Pablo O. Scholz
09/04/2021 19:31
Clarín.com
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Cinema
Updated 09/04/2021 19:31
"Wait until I get on a boat, I'm going to fall into the water, and I'll call you."
In dialogue with
Clarín
after the gala performance,
Gastón Duprat
tells about the gala performance of
Official Competition
, the film that he co-directed with Mariano Cohn, and starring
Oscar Martínez
, Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz, and which had just been screened in the official section, in competition for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Duprat said that the projection was “very, very good, there was a very good reception, warm, with the Sala Grande at full capacity (although at 50%, due to the health protocol).
There was Bardem (for Javier, Penelope Cruz's partner), Chloé Zhao (the director of
Nomadland
, winner of the Oscar and awarded last year at the Mostra with the Golden Lion) and the director of
Parasites
”(Bong Joon-ho, president of the Jury) ”.
Mariano Cohn, Banderas, Cruz, Martínez and Gastón Duprat, on the red carpet.
Photo EFE
On the way to Venice -the Mostra takes place on the island of the Lido, which is crossed by vaporetto or boat taxi- to dine and celebrate at the restaurant of the Hotel Cipriani, the director of My masterpiece slipped that he received “comments and criticisms very good from American magazines, and from Italian and Spanish media ”.
-Now Toronto and San Sebastián await you.
-We are not going to the Toronto Festival, we are already seeing San Sebastián.
This was a tamer, we only came four moches, and to Toronto for sure we will not go.
It is super heavy to be all the time with the chinstrap, they stop you to ask you for the proof of the vaccine.
Here, the Palazzo del Cinema property is all fenced off, if you go out to eat at night there is a police and health checkpoint, it's not like before you walked free.
It is super well organized, but there is that obstacle.
On Monday we are going to Argentina.
Nothing, that's it.
Marina Borensztein and Oscar Martínez, before the premiere.
Photo EFE
Hours before the screening, he and Mariano Cohn spoke with
Clarín
.
What is "Official Competition" about?
The film “deals with the backstage of the acting creation, how the actors create the emotion that they then transmit to us on the screen,” says Cohn. And that was never seen in the movies. There are movies that talk about how a movie is made, in those cases they are always nostalgic. Ours is the opposite, it does not speak with romanticism and focuses on showing how the actors do, the mechanisms or strategies they use to later move us through the film, plus the strategy of a director, of the character of Penelope in this case. The director is also a much more complex character, she is not vulgar, she is closer to a conceptual, avant-garde or elite artist. She is more than a filmmaker ”.
Gastón Duprat:
-And everything he proposes for them to rehearse and carry out the film could be classified as performances to work with.
Antonio Banderas and his partner, Nicole Kimpel.
Mariano Cohn:
-And they go through several instances, this director throws gasoline on the fire when this duel of vanity arises between the actors.
It is that they have two different methods of action.
One is an intellectual, a teacher of actors (the character of Oscar Martínez) and the other is more charismatic and popular, he comes from mainstream cinema.
That is why they face each other, they are from different schools and understand acting in a different way.
And, at the same time, the director has that strategy of facing them.
Gastón Duprat:
-It's a common technique.
It is not ours.
Producer Jaume Roures and the film's staff, competing for the Golden Lion. AFP Photo
-They're already familiar with the Lido. Do you notice something strange, something different?
Mariano Cohn:
-This year there is like a wall that separates the red carpet from the people, you cannot witness the team's journey to the room.
It is strange, there are many restrictions, that the PCR, the swab for everyone who goes to the room.
- Doesn't it matter to you not being able to return to Venice, if you are told that you are winning a prize?
-We prefer to come to the presentation, we came to the important thing, what happens next with the award is left to third parties, and we have to return to Argentina on Monday afternoon.
We have a permit to come for work, which is five days, 120 hours, and if not, we become a pumpkin.
-How are they doing?
Gastón Duprat:
-Very good, we had a thousand things to do, all of us, the actors, the producers, my brother (Andrés, co-writer).
Lots of activity on the same day.
Oscar Martínez is the actor "of the method", who is opposed to the character of Antonio Banderas.
Photo EFE
-They had a very good day for the screening: on Saturday and at the 19:30 show.
Mariano Cohn:
-Super good, and everything is sold before we arrive.
The public in Venice has always treated us very well.
-With what previous expectations had they arrived?
Mariano Cohn:
-Good, Official Competition is a different movie in itself.
Already the feedback we had with the press who had seen the film in Milan, or in Rome, they were enthusiastic.
Gastón Duprat:
-The performance of the actors is very high.
They did something very exposing.
It is a film of actors, only possible to do if you have great actors.
Banderas and Nicole Kimpel.
The film will continue through the Toronto and San Sebastián festivals.
AFP photo
Mariano Cohn:
-If the official competition was in another section, we had to decline the invitation… Today at a press conference everyone commented how good it is that in Venice they can program a comedy.
This is our third comedy, an uncomfortable comedy… It is not usual for these types of films to be invited to compete.
That also speaks to the relationship with the festival and ours with the public, that we always had a very good reception with our films.
-When do they premiere in Argentina?
Gastón Duprat:
-In Spain at the beginning of next year, in Argentina we still don't know.
Look also
Venice Film Festival: “Official Competition” started with laughter
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