Joana Vilapuig: "Many girls sent me photos asking me to tell them if they were fat."

BarcelonaJoana Vilapuig was still a teenager when her participation in Red bracelets It brought her explosive and immediate fame. Years of hard work, uncertainty, doubt, and an unintentional rivalry with her sister, also an actress, followed. The knot began to unravel with Self-tape (2023), a Filmin series in the autofiction genre that not only marked Vilapuig's return but also a happy step towards creation, beyond acting. And they are preparing new projects.

In Innate You play a girl who discovers her father is a serial killer. You're the younger version of the character Elena Anaya plays in the present day, now middle-aged. Is it complicated to pull off this mirroring?

— I had never done it before, and it was quite a challenge trying to resemble Elena as an adult. I went to rehearsals to watch her closely, and I asked to be given the first week of filming to capture all her mannerisms. But at the same time, it's tricky to find the right point to go when trying to resemble that person.

It must also be curious for her to see herself in someone else.

— The first day of rehearsals when the three of us Saras met—because there was also an even younger version—was quite intense: we shared something very similar, and I hadn't expected us to be so alike, physically. It was a bit of a shock to everyone, and in the first few days of filming, if they saw me from a distance, everyone thought I was her.

I'd like to review your career path and start with your family origins. You are the daughter of the painter Oriol Vilapuig, the granddaughter of the painter Alfons Borrell, and the great-granddaughter of the landscape painter Joan Vila Puig. Have you inherited your talent with the paintbrush?

— Look, sadly, I don't think so. My sister has. But I have taken many drawing courses with my father, because he's a teacher. I've gone a lot and I like what he advocates: that everyone can draw.

If you introduce me to him one day, I'll change his mind, that I'm from the brotherhood of six and four.

— No, no! There's a lot of general writer's block among people, but in the end, it's just another form of expression. You don't need to be able to perfectly replicate a chair: everyone can express themselves however they want.

What's the last thing you drew?

— Hmm... well, look, a tree in the storm.

And were you the tree or the storm?

— I drew it and thought, "What a dark drawing!" But I sent it to my father, and he pointed out that the tree had a lot of light. And it's true: the tree was very bright. I'm both, I suppose.

Coming from a family with an artistic background, it wouldn't have been difficult to explain to them that you wanted to dedicate yourself to acting. The trauma here would have been if you had told them that you wanted to pursue a career at La Caixa.

— Exactly, it would have been strange, wouldn't it? If I'd told them: I want to be a lawyer. Now, although it's true I have a lot of artistic influence, theater wasn't something they'd ever considered. In fact, we're rather shy...

90% of actors say they are shy, according to my experience as an interviewer.

— Yeah... I guess we're very aware of how others see us. I immediately start to feel like I have bad breath. It's like we're expected to be the most extroverted and fun people in the world. And no: we're just normal people doing a specific job that sometimes involves going on stage or being seen, but the job isn't the media exposure that comes with it.

So, where do you feel most comfortable? Making films, where you're no longer there when people are looking at you, or in the theater?

— Now I'm in a period of theatre where I suffer a little: because of my voice, because of my body, because of whether I'm ready... But there's something very strange about theatre, that once I enter, I take the journey, I enter the game and then I enjoy it enormously.

Perhaps these concerns are the result of becoming more aware.

— Maybe so. And theater is really cool, but I'd say what I enjoy most about the whole process is the rehearsals. If you have a good team and a good director, you have a great time and you can try anything. Then, when you're actually performing, everything is more structured, and yes, you relive it and play around with it again, but it's more repetitive.

What is the main attraction for you about acting?

— It's a bit of a cliché, but when I'm acting, I like that feeling of forgetting yourself for a while and not thinking about anything else. It has a meditative aspect. Right now, I'm doing a series where I play a cook, and it's really cool to be exploring a field I've never been in before. Suddenly, I'm watching a ton of documentaries, or cooking with my grandmother, and I think: what a fun job. Although, at other times, it's been a very hard life.

Your story as an actress begins when your little sister, Mireia, is cast in the film HeroesSo you say you also want to participate in this world and, two years later, you receive the role of Red bracelets, which represents your outburst. What are your current feelings towards the series?

— It's a difficult question... The thing is, I don't really feel like talking about it. Bracelets...

Isn't it inevitable to do so, in order to understand who you are today?

— Yes of course. Bracelets It's changing my life in so many ways. In every way, I'd say. Professionally, personally, in how I see myself, how I see the world... In everything.

I understand, from the reluctance you express, that some changes were positive and others not so much.

