Rarely has the Hollywood Walk of Fame seen as many Spanish landings as this March 2024. On Friday afternoon, some colleagues from Basque television were looking for a way to get a place at the door of the Dolby theater, already taken over by the cameras; Meanwhile, a handful of Spaniards from the team Robot Dreams (their accent and the badge on their lapels gave them away) they were approaching the stars that cover the ground of Hollywood Boulevard. The arrival is official. The teams of The Snow Society (nominated for best international film and best makeup and hairstyling) and Robot Dreams (which is up for the statuette for best animated film) are already in the city of stars and dreaming of them.
The agenda these days is tight: everyone has talks and panels with the other nominees in their category at the Academy of Motion Picture Museum, and also dinners, meetings and a lot of press to attend to. Perhaps the fact that the two films are very different from each other – in terms of theme, typology, budgets, production and distribution – has helped to create more brotherhood between them. On Friday morning, the team The Snow Societywith the help and logistics of Egeda, organized a breakfast with the Spanish press residing or traveling to Los Angeles at the fashionable restaurant in the city, Telefèric, which also hosted the smaller group of Robot Dreams. Something that served as a link and helped put both within reach of the many media that have come to California to follow them.
Upon arrival, Juan Antonio Bayona and his producers, Belén Atienza and Sandra Hermida (the three are the nominees for best international film), joined the sisters Ana and Belén López-Puigcerver (hair and makeup designer, respectively) and David Martí and Montse Ribé (special makeup effects supervisors) to chat with the dozen journalists. Before a long table, they declared themselves quite relaxed. “The fact that we are not favorites takes the pressure off,” Bayona joked. But then the morning passed, the hours passed, and when he sat down again with this diary, things had changed. “Now I am more nervous than when I arrived. I was very calm until I sat here in front of all of you,” he laughs. “It is unavoidable with all the media attention that comes with getting to the Oscar. There have been many months of hard work, months of pick and shovel, teaching the film, which is the best tool.”
It is not the first time that Bayona goes to the Oscars —The impossible, then the highest-grossing film in the history of Spanish cinema, It was present in 2013 thanks to Naomi Watts' nomination for best actress—but it was the first one her parents attended. “I am very excited that they come and see them in that context, that it is the first time they take a transatlantic flight and come to the ceremony,” she acknowledges. Especially for her father, who was the one who instilled in her a passion for cinema and who for a few years was a poster artist, hand-painting the billboards of the cinemas in Barcelona.
The filmmaker and his team recognize that, in this decade since The impossible, They have learned many things. Few people had seen the tsunami film when they arrived in Hollywood, something that has not happened to them this time with this story about the air tragedy in the Andes. “I think there are films that sometimes break paradigms or preconceived ideas,” said Atienza. “This is how the industry works, barriers are being broken. And this film specifically has contributed to that, for our future projects and for those of other filmmakers,” he adds, praising the distribution, for example, from which they have learned a lot. Would they want to win the Oscar? “Yes,” Bayona says, without hesitation. “But I think awards are forgotten and movies are remembered and this movie will be remembered for many years.”
The Barcelona native said that this project has helped him become the director he wants to be. In the last seven years he has filmed A monster comes to see me, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and now The Snow Society. “Very large and very, very absorbent. So I need to stop, take a little air, because this movie has also left me with a very sweet taste. I have found myself, I have rediscovered myself as a director in a space in which I also feel more comfortable and everything I do as a filmmaker. It's more personal, it has been very interesting. And looking to the future, there are many of the successes of this film that I want to capitalize on for the next one. It's a learning process, rolling Jurassic World and those chapters of The Lord of the rings they allowed me to roll The Snow Society and this has also been done a little against those projects. It is a constant exploration where one learns along the way and tries to learn from mistakes. They are the way of realizing things. Sometimes success is intoxicating and error allows you to calculate and correct.” So getting into those big Hollywood projects was a mistake? “No, because without them I would not have done The Snow Society. But one sees his name a little crushed by that of the franchise. You disappear under the name of that franchise and now you have to rediscover yourself with this project, which on the other hand I wanted to have filmed 10 years ago. This was the moment, I have learned a lot along the way.”
