With a smile, a porter welcomes me through the doors of the Corinthia hotel on Whitehall Place. I step into the dazzling lobby to be informed that there has been a power cut – and so I will need to be escorted to my interview by a member of staff carrying a lamp.
I’m here to meet Spanish actress Úrsula Corberó, best known for her role as Tokyo in Netflix’s smash hit, Money Heist (La Casa de Papel). She’s promoting her latest show, The Day of the Jackal, a Sky Original thriller directed by Ronan Bennett (writer and director of Top Boy), in which she stars opposite Eddie Redmayne. The stellar cast includes Lashana Lynch who joins both Redmayne and Corberó in this high-budget retelling of the 1971 novel by Frederick Forsyth. Corberó plays Nuria, wife to Redmayne’s mastermind assassin, The Jackal, who uses elaborate plots and disguises to get away with murder. As I’m ushered to her room through blacked out corridors, I can’t help but imagine the power cut in this luxury hotel being linked to a storyline in the show.
In her suite, a blanket is wrapped around Corberó’s shoulders, and she’s sat by a window so that we can chat with some natural light. When she rises from the chaise lounge, I’m immediately struck by how beautiful she is in real life. She’s got a Mediterranean warmth to her, reaching in for a hug as soon as we meet. I greet her in Spanish and she lights up, though I’m quick to clarify that our interview will be mostly in English. She’s good-humoured about it and laughs: “I’ve been squeezing my brain for the past three days!”
Then she says, “Do you want me to tell you a secret?” I lean in. “I didn’t speak English at all,” she confesses. “The first time I started speaking English was on set, acting in English. I lied. I prepared the scene phonetically and I sent the tape and then they said the director and the main lead want to meet you in person, and I remember on my way to the meeting I was throwing up because I was so nervous and I felt like a liar, so that was my beginning with English.”
The director in question was Guy Ritchie and the role was for the TV spin-off series of his classic film Snatch, in 2017. But Corberó doesn’t need to lie anymore. She’s mastered the English language while retaining her essence and she acknowledges that her Spanish accent gives her a certain charm. “I don’t like to do mistakes in English, but then I found out that’s part of my…mágica… magic? You know, like, sparkle? Because every time I do something wrong in English people are laughing and I don’t know why!" She laughs herself. “They are like, she’s so cute, it helps, so it’s something I’m embracing.”
We meet the morning after the show’s premiere in London – her first premiere in this city – which turned out to be a much more extravagant event than she was expecting. “We did the first premiere four days ago in New York and it was chill and small and people were saying, London’s going to be a big deal, it’s going to be bigger, and I was like, ‘OK.’ But when I arrived here, I was like ‘Ah, they really meant bigger, like, enorme.’ So I was a little bit shocked – but I had so much fun.”
There’s a knock on the door and someone enters with a tray bearing yoghurt, honey and bananas. “Oh my God, this is so good, thank you so much,” she says, turning to me, “You don’t mind if I…?” I gesture to her to enjoy her breakfast and we launch into conversation about her red carpet choices in London and New York.
“Yesterday I was wearing Simone Rocha,” she tells me as she peels a banana. The dress was a nude tulle number adorned with faux fur embellishments in the shape of animals. In New York, she radiated in a red McQueen strapless dress. Both looks were documented widely on fashion blogs and websites which is nothing new for Corberó. She has already done a Loewe perfume campaign and sat front row at a Bottega Veneta catwalk show so her currency is already fairly high in the world of fashion.
“I love fashion and it has a lot to do with my job. I love being different people, I love escaping from myself, and this is like playing a new character. Every time I dress up, I see it as if someone is giving me the chance to transform.”
While she’s a natural siren on the red carpet, Corberó likes to mix things up. “Sometimes I feel more like I don’t want to destacar (stand out), but I think there are different opportunities in life and different situations, and I don’t always feel in the same mood – and I’m now in a little bit of my ‘classy’ era? Or ‘classic’?” She smiles, the sparkle coming through as she speaks.
The pearl earrings she is wearing certainly back up her point. “If you told me five years ago, ‘You’re gonna wear – how do you say this in English, las perlas? I would say, ‘No way, it’s not gonna happen.’ Yet here I am… These are my grandma’s. I’ve been keeping them for the past 12 years and this is the first time that I use them, I started using them two months ago. “I love them but I’ve always been like, perlas, perlas no, es de pija – it’s posh.”
