We spoke with the director, three days before filming began on the film finally starring Ángela Molina, Ana Polvorosa and María León, among others.
“This movie is the only thing that matters to me right now in life”. That’s how categorical it is Edward Casanova three days before starting, between Madrid and Andalusia, the filming of ‘piety’his second feature film after ‘Pieles’ and which, finally, has had a cast led by Ángela Molina, Manel Llunell, Ana Polvorosa, Antonio Duran Morris, Mary Leon, Daniel Freire, Songa Park, Alberto Jo Lee, Macarena Gomez Y Meteora Fontana. We spoke with him, exclusively, about the hardest creative process of his career and that is already giving him joy, such as the Special Jury Prize at the Karlovy Vary Festival.
At first it was announced that the protagonist was going to be Ana Belén…
The pandemic has caused some projects to be delayed and, by picking it up, they have changed people’s lives. It has been a matter of dates, but I have realized that, at the end and at the beginning of the road, in this film there is who should be.
How would you define ‘piety’?
It is something that I have been rehearsing in my personal and professional life all this time to get to make it, it is the only film that really interests me. Everything I’ve done before professionally has been a rehearsal for making this film, as has everything that’s happened to me in my life and in my personal relationships.
Can you reveal something about the plot?
I always try to make horror movies, something else is what comes out of me. It speaks of the most toxic that human beings can become through the relationship of a mother and a son and drawing a parallel with the North Korean dictatorship. I prefer not to advance more details of the argument.
Sounds like a very risky project…
The biggest risk I have suffered with this film is the loss of health. I have lost many things along the way, it has been difficult. And, the most important thing, has been health completely… It has moved me to write it and raise it and, to get to where I am now, I have had to make the concession of leaving health in the background.
Sounds awesome when you listen to it.
It’s reality. I always get very involved in everything, but never at this level. Since I decided that I was going to shoot this film I began to progressively lose my health: my body has changed, my mood has changed, my character has changed, I have gained weight, I have gray hair, I am not the same person…
What reactions did the actors have when reading the script?
Everyone is very happy. I’ve been writing it for a long time, even before ‘Skins’. It is a very raw film, I am going to shoot one of the strongest sequences of my entire filmography and the actors and actresses are entering rehearsals in a much darker universe than the one I am used to shooting. It is not an easy place that they are going to have to go through, but they are adapting to it.
And why have you decided to shoot it now and not before ‘Pieles’?
Maybe he wasn’t ready. I’m making this movie because it’s something I need to do before anything else. Now I am 30 years old and I feel that I have the maturity to shoot it. At another time in my life it would have been a different or not so mature movie.
Will aesthetics play an important role as well?
It is an unknown. I can only tell you that in all aspects, including colors, but especially in the human, it is much darker than what is usually seen in my work
You must have a very strong motor to have entered such a hard process…
Yes, sometimes I have even wondered if the engine was strong enough to lose so much along the way: relationships, actresses, health… For me, art is a way to sublimate your own problems and, to overcome them, many times you have to lose other things.
And how do you face filming like this?
During filming, the conflict is to get to the end of the day with all the shots shot. The fucked up thing is to finance it, prepare it and think. Filming takes away your physical health, but everything else takes away your mental health. When the movie is over I’ll rest.
To shoot something so personal, it must be essential to have the complicity of the actors.
They are aware of the process. With Ángela Molina I have had very private and very long conversations because it was inevitable to explain many details for her to understand. But I have actresses who are my family, who are part of my life, like Ana Polvorosa, Macarena Gómez or Morris.
Did you have a clear cast from the beginning?
The choice of the characters of the mother and son has been quite stormy. The only one that was always clear to me was Ana Polvorosa.
Will you appear as an actor?
No. I don’t like acting and if I continue directing, which I don’t know, I will never appear as an actor.
Where does a film like this place you as a filmmaker?
I don’t know if I’ll make more movies, I guess so, I’m saying this now to be cool, but then the bug will come again. And where does it place me… That will have to be said by the public and the critics. Maybe no one wants her and only I want her, or not even that…
Do you think that the Spanish public is prepared for a cinema like this?
Honestly, I think so. There is a type of audience for all types of movies. Maybe the one who wasn’t was me.
Accounts again with Álex de la Iglesia and Carolina Bang as producers…
That is a satisfaction to have them, because they conceive the shooting from another point of view. I like producers who are generous and allow the artist to tell exactly the story they want to tell, without getting into the artistic side.
Source: Fotogramas
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
