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Oct 15, 2011 Web Exclusive By Chris Tinkham

As Spanish actress Elena Anaya discusses her craft, she speaks with wonderment in her voice. She credits her passion for acting to her mother, who encouraged her as a child to play rather than subverting her daughter’s curiosity with the word “no” or discouraging her from touching objects. Anaya unconsciously demonstrates this by picking up the digital recorder in front of her and banging it on the table, before realizing that she might be damaging it and apologizing.

In director Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film, The Skin I Live In, Anaya appears in a flesh-colored body suit that stretches from her neck to her feet and wraps around her fingers and toes like gloves. Her character, Vera, is both a prisoner and passion project of Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas), a plastic surgeon intent on creating a skin immune to cuts, insect bites and fire. Vera bears an uncanny resemblance to Gal, the love of Ledgard’s life, who years earlier suffered debilitating body and facial burns after a car crash. A testament to Anaya’s dedication and enthusiasm for her work, she insisted on playing the role of Gal, which required nine hours of makeup, despite already being limited to the body suit as Vera.

Locked up and under video surveillance in a room at Ledgard’s isolated mansion, Vera is forced to wear the suit to preserve his Dr. Frankenstein-like experiments, conducted in his state-of-the-art home laboratory. Vera threatens to kill herself, but Ledgard either calls her bluffs or nurses her to health after her attempts.

The film, richly photographed by Jose Luis Alcaine (Volver) and adapted from French writer Thierry Jonquet’s 1995 novel, Mygale, evokes both Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Georges Franju’s French classic, Eyes Without a Face. Yet, its wicked plot twists and modern concerns seem distinctly tailored for Almodóvar.

As if Vera’s suffering at the hands of Ledgard weren’t enough, at one point she’s sexually attacked by an intruder (Roberto Álamo) costumed as a tiger (he’s arrived from Carnival). In spite of all this, Vera has become a survivor, and Anaya’s empathetic portrayal encompasses Vera’s growth, from the impassioned despair and internalized grief of a victim to the studious resolve of a student learning to use her wiles, feminine or otherwise, for self-preservation.

A prominent actress in Spain, Anaya first gained attention in the States 10 years ago for her memorable supporting role in Julio Medem’s Sex and Lucia, in which she played a seductive babysitter. The performance earned her a Goya (Spanish Oscar) nomination, as did her lead work in 2010’s Room in Rome, her second film with Medem. Anaya first worked with Almodóvar on his 2002 film, Talk to Her. Her most notable English-language film is 2004’s Van Helsing, in which she played a bride of Dracula. Recently, she’s starred in some French productions, such as the Mesrine films with Vincent Cassel (released in the States last year), and the action thriller Point Blank, released in the States this year.

Under the Radar met with Elena Anaya in Beverly Hills last week.

You had worked with Pedro before, appearing in Talk to Her. Had you two kept in touch, or perhaps discussed other projects in the years in between?

No. We’ve been in contact. Madrid is not that big, so it’s not that difficult to run into each other. We had such good relations since that film, and when he called me for this part, I was speechless. I bit the apple 10 years ago, and I was fortunate to get two bites of this beautiful apple. And then I had the whole apple for me for this film.

Had you read the script before he called you?

No, he called me first. He told me that we were going to have rehearsals, or auditions, but it was not real auditions. He did audition other people, but he had me in mind during the last two years for this role. And, he explained it to me first. He explained the story. And then he gave me the sides, and I went home, and I didn’t get out for a week. [Laughs] I worked so hard. And then we did this incredible rehearsal, and at that moment he told me that I was going to do the film with him.

The body suit, did you get any kind of impression of it while reading the script, or did you have to see it before knowing what you were dealing with?

I didn’t. No idea. In the script, he describes it like the ones the swimmers have, like in the Olympic Games. When you start reading the script, and he describes the situations very well, it was like, “What is this body suit she’s wearing? What is happening here? Who is she?” It was really tricky and complicated. You know, Jean Paul Gaultier did that suit. The process of building that suit was amazing. And, every day, getting into that suit helped me a lot, to jump into the skin of the character.

There’s a scene where Antonio Banderas’ character comes home and then watches you on a large TV screen, and your character is reading a book. Were you actually reading the book on set?

Yeah, that book was An Angel at My Table. I wanted to read that book constantly, but I didn’t have time. That was one of the books, and also Escapada de, what is the name?

Alice Munro?

Alice Munro, yeah. There were a few books on set that were important for the character.

Dr. Ledgard, played by Antonio Banderas, checks on his prisoner/experiment, Vera (Elena Anaya).

The scene with the Tiger, when he attacks you, there’s one moment where his mouth is clamped down on your jaw. Was that heavily choreographed, or was there some trial and error to get that?

