Angelina Jolie, left, director of the Golden Globe-nominated foreign
language film 'In the Land of Blood and Honey,' and Pedro Almodovar of
Spain, director of the Golden Globe-nominated 'The Skin I Live In,' pose
together at the Golden Globe Foreign Language Nominees Seminar at the
Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. (AP / Chris
Pizzello)
Date: Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 3:11 PM ET
LOS ANGELES — Don't be stunned to see a future collaboration between
superstar American actress -- and now director -- Angelina Jolie and
revered Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.
The two were among attendees at the annual Golden Globes
foreign-language seminar on Saturday at the Egyptian Theatre in
Hollywood, where directors nominated in the category discussed this
year's competition.
The entries include Jolie's "In the Land of Blood and Honey," about
family strife and abuse of women in Bosnia, and Almodovar's
psycho-thriller "The Skin I Live In."
Unlike other celebrities at the event, Jolie surprised reporters by
showing up early, relaxed and gracious as she posed for photographers
and talked about what inspired her to move behind the camera for "Blood
and Honey."
At one point, Jolie half-joked to a Spanish reporter that she was
angry with Almodovar because he'd yet to hire her for a role. When
Almodovar was given that news by an Associated Press reporter -- within
earshot of Jolie -- the actress jumped into the fray.
"I am right here," Jolie noted. "Yes, because you have never given me a job."
"Oh my God," said a flustered Almodovar. "No, no don't worry, you are joining now. Absolutely."
"So one day," Jolie responded, "when all these cameras are gone, we find a film together."
Angelina Jolie and Pedro Almodovar made a pact to work together while on the red carpet Saturday (January 14).
Thankfully the HFPA nominated a woman director again this year;
eventual Globe-winner Susanne Bier ("In A Better World") more than held
her own at last year's male-dominated panel. And Jolie lit up the panel
Saturday with her native eloquence (the others needed translators). Much
as Jolie has the power to draw an audience, that was not the reason for
her nomination, the HFPA assured the audience during their intro to the
film at the Aero Theater last week. Clearly the film doesn't need that
caveat -- it speaks for itself. This panel's audience was equally
admiring.
"In The Land of Blood and Honey," Angelina Jolie:
Throughout the filming, Jolie's Yugoslavian cast "focused on their
similarity, their unity," she said, while coming together to tell a
sensitive and difficult part of their history. "The wounds are still
very fresh," but "we want the world not to forget about it." Her actors
"guided me through this; they taught me everyday." The film has been
shown in their region, spurring a necessary dialogue. She hopes
audiences not only fall in love with the actors and feel pity for people
who lived through this period in Bosnian history, but also to "see how
extraordinary the region is." For her, it isn't a film or a piece of
art, "it's where my heart is, this is my family." As for the bumps along
the way to getting the film made, Jolie and her cast trusted that
because they were armed with the right intentions, they had to trust
people would see that upon viewing the film. So far, the response
(including that of the war's rape victims) has reassured them.
Wasn't "Blood and Honey"'s love story bizarre?
No, Jolie said: "It was very common at the time," and it wasn't this
idea of Romeo and Juliet on two different sides. "They were born the
same -- they are the same. They fell in love in a time when it was
normal to have mixed marriages. It was the war that turned them into
enemies. To me it's a very sad love story because it's a love story
about what should have been: They should have been alive today, they
should have a family..[the love story] is symbolic of what happened to
the country."
Why did Jolie choose this particular piece of history, given
her considerable experience with struggling nations throughout the
world?
"I made this film about this region at this time because the themes are
universal -- sexually violence against women and the lack of
intervention." She remembered being seventeen and hearing hardly
anything about the conflict while it was happening. She was ashamed by
how little she knew, and an obligation to get back into a dialogue about
it. "There's still many displaced people, still work to be done." She
added that "as an artist I was extremely inspired [by the people in the
region]. They understand art, and what it is to be an artist and how it
helps us survive -- in a way very few people do. It's a different breed
of artist that comes with such a resilience and passion and openness:
survivors."
How did she develop the austere style of the film?
"The style for this was dictated by the war. It's austere in that --
some people said the light was so beautiful -- [that's because] in some
scenes there was no electricity -- it just looked like a Vermeer or
Rembrandt because there was light coming in through the window!" She
adds that her set designers "tried to not make it more than it was."
Future directorial plans?
"It's harder to be a director than an actor," she said. "The
responsibility as a director --you want to do everything, and it takes
your life; for that you have to have a reason." She finds it hard to
imagine doing another film that would mean as much as this one did. But
yes, she'll continue to direct, but only if Almodovar refuses to give
her a job.
"The Skin I live In," Pedro Almodovar:
Is it a horror movie?
"What happens in the movie, it's awful," responded Almodovar. "It was a way to talk about something interesting -- identity."
Almodovar enjoyed working with old collaborator Antonio Banderas again,
and recalled working with him on "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" "He was the
most brilliant natural talent that I had ever met, wild and crazy, full
of desire." He likes having the same actors in all his films, "it's a
good feeling -- of having a family."
