In a world so deeply connected, I kinda find it surprising when the Spanish actor, Enrique Arce, 53, tells me he only heard of Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD, 2011), once he flew down to India.
It’s a road movie that’s packed more desi flights to Spain than anything we know! Also, Enrique’s from Valencia, closest town from Bunol, where the iconic Tomatina festival in ZNMD, and in real life, takes place.
How do we know Enrique? As Arturo Roman, manager of the Royal Mint of Spain, where eight robbers with aliases after cities (Rio, Oslo, etc) break in, to hold 19 people hostage, in the Spanish series, La Casa De Papel (2017-21).
It’s one of the world’s most watched series (on Netflix), titled Money Heist. Because, as Enrique says, ‘House of Paper’ from Spanish, wouldn’t translate well!
For what felt like commentary on capitalism, it’s the thieves on the show, with a strong moral-code, who come across as heroes — while Arturo, the sly, self-centred corporate dude, is the villain of Money Heist!
What are movies/series, if not alternate reality. Wherein audiences immerse themselves enough to start confusing characters with actors, and heaping so much love on the latter. That explains stardom. The opposite is also true.
The artiste in a still from the Spanish series Money Heist (La Casa De Papel). Pic/Netflix
Ever since Money Heist, Enrique’s got used to “insults, even death threats”, online. To the extent that he once posted a picture of himself, on social media, alongside his character’s, to explain: “On the left is Enrique Arce. You don’t know him. On the right is Arturo Roman. You know him. But he doesn’t exist!”
I chatted with Enrique, before a live audience, at the International Film Festival of Delhi, in Bharat Mandapam — ending the conversation with a fact that had bothered me, when I watched Arturo.
The mint boss first appears in Money Heist, urging red-suit robbers to, at least, release the more vulnerable hostages. To which, one of them tells Arturo, “Who do you think you are, Mahatma Gandhi?”
Right before that, Arturo himself tells off his secretary, when she reveals being pregnant with his child — who do you think you are, “Shiva, the goddess of fertility?”
Now, it’s Shakti, as in Shiva’s consort, Parvati, who’s the goddess of fertility — not Shiva himself! I just had to fact-check Enrique! He smiles, “Next time I meet [the show’s writers], I’m gonna tell them, you smarty pants, just google it!”
That said, it’s moments and relationships like these in Money Heist that stands it apart from several films/series of the same genre. And, in fact, demonstrates its unprecedented success.
Nothing from Spain on mainstream screen has made it this big since director, Pedro Almodóvar, perhaps. Enrique reasons, “Money Heist is action filled with tele novella (romance/drama) — the two genres never mix.”
Also, besides him, Pedro Alonso (Berlin), Paco Tous (Denver’s father Moscow), and “Ursula Corbero (Tokyo), who was up and coming — everyone in the series is a fresh face, while one usually casts well-known names for a heist genre.”
Moreover, how can you forget the music; title track, onwards. I’ve heard baraat bands play Bella Ciao at Indian weddings!
To think of it — Money Heist had first “bombed on Spanish television, being taken off air, with its 15 episodes cut short to 12!”
Around this time, Enrique happened to meet the visiting acquisition director of Netflix at a party in Spain, asking them to check out his show, since it was still playing on a late-night slot on TV. The person watched and promptly ordered it for Netflix: “The rest is history!”
In that sense, Enrique’s contribution to Money Heist is even more than his character, Arturo, or Arturito (Little Arturo) — that was supposed to die in the frickin’ fifth episode.
He’d signed up for it, “simply to cash in,” and head to LA to audition for TV show-pilots, since he “had just done Knightfall for HBO, that was gonna be huge.”
Few know Knightfall. Money Heist gave Enrique the ticket to Hollywood. He’s regularly appeared in American cinema since, including Terminator: Dark Fate, Murder Mystery 2, Lee…
The highlight, I guess, was to be directed by the reportedly quiet/crabby Woody Allen (in Rifkin’s Festival). He got complimented for “being a brilliant, smart actor.” It’s something Woody seldom says.
And that’s because Enrique was rehearsing, before the camera, with Wallace Shawn, for a “complicated, walking, talking scene.” That rehearsal-take itself was so good that they didn’t have to formally shoot the scene the following day!
Enrique argues, “Being prepared doesn’t guarantee great performance. In a rehearsal, you’re more relaxed. It’s like [being on the edge with] a safety-net — you never fall!” As with life.
There’s an easy earthiness to Enrique that Indians could instantly identify with. I’d so love to see him in Bollywood—maybe ZNMD 2; if not that road-trip, in reverse?
I bump into casting director Mukesh Chhabra at the festival lobby, and tell him about Enrique. He laughs, “Hey, there’s a Raj-DK show; must get him for that?” I’m sure Mukesh was kidding, but I hope he wasn’t.
Mayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture. He tweets @mayankw14
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.