No, we did choreograph everything. And, that precise moment, not just the jaw, he wanted fang with fang. Fang over tooth. I couldn’t talk. It was like animals. It was very wild, very National Geographic. But yeah, he choreographed everything.

How is working with Pedro different than with other directors?

A lot of directors are controlling everything, but the control that Pedro has over absolutely every little detail is amazing. It’s unique. And he’s been caressing this project for 10 years. So, he knew exactly what was the floor that we had in the room, which was the painting that was in the corridor, who was the character, what was their desire. He knew everything. That’s what makes him, in a way, unique. In the projects with other directors, they are more open, waiting to get proposals. He’s a good teller, and he knows how to explain what he wants. That’s good. Otherwise, you are a little lost. But, as soon as you understand him, it’s easy to follow him. He’s the most specific director that I’ve worked with. He tells you everything that he wants. And, if he doesn’t like it, he keeps going [until he does], which is excellent, because, if you feel a director is not happy, you feel so bad. I tell you, I cannot sleep for days.

Elena Anaya with Pedro Almodóvar on the set of The Skin I Live In.

Antonio Banderas’ character loses a love, Gal, who was severely burned in a car accident. Did you play that character? That was you in the burn makeup?

Yeah, the burn makeup, yeah. That was like nine hours makeup. She had my face. It has to be me. I proposed Pedro for it to be me. He said not to worry, “We will never recognize you.” I said, “Please, please, I want to be Gal.” And I did.

He was thinking about using someone else but you insisted.

I insisted.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Palencia, which is a very tiny city in the north of Spain. And, when I was 18, I moved to Madrid to study acting.

Do you ever go back? Do you have family there?

My father and my mother live in the south, and a few friends, and my brother and sister live in Madrid with me.

At any point, did you have other ambitions, beyond acting?

Honestly, no. I think I was born to be an actress, and I had the best support when I was a kid, which was my mother allowing me to play anything I wanted to play. [With] kids, [parents] sometimes are like, “No, you cannot play with this,” or, “Don’t do this or don’t do that.” But, she allowed me to do anything and to play with imagination. And, also, she fed my imagination so well. So, she taught me how to play. She was the first teacher and the best one. And, when I grew up, and you’re not very allowed to play, I needed it. It’s so beautiful to play, and I was searching for my future, for my career. What could I study? Which work do I want to do in my life? And then one day I came to her, and I said, “I think I want to act.” And she said, “OK, it’s a career. You’re going to study that. It’s not easy to work. It’s a lot of unemployment. But, why not? Why not you, the one who works and the one who is happy with that profession?” So, I got a lot of support, and that was the choice. Otherwise, I would have invented something.

The first film I saw you in was Sex and Lucia, 10 years ago. Do you feel like that was a breakout role for you?

Yeah, but my second film, it was called Familia, which is an excellent film, I really recommend it. Familia de Fernando León de Aranoa. Brilliant director, the script is amazing. In 18 years, I’ve done a few things that, they were like push— What did you say?

Oh, breakout?

Yeah, breakout. And yeah, Sex and Lucia was absolutely one of those.

When you worked on that film, did you feel confident as an actress by that point?

Yes. I was a little more grown up as an actress because I studied and started working professionally at the same time. So, it took me a few years to get a little idea about which tools an actor can get to be a liar, a very good liar, to be another person. In that film, I had such an extraordinary understanding with the director, which I adore. I worked with him again, Room in Rome, which is a very good film, but we did it fast, in four weeks with no budget. And he was doing that for all the [wrong] reasons. If you do a film, you better do it with your whole life, like it’s the last time that you’re going to do a film. Somebody told me that. One day, I was going to a stage, the theater, and a super-good actress told me, “Every night, you should go to the stage like tomorrow you’re not coming back, like this is your last night, like you’re gonna die after this.” And I said, “Whoa.” It shows you the respect for your job, and I learned something that time, not only on stage, every time you start with a new project, with a new role. But, the last film that I did with Julio Medem, I think it’s my best work as an actress.

Despite all the other factors that were going into it.

Despite, yeah. Sometimes the most difficult films fish the best piece [laughs], the best result of an actor. Sometimes in a very controversial situation, an actor goes farther.

What can we see you in next, after The Skin I Live In?

I have the same question.

OK, because IMDb lists you in another film with Antonio Banderas.

Autómata?

Yes.

Am I in that project, on IMDb?

Yes.

I should check it out. I’m not [in the film]. The director who’s doing the film with him is an extraordinary director who I worked with in a lead role three years ago [Hierro] called Gabe Ibáñez, and I introduced them. I gave Antonio Gabe’s script, and Antonio’s also producing the film, but I’m not in that film—as far as I know. I would love to.

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