Santi Millán: “I find it legitimate that people are focusing on my leaked sex tape. I would have done it too”
Actor and presenter
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BarcelonaSanti Millán welcomes me into his workshop and generates an immediate warmth. He looks happy here, manipulating pieces rescued from the Encants Vells to give them a new meaning, and a new life. He wanted to be a doctor, but ended up being an actor and presenter, often with the air of a good-hearted rascal, naughty but kind. He has done a thousand things, so as not to let the noise of conscience nibble at him too much. We talk about it in this quiet conversation.
Telecinco has held on for a month Fall who falls before cancelling it. It had ratings above the channel's average, but it wasn't enough. Would you have liked them to keep it going a little longer?
— All television channels, not just Telecinco, are driven by audiences, even the public ones. In the end, if you set up a shoe store and you have bought some really good Italian moccasins but you don't sell them, no matter how much you like them, you will tell the distributor not to take any more. I want to say that we were happy: with the program and the great team, who gave their all.
What did you think when you were asked to present a mythical format like Fall who falls?
— It was respectable. The format worked very well and was historic. Of course, resuming this after 20 years is difficult, because the situation is no longer the same and people have already seen many things. I first saw the programme when I was at La Cubana and I remember that the opening was spectacular, like a one-minute film. I was amazed and thought: wow, this is the TV I would like to do.
Seeing you there reminded me a bit of when you were in Ours, playing the role of an intrepid reporter with Andreu Buenafuente, and sneaking into the Oscars ceremony with a Caprabo card. What do you remember about those early days in television?
— I didn't go to university, I didn't do Erasmus or anything like that: when I was 18 I started working in a theatre company, and that gave me some really nice experiences, but I had no training in television. So, when we started the programme it was really very playful. We were a group of friends. We were having fun like crazy, but we had a great time.
You have often taken on the character of the little channel, the nice guy who comes out of it because he is funny and has a lot of bar. I don't know if there is a certain Peter Pan complex...
— I'm not really aware of being 56 years old. I don't recognise myself as a 56-year-old guy. But I think this is general: as we get older we stop at a certain age. I think mine is 35 or 37, and that's where I've stayed. Of course, in reality you keep growing and the vision that others have of you is no longer the same. Sometimes, when someone gets to know me, they say to me "Man, I didn't think you were like that, you're a boring piece of shit! I wanted to go out with you but I won't call you." Well no: I'm a pretty normal person, very rational and I like to work. I've never liked going out at night.
The last time you got home at 7 in the morning?
— Never, never! I have never come home at seven in the morning, unless I was working. When I went out, which I have done on occasion, I was really upset that it was getting dark: I'm a bit like Cinderella. I don't drink alcohol either, since I was about twenty. There was a time when I said to myself: "But I don't like it and it doesn't make me feel good."
How did theatre come into your life?
— I really liked medicine, because I really like making people feel better. But I signed up for theatre when I was ten or so, and it turned out that it was very easy for me, and because people had a good time it was very satisfying. They said I was good at it and all that, so when I got to high school we got together as a little group and when I finished my studies I decided that I wanted to dedicate myself to this.
Did the parents accept it well?
— There was no problem. My father was a mechanic, but he had a certain vocation and he always liked comedy, so he supported me from the first minute. I think he also saw that the path of study... was not for me! So I started working at a slaughterhouse at night, because that way I could have the afternoons free. I worked from three in the morning until two in the afternoon, and that allowed me to go to give drama classes in the evening.
And from there, to La Cubana.
— Jordi Milán came to the College of Theatre, where I studied, looking for someone because he was putting on a show and one of the actors had caught AIDS. Eat my coconut, black.
And you stayed for a decade. What did you learn?
— Cubana has always worked with the spirit of an amateur company. We did everything ourselves: from the script to the costumes. We loaded, unloaded, drove the vans, checked the equipment... Even an actor could be the sound technician or the lighting technician when he wasn't acting. It was very intense.
And how did television come into your path?
— With La Cubana we also made television: the Teresinas, the New Year's Eve special and a program with Mercedes Milà that was very groundbreaking because we appeared as if we were people from the street, without revealing that we were actors having a debate fake. When after the commercial they explained that it was a lie, it caused a huge uproar and was a turning point for the company.
When did you decide it was time to fold?
— It was due to exhaustion. It was very demanding, because we were never at home, and as a life plan it was complicated. I wanted to bring another kind of life. I also wanted to do fiction and Corbacho and I left on the same day. It was once, for the company.
Was it easy to find a job?
— Well, we prepared some resumes and went to Madrid to give them, but Andreu Buenafuente called me right away, because he was preparing Ours for TV3.
