Quim Masferrer: "It makes me angry, but in life all clichés end up coming true"

--- What would you be doing today at this time if you hadn't met me for a snack?

--- I would be taking a nap.

--- We've been friends for years and I didn't know you took naps.

--- Every day.

--- For a long time?

--- It's unpredictable. I try not to let it go over an hour, because you wake up very silly. But that moment when you know you've eaten and you have time to take a nap, that's the best moment of the day.

--- We met on Friday the 13th. Are you superstitious?

--- I had no idea. Not at all.

--- Theater people tend to be a bit superstitious.

--- I can have quirks, but they are not superstitions. On the contrary. In some of my shows, I've gone out in a yellow t-shirt to counteract the thing about yellow and theater. But I'm not superstitious, they are more like habits. For example, I never eat before shows and I've never tried olives either.

--- Excuse me?

--- I've never tried them.

--- It's not that you don't like them. You haven't tried them?

--- Never.

--- For any reason?

--- I don't know, and since life has gone well for me so far without trying them, I don't want to try them.

--- You don't know what you're missing...

--- There's a possibility that as a child I had a bad experience with olives at school, but I don't remember it. You say: "Is it a quirk? No. It's a silly thing." But I want to die without trying them.

"I'm not superstitious, they are more like habits. I never eat before shows and I've never tried olives either"

--- That I am much more boring than they might think (laughs).

--- Do you think people believe you are fun?

--- Sometimes people ---and it's good that it's like that--- believe that you are like that person they know and see on television: reckless, intrepid, always eager to do things and predisposed to everything. I am not like that.

--- What are you like?

--- I am an antisocial rara avis. I suppose that because I have such a social job and when you go to film you spend three days seeing people everywhere, when I have my moments I look for precisely the opposite: I want to shut myself in at home, be calm, see few people. I have never been much for going to premieres or dropping by very social events. And now even less. Therefore, I believe that many people would be surprised to learn that I am not precisely the person they know. But I think this is good.

--- Why?

--- Because I have colleagues who work in this job and who are super happy all the damn day! Damn, a plumber when he has free time doesn't go around fixing streetlights, right? Come on, let everyone be as they want, eh! It would be the last straw if I had to go around saying how people should be. But in this job of ours there are people who think they should always give a good image and no, no, no, no! They are the people who lead the dinners.

--- And you are not one of those? Are you just there?

--- Exactly. I'm there and that's it. What's more, I have friends who, if they don't come to a dinner, are missed. On the other hand, I am convinced that Quim is not missed. My parents are asked a question very often: "Is Quim as he seems?"

--- And what do they say?

--- I suppose they must say yes, because they want to make me look good (laughs). But I have my bad temper!

"I have friends who, if they don't come to a dinner, are missed. On the other hand, I am convinced that Quim is not missed"

--- You could ask my daughter that question. But yes, it's true that I try to save myself from it. And the older I get, the more so. You realize that there are things that used to be sacred and now you say: "Well, look, it's fine." Getting angry should be for something really worthwhile, something that really affects you.

--- Has getting older made you relativize things?

--- Hasn't it for you?

--- Life keeps slapping you around.

--- Of course, I've noticed now that "this is serious." In life now you have a very clear idea of what that game is about. You're getting older and before you thought you would never fail physically. I've just had three consecutive days of performing and I would have done a fourth, but barely! And I used to do seven, eight, ten. Now you carry very full backpacks of things. Nature puts you in your place.

--- The plants (laughing).

--- The wrinkles. And life.

--- Do you think about this ending?

--- Yes, because for a long time you tend to hide it to get by. When you're young you think you can conquer the world.

--- And that we are eternal.

--- And that maybe you'll never get old. Others will, but not you, because you don't have any symptoms and you want to achieve things and recognition. And as you get older you realize that there are rules that prevail here. And that the ambition I had 15 years ago I don't have now, and the strength I had 15 years ago I don't have now, and you understand many things. Because sometimes we play with our backs to the laws of nature. I became a father later in life and now I understand why children should be had when you're young.

"As you get older you realize that there are rules that prevail here. And that the ambition and strength I had 15 years ago I don't have now"

--- But of course, I thought I was in charge and it turns out nature was in charge. For a long time, we thought we set our own laws: "I'll be an older father because that way I can take advantage of..." And no! All of this is written and you're heading there. We are a flock moving forward and now we are at an age where you realize this, that you are trapped, that you cannot change anything and that the only thing you can do is follow the flock.

--- We're getting very intense.

--- I am now at a point where I realize all of this, that I have lost ambition or that my goals are very different, much smaller, much more basic.

--- Your ambition must be more than covered.

--- Because I've been very lucky and because I've felt very fulfilled professionally. And when I say professionally, I mean vitally, because my life and my profession mix a lot. And because I can speak from that position, but it is true that I am very different now than a few years ago.

