“We wanted to have fun filming with great actors”: Interviews with the authors of the tragic comedy “Main Role”

– The film features actors who themselves are very bright personalities. Did you know from the start that they would be?

Gaston Duprat: When we first started getting together, discussing ideas, and telling all sorts of different stories, we quickly identified what roles these would be. We immediately decided that Penelope would play a clever, manipulative, somewhat misogynistic female director. Antonio is an international artist, very confused and misunderstood. And Oscar Martinez may be less well known to you, but this actor does a lot of theater work and teaches acting in Argentina.

Thus, they all, in one way or another, play on the perception and image that others have of them.

“According to the plot, the movie was financed by a multimillionaire and there seems to be little room for it. In general, the shooting process looks very minimalist. Tell us about the production: Did you shoot in Spain?

Dupra: We came up with the idea for the movie together with the actors – Penelope and Antonio. They saw our previous work and offered to make a movie. No one knew what he would do or when he would do it. We decided we wanted to make this movie fun because of the sense of cohesion with the actors and the strength of the movie’s theme.

So, it can’t be the usual boring shooting process. For example, when you shoot a scene, the actor goes to his van, waits two hours, then comes back to shoot the counter, etc. Here, we wanted the camera to not only have its own point of view and set a high aesthetic bar, from the director’s point of view, but also be sensitive and respectful of the actors’ performance. frame. This was our main task.

As for plans, they are mostly clear. There is a dialogue with the architecture. We tried to ensure that players could move, move freely, and that the camera would remain the witness, but not interfere with the gameplay. And I think it succeeded: capturing and conveying all that spontaneity. This is very valuable for both the actor and the director. Only the highest class actors can do this, because filming took five, ten, twelve minutes, they were long – and it is seen in the movie. So for me the whole movie is their game. And this is a real master class in acting, where you can learn how the actor’s kitchen works and how the actors work.

As for the producer (Jaume Roures. – socialbites.ca), he is a serious professional producer who is good at making films and has worked with us on many films. Other producers spend other people’s money – he spends his own money. I like risk takers. If you read the script, you will immediately realize that this movie is very risky.

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Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat

professional: look

Mariano Cohn: Yes, this is a very high artistic risk movie. I love when a producer takes such an artistic risk and dedicates himself to a film he finances from his own pocket.

Filming took place in Spain: Madrid, Avila, El Escorial. Due to the pandemic, they were unfortunately split into two parts. We shot the first one in February 2020, in Madrid at the beginning of March. Then the pandemic started, we returned home to Argentina and the process stopped for five or six months. Until the conditions are met to be able to shoot with the protocols currently in force in Madrid. So we finished the shoot.

But it helped us a lot. We had time between shots. Although, of course, there was a traumatic moment when they had to be interrupted. There was a mandatory worldwide quarantine for six months. In the third week of shooting, it is very difficult to stop and get rid of that adrenaline you feel while working. But we also had a time that directors never had, time to review everything that was filmed and to think strategically about how to continue and finish the movie. During these weeks, we edited the first part of the picture, showed exactly half of it, the editing, to the actors and discussed it. Then we started the second part of the shoot. And before we start, we did some reading. As a result, we all had a common understanding of the plot and meanings of the film. We all knew what we were getting. And it was great.

The movie ends nicely with a press conference. What are you living now? Do you feel like you are in your own movie?

Topic: This would require winning and breaking the Golden Lion. Although this scene with a press conference shows a situation that happened to us in principle.

For example, when a journalist begins to express ideas and thoughts instead of asking questions, but does not ask questions. This is the scene where the journalist starts to share his impressions of the movie despite being asked about it, and the moderator tells him to “Go to the question as soon as possible”.

True, something happened to us on the red carpet (at the Venice Film Festival. – socialbites.ca). We approached the photographers and realized that it sounded the same music we used in the movie. It was strange, of course – such a short circuit in the head.

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According to the plot of “Starring Role,” a smug billionaire sets out to make his name in history by undertaking the creation of the perfect movie. The Screenplay – The book of a Nobel laureate director (Cruz) – stylish and eccentric starring two complete opposites: millions of broken idols (banderas) and a senior theater actor (Martinez). Are you waiting for a masterpiece or trouble?