Fernando Lindez

Yes, Juan! It’s been so long! Where are you now?

I’m shooting a film in Galicia, in A Coruña. I’m really well, actually. I’ve been here for a month now, and I’m staying until December. I’m really enjoying it, how was the Lady Gaga concert?

Well, I admire her as an artist, she’s amazing. But that’s it. I haven’t been to any of her concerts.

Travis Scott.

Well, what the hell, I’m not really into concerts. I think I’ve only been to two in my whole life.

One was Aitana’s, because she invited me. And the other one, the one I mentioned, was Travis Scott’s.

Yeah, honestly. I’ve been to festivals and stuff, but concerts... I don’t know. It overwhelms me a bit to be there with so many people around me in an enclosed space, you know?

The stands are fine, but, for example, at Travis Scott’s concert I held up pretty well in the standing area. It was packed with people. 

It was amazing, but, well, I haven’t been back.

I finished that shoot exactly a month ago! I was shooting a film for Amazon US from August to the end of September, and Eva was there too. We finished that production and then I started another one in A Coruña, which is the second part of a film that’s coming out in December called “Dímelo bajito.” We’ve been filming for three weeks now. It’s turning out great, to be honest. I’m really enjoying it. And my colleagues are great, they’re amazing. I have a lot of fun working with them. We shot the first one last year around this time too.

Well, as an actor, it’s the first time I’ve done two projects in a row, because I did the American production with Eva Longoria, then I went to Milan for Fashion Week, and from there I came straight to A Coruña to the shoot I’m currently on.

You said it. That’s why I might take a little break in January. I’m looking at destinations… Cambodia or Vietnam, or somewhere similar. To disappear for a bit. It would do me good, a few weeks.

I really do, mate. Just this year I bought a house in the centre and I’ve hardly been there, you know? I feel like going back, living there in my neighbourhood, enjoying it a bit.

Cortes.

Yes, it’s really beautiful and has a bohemian feel to it. 

Yes. I mean, moving into that flat has meant my emancipation. I’ve lived alone in other cities for a few months, for work, but becoming independent, having my own place, leaving the nest, this is the first time.

It was about time.

Well, I’ve already had a few.

It’s just that it’s a very small flat, it can’t fit many people.

I mean it! (Laughs).

When you finish a project, especially one as big as “Elite,” you come away with a different perspective, with things you’ve learned, having improved yourself. Then, when you face another different project, you have more experience, more training, you’re more accustomed to and familiar with the day-to-day dynamics of working in the industry. In recent projects, I have noticed and then conveyed in my behaviour on set everything I have seen, and I think that the people around me, my colleagues, notice it.

In a way, but it’s also true that when you start a new project, telling a different story, working with a new team, there’s always nerves involved. When I start something new, whatever it is, I get excited, I get nervous, and it’s good to get nervous because it’s part of the experience and the emotions that come with starting a new chapter.

It helps me especially when it comes to auditions, because with fashion, over the years, you get used to being in the spotlight. It’s a profession where you are examined a lot physically, where you have to get used to being constantly observed. That ultimately gives you a certain self-confidence, and when it comes to auditions or facing a new team, it helps. Then, acting is completely different. They are professions that have nothing to do with each other, but even today, before a fashion show, I still get nervous when it’s my turn to go out there.

By going out on the catwalk. As soon as I start walking, my nerves disappear. Fashion shows have that special energy: the music, the audience, the tension in the air. All of that generates a powerful adrenaline rush. It’s a very exciting feeling, with butterflies in my stomach, but I love it. It’s similar to what I feel when I’m shooting a scene and I’m really into the character, really connected to the moment. When they say “action” and you get fully immersed, that mixture of nerves and energy also appears. It’s nice, I like that feeling.

In this American production I did recently, I was lucky enough to connect really well with the lead actress, Maia Reficco. We had incredible chemistry, and that shows on screen. On an acting level, there was a special connection: in the scenes, we understood each other without speaking. When that happens, when you forget everything around you and immerse yourself fully in the scene, it’s almost magical. It becomes a kind of fictional reality. And that, that’s really cool.