"All of this is written and you're heading there. We are a flock moving forward and now we are at an age where you realize this"

--- Since enough years have passed for me to realize that friends are not forever, that romantic relationships are not forever, that the person you thought you would be with your whole life is no longer there, but is not there because they have died. I miss the town festival meals at my house and I think: "Half of them are gone." Life is about that. It's not about what we thought when we were 25. All the clichés are true.

--- Do they end up coming true?

--- Yes, and it annoys me, but they do end up coming true. If we start listing clichés now, you'll see how all of them come true. "He who has the most is not the happiest, but he who needs the least." What a shitty cliché. But it's true! They are all true and it's very annoying.

--- Why did you study Tourism?

--- Out of fear.

--- Out of fear?

--- It's a way of defining it that I will try to explain to you now. I finished COU and didn't know that you could study theater, but at the same time, I doubted if it was necessary to study theater. I really liked theater, I had a company, but at home we had a family business and it was very hard for me to tell them that I didn't want to continue it. So I thought: "Study Tourism, because that way you'll have a three-year extension and at home they'll think that the child is studying something that has to do with the family business." And at the same time I postpone this meeting that I was so afraid to bring up. And instead of bringing it up at 18, I did it at 22.

--- And when you bring it up at home, what happens?

--- My father was the one who understood it the least. But I always say that I was lucky and wise enough to understand that my father didn't understand me, because that's when the conflict softened. Because if I hadn't been okay, relationships would have broken, I would have left. And I'm very happy not to have confronted my father. I think that now, if my father is my number one fan, it's because at that moment I was right.

--- What was the life of teenage Quim like in Sant Feliu de Buixalleu?

--- Nothing happens there... When I was little I had a recurring dream, which was that there were more boys and girls in the town.

--- How many boys and girls were there?

--- My sister and I.

"When I was little I had a recurring dream, which was that there were more boys and girls in the town"

--- I was coming back from school in Arbúcies and in Sant Feliu it was just my sister and me. I remember friends saying: "At six we'll meet to go ring doorbells," and in Sant Feliu there isn't a single fucking doorbell. That's why I had that recurring dream, that families loaded with boys and girls would come to live there. I grew up among tables and behind the bar of a restaurant. Weekends were exciting for me, when I saw cars full of people arrive.

--- Do you think that has marked you?

--- Yes, for sure. We are all marked by where we come from, living in such a small community and having my house be the nerve center for a whole series of farmhouses that live there. For example, for making El Foraster it has been great for me, because I perfectly understand how these communities work and how you can get in. But it is clear that it marked me. At 14, the first thing I did was get my motorcycle license and that opened up a world for me.

--- Where did you go when you went out?

--- To Arbúcies and Hostalric, to the disco. My first girlfriend was from Hostalric. The first day I had a car license I went down to Barcelona and drove the wrong way on Mallorca street.

"We are all marked by where we come from. For making El Foraster it has been great for me, because I perfectly understand how these communities work"

--- No. They signed me up at home when I was four years old, but I liked it. Many times I think that there I found the origins of what I do today, that staging I experienced in a church, the ritual, the chants. During Holy Week, the priest would give me the censer and everyone would stand up. Holy shit, that was Harry Potter!

--- Are you a believer?

--- No. Well, yes, I believe in you.

--- Thank you. Now you've made me laugh.

--- I believe in you, in people, in individuals. In things I can touch and there's something in return. I believe in someone who helps you when you're not well. I believe in that.

--- Do you see yourself going back to live in Sant Feliu?

--- Of course. We are trapped. That's my place. At 18 I wanted to leave there because I was imprisoned and now I'm fixing up a house. I mean, it's the law of nature, the roots. And I realize that my parents are getting older and I want to go back to be by their side and retrace the spaces that marked me. The other day, for example, I went to the forest where my sister and I used to build cabins. Now there's nothing, but I thought: "Why the hell have you come back here?". Well, because everything is written, we are marked, handcuffed.

--- I see you as very mystical.

--- I am, yes. I have lost... (thinks)

--- What have you lost?

--- I have lost ambition in my work. 15 years ago my dream would have been to set up a television production company and do many things. Now that's the last thing I would do. What I want now is time.

--- What would you have dedicated yourself to if you hadn't done theater?

--- I don't know. I was very fast running.

--- Footballer?

--- No. Well, I don't know. But I was good. I ran a lot and fast. And when you're little and you run faster than average, that makes you good. I had been top scorer several seasons. There was a moment, at 14 or 15, when we founded the first theater company, in which I simultaneously shared a football changing room and the atmosphere of a theater dressing room. In the first one it smelled of Reflex and there were shouts, something very alpha. And in the theater dressing room everything was paused, we talked about silence, about the audience. And I went towards that second one.

