El mal padre at San Sebastián 2026: acting inside a family ensemble
Selected for Zabaltegi-Tabakalera at the 2026 San Sebastián Festival, Roberto Bueso’s El mal padre brings together Eduard Fernández, Adam Jezierski, Francesco Carril, Meritxell Calvo, and Cristina Plazas. For an actor, that cast points away from the isolated star turn and toward a shared family history: five bodies near one table, a coat left on the wrong chair, and one person refusing to meet another’s eyes.
What the news actually offers an actor
In his Academia de Cine interview, Bueso says directing begins in the earliest conversations. He does not publish an audition method, so there is no reason to invent one. The practical lesson is that relationships take shape before the first take, through how you discuss the character’s past, hear another actor, and cross the room toward them.
In family drama, an ordinary object can carry years. If your fictional brother picks up your usual mug, a brief stop beside the sink may reveal an old rivalry. Prepare the relationship, not just your private intention. You can connect this work to preparing an audition and preparing a self-tape.
Exercise: the inherited seat
Objective
Make your family position visible without explaining it.
Steps
Set four chairs around a table. Choose the seat your character used as a child. Enter and find someone else’s coat on it, then decide where to sit. Play once while reclaiming the chair and once while quietly giving it up.
Result
Your path from the doorway to the chair exposes status and attachment before you speak.
Exercise: the object that remembers
Objective
Give a simple line a specific past.
Steps
Use a photograph, key, or chipped plate. Attach one precise family memory to it. Say the scene without naming that memory while placing the object in a drawer. Repeat while refusing to let it go.
Result
Your fingers, pace, and pause over the open drawer carry history without extra dialogue.
Exercise: move the centre
Objective
Serve the ensemble instead of pulling every beat toward yourself.
Steps
With scene partners, play a conversation standing in a kitchen. For each run, secretly choose the person holding the most dangerous information. Everyone else looks toward that person only when a plate lands hard or their breathing catches.
Result
The scene’s centre travels between actors, and your listening remains visible while you are silent.
Three mistakes to avoid
Playing general anger
Furrowed brows from entrance to exit flatten the conflict. Pick a visible trigger, such as an opened letter on the counter, and let it change you.
Acting alone inside your frame
Looking at your partner only before your own line breaks the family apart. Notice their wet shoes, empty glass, and shift away from the table.
Inventing the film’s audition process
The cast is public, but its audition details are not. Base your conclusions on published comments and on what your rehearsal makes visible in the room.
Rehearsing with La Réplique
La Réplique runs in your browser: prepare the scene, select your character, and rehearse while the product delivers the other lines. With headphones, your script, and a tape mark on the floor, you can test pace, listening, and movement. It is not a replacement for an acting coach or a human scene partner, especially when shaping a complicated family bond. Explore La Réplique pricing.
FAQ
Why is this cast useful for my acting practice?
It puts relationships first. At a crowded table, your withheld glance can matter as much as a speech.
Must I use my own family history?
No. Build precise fictional facts, such as a slammed door on a Sunday, without mining personal pain.
How do I suggest years of history in a self-tape?
Choose one repeatable detail, like smoothing the tablecloth before answering, and keep it restrained.
Should I look at my scene partners more?
Not automatically. A glance at the door handle may show that you expect someone to leave.
Can La Réplique direct the scene for me?
It supports line and rhythm practice in the browser. Artistic direction remains a human conversation.
Sources
Roberto Bueso interview, Academia de Cine and San Sebastián Festival film page.