With twelve seasons and fifteen years behind him, ‘The one that is coming‘ has become one of the longest running and most successful series in the history of television in Spain. For season 13, the first three episodes of which are already available on Amazon Prime Video, the neighborhood community will not only undergo a change of building (from Mirador de Montepinar to the central collusion 49), but, of course, it will have new faces in this diverse group of people. Between them, Jaime Riba will play Giorgi, a gay boy with a chronic fear of an environmental cataclysmwho will share a flat with two other students: Andy (Elizabeth Larena) and Karma (Álex de la Croix).
Born in Almería in 1992, Jaime Riba has always been a film and series enthusiast. “I don’t remember the exact moment when my mind clicked”the young actor begins, “I’ve talked about it with people, like Jota Linaresthat if he remembers that moment. Mine was something more progressive. I never imagined that he would end up working as an actor. I remember as a teenager watching movies like ‘The Devil Wears Prada‘ and say ‘Who is this actress?’ and she was meryl streep“. Riba explains how he has created his new project, the podcast ‘Bloopers!’, De Podimo, about curiosities from your favorite movies and series: “I think it’s that conjunction that I like movies and series so much, and at the same time being a gossip”. The Andalusian actor does not want to let any train pass: “I am discovering the formats and I say ‘I want to do this’. I wanted a conversational podcast but it is true that there are already many, and I wanted to distance myself and seek to do something new”. In order to distance himself from the overbooking of current podcasts, Riba wanted to follow his instinct to do what one feels: “My maxim is that the more personal, the more universal”.
However, his life changed when alberto Y Laura Knight They called him to play Giorgi in season 13 of ‘La que se avecina’. “Interestingly, I didn’t feel pressure”Riba comments, “It was very different than if I had expectations about being in this series. Suddenly, you meet colleagues who have been on television and who have marked your life. I have dissociated a lot. There has been a very big difference between what I expected and what has been.”. Riba, like all good people born in the 90s, enjoyed ‘There is no one living here‘ as the most: “It caught me right in the transition from adolescence to a more mature thing”. But, when he finished filming in ‘La que se avecina’, he introspected: “I said to myself, ‘You’ve worked with the best comedic actors in this country.’ I was so proud of myself and being there”.
“When you get to the set you discover people“continues Riba, “You don’t expect to arrive and what petra martinez I insulted you, but then you discover that she is a wonderful lady”. Despite separating the character from the performer, Riba couldn’t help but make connections: “I had been there for a month and I saw eva isanta come over to talk to louis merloand of course I said ‘Bea and Mauri'”. It would have happened to anyone. Regarding the move, Riba explains his experience: “I have not been to Montepinar, but I have been to Contubernio, it is a great pleasure to be able to slam the door and not have the whole wall shake”.
The importance of representation
“I think that Giorgi is the typical character that at first you don’t like him but immediately you like him”says Riba delving into his alter ego, “He always has a bad face. Giorgi does not stop representing that gay boy who belongs to that part of the millennial society or first-time generation Z. He gives some importance to things that are important to him but not to society, who has experienced a crisis, who can’t get a job… but who doesn’t move from the sofa either. He has this constant restlessness of being angry with everyone. Saving the distances it reminds me of the character of Belén (malena alterio), of wanting and not being able”.
However, and despite being a totally successful series, ‘La que se avecina’ has been the target of numerous criticisms about the trivialization that it carried out on various topics. Without going any further, the trans character of Alba Recio, played by Victor PalmeroIt was good proof of that. Riba doesn’t care about that: “Really, ‘La que se avecina’ parodies everything. I wanted the character to be a bit of a parody, but I didn’t want to extol the pen as if it were a stereotype. A parody is not a stereotype. For example, the character of Cam in ‘Modern Family‘ has a pen and is not a stereotype at all. It is a rich character, where the actor has worked on the context of the character. Me with Giorgi I wanted a little that. I promised myself to treat him with respect, to work with him as a normal character. They give you a heterosexual character and you don’t even consider that he is heterosexual. What I am afraid of is that the character will become a benchmark. I hope it helps a lot of people, but I am not a guru nor do I represent the entire collective. I feel part of the collective but I don’t want to be any kind of standard bearer.”.
The first three episodes of season 13 of ‘La que se avecina’ are now available on Amazon Prime Video.