Spanish artist Pedro Alonso has family memories rooted in Venezuela, a documentary born of his travels through Mexico and a firm answer when asked to choose between the two countries' signature foods.
Arepa or taco?: "Pan de muerto."
The actor known worldwide as Berlín in Netflix's Money Heist had barely delivered his verdict when Eugenio Derbez joined in. "I just ordered a pan de muerto through FedEx, my dear Pedro."
"My little hot chocolate, my pan de muerto," Alonso continued. "Yes, I love it. It moves me."
The two men spend fighting for their children from opposite sides of a sexual violence case in the Mexican series The Trial, now on ViX as El Juicio, its original name in Spanish. But, funny and yummy enough, in the conversation with this reporter, the actors were united by an enthusiasm for the sweet bread associated with Día de Muertos.
Alonso's answer was particularly pointed after a reminder of his affection for both Venezuela and Mexico. The Galicia-born actor inherited his connection to Venezuela from his father, who lived there as a young man. He had told me in a previous interview of his father's experiences on Margarita Island and around the Orinoco, followed by family trips back to Venezuela after his parents married.
Alonso later traveled to the Orinoco himself.
During September's promotion of El Juicio, he told Popticular of his father's emotional attachment to the South American country and the pasticho (a Venezuelan-Italian dish similar to lasagna) his mother made when he was a child.
However, now Mexico has become an important part of his creative life. Alonso co-directed En la nave del encanto with Enrique Baró Ubach. Available on Netflix as On the Ship of Enchantment, the documentary follows his travels through Mexico and encounters with traditional healers as he explores questions about life, death, and spirituality.
Still, choosing Mexican bread over an arepa required a little diplomatic repair. "As a Venezuelan, I forgive you," I told him. "My little arepa heart is wounded."
"Pan de muerto touches something very deep in me," he insisted, laughing.
While Derbez has made a career mainly in comedy, El Juicio puts him in a far darker place as Miguel Portillo, whose daughter Andrea, played by Karla Gaytán, seeks justice after sexual violence. Alonso's Raúl Huerta uses his money and influence to protect his son, played by Iker Solano (Timbiriche.) Created and written by Daniel Krauze from research by journalist León Krauze, his brother and former Univision news anchor.
"I was depressed for three months while we were filming," Derbez said. "It meant touching very dark places every day."
Conversations with León helped him understand where the character's determination turns destructive. "He crossed that line between seeking justice and seeking revenge," Derbez said of one of the real fathers whose experiences informed the project. "I think that was the real problem, where everything changes for Miguel."
Alonso found an unexpected connection with his adversary during the fathers' confrontation at a lawyers' office. "There was electricity on the set," he said. "Every time we met, it was for an important moment."
The scene approached physical violence. Then came a pause. "I had the feeling that my character put himself in his character's place, and his character put himself in mine," Alonso said. "There were two poor creatures, two men, two human beings looking at each other."
For Derbez, another revealing moment comes when Huerta cries alone in his car. "We see this incredibly powerful man break down in the absolute loneliness of his life," he said. "He has nobody to cry with except himself."
Alonso also works through his characters on paper. Before our conversation, he had posted paintings he made during El Juicio, inviting others to paint. He had only recently retrieved the originals.
"I'd left them stored somewhere in Mexico, and I got them back two days ago," he said. "I have them all spread out at home here in Mexico."
Derbez recalled being told about his colleague's unusual working method. "Don't wonder what a rooster is doing there," he remembered being warned. "Pedro paints, and that helps him remember his lines and his emotions."
"I'd never heard of Pedro's technique," Derbez added. "I think it's wonderful."
The paintings offered another view of an actor audiences associate with the calculating, flamboyant Berlín, a character who became the center of his own Netflix spinoff. Derbez wanted a closer look. "I'm going to find that post, Pedro," he said. "I'd love to see everything you painted for El Juicio."
Neither actor wanted the series reduced to a simple contest between a good father and a bad one. "We didn't want Pedro or Iker to be telenovela villains," Derbez said. "We wanted them to have those shades of gray, for them not to be black and white, for them to be flesh-and-blood characters."
Miguel, he added, makes mistakes too. As for Alonso, the discoveries that interest him are the ones he cannot fully anticipate.
"I love it when, in my profession, you find something on set or in a scene that had never even crossed your mind while you're working with your fellow actor," he said.
Finding common ground over pan de muerto proved considerably easier. Alonso had his chocolate pairing ready. Derbez had already called for delivery.
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