— It's a good combination, yes. It's also true that I never regret the things I do. I always end up considering that, in the end, we did them for a reason, although sometimes I've wondered who I would be, and where I would be, if I hadn't done them. Red bracelets.

And how do you imagine it?

— I would have followed the path many of my friends have taken: finish high school, go to the Institut del Teatre, and then... work my way up and see how things go. In the end, I am where I am because of the Bracelets.

It was a stepping stone, obviously. But what are the hidden, underlying costs that are paid?

— Perhaps the most human, you know? Nobody was really prepared for what was Red braceletsNeither I, nor my family, nor the people around me. It was a huge success, and I was in the middle of a period of personal change. I wanted to do that, and at the same time, my body was changing, and I was under too much scrutiny. I started getting a lot of older-than-her-boy offers, and I think that's why it was so hard for me to get jobs. I was incredibly insecure because I didn't feel like one of those actresses with perfect skin. I didn't feel like a cute little girl; I felt like a girl surrounded by older people.

Furthermore, instant fame is always difficult to deal with.

— Perhaps people think more about being famous now, but at that time I was just a girl from Sabadell who had never even considered it, and it was a huge shock. Fame wasn't what I expected.

Because?

— Because of how you feel judged. It was a huge shock because the things about fame that I might have imagined weren't what I was experiencing at that time. Besides, I was just a kid and I felt like I owed something to people, who often didn't have much respect for us. They didn't understand that we're normal people, that we have to go catch a train only to miss it, and that therefore we can say, "No, we're not taking a picture right now." But people make you believe they have a right over you: since they've seen you at their house, they say, "You owe me a picture." It's a violation of privacy. If it happened to me now, I'd have plenty of tools to deal with it, but back then, going to school...

The series also touched on very sensitive topics.

— It wasn't easy, no... And I don't know if we had enough psychological support to manage it. I played an anorexic, which isn't an illness like cancer, but rather has a very internal and personal aspect. Very concrete and physical.

Are you taking the character home with you?

— I don't know if it's to this extent, but many women struggle with their bodies and have internal conflicts because of the pressure to conform to beauty standards. And I was still just a 15-year-old girl, a teenager, with aging features and a changing body... playing an anorexic character that many people identified with. I felt a huge responsibility that wasn't mine to bear. And I received so many messages, so many.

From grateful people?

— Yes, but not only that. There were also people who wrote to me asking for help. And many girls sent me photos asking me to tell them if they were fat or not. It wasn't my place to manage all of this. And I learned to stop replying to people.

You would feel it as a burden, as an overwhelming duty for which no one had prepared you.

Sure, you're a girl on Facebook and after the first chapter someone starts writing to you, and another, and more people... and you keep answering but it keeps getting more and more, until there comes a point when people also make a lot of derogatory comments.

We jump forward in time. In Self-tape, an autofiction series that you co-authored with your sister, do not mention in any way Red braceletsBut it clearly speaks of the hangover that comes after teenage success. And of the rivalry, and subsequent reunion, between two sisters.

— It's been incredibly tough, and the comparisons to my sister have followed us throughout much of our adolescence. That's also why we decided to do Self-tapeTo talk about it. And it doesn't just happen between sisters. My friends who are also actresses experience it too, and it's important to know how to handle it.

Was it therapeutic?

— A lot. Yes, it was one of the things we decided to explore. What happens when you have two sisters who are actresses and both want to pursue the same career? How do they compete and feel jealous of each other? This led us to talk a lot and to engage in an exercise of honesty, of getting to know each other, of sharing things we'd never shared before. Then, during filming, there were moments when we compared ourselves, but in the end, love triumphed over all of that, and we went through a profound process of reconciliation and healing. Now we work together and are partners, best friends, and sisters because we've had a close relationship for four years.

The series also marks a shift from acting to creating. Would you like to explore this change further?

— Yes, we're both very focused on this. We love being actresses, but we also want the opportunity to create our own projects.

In this sense you are one of the creators of the medium-length film Otto's Sitewho talked a lot about people who live on the margins, who escape the herd. How do you feel, on a scale of zero to ten, in relation to the herd?

— Mmm... It depends on which flock we're talking about.

Let's start with the professional herd.

— Of course, I could say now that I don't feel my professional goal is to be an actress, but rather a creator, and therefore I don't feel like I belong to the herd of actresses, but I suppose someone from the outside would say: "Obviously you're part of this herd because you've been doing this for almost 15 years!" And, in the end, I'm a perfectly normal person who has worked at TV3 and who works as an actress in Catalonia and in Spain, so it would be offensive to say that I'm not part of the herd.

