The Gravity Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray
and DVD is set to hit the shelves on February 25th, and with the
Academy Awards getting closer, director Alfonso Cuarón took to Reddit to do an
AMA.
During the online event the
director was asked a varied number of questions, from an alternate ending to
Gravity, the scientific bases of it, other Mexican directors and more.
Regarding Gravity’s alternate ending
the director replies:
“We had an alternative ending in
which after landing on Earth, Ryan will get back on her feet and as she’s
walking away Matt Kovalski falls from the sky and crashes her to death. And
then cut to black. Create scroll in silence.”
Cuarón also spoke about the critics
that the movie had regarding its science:
“I’m very happy that scientists
have taken time to attack or defend GRAVITY. We tried to be as plausible as we
could in the frame of our fiction and we worked very hard in honoring the
behavior of bodies in micro-gravity and no resistance. But, it’s a movie and
that Sandra Bullock is not really an Astronaut in real life.”
The director was then asked how he got to do Children of Men and what were his favorite scenes to shoot:
“Universal trusted me with the
material and I’m very grateful to them because of that. The fact that I was
coming out of Harry Potter didn’t hurt though. We were consciously avoiding the
future and every single reference that is portrayed in the film was based upon
photo journalism and news reports of the last 10 years. So, we were trying to
portray the themes that are shaping our immediate future.”
“My favorite scene to shoot the
ambush in the car and the final battle scene. But the biggest challenge of
doing that film was to convey to the world the thematics that are shaping the
first part of the 21st century. We never intended for it to be a science
fiction film, but a look into those themes.”
The director then shifted
attention from himself and began talking about other directors that he admired:
“I like Jankso‘s [sic] films and
I also like the long takes in the Dardenne Brother‘s films. This year i think
that Before Midnight offered the most beautiful one shot deals.”
He then moved on to talk about Spike
Jonze’s Her:
“I absolutely love HER. I think
it’s the best film about love that speaks directly to an age since ANNIE HALL.
It’s a beautiful film that also explores questions about the nature of love and
consciousness. But, as I told Spike [Jonze], I’m torn between HER and BAD
GRANDPA.”
Cuarón then talked about some
Mexican directors that could use more press:
“I am in constant communication
with Alejandro [González Iñárritu] and Guillermo [Del Toro], they are great
friends. But its important not to forget the two other Mexican directors Amat
Escalante y Carlos Reygadas who have won the award for best director at the
Cannes Film Festival in the past two years.”
The director then commented on
the last movie he saw:
“THE GREAT BEAUTY. I’m a huge fan
of Paolo Sorrentino. I think he’s one of the most interesting filmmakers today.”
Cuarón then addressed his thought
about cinema:
“I think some of the important
things when you’re studying film is study film history and understand the
evolution of the cinematic language. To have a frame of reference on how to
develop you’re own language. But as in everything, the most important thing
about studying film is being aware of the world around you and human
experience.”
He compared filmmaking in Mexico
versus the U.S.:
“It’s an absolute different. In
the US there’s a huge global industry called Hollywood while Mexico, as most of
the countries of the world, they have smaller industries that they feed mostly
the mexican market. That’s from the standpoint of industry. From the standpoint
of cinema, Mexican filmmakers generally owe more to European cinema than to
Hollywood filmmakers. I would love to eventually do another film in Spanish and
in Mexico. I will definitely do so when the project calls me.”
And the future of cinema:
“There used to be only one
paradigm: the experience of going to the theaters. Later on, that paradigm was
dual: people would watch movies in the cinema and also on TV. Later on came
home video and now we have all these different formats. There used to be only
be visuals, then there came sound, and then color. Now we’re making the
transition into the digital formats where everybody can have affordable systems
in their homes. What I believe is that, because of the new ways of production
and distribution, multiple paradigms are going to be created. They are going to
co-exist. Each one of these paradigms is going to constantly evolve and go in
many different directions. I think all of this is very exciting because it’s
going to challenge our current conceptions of cinema in which the format of
experience of film and/or the length are going to very diverse.”
0 Comments:
Post a Comment