A long drive, a mysterious hitchhiker, and a desert road. This is the premise of La Viajante , the latest film by Miguel Mejías, a road movie starring Ángela Boix , which hits theaters today, July 2. The actress tells us about the locations of the film, the trips that have impacted her the most and her future projects. And the thing is that the Madrilenian is always busy, whether in cinema or theater, or getting to know the world .
What has making this movie meant for you?
It has been a very long journey with Miguel Mejías, who for me is a person who has become my brother. He and I were roommates and we generated a very beautiful artistic relationship, and in the dead times we shot shorts at home. So for me this film is above all a journey with him, a journey of long waiting because the film took a long time to be recorded.
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But above all it has been a journey through many phases of my life. I have seen myself change and I have seen Miguel change. For me right now it represents something very personal in my relationship with him.
Where did you shoot the movie?
In the Canary Islands, specifically in Tenerife, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria. I had never been there before and it seemed such a strong sensation … the sensation that the Atlantic is there, opening towards the ocean. Also a feeling of danger, of what is coming, of the sea, the ocean or the sky. I had never been on an island for so long and it blew me away.
Ángela Boix during the interview | Naomi del Val
As the script has practically no dialogue and the information is always very ambiguous and symbolic, everything that is the landscape, the photography and the atmosphere are so important that in some way they are as protagonists as the characters.
What place would you recommend to visit there?
I worked a lot, so I hardly had any free time. But what I knew about the islands seemed incredible to me. Fuerteventura has great beauty, but at the same time it has an unbearable wind. I later returned to the Canaries to visit La Gomera and La Palma, so I sincerely recommend all the islands. It seems to me a beast how there can be so many ecosystems in so little space.
Any anecdote from the filming?
I always fondly remember the day we shot the scene with the butterfly, the scene where the movie action really starts. It is a very important scene and if any element failed, it had to be re-recorded. On an interpretive level, it seemed super complex to me because it was very emotional and at the same time very contained. Miguel was choreographing me to the millimeter how I had to move. I had to record it many times. I always remember it as one of the most beautiful moments at the acting level.
How did you prepare for the role?
I think that fundamentally the work was to understand, through the script, what was the map through which this character was passing, that is, to reel off all the issues and understand what were the questions that motivated them. So I transferred these questions to my personal life: How does knowing that I am going to die affect me? What do I feel about death? What am I afraid of losing a loved one? I can’t change myself? What do I want and what do I need in life? …
Still from ‘La Viante’ |
More than building a character, the question was to connect with a series of vital questions, that in the filming the experience of those questions was present and be very clear about where the character was going at each moment to know which questions were activated in each part , what feelings and concerns guide the character in each case. Also, before I started shooting, I also spent a lot of time alone in preparation.
Have your previous works had this same style?
No, only the ones I have recorded with Miguel. He makes a very sensory, atmospheric and delicate cinema. Also, I come from the world of theater where there is a lot of text, so I have another tendency. It is something practically new to me and exclusive to Miguel.
Between cinema and theater, what do you prefer?
I am very much in love with both. It is true that now I really want to make films, since I have done mostly theater, which somehow allows you to always be trained, active and in a creative process. I believe that the theater is a place to grow, but then there is the cinema, which is like a feeling of conquest: we are going to conquer this and once it is conquered, it is abandoned and you move on to something else. Cinema is a super intense demand in a very short time. But there is something of adrenaline and delicacy that is not so present in theater.
In Trier, in Germany, we shot a short called Icelands with my boyfriend and Miguel. It was a beautiful place with a huge and mighty river. I also made another short film, Now we will be happy , with Borja Solé in the Azores. It was impressive and I would very much like to return. It has many impressive climates and landscapes. Later on the peninsula I have recorded in different locations such as Soria or Burgos.