What did you bring to your characters?
— My strong point has always been the replica, the improvisation: in La Cubana it was a very valuable tool, since we took the characters to the extreme and we got into unforeseen situations. But, of course, how do you train that? Talent glassFor example, it's a format that is perfect for me. As I am very empathetic, as we said before, I really like to make people feel comfortable and well. It's not something I have to force. In another format I probably wouldn't shine as much because I'm not a typical presenter.
Now that you mention it Talent glassWhat talents could you compete with, if you weren't the presenter?
— Host...
Don't you consider yourself a talented person?
— I consider myself a creative person. I have a divergent mind and I see things differently than others, I process things differently. For some things it's great, but for others not so much.
When did you realize this?
— Well, it wasn't that long ago! I realized it precisely when I left El Terrat, because until then, both in La Cubana and in El Terrat, my lifestyle had been very well suited to my conditions. But when I tried to lead a more structured life, and I had children... I realized that I no longer handled this so well. Lately I see many cases of people of my generation who discover that they have ADHD. I discovered it with my children. They are now 19 and 16 years old, and when they were little they had behavioral and attention problems at school. And, speaking with the psychologist, when she explained that if this and if that... I said to her: wait a minute, that's what has happened to me all my life! Is this pathology? I thought that I was simply absent-minded and that there were many things that I didn't quite understand.
How now?
— I wondered, for example, why I always wake up exhausted, why I have trouble sleeping, why my mind wanders, or why someone tells me something and five minutes later I don't remember it anymore. I realized that my perception of things is different and that I process them in a different way. That for some things it's fantastic, like for what I do artistically, but for day-to-day life it's not so good.
It must be quite a what, realizing this as an adult.
— But it is true that, if I look back, everything fits. I have lived all my life in this neighborhood, in Poblenou. And now it grinds, but that used to be a place of a lot of juvenile delinquency and I had never really fit in: neither with the people in the neighborhood, nor at school. Of course, I liked the theater, so I always had to feel that if fagot, yes you are stupid...Until you find your group and say, look, I'm no longer different here.
Man, you have obvious talent, as demonstrated by the place we are in. You have invited me to a workshop where you create your artistic creations.
— I've always loved doing crafts, whether it's putting together Ikea furniture or Legos I bought for my kids but I ended up putting them together myself while they were on the Playstation. During the pandemic I had four tools and a few pieces of shit at home and I entertained myself by making clothes. And so, I started without any objective, just for pleasure. I've always considered myself an artist and a creative guy, for better or worse. In fact, being creative doesn't mean I'm good, right? But doing things with my hands helps me disconnect and maybe I'll be here for three hours, polishing and polishing like an idiot. And, damn, it's very therapeutic. It's like a form of meditation.
It may be just a hobby, but it is important enough to end up having a local.
— Oh, the woman screwed me out of the house, because she made a lot of noise, always polishing wood and with the tools. [Laughs.] I went to one coworkingBut it was very small, so for two years I have had this workshop, to fill it with my shit.
There are many dilapidated religious figurines.
— My concept is called second matchI take from here, from the Encants market, pieces that someone has abandoned and that are often broken and dissociated, and I give them a second life, manipulating them or reassembling them with other pieces so that they have a new meaning and can find another family that welcomes and enjoys them.
I see there's a lot of Coca-Cola merchandising, too.
— I'm a bit of an addict, and of course I'm not an intellectual, nor are my cultural references elevated. My culture is popular and the driving force behind all this is, quite simply, that I need to do things.
And if you stop, what happens?
— Well, I'm starting to get a bit confused. I have this feeling of not being able to do nothing. This guilty conscience...
But you've done a lot of things: plays, TV shows, series...
— When I turned 50, I did tell myself: now I can afford not to screw anything up and nothing happens, right? But even if you tell yourself that, your subconscious ends up bringing you that anxiety.
Have you ever had a bad streak at work?
— Not really. There are things that have worked and things that haven't, but I've been lucky enough to have a job on a continuous basis. I've never found myself going two years without work and running out of savings, with no prospect of anything coming out of it.
Work in your industry is volatile. How long could you last without work?
Well, not much, right? Whether you like it or not, you're increasing your expenses: two children, money, a second home... Right now, I couldn't be without work for a long time. But I have been a fairly rational person, aware that this job comes in fits and starts and that, therefore, you have to be prepared.
You have been working mainly in Madrid for some time now. Is it easier to work there than here?
— There are many more opportunities in the television world. I would love to be able to work more here. It always happens to me that when I am here I am in idle mode, but the children go to school, my wife works... On the other hand, when I am in Madrid, I am working and alone, without my family environment, so it is shit.