"I have lost ambition in my work. 15 years ago my dream would have been to set up a television production company and do many things"

--- Well, go ahead. It's a very beautiful and very complicated job. And very peculiar, because it's not tied to rules that might exist in other jobs. One day they might ask a lot of you and the next day nothing. There are many ups and downs. But when you know the rules of life and that there's only one, we should spend it on what we're passionate about. As if she told me she wants to dedicate herself to shearing sheep.

--- What does she say when she sees you on a bus stop billboard, at the theater, or on TV?

--- My daughter? She completely ignores it. She thinks she's seen me on TV her whole life. El Foraster is eleven years old and my daughter is nine. She has always seen this.

--- Who has kept your feet on the ground?

--- I don't know. I have always taken my job not from the public side that makes people know you, but from the humility of any other job. If not, I wouldn't be interested. As you get older, you realize even more what really matters, and one of them is humility. I'll tell you more, I can't stand those who aren't humble.

"As you get older, you realize even more what really matters, and one of them is humility"

--- Before we talked about clichés, well, I have another one that is also true: "Value people for who they are, never for what they have." Don't get close to anyone for the power that person might have. VIP of what? If in 50 years we will all meet in the cemetery!

--- Have you met many people like that?

--- Yes, the same ones as you.

--- And how do you manage popularity? It must have affected you for sure.

--- I have always taken it as just another job. Perhaps I have had the great luck that with the program El Foraster, if you don't have humility, it's impossible to carry it out. That is, El Foraster with star syndrome, you don't do it. The town expels you. That's why I look for the authenticity of people and this program allows you to do that. The other day we were just talking about it with Buenafuente.

--- What about?

--- About the program he's doing now, Vosaltres mateixos and he told me: "Now I do a bit of what you do." And he told me how many times he had interviewed, for example, Raphael, Estopa, or Manolo García and that now he wanted to interview people he didn't know and who told him things. Well, I have that great luck, that anonymous people share their stories with me.

--- Do you think much about Teatro de Guerrilla, when there were three of you?

--- Yes, from time to time, because it's part of the past. And as you get older, the past is very important.

--- What happened?

--- The magic ended.

--- Was it a shared decision?

--- No. It was hard for me to understand it at the time and now with the passage of time I think... how right they were!

--- If it hadn't been brought up at that moment, do you think you would still be together today?

--- I think it would have ended anyway, that we would have been smart enough to leave it. And it's very good to end things, but it's very hard for us!

"It's very good to end things, but it's very hard for us!"

--- Yes, but then he wouldn't have done this extraordinary thing that is El Foraster. And what they have done, which I hope has also been extraordinary, they wouldn't have done either. I don't understand that thing of considering lasting meritorious.

--- Isn't it necessary for things to last?

--- No, and I've learned this over the years too. Things like: "This couple has been married for 50 years." You say, okay, but are they doing well? Because if not, let them stop. Or "in this town we've been holding a fair for 60 years." Okay, but do people come? "Not a soul comes." So why don't you invest the money in something else? It's not meritorious to last!

--- And Teatro de Guerrilla didn't have to last.

--- I hadn't realized it at the time, but there were members of the group who weren't doing well and what they did was fantastic.

"Things like: "This couple has been married for 50 years." You say, okay, but are they doing well? Because if not, let them stop. It's not meritorious to last!"

--- No, of course it wasn't easy, because they were the ones with whom we had shared dreams, laughter, tears, and the blows that life deals. But that's what life is about. When it happens to you, at that moment it's the worst thing that can happen to you, like when you break up with someone romantically and years later you realize that life is about opening and closing doors.

--- Oasis are back.

--- Because they needed to make money.

--- Have you ever thought about the possibility of getting back together?

--- No. But I don't rule it out either. I don't rule anything out in life.

--- Do you take good care of yourself? Do you go to the gym to burn off steam?

---No. I go to the sauna.

--- But you can't stand the heat!

--- No, but I really like to sweat.

--- And emotionally, do you take care of yourself?

--- They help me. I have my psychologist and I vent there.

--- How important psychologists are!

--- This is also something I've learned with age. For many years I was reluctant to ask for emotional help and with age you realize that you need it, that it's okay and you explain it and nothing happens! It's that very special age we're at.

"For many years I was reluctant to ask for emotional help and with age you realize that you need it, that it's okay and you explain it and nothing happens!"

--- I don't know if they are the best time. For me, they are like a kind of equator, fictitious, but mentally it works. They have led me to value things that until now I didn't value, like investing in time. Like knowing how to say no.

--- What do you do when you have nothing to do?

--- Nothing. Another thing that surely 15 years ago I would have thought: "Today I've been wasting time." And now, for me, this "Today I haven't done anything!" is gaining time.

--- Now that you are also doing the advertising campaign, how do you like to drink ColaCao?

--- In summer very cold and in winter very hot. And without lumps!

--- Contrary to what most people tell me!

--- I'll tell you a secret. During the filming of the TV spot I had to eat a lot of lumps and I don't like them. So, you give it to me well-beaten and chilled.