“Biutiful,” the haunting tale of a cancer-stricken father and one of this year’s five foreign language Academy Award nominees, would never have been made today, the film’s director, Alejandro Gonzalez-Inarritu, said Saturday during a panel at the Academy’s headquarters.
He said he doesn’t think he would be able to find funding.
“I started shooting literally one month before the economic collapse in 2008,” Gonzalez-Inarritu said. “This film would never be financed again. The fact that he’s dying? It would just be impossible to make a film like that again. I was really privileged with the resources that I had. The budget I had was like $20 million, so it was expensive for a film like this.”
That figure seems meager when compared to such Oscar contenders as “Inception” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1,” whose budgets were in the $200 million range. But Gonzalez-Inarritu said finding distribution for the Mexican film, which stars best-actor nominee Javier Bardem, was difficult in the United States because of the film’s dark tone.
The other nominated foreign-language filmmakers were envious of the “Biutiful” budget. Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek director of the overprotective family drama “Dogtooth,” said the debt crisis in his country, which funds the production of approved Greek films, made it tougher to shoot his next film. He said “Dogtooth” originally cost about $250,000 to make.
“It’s really difficult to raise the money,” said Lanthimos. “I did my next film with even less than that. I don’t know how much it will cost me in the end. It’s really difficult when the Greek Film Center doesn’t have money. We know the situation with Greece. My next film was approved to be funded by the Greek Film Center, but they don’t have any money.”
Rachid Bouchareb, the Algerian director of “Outside the Law,” said he didn’t have to battle a budget to make his film about three Algerian siblings in France during Algeria’s struggle for independence, but he did have to fend off controversy in France where “Outside the Law” was intensely criticized for its depiction of Algeria’s fight for liberation.
Susanne Bier, the Danish director of “In a Better World,” insisted that any financial limitations spurred creativity while making her film about a pair of separated parents and their bullied son.
Denis Villeneuve, the Canadian director of the Middle East drama “Incendies,” said he only filmed scenes that would end up in the film in order not to waste money.
“What you see on the screen,” said Villeneuve, “is what we shot.”
Review: Director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked”
It's the ultimate celebrity redemption tour, two decades in the making. In the annals of pop culture, few characters have undergone an image makeover quite like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Oh, she may have been vengeful and scary in "The Wizard of Oz." But something changed — like, REALLY changed — on the way from the yellow brick road to the Great White Way. Since 2003, crowds have packed nightly into "Wicked" at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre to cheer as the green-skinned, misunderstood Elphaba rises up on her broomstick to belt "Defying Gravity," that enduring girl-power anthem.
How many people have seen "Wicked"? Rudimentary math suggests more than 15 million on Broadway alone. And now we have "Wicked" the movie, director Jon M. Chu's lavish, faithful, impeccably crafted (and nearly three-hour) ode to this origin story of Elphaba and her (eventual) bestie — Glinda, the very good and very blonde. Welcome to Hollywood, ladies.
Before we get to what this movie does well (Those big numbers! Those costumes!), just a couple thornier issues to ponder. Will this "Wicked," powered by a soulful Cynthia Erivo (owner of one of the best singing voices on the planet) and a sprightly, comedic, hair-tossing Ariana Grande, turn even musical theater haters into lovers?
Tricky question. Some people just don't buy into the musical thing, and they should be allowed to live freely amongst us. But if people breaking into song delights rather than flummoxes you, if elaborate dance numbers in village squares and fantastical nightclubs and emerald-hued cities make perfect sense to you, and especially if you already love "Wicked," well then, you will likely love this film. If it feels like they made the best "Wicked" movie money could buy — well, it's... Read More