Of course. There have been times in my life, especially when I was younger and more insecure, when I felt more judged. I’ve always been quite an introverted and shy person, and that constant exposure could be overwhelming. Fashion is an industry where what you see is the exterior: your body, what conveys your beauty. And if you’re not in a place where you feel good about yourself, that can weigh on you psychologically. It has affected me at certain stages, but in the end, it’s all about working on yourself, gaining confidence and security. You’re not always going to be liked by everyone, and that’s also part of the learning process. In life in general, people say nice things to you and other things that aren’t so nice. You have to learn to live with both.

Tenderness, sensitivity, transparency, these are things that connect you with what is human, with what is fragile. And I think that, when you transfer that to a character, whether as an actor or a model, it makes them more believable, more alive. To be able to interpret something, you have to allow yourself to feel it; if you don’t let yourself be touched by what you do, it’s impossible to make it true.

Well, that’s precisely what acting gives me. Fashion has given me a lot and has been great for me. I enjoy it, but cinema has always been my passion since I was a child. It’s a field where you can express yourself in a more artistic way, where you can show that there’s something more behind it, that you’re not just a pretty face. I’m on that path.

I’ve always been a calm, more introspective person. I suppose it has to do with my personality and how I grew up. Everyone expresses themselves as best they can, and that must also be respected. But I believe there is power in silence. Not everything has to be demonstrated or imposed. Sometimes what is left unsaid or implied has a different kind of power, one that is more honest, more free.

There is. People love to judge, and there will always be comments. But at the end of the day, everyone is free to do what they want. If someone has worked for years as a model, has been able to make a living from it and then feels curious or drawn to cinema, why not do it? Everyone has the right to explore what they are passionate about. In my case, it was something that came up very early on, almost at the same time, so I grew up with both.

I’ve always been a big fan of Al Pacino. His career, his acting style, the films he’s made. I’ve been fascinated by him since I was a child. I always thought, I hope I can do something similar one day. I also really like the filmmaker, Guy Ritchie. I find the type of cinema he makes, his energy, his way of telling stories, very interesting. These are people who inspire me and whom I would love to work with in the future. I love “Snatch,” “The Godfather,” “Scarface” and “The Irishman.” 

I don’t know it, but I think I’ll watch it. 

You’re completely right! I adore Christian Bale; he’s such a chameleonic actor. His career is riddled with performances where they’ve done thrilling physical transformations with special effects on him.

For “The Machinist” he lost a crazy amount of weight.

To be honest, I didn’t know about the actress made with artificial intelligence, I was completely unaware of it. It’s a world I don’t fully understand yet, and it’s so new that we’ll have to see how far it goes. It has its pros and cons. As a society, I don’t know if it’s helping us or if, in a way, it’s making us lazier or more disconnected. I see everyone using ChatGPT; I use it too, and I admit that it’s very useful and makes your life a lot easier. But I don’t know if, in the long run, it will take its toll on us. Before, if you wanted to look something up, you picked up a book, read, researched, educated yourself. And that gave you a different foundation. Nowadays, kids in university do all their work with artificial intelligence. And there’s no way to catch them. I don’t know if that will take its toll on us, but it probably will. Maybe in a few years’ time, society will be less educated or less connected to the past or to history.. Or simply lazier, more dependent on others to do things for them.

Yes and no, I’ve always been curious because I haven’t been able to have that experience. But hey, I can’t complain. I started working very young, and that’s what prevented me from going to university. I was always travelling, working non-stop. It was also a way of taking a risk: I thought, if I can make a living from this, I’m going to go for it. And in the end, it worked out. So far, so good, and I’m still at it. Besides, I trained at acting schools, and that has actually become my profession.

I don’t know, maybe Marine Biology or something similar. I’ve always been very interested in the marine world.

The truth is that I don’t relate it to acting, it’s more of a personal interest. I prefer acting to take me down paths that allow me to choose roles similar to those in, for example, Ryan Murphy’s series “Monster,” an anthology that focuses on a serial killer each season. The third one is about Ed Gein. 

Doing something like that would be really cool, a real challenge. I know it’s very difficult, but it would be worth it. I like projects that require you to immerse yourself deeply in the character. 

