If there is a Spanish film that has caused a sensation in recent months, that has been The Black Ball, which has just arrived in the United States. The directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi not only cared for the story and the aesthetics of a film that has already entered history, they also paid particular attention to casting. That Guitarricadelafuente embodied Sebastián was not a matter of chance.
The Javis were very clear about what profile they wanted for the character of Sebastián, the soldier in charge of caring for Rafael Rodríguez Rapún – played by Miguel Bernardeau – in the fiction. As Javier Calvo said in an interview for the magazine Fotogramas, the director was clear that they needed “a gay guy, who had a relationship with music and who could play a trumpet.” And Álvaro Lafuente Calvo, the artist’s real name, was the perfect candidate.
According to the singer, it was after a concert when Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi approached him to make this proposal. At first, he imagined it would be a project related to music, but it was nothing like that. In that conversation, Federico García Lorca, Alberto Conejero’s La piedra oscura, and the issue of identity that hovers over the entire story emerged. Álvaro saw himself reflected in that story and agreed to participate in an adventure that The Javis had already conceived from the start with the singer as part of it.
Guitarricadelafuente has recalled this anecdote in the cover interview of the American publication Variety, in which he stars alongside Bernardeau. In it he recounts how the step-by-step process went, and reveals that the team contacted him even before they started writing the script. As another interview with Javier Ambrossi noted, the main thing for the directors was “to adapt all the pieces to him,” whom Calvo defined as ”a little Spanish soldier“.
Alongside Álvaro Lafuente, in the minds of The Javis was also Miguel Bernardeu as Rafael. Due to the relationship that the characters forge in the film, the directors wanted to know the singer’s opinion and asked him if he was drawn to it and if a relationship between them could work. The answer would come in the first script-reading they did together, where not only did the chemistry between the actors become evident, but it was also decided that, ultimately, they would be the two who landed the roles.
The Javis with the cast of The Black Ball
What is surprising about this choice is that, for Guitarricadelafuente, this would be his first time in front of the camera. The character of Sebastián has been his acting debut and a real professional challenge in the artist’s career, and the trust of The Javis was crucial to take this step. Although at first he felt unable to face this challenge, the story of his character led him to connect with his artistic sensitivity and to recognize in the complexity, desire, and contradictions of the character some of the questions he had already explored through music.
That said, this opportunity also required some sacrifices. Álvaro Lafuente had to undergo a specific physical preparation: receiving the role led him to train, although later he had to lose weight to fit the hungry context of the era he represents. The challenge went beyond the purely interpretive and required a complete change in his routine.
Who is Guitarricadelafuente: beyond The Black Ball
Today the face of Álvaro Lafuente is known worldwide, but where does this artist come from? Born in Benicàssim in 1997, he began by sharing covers and original songs on his social networks. His warm voice, his sensitivity, or the indie-folk touch blended with flamenco that marked those early videos gave him a unique identity that quickly won over a good number of followers. Gradually, songs like Guantánamera and Conticinio found their way into an ever-growing number of playlists, but it wasn’t until 2019 thanks to Nana Triste, his collaboration with Natalia Lacunza, when he rose to fame as an emerging star on the Spanish music scene.
His first album was La cantera, released in 2022, where he establishes a dialogue between the traditional and the contemporary. Then came Spanish Leather, where he dared to explore a new artistic universe that ended up defining his identity. It is, precisely, his creativity and bravery in building his own imagined world that has made him gain thousands of followers in recent years and leap to the big screen with a character with whom he shares more than meets the eye.
