The life of José Luis López Vázquez on stage through a documentary directed by Roberto J. Oltra

The documentary José Luis López Vázquez: ¡Qué disparate! was screened on Tuesday 25 October at the Teatro Zorrilla. The piece, which commemorates the centenary of the actor’s birth, was attended by Roberto J. Oltra and José Luis López Magerus, director and co-writer, respectively.

The documentary offers a retrospective of the life of José Luis López Vázquez, one of the most renowned actors of our cinema. The film shows how, while his professional success and popularity grow, his perfectionism and workaholism cause his personal life to suffer. After more than two hundred and fifty films, as many theatre and television appearances, and several frustrated relationships, he manages to find a late love that changes his life. A sincere account, told by friends, colleagues and family, which reveals the most intimate aspects of an integral and essential artist in the history of Spanish cinema.

López Magerus, the actor’s son and one of the co-writers, expressed his conviction that “his figure is worth supporting and vindicating, especially as it coincides with the centenary of his birth. She participated in 257 films and left us an undeniable testimony” and thanked Seminci for “their commitment from the beginning when they found out that we were involved in this project and offered us to premiere it here”.

For his part, Oltra highlighted his eagerness to bring the figure of López Vázquez closer to younger people: “Many of you will know José Luis because of your age, but young people not so much. One of the reasons why we have made the documentary is precisely because it will be very revealing for all these generations who did not live through the years of the actor’s career”, as well as to show “that few actors in the world have been as fantastic as José Luis López Vázquez’‘.

Both have declared that they have worked with archive material made up of “70 films and 22 audio tapes, 600 minutes of audio in total” and have commented that they wanted to “delve deeper into the Madrid of the 1920s and the situation of José Luis López Vázquez living with a single mother at that time”. “We will do it at some point”, they concluded.