You would recognize his voice even if you were blindfolded. Emblem of such treasured novels as “Celeste”, “Antonella”, “Nano” or “Alén”, a calm leading man in a world of screaming panels, a cultist of privacy, master of simplicity, the one with the smile and the unmistakable mane of hair. Gustavo Bermudezthe man who knows how to walk the thin line of mystery like no one else, he is also the owner of a humor that is as sharp as it is unexpected and he demonstrates it every night starring “Dinner of fools” next to Martín Bossi and Laurita Fernándezthe iconic comedy that was a smash hit in Buenos Aires and now breaks it at the Neptuno theater in Mar del Plata. Great time for this talk with Gustavo Bermúdez, the last great knight.
News: How did they manage to convince you to do a season in Mar del Plata?
Gustavo Bermudez: (Laughs) I really wanted to go to Mar del Plata, I really wanted to go to Mar del Plata. Since I haven’t done theater here for so many years, my main intention was to come with this play, settle in, spend the summer, so I’m happy. Mar del Plata is a city that I love, I have spent summers here throughout my childhood, we came from Rosario and spent all of January with my parents, who were very into theater, and my brother Gabriel. I have very nice memories, I went and am very happy in La Feliz (laughs).
News: Does it take a lot of concentration not to be tempted by Martín Bossi on stage?
Bermudez: Yes and not only with him, look what a selection we have, Martín, Laura Fernández, Guillermo Arengo and Esteban Prol, all very funny! The comedy makes you laugh from start to finish; We had a great time and enjoyed it with the public together. Furthermore, the play has an interesting message regarding bullying, underestimating others, and it is good that the audience can laugh so much, but at the same time stay thinking. At the time I had seen the show with Adrián Suar in my role and Guillermo Francella in the character of Martín Bossi and it is the comedy that I laughed the most in my life. I wanted to take the opportunity to add the anecdote of having been part of the work that always made me laugh the most.
News: In this time where everything is exposed, how do you continue to maintain the mystery?
Bermudez: It is a lifelong attitude; I was never interested in the exhibition. My public side is visible to everyone and I have no problem with that or with giving notes, but I am very jealous of what is private, of what has to do with my family environment, I protect that. It seems to me that the public and the private go on different lanes, each thing in its place.
News: It seems that you have handled it well because when Ángel de Brito commented that you were in a relationship with Verónica Varano, he said: “I’m embarrassed to tell you, they are both so low profile!” You achieved a miracle, he blamed “LAM” (laughs)
Bermudez: It is true that the media have been handled well, it must also be said that it is something mutual. The programs know that I don’t expose myself and they respect that, but at the same time I respect their work a lot. I know that they need to look for the news, the statement when leaving the theater, but there is a balance that we have maintained for many years.
News: Many have the fantasy that you were in San Martín de los Andes completely unrelated to acting, but you did two seasons of “Los Protectores” with Adrián Suar, Jorgelina Aruzzi and Andrés Parra. Even Messi passed by there!
Bermudez: Yes, but you saw that the platforms have nothing to do with what TV really is. Open television generates another bond, the public opens the door of their house to you. With platforms it is shared in a different way, because not everyone watches a series simultaneously, unlike TV, which brings together many people at the same time, and the viewer becomes familiar with what they see.
News: Speaking of familiarization and bonds, is it true that Jorge, Leo Messi’s father, no longer wants to pass through the door of your house in Rosario?
Bermudez: (Laughs) You read it and it’s true! When they passed through the door with Celia, his wife, she always told him: “This is Gustavito’s house”, in the end Jorge got tired, he no longer wanted to hear “Gustavito” mentioned to him again (laughs) It is a spectacular family, they are divine. Celia is a genius, when we did the episode of “The Protectors” where Leo participates we showed it to her before anyone else. Imagine, I was happy!
News: There’s something we talked about before, the feeling that is created after years of seeing yourself on TV. Look what happened to Mario Pergolini, he returned to television despite saying that he was dead and he recognizes that nothing has given him such massiveness.
Bermudez: Yes of course. Because networks are important and have a lot of impact, but TV is TV, at least for me. I love television very much. Hopefully we can do good things again. It is a medium that has everything to continue generating. You have to find a way around it. I have been in a program like “Atreverse”, there everything was based on having good actors, a notable director like Alejandro Doria and well-written scripts. I would love for something like this to be done today, I hope the facilities are there for that to happen.
News: Perhaps the younger audience does not know that you starred in novels like “Celeste” where socially relevant but silenced topics in the media such as AIDS were touched on.
Bermudez: It’s true, that was done a lot, we had very good authors of novels. It is a tradition that already came from the times of Alberto Migré or Hugo Moser and that Quique Torres also knew how to take up. Look what Migré had done at the time with “Rolando Rivas, taxi driver”, the guy dared to address the issue of the dictatorship when that was not talked about, our novels always reflected stories with some social proximity. We have experienced avant-garde television in terms of fiction, it is a mischief that that has been lost.
News: Do you feel that at a local level there was a certain underestimation of the novel? Look at the industry around the genre in Brazil, Mexico and Türkiye
Bermudez: The price of the novel was always lowered. And I maintain that making a daily novel is one of the most difficult jobs within audiovisual content. One of the most complicated things is keeping the audience’s attention for so many episodes, think that in the cinema you can work on the script of a film for a year, take 6 weeks to film it and a couple of months to edit it. That is, in a year you do 90 minutes and in the novels we did 45 minutes a day, recording ten to twelve hours per day. Apart from studying new lyrics every day, you have to adapt to the changes in the books, the work on soap operas is colossal.
News: Now there is a lot of talk about content, we should debate what we mean by that concept. For you who are an expert on the subject, are the platforms focused on content?
Bermudez: I believe that platforms are a support, a technological tool, but they do not work alone, they need to feed on something interesting and for that to reach the public. We return to the same thing, sometimes they are kings without content and many products are not seen by anyone, you can film a thousand things, but you have to generate interest. I see many people who sit in front of a platform and start searching until after a while they turn off the television because they say they can’t find anything to watch. The same thing is happening with cinema and an offer aimed only at a certain type of audience, I think that at some point because of that the theater is doing so well. If you want to eat, you can do it at home instead of going to a restaurant, but seeing a good play is something special and the viewer knows it.
News: “Alén, luz de luna” was your most personal project, for which you chose to live in San Martín de los Andes. Héctor Alterio, who died very recently, had a fundamental role in that novel. How do you remember it?
Bermudez: Hector was fabulous. I remember when I traveled to Spain to convince him to do the novel, I went to Madrid on Friday after recording and I had to return on Sunday, he didn’t want to know anything. I was very into cinema, I handled other times and here you had to study a script every day… But I wanted to have it and I achieved it! The truth is that it was an honor to be able to work with him. I was very lucky to have worked with many legendary names, both in front of and behind the camera. I started with none other than Tano Ranni, Guillermo Bredeston was also very important in my beginnings, I did theater with Claudio García Satur, with Emilio Disi, I was extremely lucky. But in Héctor Alterio I discovered someone with impressive humility, peace, talent and generosity. We lived in the south for a year, we recorded countless hours and he never had a complaint. He was great in every sense of the word.
