San Juan, great actors, also in comedy. “Everything comes naturally to them”, admits Cortada. “It comes from within, they are so good that they handle the times and the phrases in an incredible way. Sometimes, Rubén and I would laugh watching them perform and we would hopefully one day turn out like them”, she adds.

“It’s a lot of fun to make others laugh, but it’s also very difficult”, admits Blanca. “Sometimes, something going well in comedy depends on two looks not crossing, it’s a very delicate line”, completes Rubén, who also confesses that at some point he ‘lent’ his character a spontaneous laugh that came out while filmed, and which was kept in the final footage.

Source : glamour.es