A crazy Dream

FRANCISCO BETRIU 400X222

FRANCISCO BETRIU.

Francisco Betriu is a director whose future films promise to be better than his last. Accordingly, much can be expected from him in years to come in terms of high quality movies. After filming together, in the very early days of my career, "La viuda andaluza" (The Andalusian Widow), we got together again with "La duquesa roja" (The Red Duchess), "Una pareja perfecta" (A Perfect Couple) and "El paraíso ya no es lo que era" (Paradise is no longer what it used to be like). When I first met him he was making films about the things in life that he observed. Today it seems he is living his experiences instead of filming them. He is a good director with whom I would like to do a successful movie. We have laughed together a lot, although that isn't what induces me to work with him.

 

JAIME CHÁVARRI 400X222

JAIME CHÁVARRI.

To Jaime Chávarri I am indebted for having directed "Las cosas del querer" (The Things of Love), "La intrusa", from the Boges's series, and "Sus ojos se cerraron y el mundo sigue andando" (Tangos Are for Two). Jaime is an excellent friend, close to the generation of Carlos Saura, shaped in the workshop of Elias Querejeta, so to speak. With the latter he has made his best films and I think he hasn't yet broken completely free from him. It isn't by chance that he is one of Saura's favorite Spanish directors and that he always has some pending project with his former producer, Querejeta.

 

VICENTE ARANDA 400X222

VICENTE ARANDA.

With regard to film director Vicente Aranda I acknowledge his great professionalism and honesty, but I feel that I have failed in my relationship with him. We filmed together "El amante bilingüe" (The Bilingual Lover), which Juan Marsé, the author of the novel, wanted Mario Camus to direct; "La pasión turca" (The Turkish Passion), which Antonio Gala, also in this case the writer, wanted Mario to direct; "Libertarias" (Women Freedom Fighters), for many years the impossible dream of Aranda, and "La mirada del otro" (The Naked Eye). In the case of the latter, I wanted him to do this screen adaptation of the novel by Fernando Delgado and, in view of the movie's very negative reviews after it premiered, he got upset with me. I think that deep inside it was because I didn't go along with him in the childish projects he devised to take his revenge on the film critics. In 2007 we filmed "Canciones de amor en Lolita´s club" (Lolita's Club).

 

ÁLEX DE LA IGLESIA 400X222

ÁLEX DE LA IGLESIA.

Álex de la Iglesia is a director I never actually sought out. I wasn't excessively interested in a director who had worked with Almodóvar as his producer, although I always admitted that his first film, "Acción mutante" (Mutant Action), contained twelve minutes of good cinema. Buñuel wrote for the press-book of "Peppermint frappé" that a film is worthwhile if it has five minutes of good cinema, or words to that effect, and ""Peppermint frappé" had more than ten. When Álex offered me to produce the incredible movie: "El día de la bestia" (The Day of the Beast), I recalled Buñuel's remark and said to myself that I should go ahead with Alex. The script, which had been rejected by several production companies, El Deseo, Sogetel and Tesauro, was very uneven and yet Alex wanted to start shooting in two month's time on the grounds that he wanted to take advantage of the upcoming Christmas and that there would be decorations on the streets. Eventually, we reached an agreement: I would let him film for one week during Christmas so that the material would be available and he would accept to have the script revised. Antonio Saura -who at the time was my closest collaborator- and I bombarded him with reports, suggestions and pressure. The rest of it is cinema history.

Alex is crazy about filming. It really makes him happy and, if it came to it, he would even make a film based on the telephone directory. Together we have done "El día de la bestia" (The Day of the Beast), "Perdita Durango", "Muertos de risa" (Dying of Laughter), "La comunidad" (Common Wealth) and "La chispa de la vida" (As Luck Would Have It). His creative talent, his visual depth and his esthetics make of him a great director. He has a big career ahead of him and like the good Basque he is, most likely he will eventually emigrate to America, even if only to be a cattle farmer.