But, as you say, you do seem to feel a bit out of touch with reality.

— Yeah.

In what sense?

— These are questions that...! Yes, it's true that I feel distant. I feel increasingly distant from Joana the actress who dreamed of winning a Goya, and I'm starting to feel more interested in creating, in going abroad.

In Self-tape There was also talk about the sexualization of young actresses. And, in fact, you recorded a video with the Aplaer collective in which you recounted that it featured one of the most uncomfortable sex scenes you had ever filmed, even though you appeared fully clothed.

— With that scene, which I wrote, I wanted to depict a first sexual encounter with little enjoyment, little communication, and even aggression. The director and I decided that nothing had to be shown, since the scene itself was already uncomfortable. Because I think sometimes we show a little too much.

Have you ever found yourself doing a scene despite being pressured to show your body more than you wanted?

— There have been times when I've felt very alone and insecure doing things that, when I've looked back on them, I've thought, "I don't know if I would have wanted to do this." At that time, the idea of an intimacy coordinator wasn't even on my radar, but now that I've worked quite a bit, I think it's a crucial role. We put our faces and bodies on the line for so many things: we have to take care of that.

How have you experienced the times without work?

— Well, they've helped me grow so much. In the end, it's part of an actress's life: you not only have to perform, you also have to persevere. Being an actress means having work and not having work. There are incredibly talented people who decide to take on other jobs because they can't find work, and that's perfectly legitimate. It's not the best who endure, but those who have been lucky enough to keep working. I've had some very tough times, and I've been fortunate enough to always save a little. And, look, I've been an actress for 15 years, and I've lived in Barcelona for almost nine. I don't know how I've done it, but I've managed to get by. Now, I've also been waiting, and back then, I'd invent 10,000 other professions for myself.

Like what?

— The profession creates a love-hate relationship because there are very tough times. I've found stability, but only after fifteen years. I've gone through many imagined professions and considered all sorts of things, like opening a travel agency. During times when I was really struggling with the profession, I'd go into flower shops and think, "Wow, I wouldn't mind suddenly being here and working with plants, making bouquets." A film set is a place with a huge machine, lots of people, and a lot of happiness, but sometimes I envy artisanal professions and more physical work. It's also true that I've been doing this for so many years that if you put me in a stable job, I might get anxious because I've always lived two months ahead of the curve.

So, you wouldn't pick up a TV3 series?

— Well, you know, I might get overwhelmed, knowing I have to go every day? I suppose it's inevitable, the contradiction. I also think I'd like to teach some university classes or theater classes, acting classes. But more like a two-month seminar. I find it hard to look beyond that. My friends say, "Hey, should we get some tickets for July?" and I feel incapable of thinking that far ahead. My calendar ends in February.

You mentioned earlier that you enjoy planning trips. What trips are you planning?

— I'd love to go to Japan. Or to Scotland: I had a whole trip planned, the entire route, but then a job came up that I regret taking. It was at a time when I was unemployed and really struggling. It was just a one-day gig, nothing much, they were paying me 200 euros. But my partner and I felt I had to do it, and now I regret it, because it was so short-lived. Self-tapeIt's a common saying: "Go on a trip, you'll find some work!" And then, in this line of work, it's hard to say no because you always think: maybe this is an opportunity for a better job. But often it hasn't been.

After the ups and downs of these years, how are you currently?

— I've been working my way up, and only now, finally, after fifteen years, is it the first time I've been able to live a whole year well. Almost two. In fact, you've caught me at a good time, which I think has to do with both my personal life and feeling good about my work. I feel more confident; perhaps that comes with age, too. But it's taken me 15 years to feel this way and see that I'm reaping the rewards of what I've sown. Now, I also have to say that maybe we'll talk again in a year, and I'll be back to not knowing what to do, without a job...

I'll end with a game. It's highly improbable given the nature of the plots and the themes it had. Red braceletsBut what if someone were to push for a third season now...

— Do you know what happened? There's a third season... in Italy. Would I do it as an actress? Oh, it's so shocking that the newspaper ARA suddenly reports that Joana Vilapuig says she won't do a third season of... Red braceletsBut I'd have to think about it a lot, a lot. And it would depend a lot on who's doing it, and I'd have a lot of conversations with a lot of people, asking them questions, because I'm quite indecisive. And then I'd try to listen to myself. I'd think: Juana, what do you really want? And look... maybe not. I'm telling you, I wouldn't do it. Bracelets It's part of my life and my past. It's very present, and I think about it a lot, but for me, it's a closed chapter. It's what has brought me to where I am now, but knowing when things end is also important.