Have you been tempted by TV3 lately?
— I have always had a very good relationship with TV3. Not long ago we did Welcome to the family and it was a success.
As an actor you have mainly done comedy. Do you plan to move towards drama?
— I've never had this point of saying "I want to be taken seriously" or of making a drama so that I'm considered this way or that way. I feel comfortable with comedy and humor is not something I use just to work: it comes naturally to me and I find it a great tool to put things into perspective and focus on things, starting with oneself.
You who are on Telecinco... are from The revolt or ofThe anthill?
— I like both.
Equidistant!
— No, no! I understand that this happened with the Process, but the fact is that the hours are not black and white. I have always been a grey guy. I have been lucky enough to work with Pablo Motos as a collaborator and with David Broncano when I was doing a late show and he did a section. Broncano is a gifted guy, with an extraordinary IQ. And he has managed to use the language ofstreaming on television, which is a really difficult mix to get bought. And, thanks to the years at Movistar, he has had the peace of mind to be able to experiment and gain experience before jumping into the bullring of the general channels. In the case of Pablo Motos, he is an obsessive guy who lives for work and has a great team. I have never seen people who work harder in life. What hard workers.
Another aspect of yours is sport. You have cycled a lot.
— Well, I got there by chance. They cancelled the Cuatro programme I was doing and, for me, it was a huge blow. At that time I was undecided between fiction and entertainment. I ended up opting for that and, boom, they cancelled me. I thought: maybe they won't call me to do fiction anymore and they think I'm not good at entertainment. Luckily, summer was starting and I thought "well, let's relax and then, in autumn, we'll see what happens." And that's when we rented the bikes, and everything grew, because, I still don't know how, one day I found myself in the Atacama desert, in Chile, pedalling.
And you persisted.
— We spent ten years traveling the world, and it was very cool.
What do you consider to be the most challenging journey you have ever done?
— Wow, one of the times we suffered the most was in New Zealand. It was a race that lasted six days in a week, with stages of 100 kilometres or more. But the problem was that there were climbs... And grass, which was like Velcro for the bike. Mentally it was very hard.
You are a very public figure, but a few years ago you had a good deal of involuntary exposure: a sex video was stolen from your mobile phone with a person who was not your wife and published. Have you been able to take action against the hackers?
— We tried, we filed a complaint... but the problem is that since Musk bought Twitter and turned it into X, they don't pay attention to the court order or anything else. It's impossible, and of course, getting into lawsuits with Musk right now might not be the most interesting thing.
I also wanted to know how a case like this impacts you. It feels like you don't want to leave home for three years. But apparently you've taken it easy enough.
— You have to give things the importance they really have, not the one people give them. And it's not that big of a deal! It would have been worse if a video had come out in which I kicked a dog, or did something really illegal, I don't know. But my thing, whether you like it or not, is done by everyone who can, whether it's funny or not. What pissed me off the most was people making value judgments because you say, damn, you don't know me. You don't know what the circumstances are, you don't know anything, you're judging based on something you've seen and that, besides, you shouldn't have seen, and that's it. But I think it's legitimate, let people go to hell. In fact, I probably would have done it too! Also, my children acted super maturely when the video was leaked. And so did my wife.
She stepped forward to say that she had a relationship based on freedom.
— Exactly. That's why what bothered me the most was people who made value judgments. If you don't know me, if you don't know what the circumstances are... who are you going to judge? If you believe this, do it your way, but I have other perspectives. Of course, I think it's normal that people focused on my video, I find it normal and legitimate. I would do it too! But it's not that important.
Would you like to retire?
— No.
I imagined you here, working in the workshop, happy.
— Ah, I would like that. The truth is that what I find most difficult is public exposure. I have never had the need or intention to be known or to be famous. On the contrary, I don't feel very comfortable.
And when they approach you on the street, then?
— Well, well! People do it with love, too. You always find some asshole, but the people are very kind and affectionate, very affectionate. But the public exposure... When I was in La Cubana it was very cool, because there we were not relevant. Of course, we were so disguised that not even God recognized us! And this was perfect, it was fantastic. Until later it changed.
It will also have some benefit.
— You always get a table in restaurants. This is true. Being known causes inconvenience, but it also gives privileges. For example, when people perceive you as a nice character, someone who meets you automatically has the feeling of knowing you and treats you as familiar. If I have a problem with my car, someone will surely stop and invite me to dinner. Of course, if you are a stranger, the other person thinks "let's see who that guy is!" and, just in case, he doesn't trust you and walks past.