Yes, Charlie, after finishing the series, spent two weeks alone in a hotel before returning home, so he could detach himself from the character and let go of everything he had experienced during filming. These are very dark things, very dark worlds that you have to enter with caution.

I love watching true crime documentaries, as you can imagine, I’m fascinated by serial killers. I saw one about a serial killer from the 80s in Los Angeles and they say I look a bit like him: Richard Ramirez.

That’s the one!

Yeah, people always tell me that, mate, that he looks like me.

Absolutely. Trying to understand someone does not mean justifying them but looking deeper. We live in a time when it is very easy to point fingers, but it is harder to stop and listen. Sometimes empathy is also uncomfortable, especially when it is directed towards what we do not understand or what makes us uncomfortable. But that is precisely why I think it is necessary.

By the way, just yesterday, I started watching a documentary about Aileen Wuornos. Charlize Theron won an Oscar for playing her in a film. 

I also love the film in which Zac Efron plays Ted Bundy. And since we’re on the subject, I think human beings find it curious to understand how certain minds work. I’m curious to know where these people come from, what their history is, what their traumas are and what has led them to act in this way. These are very dark things, and obviously I don’t praise or support them, but I am interested in knowing about them. I suppose it also comes from my family: my mother was a police inspector.

My mother was in the force for over twenty years. She joined when she was twenty-two and has stories that will make your hair stand on end. She worked for many years in a section dealing with kidnapping cases in the Basque Country, when ETA was kidnapping politicians, she had some very tough experiences. I don’t know much about her story because she doesn’t like to talk about her work, but she has told me that many film producers have asked her to document it. It was unusual for a woman to be in the police force in the late 1990s, so her story is really interesting.

In fact, I was recently thinking about sitting down with her, recording a conversation and seeing what can be done. I know her stories are like something out of a film.

She was given a medal of honour for chasing down a cogotero on a motorbike. Incredible.

This is the name given to a thief who robs his victims by hitting them on the back of the neck.

Humanely, ethically and morally, fashion is a business, something materialistic. It revolves around image, vanity, clothes; but I do believe that, artistically, you can express a lot, create beautiful things and convey messages through fashion.

You’re absolutely right. I really like fashion, I like to dress well and I like the confidence that clothes can give you, how you can express yourself through how you dress. It’s something we all like and that is beautiful.

I would say so. I am guided a lot by intuition, but I am attracted to what is flawed, what is not perfect. In the strange or contradictory, I find more mystery, more truth. I am interested in what does not quite fit, what is outside the norm. At the same time, I try not to close myself off to anything: every project can teach you something different.

I like to watch fashion shows, pay attention to new collections and designers, but I’ve learned that over the last few years because I work in the industry. Personally, I wear what I feel comfortable in. I don’t follow trends or what’s in fashion, but rather what catches my eye and what I like. Luckily, that’s basics: t-shirt, jacket, trousers, boots, and lately I’m in favour of a flat cap.

Because I like it.

Exactly, Peaky Blinders. Sometimes I get like that, I feel like wearing random things. I can’t explain it. 

No way! But that’s what I’m saying, I prefer to wear basic clothes, neutral colours and elegant fabrics. I’ve never liked to draw attention to myself. 

Not at all, besides, I’m in a much more daytime phase of my life right now. I’m not as interested in nightlife as I used to be. Now, I spend my time filming, working, playing sports and focusing on my family, my friends and my career. I’ve had my share of good nights out, I’ve done nightlife like everyone else, I’ve been a rockstar. But in this life, it’s all about balance. If you do a lot at night, you also have to do a lot during the day. 

For me, it is an act of rebellion. We live in a society that still associates masculinity with toughness, with not showing what you feel. But being sensitive has nothing to do with weakness. On the contrary, it implies courage: being open to the world, letting things affect you. It takes more courage to show yourself without armour than to hide behind it.

Look, I’m not going to stop saying it, but I want to play a psychopath. I’m going to keep repeating it until it happens. Or a film about a war, I’d like that too. I’m currently working with people in the United States who are my agents and also producers. They’ve always told me that if I have any interesting ideas or stories that could be made into a film, I should tell them, and they know how much I want to play the Night Stalker. I’m ready to terrorise Los Angeles!