By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer
VENICE, Italy (AP) --Documentary filmmaker Lauren Greenfield started interviewing former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos four years ago thinking that it might be a redemption story for the then 85-year-old. What she found is that Marcos was not only standing by the controversial history of her family but defending it as well.
Greenfield’s documentary about Marcos, “The Kingmaker,” premiered Friday at the Venice International Film Festival.
Imelda Marcos’s husband, the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos presided over the country for 20 years and declared martial law in 1972, which ultimately resulted in his being ousted by an army-backed “people power” revolt in 1986. He died in self-exile in Hawaii in 1989 but Imelda Marcos and her children returned to the Philippines where many have been elected to political office.
“I started it attracted to Imelda Marcos because she was an iconic reference in the work I was doing on wealth,” Greenfield said Friday in a press conference. She’d heard about extravagances — her 3,000 pairs of shoes and the island she turned into a wildlife sanctuary for exotic animals — but came to understand that there was another story brewing beyond the decadence.
“I was taken in with her story and her history,” Greenfield said. “(But I) soon realized that the political comeback story was what I wanted to focus on.”
The film chronicles Marcos’ efforts to help her son Bongbong win the vice-presidency. It helped inform the title, “The Kingmaker,” which she landed on a year into editing.
“It would be like (Richard) Nixon coming back and running for re-election,” Greenfield said. “I was amazed that this family … was welcomed back and into public office.”
For Greenfield, known for documentaries like “The Queen of Versailles” and “Generation Wealth,” it was a unique experience working with an “unreliable narrator” and she struggled with how to tell the audience that some of what Marcos was saying was incorrect. She also said he found Marcos, now 90, to be generous and kind and candid. She said Marcos has not yet seen the documentary.
“I think she is extremely confident about her story, her place in history and her legacy and that’s what I wanted to hear from her,” Greenfield said. “People have treated Marcos as a laughable figure. (It) reminds me of how we didn’t take (Donald) Trump seriously, and I think she often has the last laugh.”
“The Kingmaker” will be in theaters this fall and on Showtime in 2020.
Greenfield is partnered in Girl Culture Films, a company formed earlier this year to help amplify female and diverse directorial voices in the ad world.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More