Carlos Cuevas falls in love again with Bruno in ‘Smiley’: ‘Only romantics will make the connection’

Álex and Bruno have been working with Guillem Clua for more than ten years. They are the protagonists of ‘Smiley’, a play about two boys who fall in love, which was released successfully in 2012 and performed for years with different actors embodying their protagonists on stage. On December 7, the story of Álex and Bruno from the big leap to streaming with its adaptation in series formin which Clua served as showrunner and writer, transforming her story with only two characters into an extended universe of LGBTQ+ realities.

The reincarnations of Álex and Bruno for the screen are Carlos Cuevas (‘Merlí’) and Miki Esparbé (‘Where two fit)’, chosen after a complicated casting process in which Clua looked for the candidates who could best adapt to some characters that he both he and the thousands of spectators who appreciated the work know perfectly well. “In this sense, Miki and Carlos were a gift”says the showrunner in an interview with eCartelera. “Not only do they already have that great chemistry that exists between them that has carried over to the screen, but they’re amazing actors, who shine so much in comedy and drama.”.

Specifically, for Cuevas, best known for playing Pol Rubio in the hit Catalan series ‘Merlí’ and its university spin-off, ‘Merlí: Sapere Aude’, ‘Smiley’ was an opportunity to unleash and explore his vision more comical. in depth, always with an LGBTQ+ character: “What worried me the most was that I hadn’t done so many comedies”recognizes Cuevas. “And the truth is, I’m very happy with the work I’ve done and the jump I’ve made. Now I feel very comfortable”. The popular actor indicates in his partner the indispensable help to loosen up comically: “I owe everything to this person”he says pointing to Esparbé, who shakes his head. “We are friends and she helped me prepare castings for comedies. I trust her criteria a lot and I learned a lot from Miki. She masters the instrument a lot”.

Knowing each other so well behind the scenes makes the chemistry skyrocket when both share the scene (whether in person or on the phone, in moments of affection or, above all, in discussions), making the relationship between Álex and Bruno, who constantly clash but inevitably they fall in love as in the romantic comedies of a lifetime, in the central axis of a story about the different ways of loving and living. Cuevas, obviously, does not miss the nice coincidence that the man his character falls in love with is called Bruno, which coincidentally is also the name of his great love in ‘Merlí’. Of course, he clarifies for those who don’t know that ‘Smiley’ existed long before ‘Merlí’: “It’s a coincidence. ‘Smiley’ is a comedy that has been going on for ten years. Anyone who wants to wink can link it, but I think there are also many series, many things, that only the most romantic will link. It was a coincidence, it was impossible to reverse or change because the work was written long before ‘Merlí'”.

Digging a little deeper into the series, the theme of the cult of the physicist emerges, especially in the gay community, this being one of the edges that make up the character of Álex. To bring to life that aspect of his character, a young man who goes to the gym regularly and is appreciated by men for his physique, Cuevas had to undergo a transformation that he hopes will not be repeated, and which leads to a reflection on the importance given to physical, not only in the LGBTQ+ community and on the Internet, but also in his profession: “I always want to be judged by my work, which is what I can do and what I have the ability to improve. Physique is something you were born with and it is what it is, for better or for worse. Yes, in this case, for example, I made a transformation for “Smiley”, there is work. I will never have these muscles again, nor do I want thembut we always aspire to be judged for our talent, our attitude to work”.

But this is just a small part of a series that aims to reflect different realities and experiences within the LGBTQ+ community, and which sparks many conversations. In our interview with the actors, we also talk about other topics that Clua tackles with the series, including how the search for love with dating apps has changed (the actors confess they have none, because “work affects us a lot”), Y What was the casting process like that brought them together in a romantic comedy that promises to make many new moviegoers fall in love with it on screen, after years of doing it on stage.

A big bang that leads to the creation of an entire universe

Following its theatrical run, Clua is deeply grateful for the opportunity to bring “Smiley” to a wider audience, via streaming and on a global scale. “I feel grateful, because I never thought that something we did with a group of friends in a room with 40 locations could become something so big and so universal, and hand in hand with a platform as proud of its diversity as Netflix.”says the Catalan playwright and screenwriter. “Telling stories is already a privilege. Having the opportunity to have a voice and reach such a vast audience and above all to tell stories that are so important to me, such as LGBTI stories, and which reach a mainstream audience who get excited and feel identified with them , that’s already very good, but it’s also that, to do it on a brutal scale like Netflix, it’s terribly dizzying and wonderful.”.

The Netflix adaptation provided him with an opportunity that Clua describes as a “Big Bang”an explosion from the story of Álex and Bruno, which gives rise to a whole universe of related stories, a great challenge that it undertakes with the idea of ​​bringing the LGBTQ+ community closer to a place where, until recently, it was excluded: the classic romantic comedy. And Christmas too.

“The spectator knows what we are playing and we bet on everything”Clau says. “We are playing, yes, but it is also that we will put Christmas on it, we will put many other things on it so that you are on safe ground and so that all that reality of gays, lesbians and bisexuals that you may not know as a mainstream viewer , do not be threatening in any way, but rather that we can recognize each other very calmly and that it is not an obstacle to enjoying these stories, but on the contrary, that it is a stimulus. I think this feedback from LGBTI people with what’s tremendously well known, and at best narratively conservative in that it’s a rom-com, is what makes this series so innovative.”.

Of course, this is still the beginning of a process in which there is still much to be done. “There is more and more visibility and representation of LGBTI realities in fiction”points out the showrunner in connection with the recent proliferation of rom-coms with a queer focus (‘Bros – More than friends’, ‘The season of happy (Happiest Season)’, ‘Fire Island’). “Normally these realities had been limited to very specific genres, especially in dramas. The stories that came to us were always terrible, of illnesses, outings, discrimination. And suddenly we conquered other genres”. But of course, while “Smiley” is another example of a major shift taking place, there are still spaces that are resisting us: “It doesn’t happen so much in genres where it’s unheard of for it to exist, like a sci-fi or mainstream superhero series, that are terrain to conquer”says Clua, who, even without aliens or superheroes, he hopes to continue telling Álex and Bruno’s story in a second season.

‘Smiley’, consisting of 8 episodes, is now available on Netflix.