Corberó likes to play with different aspects of her personality through clothes. “You can be classy, but funny, but shy, but vulnerable, but powerful. You can be all of those things at the same time and I think that’s good, that’s human, right? … This is also a new era, I think, for women,” she adds. “I think we’re more allowed to do whatever we want.” Since when? “Since I started doing it!” She laughs again.
“I used to worry more about what people will say or will think about me.” A pause. “I do care, a little bit, but not really. I think it came with pushing my… how you say… poniendo limites?” She gestures with her hands in front of her. Putting in boundaries? “Yes, and when I started to say no to certain things.”
The three seasons of Money Heist combine to hold the most views of any non-English show on Netflix globally. Its colossal success made Corberó one of the most famous Spanish actresses in the world. Her Instagram account now has more than 20 million followers, which puts her on par with the likes of Gerard Piqué and Rafa Nadal. It’s only natural that her increased visibility has afforded her more autonomy in the way she works.
“In a way, I think we felt a little bit exposed because it was unexpected and I started being a little bit more of a control freak. I was thinking, everyone will watch what I am doing so I have to be responsible.” But Money Heist definitely took this up a gear. “I’ve always been a bit like that but with Money Heist I had the feeling like, como, se acentuó [it was heightened] – so there were certain things that I didn’t like or I didn’t agree with, and I said no for the first time.”
Her newfound voice extended to her personal life as well as her work, but one particular example on set in the past demonstrated how she could use that voice to make a difference. “There was a line [in a script] that I didn’t like, because I thought it was a little bit sexist. It was a conversation with another female character and I didn’t agree with the way they were talking to each other.” She tried to get the line changed in the script but was told that wouldn’t be possible. “I said, well, I’m not going to say this line because it’s offensive. So… I stopped the filming.”
She shrugs her shoulders a little and I picture the scene with this charming but tenacious woman digging her heels in and halting everything on set over one line. “Everybody was waiting for me to say the line and I was like, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not going to say it.’” In times past such an act would be described as the behaviour of a diva, but she explains that it was a matter of principle and not easy for her to do.
“It was tough, I felt responsible for the situation and then I realised that it wasn’t my fault, I was just saying no for the first time. And I think it’s something necessary that women have to do. Of course, most of the powerful people are men, and there are a lot of things that men in those positions have to learn, but I also think it’s also our responsibility to put in some boundaries.”
She doesn’t specify which job this anecdote was from but there’s a rebellious streak in most of the characters that Corberó has played, so it seems fitting that she brings some of that attitude with her on set. “If you want me to play a rebel character, then you have to deal with a rebel actress!” Alongside beauty, charm and tenacity, Corberó has a good sense of humour which is in itself a weapon in her armoury. “I’m sorry about that but that’s what you were looking for!”
Corberó has taken on meaty roles that involve more than just being a pretty face on camera, and is at a stage in her career where she can have her pick of interesting, developed female characters to portray. How does she select the projects that she wants to take on now? “For me to be part of something I have to choose two very good elements: the script, the cast – it could be the director or it could be the character – but at least two things have to be very good.
In The Day of the Jackal, it was the character of Nuria that initially piqued her interest. “She was very different from all the characters I’ve played before,” she explains. “I’m used to playing characters who are powerful from the beginning and I think Nuria finds her power through the drama, so by the time she finds out the truth – that her husband is not who she thought he was – she’s starting to find the strength in herself, and I thought that’s very human and inspiring as a woman.
“If I’m a woman and I’m watching a show, sometimes it’s more inspiring to see a person who’s weak at the beginning but embraces all of her strength to survive. I think that’s very different from the characters I’ve taken on before.” As for the second element that sold her on the show? That was simple: “Eddie.”
I’d read that Corberó has spoken highly of her co-star, as is de rigueur when doing press for a show, but she’s positively beaming as she tries to find the words to describe him. “I mean, he’s just the best…Eddie is so sweet, he’s the cutest.
“He’s so talented, hardworking. He is special, a special human being. And he’s always so caring – not just about his own character – while he’s working. He cares also about the story and I think that’s very generous from him because normally actors are only focused on their own characters, sometimes we’re a little bit ensimismados – [self-absorbed] – but since the beginning when I started to do rehearsals with Eddie, we weren’t just talking about the characters, he really wanted to know my point of view of the story. I felt that it was very important to him. He’s amazing.”
