Carlos Cuevas has found the trick to get older: "I must remind myself often: 'You are going well, you are doing well'

Carlos Cuevas poses exclusively for ICON with Fendi clothing.ADRIÁN CUERDO

On the one hand, Carlos Cuevas has done everything: create an iconic character on television, Pol Rubio in the fan phenomenon Merlí (2015-2018) and its sequel, Merlí: Sapere Aude (2019-2021); starring in an international Netflix hit (Smiley, 2022); appear in films by Marcel Barrera or Antonio Chavarrías or, more recently, give voice to the most intimate story of Pedro Almodóvar's almost autobiographical book, The Last Dream (Reservoir Books). But, on the other hand, Carlos Cuevas (Moncada and Reixach, Barcelona, 27 years old) wants to do everything. " I do not want to be placed in a single space because I consider myself more malleable, "he promises, all enthusiasm, all sparkle in honey-colored eyes, this morning in Madrid. "I'm dying to make auteur cinema, auteur theatre. I want to direct, I want to write what I direct. I don't want to die without making a musical, or a children's movie. As a kid I wanted to be Robin Williams, I wanted to be Hook, I wanted to be Flubber. Look Bardem: he's done Lilo, The Crocodile and nowThe Little Mermaid, but also 007 [Skyfall, 2012] and [Asghar] Farhadi [Everyone Knows, 2012]. I want you to see me work for many years."

Carlos Cuevas poses exclusively for ICON dressed by SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARELLO. ADRIAN CUERDO

To find oneself between such a bulky past and such a promising future, between so much accumulated experience and so much bison in reserve, requires his technique, at least as far as time management is concerned. "There's a metaphor that I like and always think about: your career isn't a race, it's a walk, man. A walk. And not one for the city, but for the forest, "he says now, with a reflective gesture that he did not have a few years ago. "You don't have to run and if I want to do a lot of things, I shouldn't burn stages, not have the desire to be the director who works the most at 30, the most star actor at 28. I want a long and long and steady career. I have to remind myself a lot: 'You're going well, you're going well, you're going well.' Because in the audiovisual they already make you run without you wanting to". The road to this conclusion has been long, in the literal sense – Cuevas began acting at the age of nine, in the daily TV3 series Ventdelplà (2005-2010) – but above all in the psychological sense. "I was born impatient, as if asking for the time. I was literally premature then and then I've been premature in everything," he admits. "Patience is a subject in my life: I am very passionate, very visceral. I'm learning this."

Hugo Silva: "I can't stand still for a year. I have two children and a mortgage."

And that's where we're going. Carlos Cuevas is, indisputably, getting older. "I have the feeling of having become an adult," he concedes. "2022 was a year of a lot of hustle and bustle, I no longer say neither professionally but in the vital. I bought a flat! Adult, but privileged adult. In general, for the first time I see myself in another place, more relaxed, more serene. I already know what the movie is about in many aspects. In others I'm still just as curious but with the lowest gear."

Carlos Cuevas poses exclusively for ICON dressed by GIMAGUAS. ADRIAN CUERDO

There are other lessons that are coming to you with age, inevitably, such as discerning who loves you, for what reason and for what. Smiley, where he played a gay bartender who spent his time sculpting himself in the gym, has brought him the attention of many fans who have him as a sex symbol. This excites him just enough. "Sometimes I would make a macagondeu, which is said in Catalan, a punch on the table, and say: 'Enough'. Because I work a lot, I study many hours, I prepare the characters a lot and what I would love is for them to say: 'What a man, what a discipline'. At Smiley he killed me in the gym, which I don't like. Now I'm not like that, you know? I have my genetics and such but I had to get like that in record time. Military discipline: I rode 12 hours and went to the gym. A very long-suffering workout, a diet of counting almonds and tablespoons of oil. And it gives me low, it seems shabby, that my work is belittled and my body is objectified. I am no longer interested in the interlocutor who launches that message. It's like you exhibit your work in the museum and a guest comes and says: 'How good the catering!' Someone who understands the move realizes those things."

Carlos Cuevas poses exclusively for ICON dressed by DIOR.

Example of someone who understands the move: Pedro Almodóvar, who did love him for solid reasons. The director of Strange Way of Life (2023) published in March a book of short narratives, a compilation of stories, articles and personal writings; For the audiobook, he chose six actors to each read two entries. Cuevas received three gifts at once. One, the phrase, in the mouth of his representative, of "Peter has called and wants to work with you". Another, minor but remarkable: the work was pure voice, no muscle. And finally, the writing itself, the most intimate and indelible of the volume, The Last Dream. "It's about the death of his mother," he says now, when the reflective gesture has mutated into a contagious rapt smile: "When I arrived at the studio, Pedro's assistant, Lola, told me: 'Well, you have touched the jewel in the crown.' Ya, ya, it seems so to me too,' I said. 'No, he's the one who gives the book its name.' Boom." Pedro told me: 'I really wanted to meet you, I admire your work'. Well. I'm like, you're into a fuck, right? I don't live on these things but I'd be fooling you if I told you it wasn't a pat on the back. Sometimes in other environments you don't feel very validated and Pedro Almodóvar comes and... Well, that's it. 'You're going well, you're going well, you're going well.'

He has a couple of shoots ahead of him (he doesn't let go of his clothes). But most of all, he has a couple of months off ahead of him. "I could be shooting a movie or a series that I have been offered: whenever you turn on the TV or go to the movies you see some role that you could have done. But I have decided not to do them," he announces. He has gone to London, to see Paul Mescal in A Streetcar Named Desire and the latest by Sam Mendes ("a gin and tonic has also fallen, go, come", he corrects). He has taken theater courses, one with Claudio Tocachir as a teacher and another in which he was the teacher. "To test myself as a director, to gain muscle," he explains. "Learning to translate your ideas, imprint them on someone, be precise in metaphors, verbs... I've noticed that, in shootings, the one where some directors stumble." And that's the last lesson you can ask of him. That an idea that doesn't come out of the head is just a vision. That big ideas take time to come out. And time, we have stayed, we have.

02:01

Trailer of the series 'Smiley'

Carlos Cuevas and Miki Esparbé, in 'Smiley'. Photo: Netflix | Video: EPV

Realization: Helena Contreras. Makeup and hairdressing: Miki Vallés (Another Artist). Photography assistant: Luis Calvo. Production assistant: Lucci Garcia.

You can follow ICON on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or subscribe here to the Newsletter.