«Cancer cannot be ‘overcome’, if you manage to save yourself, your prism changes, you see that happiness is something else»

Many of us still don’t know, but he tells us Dani Rovira (Malaga, November 1, 1980) with knowledge of the facts, after having faced one of those moments for which there is no script that is given, nor attitude that sustains the film: «In life, punishment is also worth it». The Andalusian actor, comedian and presenter who earned eight Basque surnames and the hearts of all of Spain, returns to the big screen with The bus of life (July 5th). For him, the Host of the most refreshing Goya Awards gala in recent historyit was hard to read the script of this film by Ibon Cormenzana that led him to put himself in the shoes of a teacher who, at 40, and with a big dream to fulfill, faints on the first day of class due to a ringing in his ear: it is cancer. “I was very afraid to make this film, because it meant removing fears of the disease, scars from wounds that I don’t know if they have completely healed, but it has been therapeutic,” reveals this “comedian, actor, activist, reader and animalist” (thus is presented on Instagram) which has just opened on-line the summer, “with the smell of flip flops, the smell of coffee and a photo with a filter, freshly made at the very last hour of the morning.” “Veranote, good health for you, I hope you have done your homework on the outside and, above all, your homework on the inside,” he asks.

Dani continues on the boards with It’s worth it -He visited Vigo in June with this monologue- and this summer he premieres on the big screen The bus of life and Body Debris.

—In Galician, we would say about someone like you: “this one doesn’t stop!”

—I do stop, but I have a profession that is sometimes for show and it can give the impression that we never stop. I work a lot, but I am also very jealous of my free time, my leisure time, my pleasure. Don’t worry about me! I look for gaps for recreation.

—Triumphing on the stage with “Vale la pena” and “El bus de la vida” is about to be released in theaters on the 5th. Besides, you are in a reading marathon in which it is difficult to keep up…

—It’s part of the game! I’ve always liked to read, but a few years ago I started including books and recommendations on my social networks. I like it, because when you make a literary recommendation there is always someone who writes to you. In the little spaces you have, instead of being plugged in Read a couple of pages on your cell phone! This creates good habits.

—We can start with a poem by Gioconda Belli, from “Honey Scandal,” which is worth a penny.

—Oooh, Gioconda Belli, what a weakness. You can read a poem in a minute and you can stay there thinking about it over and over and over again. Wonderful. She is a patriotic woman, mega-demanding, and frightening in all the spectrums she brings together. I admire her a lot. What a capacity for everything!

—On the 5th, “The Bus of Life” starts. In it you are Andrés, a music teacher who, at 40, feels that his life is going to pass him by without fulfilling his dream. Where will this bus take us?

—The bus of life closes a kind of trilogy of films that the director decided to make [Ibon Cormenzana] throughout an emotional journey. This is the closing of a set. Are Joy, sadness; The top and The bus of life. If you ask me about The bus of lifeIf you say to me: “What genre is this movie?”, I would ask you: “And what genre would you say your life is?” The movie goes through many filters and emotions. It is a feel good moviea song to life. It has a bit of comedy, dealing with the global scourge of cancer. Comedy can be made of that too. But I think the film shows that comedy can be made without falling into frivolity. There is emotion without falling into emotional pornography. He has surfed a very delicate wave and I, who have seen the result, think he has done it well. It is a real film. And what he achieves is that you say: “How cool it is to be alive, how cool!”

—Do we often forget how good it is to live?

—Yes. I say that the good things that are obvious are often overlooked. And I accompany it with a little fable… Two very small fish are going down the river and they come across a very, very, very big fish. And the big one says to the young ones: “Good morning, how are you? Have you seen how cool and clear and how good the water is?” And the young ones say to him: “What water?” Surely, that big fish had to survive without water or in shitty, very murky waters… When there is water and it is clean, he loves it. We must value the things that we have always had. Maybe one day we will stop having them.

—Maybe you have to experience these losses first hand to understand, to appreciate what is important…

-Yeah. As my mother says: “No one learns from someone else’s head.” It sucks to have to live through hard experiences, but many times those are what make you learn. Life is the book that fits best.

«An illness sucks, but it can be an opportunity to learn something»

—Does pain make us stronger?

—Yes. There are those phrases like “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” Life is a bit of everything. It’s ups and downs, pleasures and pains, and learning to surf with the waves that come that day. You can’t stop going out to surf. “There are no waves today.” You have to go anyway, because that’s life. It’s, in the end, a daily work of acceptance.

—Is there happiness hidden in ordinary days? Are these ordinary days the extraordinary ones?

—Well, yes, I came to that conclusion when a few months had passed (after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma) I began to think: «Maybe happiness is not when good things happen to you, happiness is when nothing really bad happens to you.».

—That bus of life that you get on in the skin of that teacher is ridden by very well-known people, like Morris, who are stirring up the Galician “sardine”…

—Morris is pa eat it! What a great character. It has been very cool to work with him, I have learned a lot. For me, working with him, with Elena Irureta, and with new actors, with kids like Pablo Scapigliati… has been wonderful. Then, the experience in Orduña, which are those types of places where immersive movies are made. A family is created on filming.

—What do you have about Andrés, about that teacher with a vocation as a musician whose life turns upside down?

—I have seen myself reflected in many things, obviously. I was very scared to make the film, because it meant removing fears, scars from wounds that I don’t know if they are completely healed. But in the end it has been therapeutic. When I read the script was when I had the worst time. But I was able to film it from a place of certain calm. And, obviously, the experience I had made it easier for me to understand the character. But if there is something that I really feel identified with in this story is that, in the end, Andrés was not a very happy guy. I’m going to put myself in the spotlight. nerdsit was a bit like The Alchemist from Coelho, who has had to live a hard journey, an illness, is being alive, holding on to the little things… and dancing!

—Did you feel that?

—Yes, going through an experience like that changes your prism, your priorities, it makes you focus on other things. An experience like that sucks, but if you don’t take advantage of the opportunity to learn and to grow and revise yourself a little, it’s a lost opportunity. You think: “Since this shit has happened to me, let’s see what we learn.” Once you manage to save yourself… save youbecause this is not about get over it. Cancer is not beats. I can’t stand that vocabulary: “You’re over it.” If you manage to save yourself, the prism changes. At some point the chip falls on you. Putting that energy into Andrés was easy for me, it is an energy that I came with.

—It’s like you’re making us see that the best moment can come at the worst moment. It’s strange.

—Because life is the best! For better or worse, sometimes it’s a macabre lottery and other times it’s wonderful. Life sometimes makes you get struck by lightning twice and other times it makes you meet someone who changes everything. In the film, Andrés gets what he had been wanting all his life right at the worst moment of his life. But maybe that’s what makes you realize that that wasn’t what you wanted. In my case, I was diagnosed two days after the pandemic. Look how capricious everything is… But nothing makes sense and everything does, depending on how you want to see what’s happening to you.

—Does humor soften the pain?

—Humor is a balm, it’s what keeps you afloat. Like friends.

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