00:00What attracted you to this project in the first place and why did you want to direct
00:07this Hemingway adaptation to the big screen?
00:13It's funny because I received this script in, I think it was 2018, and it was because
00:23I just directed La Novia, that was an adaptation by Federico Garcia Lorca, an original stage
00:30play by Lorca.
00:32So these producers, they thought, when they were looking for someone new to adapt Hemingway,
00:40they thought, okay, she adapted Lorca, she can adapt Hemingway.
00:44And I say, wow, it's not the same.
00:47They are pretty, pretty opposite sensibilities.
00:52But I've learned during the journey that they are no such opposite.
00:58And they were very crucial songs of the 20th century.
01:04They are crucial authors because they had same fights, same conflicts in many, many,
01:11many ways.
01:12And to me, this script, I was attracted because Hemingway was in a way an author that I admire.
01:20I studied him in college and I really loved his literature, but in a very weird way because
01:28he was very opposite from me.
01:32He is a very masculine author, very male.
01:39His literature, his stories are about war, love, women, boxing, bullfights, party.
01:50And it was not my world, but it was a big challenge to try to retell one of the most
01:58important men in the 20th century, an Anglo-Saxon man.
02:03For me, as a Spanish woman from the 20th century, 21st century.
02:09So it was a kind of interesting movement in a creative term.
02:16So when I get into, then I really realized how big Hemingway was and it has been really
02:24a beautiful journey with him.
02:26How did you manage to put together this amazing cast?
02:31Well, it was because it was Hemingway.
02:37And at the very beginning was Liev Schreiber, the one who decided to make Colonel Campbell,
02:47that was kind of another Hemingway, literally Hemingway.
02:53And he was the big force of the movie because he has that kind of energy and gravitas to
03:00be Hemingway, that mixture of melancholy and strength and wild man, but at the same
03:10time, very intellectual and very sensitive.
03:13So at the very beginning was Liev, then Matilda, Matilda de Angelis came when we were in Italy.
03:22And I think she brings us such beauty and that's the force of nature she is.
03:32And she was another kind of energy for the interpretation and for the crew.
03:39And the rest of the cast is amazing.
03:42Just Hatcherstone, Danny Houston, Laura Morante, Maximo Bobolizio, Maurizio Lombardi.
03:48I have to say that is the most amazing casting I ever worked with.
03:52What was the biggest challenge for you filming in Venice during the pandemic?
03:58Venice, Venice is a privilege, but it's also a big, big, big obstacle.
04:08It's a it's a in any way, because it's a very complicated city to shoot in in logistic
04:17terms.
04:18But, you know, it's one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
04:24Venice is like the example of how much beauty human being can create.
04:30And at the same time, it's a city that is sinking.
04:33So it's kind of a symbol of many things.
04:36It's a crossroads of culture, of periods of our history.
04:42So and if you just go and walk through Venice, you can see beauty in every corner because
04:50of the mix of water and stones and piece of art and that sense of art so delicate and
04:57so sophisticated and so melancholic because it's something very decadent.
05:03So shooting in Venice during the pandemic was hard because of the pandemic for the crew
05:09was hard.
05:11All of us, we had a we never met for a drink or have dinner together because we couldn't.
05:19So it was really weird for us as a crew, as a team.
05:24But in the other way, then empty Venice is a miracle.
05:29It's a it's a huge privilege for a filmmaker.
05:32So we were I mean, I was aware of the privilege when we were shooting in San Marcos Square
05:38completely empty one night in December.
05:43So it was kind of that contrast of privilege and really a hard moment.
Comments