The journalists form two queues, one to interview César Ritter and the other to speak with Magdyel Ugaz. We are on the 21st floor of a building in San Isidro; At 20 are the offices of Tondero, the production company responsible for “Busco novia”, a new Peruvian film based on Renato Cisneros’s blog launched in April 2007, which became a massive success with performances packed with hundreds — perhaps thousands—of fans fighting to see the author at the Book Fair.
Ritter plays Renzo Collazos, a journalist from the newspaper El Comercio, in a fictionalized version of the fictionalized version that Cisneros made of himself in his posts. In them, the author did not show off as a gallant, but rather he shared the clumsy acts of a lonely thirty-year-old with whom everyone felt identified. In pre-streaming times, Cisneros amassed a faithful and obsessive community that filled each post with comments (200, 300, 1,000) and demanded news about the previous story, or flooded with questions about a new one. When he found a girlfriend—and, eventually, a wife—he had to leave the blog, the void of which was never filled.
“Busco novia”, the film, comes from the hand of the director daniel vegaa surprising presence, since together with his brother Diego he signed author tapes appreciated by critics such as “El mudo”, from 2013, or “October” (2010)which received an award at Cannes.
The Vegas made a name for themselves as independent filmmakers, and having Daniel Vega go solo on a commercial film from the Tondero factory raises questions. “I don’t read reviews, seriously. They don’t interest me ”, he tells me when I ask him if he is ready to receive them. When I tell him that I write film reviews myself, he replies: “there it is, I’m sure I’m not going to read anything you write”.
—How involved was Renato Cisneros in the script for “Busco novia”? Three names are mentioned in the credits: Cisneros for script, Percy Chávez as co-writer and María José Osorio as “script consultant”
—Renato and Percy were the ones who wrote the script; What María José did was give us feedback when it was already written; Because, once the script arrives, well, one begins to understand what the film is about. I have written many things (in the script), it is inevitable, at the moment you have to put your hand in. There are many things that were not in the script, but that I put in so that the story flowed a little better.
—Were you personally a fan of the blog?
-Nope. I lived abroad for a long time, I definitely returned to Peru in 2002; despite the fact that between 89 and 2002 I lived two years in Lima. Already in 2002 the woman who later became my wife was pregnant; I don’t remember seeing it…
—You didn’t feel the hit of the ‘boom’.
—No, I was being a dad, trying to survive by working, and the truth was I knew it existed, but I wasn’t a fan. I don’t even remember living it.
—The film reconstructs the newsroom of the newspaper El Comercio with elements of a fictitious newsroom from the 80s or 90s, because it didn’t really look like that
—Well, we are making a fiction, it cannot be true to reality. Do you know El Comercio?
-Of course.
—When you enter a movie you say “at this time…”. In the series, (the building of) FIFA is not (the building of) FIFA. One has to recreate the thing a bit. Not being true to reality, but rather, in the context of the film, this is the newsroom of El Comercio.
—But did they get advice, did they review photos?
—One has to find the location, film, there are many aspects; we prefer to choose an old wording and adapt it to the needs of the story. We didn’t want to be true to reality, if that’s the question.
—The film is based on a feeling in the relationship of women that is already outdated right now. Isn’t this movie late? It should have been done two years later, not nearly 15.
—I was just talking to a girl who did read the blog and didn’t remember the feeling of machismo, but now she did feel it. Look, it’s only been 10 years since then, that’s not a long time. In the end, Ritter’s character, who represents these archaic thoughts, is constantly being questioned by his two friends. And at the end he makes a self-criticism, which perhaps Renato did. It is not a biography of him, but it has something of Renato.
—Is this your first solo film?
– No, the second.
—How does it feel to go from things like “El mudo” or “La bronca” to a more commercial product like this?
—Well, as I always say, I am a director, I have my films, the ones I make with my brother—“Octubre”, “El mudo”, “La bronca” (from 2019)— that are personal, in which I do what I feel like it. When he calls me Tondero and tells me to do “Exchanged” (also from 2019), the first one I did alone, he tells me “I have these films, do you want to direct them?” I am also an advertising director; in fact I work on request. I ask “what do you want?” So, it’s not like I do whatever I want. I say “I understand what the production wants, it’s a producer’s film, I’m going to try to do the best possible with the producer’s voice, with what they give me already written.” There is already a raw material. I am not going to radically change the script to make it an auteur film. I think that would be too arrogant of me. I work at the service of the product that the producer wants. Whether it’s hard for me or not… I’ve been an advertising director and I’ve done commercials for different brands. It’s my job. I, mainly, am a director. I know that there are people who find it difficult to go from one place to the other, but not me personally. I have to live for something.
—Did you study Renato Cisneros to build the character of Ritter (Renzo)?
—No, for me, in fact, Renzo is another person. I don’t know what Renato was like when he was young, besides, in height they are completely different, also in personality they are other people. It’s fiction.
“You wanted it to be that way.”
-Yes. I don’t think that at that time Renato would have liked to make fun of himself. In the self-criticism there is humor and he is making fun of the way of thinking of that time. His friends question him about that.
—The film was also late in its release.
—Yes, because of the pandemic. It was filmed in the summer of 2019 and then due to the pandemic I had more time to edit it, about six months. In fact, this version is much better than what was released.
—And what is the explanation that it is sent directly to Amazon Prime?
“You’d have to ask Tondero that.”
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