They are days without pause for Homemade Nazarene. He is filming “Nieve Roja”, a thriller with Justina Bustos and Juan Gil Navarro, making “Jardines Salvadas” at the Metropolitan Theater with Carlos Portaluppi, he was training for an unusual boxing match against the Spanish actor Jaime Lorente, but above all is accompanying “Reflected”Juan Baldana’s film where he is an absolute and hypnotic protagonist. There he plays a window cleaner suspended in the heights who sees other people’s lives pass behind the glass.
He was the young Diego Maradona in “Sueño bendito”, Maguila in “Historia de un clan”, “Bocha”, the kid who split us in the middle in Buenos Aires “Viceversa” and also Guillermo, the heart of “Crónica de una fuga” . Nazareno Casero brings a rare mix of intensity and tenderness to everything he does. Whether it is walking his dog Rulo or posting what he wants on the networks “In a Twitter dialogue you can summarize everything we are, you can see the dirt a little, on Instagram everyone shows their beautiful tattoos and stylized poses. It’s nice to find some treasure in the trash, among the tweets there are incredible things. To those who want to ban X I say ‘fuck you’ with both hands. We must cancel those who cancel,” says Nazareno Casero. He who can, can.
News: In “Reflejado” he plays a silletero, a tall glass cleaner. Is the actor’s job also a bit like hanging in the void?
Homemade Nazarene: There is a parallel, because in acting many times you are hanging from a rope and even if you do things well the emptiness is there, what supports you can be cut, in front of the audience you never know what is going to happen. There is something about the adventure of working that we have in common, bridging distances with a silletero, but sometimes with height you can hit yourself hard. In this job there are people who believe it when they are at the top and then the blow is hard.
News: You started your career when you were very young. Has it ever happened to you that you don’t believe it, that you get dizzy?
Home: Look, I’m going to say something terrible, but you have to believe it a bit (laughs). I say it in the sense that if you don’t believe that you can play a character or reach a certain place, neither will others. It is essential to be convinced of what you do… Then you can also be an idiot who mistreats others, who cannot tolerate an unfavorable opinion regarding what he does and that is wrong. It is a delicate balance, we return to the rope analogy, if you go too far you can fall off the cliff.
News: Alejo, his character in “Reflejado”, speaks very little despite being in almost every scene, his work is very physical. How did you face it?
Home: It seems to me that there is something of the economy of acting in the cinema, because if you are too histrionic it will kill you. On that giant screen, no matter how good an actor there is, if he is very histrionic, there comes a moment that is going to hurt your head. I think that in cinema you have to go more to reality, to naturalness, so that what happens to you is transmitted in your eyes, in your expressions. In the theater it is very different, you have to work with another language because otherwise they won’t be able to see you from the eighth row.
News: At some point watching his character rehearse speeches in front of the mirror reminded me of “Taxi Driver.” Was there any inspiration there?
Home: And, it may be, not specifically in the character of Robert de Niro, but in what loneliness means, in that limit that you cross when you already talk to yourself and you don’t care about anything. I always make this difference, it is one thing to be lonely and another very different thing to be alone. Because when you are alone you pick up the phone and on the other side there is no one to listen to you, there is no person who comes close to tell you something. On the other hand, being lonely is being able to live amicably with your loneliness, I love being alone. I don’t suffer from it, I am lucky to be there when the people I love need me and that there is someone when I need them.
News: In this hyperconnected world, the great paradox is that there are many people alone, right?
Home: We are all born and die alone, the question is what we do with it. Although it may seem like a contradiction to play a character as alone as Alejo, it is nice to be able to tell that story even if it is painful, because there are many people who live like this.
News: Speaking of real things, he has just boxed in a fight organized by the streaming program “Paren la mano” in the Vélez stadium, with the Spanish actor Jaime Lorente, star of hits like “La casa de papel”. What led you to accept such a proposal? The adrenaline?
Home: Boxing is a beautiful sport. I think it is happening more and more to us that we need stronger emotions. Nowadays I prefer to spend my money in moments, traveling, eating, enjoying with friends or my girlfriend, I don’t know if I need or if other things fill me up. So the fact that they invite me to fight, with the tools I have, with two months of preparation, play gladiator for a while with an actor like Jaime Lorente, who is full of work and who still takes the time and effort to come from the other side of the world so that we could get into a ring to beat each other, it was irresistible. He does it because he wants to, it is an honor and a pride for me. I say that boxing is a railing between barbarism and the security of the social pact, it rescues something primitive where violence is given free rein, but within a framework with many rules. It’s like a kind of chess that hurts with every piece they eat, but it’s a strategic sport where you not only have to be very alert with your head but also with your body. It seemed like a unique opportunity and obviously I didn’t think about it for a second, I just asked how tall and how much Lorente weighed…
News: That is fundamental in boxing because of strength and reach.
Home: Obvious! And while sparring I realized that we are much tougher than we think. They hit you on the head, you settle in and continue. There is something of the mettle that we have as human beings put there, we cannot get so far from the human warrior that we are, that is part of us. I am very grateful to be invited to an event like this. I was working three jobs simultaneously, I had to leave some, adjust my schedule, get up at 6 in the morning to train, but how could I say no to a show that is unique? At the end of the day this is a super attractive game. And I trained with my friend Sebastián who weighs 15 kilos more than me, he hit me hard! (laughs) I’ve gone to work with some red eyes and apologized, but what a nice sport! It makes me feel alive like few things in life, I swear.
News: He recently said that buying things no longer fulfills him. I read that he used to have a weakness for big brands, but now he dresses like a Simpson, the same every day. Is that so?
Home: Yeah! I fuck with that, but I clarify that obviously I bathe and wash clothes (laughs). I have seven black t-shirts. Today I try on a pair of pants that I like and buy three of the same ones. I love dressing in black because it is a simple color, wearing what I like and making it simple and combinable is an achievement, I don’t need extra clothes. Those limited edition sneakers that cost 500 or 600 dollars are not very different from those that cost 100, they simply have another mystique, I realized that you are walking and you forget. At some point you dress for others, for those who recognize that brand. It’s not a criticism of those who do it, eh. I speak from myself, I am far from wanting to say anything to the world. It just happens to me, I think it is an unnecessary pleasure in the world where we live. If I’m going to spend it on old vehicles like the ones I bought to fix up with my dad. Some I have liked all my life and I couldn’t have them, now I have a motorcycle that I found half dilapidated and I love the adventure of being able to put it together with my old one. Some shoes wear out and you throw them away, this is more important. For what a pair costs, I prefer to go with three friends to eat and laugh.
News: Alfredo, his father, is also an iron worker. Does rescuing the old and turning it into something new have a special charm?
Home: Yes, I love vehicles from the 70s, 80s and 90s. They are half abandoned there and for me going to sand the sheet metal talking to my old man, sharing with a friend who discovers how beautiful that is, is an enjoyment. Could you buy me an expensive motorcycle? Yes, but I prefer a cheap one and invest time in it because since we put it together it will have a special value. I learned all that about reinventing from my father, it is finding beauty where others may no longer see it. I enjoy emotions, sometimes I’m terrified of thinking about what’s going to happen next, but…what a bitch life is, it never stops surprising me!
