Peter Vives: "I wanted to be an actor so people would like me"

--- What would you be doing on a Friday at that time if you hadn't made plans to have a drink with me?

--- My life changes so much depending on whether I work or not, that I don't have a routine. Do you? Every Friday I would be doing something different, but when I work I can't combine it with anything else, and now I'll be working for three months. Maybe I could find a slot to go to the gym, but little else.

--- So, you would be rehearsing?

--- Yes, right now, rehearsing Nada by Carmen Laforet. It's the first time it's been adapted for the theater. We will premiere at the María Guerrero theater in Madrid and I'm very excited.

--- Not having a routine is what you like most?

--- It's what I dislike most! We are programmed to have routines and now that I have one, chemically I am happier. I'm a bit stressed, I'm tired, I think about the play and I wake up at midnight, but I'm happier. The apathy of not expecting anything, of the phone not ringing, of not being able to work when you want, is terrible.

"What I like most about theater is that you get the immediate response from the audience when you've finished telling the story," Peter Vives

--- It depends on what's happening at work. If they broadcast a series I'm in, as has happened now on Netflix with El tiempo entre costuras or when I was doing La Riera, then there are people who approach me and say: "You're the actor, right?".

--- Are you the actor?

--- Yes, and it's very curious, because I've been doing series for more than fifteen years and they don't say: "You're the one from La Riera, or the one from Velvet... they say "you're the actor". And I love it! As if there were only one.

--- Do they never call you by your name?

--- Rarely. And they don't say "you're the villain from Velvet or Nil from La Riera" either. I am the actor. And I prefer it, because maybe it's been three years since I finished the series and it's tiresome to still be remembered for a role. What I like most about theater is that you get an immediate response from the audience when you've finished telling the story. It's magnificent!

[the_ad id="188431"]

--- Yesterday I sent you a message at seven in the evening to remind you that we had an appointment today. You replied at five in the morning. Do you suffer from insomnia or had you not gone to bed yet?

--- I'd love to tell you that I'm an early riser, but there's a reason for replying at that hour. This week we've gone from rehearsing in the mornings to rehearsing in the afternoons. And finishing a rehearsal at eleven at night, having emotionally and physically involved yourself with the character, makes it hard to fall asleep...

--- Is it tiring to be called the most handsome actor in the Spanish theater scene?

--- Do they say that?

--- It's usually the intro to all the interviews you do. Are you fed up?

--- There was a time, when I started modeling, that this was a problem for me.

--- Why?

--- Because I didn't want to be attributed only an external asset, which had no merit. That's why I wanted to prioritize my acting career.

--- Was being handsome a problem?

--- Who knows if unconsciously, because of this, I started studying Physics and piano.

--- I don't see the connection.

--- A way of saying that I'm not just what you see on the outside. Although I also tell you that I'm very curious and I always like to learn new things. I'm very mental.

"Those who bully are not aware of the harm they do," Peter Vives

--- I am very mental and not at all impulsive. I play chess and I overthink things a lot. I became an actor because I wanted to be loved. That's why I idealized Hollywood actors so much.

--- Can you explain it to me?

--- I suffered bullying at school and also in the town. I was thirteen years old.

--- Why were you bullied?

--- It's very linked to what I was telling you about being loved. My mother came from abroad, from New Zealand. She was the middle of three siblings and always had the feeling that she went somewhat unnoticed. She is extremely pleasant and raised me to be a very polite person, to be good. Everyone always said: "What a nice child! How well-behaved he is!"

--- These are values we should all transmit, right?

--- My mother always told me: "Always share your breakfast with the children in class." And you know what happens? If you share your breakfast, they think they can have everything from you. In the end, you must understand that all people have the same weight.

--- In what sense?

--- Well, by doing this, you are giving less importance to yourself. You end up losing the notion of what you really want. You have to listen to yourself, and this is work I am doing now at 37 years old.

"I was the only child in class who valued ants a lot and cried when the children trampled them for fun"

--- I did it because I wanted my mother to love me and be happy with me, as all children do. But at twelve and thirteen, children's social life begins to have value.

--- How do you remember that stage of bullying?

--- In the village, a boy would come with a pellet gun and shoot me in the legs. And there was that mentality of saying: "It's just kids being kids!"

--- And for you it was traumatic.

--- You're just a child! You're forming as a person! Those who bully are not aware of the harm they cause. It's very human to want to test our limits and laugh at others. But I was different. And I don't want it to sound condescending, but I was the only child in the class who valued ants a lot and cried when other children trampled them for fun.

--- You were a sensitive child.

--- I don't feel particularly sensitive. In fact, I would tell you that I feel quite apathetic.

"You must be very clear about where the limits are, how much you can give"

--- I remember that, at fourteen, on the first day of summer in Selva de Mar, something happened. We were already on a motorcycle and one day a boy came with a bag of chips, threw them on the ground and told me: "Pick them up." And at that moment I thought: "If I do it, I'll have three months of shit, so something must change." And for the first time in my life, trembling, I dared to say no. He told me again to pick them up, I told him again no, we fought, the motorcycle went to the ground... and nothing ever happened again.