Almodovar said he's "obsessed with everything that's in front of the
camera," and that while he has nothing against Naturalism, it's not the
style he wants. When he began as a filmmaker, shooting on Super 8mm, he
and his cohorts were "creating the reality we wanted to be a part of";
it was a darker time for Spain. They were interested in "representing
feelings, styles, actions, adventures, plots -- that was so important
for me and the Spanish people at that moment."
Like all his films, this one is also about "mothers and people who
desire people." He shed some light on the film's ending, saying that
"sometimes through desire you can recognize someone," but we'll stop
there.
Will Almodovar ever work outside of Spain?
Maybe once, but he warns: "I don't think the production style of this
town -- LA - really fits me," he says. "And I'm too old to learn."
"A Separation," Asghar Farhadi:
Why does the film resonate so much with everyone who sees it, all over the world?
"I don't know exactly why but I can venture a guess: This is in a way a
detective story, but the detective is actually the audience. We've seen
many detective movies where the language is not realistic, in a way
we're seeing a combo of a detective movie and a drama - a hybrid of the
two." He added: "I don't think that local films can't also be universal;
they can be both. If you tell a local story very precisely and
accurate, it can become quite universal."
Doesn't the film open audiences up to the world of Iran?
"There's an image of Iran that's not correct. I don't mean to say there
are no issues or problems--there are. But the type of problems you
often imagine are not the ones there. Western audiences might go into
this movie with a preconceived notion. For them, it might be strange
than Iranians have such layered, complicated issues. But I think people
all over the world are quite similar. People all over the world have
quite complicated issues. The problem is we look through the people of
the county through the prism of politics. If you see the people you see
how similar we are." The response to his film all over the world has
been that "we are very similar." He's said it many times, but it's worth
saying again: "Similarities between people and their cultures,
throughout the world, are far greater than their differences, but its
better for the interest of politics to highlight the differences."
Farhadi's goal was not to make a film to help foreign audiences better understand Iran:
"No movie can claim to have a complete view of a country. How could I
possibly say that my movie is an image of 70 million people - this would
be belittling people." He and his fellow Iranian filmmakers don't like
to have all their issues brought up or to receive sympathy: "When you
see my movie, assume that i made it under the best possible
circumstances. That doesn't mean that I condone the difficult situations
in Iran, but I don't want to be a beggar on the street who exposes his
wounds just to get sympathy for it. Nobody forced me to become a
filmmaker under those circumstances, I chose to do so, knowing those
circumstances, we Iranian filmmakers don't like to be treated like 'wow,
they created…' Just watch our movies."
Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
As for the purported difficulties of bringing films to foreign audiences with language barriers:
"Sometimes it's a good thing to not understand the language, you get
down to the real stuff." Farhadi worked in theater for years before
becoming a filmmaker. His process is still very theatrical. "We do the
type of exercises that if anyone were to see us they'd think we were
bizarre." He had "A Separation"'s actors do method-like preparation
before production began. "For months ahead of time you work with actors,
it's not like sitting around a table reading a script together."
Of the joys of filmmaking:
"Every time I show up on set I feel that my childhood hasn't left me.
This is the greatest gift a person can have -- to have their childhood
with them."
"The Kid with a Bike," Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
"Realism is a correction of reality":
Naturalism is the Dardenne brothers' style: with a documentary and
theater background, their goal may be to create an organic environment,
but they don't think naturalism really exists in art. "We start from
things that actually have existed," they said, noting their inspiration
for "The Kid with a Bike" came from a news story about a boy in Tokyo.
"From that story we tried to find a fable that tells something a little
bit different from the original story." The boy from Tokyo's story
involved him leaving the orphanage and committing murder. "We started to
think, how could we have this boy not commit murder and escape that
destiny?"
The solution for them was to bring a woman into that story who would
intervene in this journey and prevent him from a similar fate. They felt
that for the character Samantha, "it was important not to attribute a
psychological motivation for her, because it would distance the audience
from why she was doing [helping him], and they needed to go on the
journey with her," adding that unfortunately, people immediately start
looking for a reason when people do something good; "as human beings, if
she had left him there, we would have understand that. It's like if
someone falls off their bike on the side of the road - some people stop,
some people don't."
One of the most extraordinary things for a director is to see someone
on camera for the first time, said Luc Dardenne. They often do, using
mostly unknown or non-actors. With Cecile de France, the process was
slightly different, and involved figuring out how to make her fall into
their universe. The brothers spoke of needing actors to surrender and
give in to the process. They spend forty days rehearsing and forty-fifty
days shooting. "We spend so much time together that it gets to the
point where no one is protecting their self-image anymore, and that's
when the character comes to life..We're able to forget ourselves. Then
the characters can be born." Regardless of working with professional or
non-professional actors, they say they have to "break their image" of
themselves.
The final message of the film:
"What we wanted to do with the end of our film is say love is stronger than death--sometimes--and for a short time."
The Golden Globe foreign-language winner will be announced at Sunday's ceremony.
