Teresa Rabal returns to the cinema 40 years later with ‘Tin & Tina’: “I don’t like religion, I have faith in the human being”

“I’ve been in music for a long time, doing shows… Two years ago I stopped the issue of galas and records and I decided that I wanted to be an actress again and so I did some cameos to let people know that I was back.“, Teresa Rabal, the eternal voice of ‘Veo veo’ and daughter of two interpretation icons such as Paco Rabal and Asunción Balaguer, told us on the other end of the phone. After those brief appearances in series such as ‘Ladies of (h)AMPA ‘, ‘Look what you’ve done’ and ‘Right to dream’ or on the tape ‘Despite everything’, he returns with a secondary but determining role in ‘Tin & Tina’ (one of the 2023 horror films that they’ll scare people.) “I have a lot of faith in this movie and that people find out that I want to work as an actress,” she tells us.

A couple, made up of Milena Smit (‘The Snow Girl’) and Jaime Lorente (‘Cristo y Rey’), are considering adoption after discovering that they cannot be biological parents due to a health problem. They then resort to a convent, where there are children that nobody wants, like Tin and Tina, named after Saint Augustine. It’s 1981 and they don’t find many obstacles to keep them, although they are somewhat creepy children… “It’s a film that creates a lot of tension, not terror,” explains Rabal, who gives life to the mother superior of the convent.

How did you get the part? Did you have to do a casting?

They called me to see me at the casting and it was fast. I spent a long time talking with Rubin; I had already read the script and had prepared the character in various ways to see what he was looking for and in the end we reached an agreement. He didn’t want the typical horror movie nun, but he wanted her to have a certain tenderness in her face but she was tough. I said yes quickly because I was very excited to participate in this first film and with this peculiar character.

The film is about faith, what relationship do you have with it?

I don’t like religion very much. I have faith in the human being and I believe in what I see. Human beings are born good and then society spoils or improves them. The message that it sends about the damage that religion can do to the mind of a child, who misinterprets everything, seems very important to me. for me children [de la película] They are good, but they are obsessed with the Bible, the psalms they learn from the nun, they have lived a life of punishment…

You return to work with children, although in a very different register. How have you gotten along with them?

Very good. I am very fond of them and they are very affectionate. But I had to be a tough nun. But that was one reason why I accepted the part; It seemed to me something very different from what I had done in my work.

Based on your experience, how do you think a child’s work on a film set should be treated?

I am not in favor of children working. In the case of this movie, there has to be. That the children work on time is fine, but I don’t really like that they work. I believe that children should live like children, play like children and be just like the other children at school. Excess work is not good, it is good for them to train and decide what they want to be tomorrow. Another thing is to work punctually, which seems fantastic to me, but regularly seems bad to me.

In the film, ‘Super Disco Chino’ by Enrique and Ana sounds. By dates, it could have been a song of yours. Was it even brought up?

Not only did I not bring it up, but I was afraid they would. It has nothing to do with the nun. You had to separate one thing from the other, I would have been horrified if they had!

You have decided to return to acting at an age where you could be enjoying retirement, why?

No one retires in this profession. My mother worked until she was 90 years old, which I don’t think she will reach… And even if people retire, they continue working, because the work of an actor or actress is eternal. You practically die on stage. It is vocational.

Although you are best remembered for your nursery rhymes, in your early career you made quite a few movies, ‘Estudio 1’…

I did a lot of ‘Estudio 1’, ‘Antígona’, ‘La ilustre fregona’… It was my great school. That and my parents. I did theater too. And I remember that stage fondly.

Any one in particular?

I fondly remember ‘Los desafíos’ by Claudio Guerín, ‘Los buenos días perdidos’ with Rafael Gil, who gave me the award [del Sindicato Nacional del Espectáculo] of interpretation… and of the ‘Estudio 1’ I remember above all ‘Antígona’.

Did you put interpretation on hold because you didn’t have time to dedicate to it for music or for another reason?

The reason was that he worked a lot. It was impossible. She was completely dedicated to music, which has given me a lot, a lot of love and joy, and I am very grateful. I had no time to do anything else. Every now and then she did miss doing something as an actress, but she couldn’t. The amount of work, dedication and success was impressive, I couldn’t do anything else. I did host and direct TV shows, but I really wanted to go back to movies and theater.

In fact, you were the forerunner of what we now know as talent shows childish…

In my case, it was managed by a foundation and what the children earned was not a launch to success but studies, conservatories, schools… It was precious work but very laborious because I traveled the country doing castings. And then they were made aware that it was not to record a record or to be stars, but to train. I am very proud of that. India Martínez is a girl ‘I see I see’, Abraham Mateo… there are many people who have come from there. It was very rewarding.

If your grandchildren wanted to sign up for a talent show, would that be okay with you?

If it’s just talent to train, yes, but if it’s to be a star, no.

Does it weigh on you, when it comes time to return to interpretation, that you are remembered so much for your facet of children’s music?

No, it doesn’t bother me, really. They treat me with so much affection that no. And it’s normal, childhood things are not forgotten.

Now that you’re back to acting, have you remembered anything you learned from your parents? Any advice perhaps?

I learned to say poetry with them, to emit the voice… a lot of things. But they were not very fond of advice. My father only gave me one: ‘be a good companion to your classmates’. And I think that was good advice.

Has the profession of an actress changed much from then until now?

In essence it is the same. Technically, the way of working has changed, but it is the same and it is not forgotten. When you were born for it and you have been trained, it does not change.