--- What did you learn?

--- That it's very good to be a good person but you must be very clear about where the limits are, how much you can give. If I had known before that if a child comes up behind me, grabs my ear and throws me to the ground, I can punch him... do you know what I mean? And my essence was: "Be a good person." And I think that's why the bullying lasted so long.

--- Being a good person are the values I try to instill in my daughter.

--- It's just that educating is very difficult. I just made a song about that, which says: "We all have the same gravity, no life weighs more than the other"

--- And how did you work on all this?

--- I didn't work on it. I didn't go to a psychologist until many years later. But luckily in fourth year of ESO I made a movie, physically I made a change, and I started to be liked by some girls. And it was for me like night and day. The boys who bullied me left me alone. They were moments of great happiness.

"Doing theater changed my life. It's therapeutic"

--- I don't think so. Because it still makes me angry when I think about it, but no malice comes out of me if I run into them. I am very polite. Do you know how I think all this would be fixed? By taking more Philosophy and Ethics classes.

--- You study Psychology, apart from Physics, which we have already mentioned.

--- In fact, I wanted to study Philosophy, which was what I liked the most, but in the end I studied Psychology, because I thought it fit better with the world of acting. And because the faculty was next door... and because there was a girl I liked (laughs).

--- Was there anyone in your family who was dedicated to acting?

--- My father was a lawyer, he worked as a mediator, and my mother was a teacher, and she also worked at the Hospital de Sant Pau translating scientific texts. And I had the opportunity to make a movie with Disney, The Cheetah Girls 2, while I was studying Physics.

--- If that movie, instead of being shot in Barcelona, had been shot in Los Angeles, do you think you would have made a career there?

--- It was a thought I had. There was a possibility of going there for a year, but I stayed. Because I was scared... who knows.

--- Did they approve of you dropping out of your studies to make a movie?

--- At home, they found it surreal that I, at 18, could know what I wanted to do with my life. They even gave me the option of taking a gap year. Doing theater changed my life. It's therapeutic.

"I have even broken a plate in an argument"

--- Look, they just won the America's Cup. New Zealanders are cracks in rugby and sailing!

--- Do you have family there?

--- I have uncles.

--- Do you go often?

--- Every ten years. It's my turn now in January because I went when I was 27 and now at 37 I'll go back. I wouldn't live there, because I don't want to fly ten hours to go anywhere. They are isolated. I'd rather live in Sydney, which I loved. What I like is Barcelona. We can take a plane and in an hour be in France or England. We have culture and we have the sea, which I love.

--- What are you like when you get angry?

--- I've broken a plate in an argument.

--- Do you find it hard to count to ten?

--- Very much so. It's not even counting to ten anymore. The key is to walk out the door and come back twenty minutes later.

--- And do you find it hard to apologize?

--- No. In fact, I apologize too much. I empathize very quickly with the other person. But what happens? I expect others to do the same. What we were saying about being a good person.

--- What has the piano brought to your life?

--- There was a time, when I was 16, when I wanted to quit the piano. It coincided with the time of bullying. Because the sensitive child only needed to play the piano, you know? Kids had to play soccer! And my mother told me: "If you want to quit solfège, quit it, but never stop playing the piano." And I started composing.

--- Wise advice from your mother.

--- It was key! I would come home and start making songs.

--- Who is the first person to hear your songs?

--- My parents. My father died two years ago. In fact, he went to the SGAE and registered them.

--- Have you never considered making them public?

--- Look, the last song I've made is precisely about everything we've been talking about. It talks about how We all have the same gravity, and if we all have the same gravity, it means we shouldn't orbit around anyone. Not a director, not a relationship, not anyone.

--- Do you apply that in your daily life?

--- I wish! But think that I sing from emotion.

"Look how bad I am at losing, I don't play chess against other people, I do it with the computer"

--- That I am very easygoing, very transparent. My friends immediately notice if something is wrong with me.

[the_ad id="188431"]

--- You told me earlier that you play chess.

--- Yes, I love it! It's like an intellectual challenge that also doesn't allow you to make visceral decisions. It's the opposite of the fucking theater. I always finish games with a horrible headache!

--- Both if you lose and if you win?

--- Look how badly I take losing, I don't play against other people, I do it with the computer.

--- If you get lost, where do I look for you?

--- Inside the sheets? (Laughs) You can also find me walking along the Carretera de les Aigües. Or in the supermarket looking at offers, doing mental calculations of liters and prices. My father did that a lot. Not only with the price, but also with the grams of the ingredients. All these things can make me make a decision.

--- With whom would you have a Bitter Kas?

--- With you.

--- Thank you! With anyone else?

--- Well, look, with Enrique Tomás, I know you had one with him a few days ago.