Corberó appreciates feeling heard by the men she works with on set, naturally, and searching for authenticity and depth in her characters and their stories is important to her. While she seemingly has uncovered her powers and has everything going for her, it can’t be easy navigating a world outside of her country and language.
“It’s very different [working here] and I’m still learning how to deal with some things that I’m not used to because I’ve been working in Spain for several years. I’m comfortable there because I basically know everyone. Each time I start something new with someone I don’t know and most of all someone who is from outside [Spain], I connect a little bit with my inner child and this fear and feeling of vulnerability.”
While she’s a firecracker with a playful energy, it’s clear that Corberó is an incredibly hard worker who takes her job very seriously. The transition from working in Spain to working with some of the biggest British names in film and TV has gone well, and with The Day of the Jackal she seems satisfied that everything has aligned in order for her to give a performance that she could be proud of.
“This is the first project that I did on an international level when I felt truly listened to; where I felt like my opinion mattered. I didn’t want to take that for granted because this allowed me to make the best version that I could of this character.”
While it may not be clear to an English-speaking viewer, Corberó had a coach on set to help her nail the regional accent for Cádiz, which differs greatly from her accent that comes from Barcelona. “I said, ‘Look guys, this accent concerns me; it’s something that people parody in Spain and I want to be respectful of my country. I recommend that you find someone from Cádiz [to be on set] because I have to do it well and I’m committed to the project.’ They asked me what I needed and from the beginning I made suggestions about the character and they were valued and listened to and included in the series. How good is it to leave your country and to feel equally listened to, equally powerful, equally valued, equally talented?”
A handler chips in to let me know that we only have a few minutes left. Emboldened by our conversation I point out the timer on my recording device suggests otherwise. Corberó is happy to push back too, and we keep the conversation going – primarily in Spanish for maximum efficiency.
When looking over some promo for the final season of Money Heist, I stumbled across someone saying that the central question to the series that made it such a hit was ‘Cuántas vidas soy capaz de tener?’ Or – ‘how many lives am I able to have?’ On Corberó’s Instagram there’s a post promoting her recent film directed by Luis Ortega, Kill The Jockey, along with the caption: Como morir y nacer de nuevo [How to die and be born again]. As this theme of multiple lives and personalities seems to follow Corberó, I have to ask how many lives she has had until now.
“Wow. Interesting. So many. I’m only 35 but I started working when I was five doing commercials. So I just have that feeling because I’ve been doing a lot of things my whole life, sometimes it feels like I am 60 years old… I know for sure that I started my new life a few months ago.”
The classic era? “Yeah, but it’s more profound than that. I would say it’s because I’m more mature, and caring about things that never worried me before, and also not caring or worrying about things that were a big deal before. But for sure I think I lived, una, dos, tres… between professional and relationships, this is my sixth.”
I explain that if she were a cat she would only have two left. “We say seven in Spain, I’m about to die!” Since you’re now in England, I assure her, you can receive at least a couple of extra lives on Britain.
Before we end, I want to know why Barcelona has managed to produce such influential talent in Spain – not only actors such as Corberó but also the likes of Rosalía in the world of music. “I love Spain, I feel like we have a variety of culture, gastronomy, climates, landscapes, everything; how can it be that everything can be so close by and yet so different?
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“It’s true that I’m from there but as soon as I step in Barcelona I connect with a form of freedom that doesn’t exist in Madrid, for example. I feel that Barcelona invites this. I think that Rosalía is a very free woman in this sense, she has been groundbreaking because she’s one of the first [Spanish] singers who doesn’t have a defined style; she does what she wants and I identify very much with that too.
“It is important that through art and our work, we have the opportunity to discover different people inside ourselves and it links to what we were saying about fashion and living different lives. I don’t want to be the same person all the time. I find it boring. I’m more interested in going to discover things I like as well as things I don’t like in myself. My weaknesses, you know, I think it’s good to sometimes feel weak and to feel nervous about something because that means that you are alive. It’s impossible to be happy all the time.”
We have returned to the theme of rebirth, as growth so often comes through discomfort and self-analysis. Corberó agrees. “I always look like a very confident person, and I think that I am, but that doesn’t mean that I have no insecurities or fears. We all do! It’s normal and it’s good and we should normalise that.”
Úrsula Corberó still has many lives in front of her. What she will do with them is anyone’s guess. She is a woman who has found her voice and harnessed her powers – and that means anything is possible.
The Day of the Jackal is available on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV.
