The leading actress of the film All in One Day, where she plays a mother of three children and a supermarket clerk who risks finding herself on the street
I was the one who convinced Diego to also direct All in one day, his first work. We’ve known each other forever, I respect him as an actor. He dedicated body and soul to this project, no one would have had the same delicacy as him. Penlope Cruz met her colleague Juan Diego Botto as a girl, a student of her mother’s acting school, the Argentine actress Cristina Rota, who arrived in Spain with her children after the killing of her husband, a victim of the military dictatorship. The film is deeply rooted in the present, dedicated to the housing emergency in Spain, where around 41,000 evictions are recorded every year.
A story on the razor’s edge, with the rhythm of a thriller, built over 24 hours around three protagonists. Cruz Azucena, mother of three, a supermarket clerk who risks finding herself on the street. Also in the race against time is Rafa (Luis Tosar), a lawyer who defends the rights of the evicted. And the elderly Teodora (Adelfa Calvo) dealing with a son who faces the bankruptcy of her company. They are real stories of people brutally affected by the economic crisis. Azucena — tells the actress al Courier – the set of many women who have first and last names. We got to know them, we shared details of their lives. A particular mix of five women I fell in love with, they are the most generous people I have ever met in life, almost all of them with even more dramatic situations and greater misfortunes than what we tell in the film. I believed in it right away, which is why I also wanted to produce it.
At the base, a long preparatory work carried out da Botto with his partner, the journalist Olga Rodriguez co-author of the screenplay. She knows the theme well, the protagonists, the role of the associations, of the lawyers – explains the director who kept the role of Azucena’s Argentine husband for himself -. In Spain you go at the rate of one hundred evictions a day. When you hear the stories, the lives behind the statistics, you just want to tell them. As Garcia Lorca said: “Under the multiplications / there is a drop of blood”. I’m glad Penelope pushed me to direct it. I’m 47, I started acting at 5, I’ve watched so many directors on sets.
The important thing was to be faithful to the real protagonists. Many appear in the film, in the assembly scenes. We have been careful to avoid pietism and demagoguery. The women I have known have to take charge of crazy situations, sometimes together with their companions, sometimes alone – says Cruz -. We cannot generalize, we need to look beyond the numbers. Azucena works in a supermarket but she has trouble shopping, she has to go to a food bank. In preparation meetings with them, we often left crying. My motivation was to live up to their truth. If we can get it to the public we have won. Emphasize the drive for solidarity. They know that no one saves themselves, they find ways to help others in need. Like lawyers do, which inspired the character of Rafa. They do a tough job, if they didn’t do it nobody would do it – adds Tosar -. They pay a high price. They must find a balance between helping the world and keeping space for their loved ones. Life is hard for them too, they earn at most a thousand euros a month.
In the film there is another Cruz, who signs the music: Eduardo, Penlope’s younger brother. That sooner or later she too will decide to go behind the camera. I really want to direct, but I have many commitments as an actress and producer. Now I’m working on a documentary but I can’t talk about it yet. And then I would like to direct a fiction film. When it does, it will be a small Spanish film, perhaps shot in Madrid.
February 23, 2023 (change February 23, 2023 | 21:14)
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