Filming 'Jurassic World' and two chapters of 'The Lord of the Rings' allowed me to film 'The Snow Society' and this has also been done a little against those projects.”
Juan Antonio Bayona
His makeup and hairdressing colleagues are also excited, they can't find adjectives to describe him, they admit that they never expected the nomination. “Beat, yes, I think that's good,” they chant. Ribé and Martí already took home the statuette in 2007 for The Pan's Labyrinth, and now they come with the newest López-Puigcerver sisters. They are happy, exhausted, and a little worried, because after the flight some of the suitcases with the objects that they were going to show on the Academy panel were lost; They are already safe and on their way. They recognize that this film has made them get out of their usual work by working with real people, many of them alive, having real models by their side. “They cried watching the filming, it was very exciting, it is a lot of responsibility,” they say about the survivors. “They went to Uruguay and before we asked them they all said: wow!” when they saw the actors' makeup. The fact that they are nominated for a subtle and choral work, without a single protagonist, is “important and beautiful at the same time.”
Pablo Berger already sees himself with the Oscar in his hand for his robot and his dog. “Yes, yes, without a doubt, of course I can imagine. And then it would be the bomb if the award goes to Penélope Cruz and instead of shouting 'Pedrooo!' she shouts 'Pabloooo!'” she laughs. If not? “Well, we will use the cliché: the nomination is the prize, we are all winners… and since the one who wins always says that he shares it, I will tell him that then it is a little bit mine.” In reality, he knows that it is very difficult for him and, beyond joking, he confesses that “in a sincere way, for the director the importance of awards and nominations is that more people go to see it, that more audiences go to the movies.” , initially, because this film was designed for the screen. “I am a romantic and I still initially want the films to be seen in the cinema and then, once the theatrical window passes, of course, I want them to go to the platforms.” RTVE has the broadcasting rights and therefore Robot Dreams It will also be seen on public television. Furthermore, he explains that the word Oscar has boosted ticket sales: “Since the nomination came out, the box office rose 100% and it was re-released in 30 or 40 theaters. We are still in almost 50 cinemas in Spain.” His foray into the world of animation has been very happy and successful and it is not going to be “a one-time adventure”, as he can tell stories that, in real images, would be impossible. Furthermore, he acknowledges that he has “created a bond” with the other nominated directors: “We have exchanged telephone numbers, we have talked about coming to Spain; Truly, we have made friends.”
“Since 'Robot Dreams' was nominated, the box office rose 100% and it was re-released in 30 or 40 theaters. We are still in almost 50 cinemas in Spain”
Pablo Berger
For Berger, one of the great joys is being here with his team. ”Obviously, we have come with our families. Yes, many people from the team have come, but a lot: producers, animators, the art director, animation director, musicians, designers, sound… and many will be able to enter the gala. I go with my closest collaborator since my first film, my wife, Yuko Harami, the music editor and associate producer. Our daughter is also coming. “They separate us nominees and companions a little in the patio.”
And on Monday, what? The majority, with or without a golden statuette, will return to Spain that same day. Berger recognizes that Robot Dreams He still has some nerve left: “I'm still with the megaphone shouting: 'Come in and see!'” he laughs. She has a festival left in Cáceres next weekend, then Nantes, a week of promotion in Italy… until summer. “And then to rest and procrastinate, which I love. I'm looking forward to watching movies, reading books a little, feeding myself, because in the end we directors are the result of what we have experienced, what we have read, traveled… “. Bayona will stay a few days in Los Angeles with her parents, sightseeing. Afterwards, she will take a vacation to read scripts, put her ideas in order… Is that stopping? “Well, yeah, it's not this rhythm anymore. “I have a dry brain.”
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