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    Garcia Bernal finds Cannes Film Fest more relaxing as a director

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1716 Views
    Actors Benny Emmanuel, from left, Leidi Gutierrez and director Gael Garcia Bernal pose for portrait photographs for the film 'Chicuarotes' at the 72nd international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 21, 2019. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)

    By Adam Egan

    CANNES, France (AP) --

    Gael Garcia Bernal is finding it's a lot more relaxing being at the Cannes Film Festival as a director than as an actor.

    "As a director everything is done," says Garcia Bernal, whose film "Chicuarotes" is playing as an official selection but out of competition at Cannes.

    "There's nothing else to do. So, I just, I don't know, let myself go. And I love the movie, I like it a lot. I like what we all did, all the collaborators did a wonderful job. And I'm proud of them and I'm happy," he said.

    "Chicuarotes" follows two teenage friends in a town within Mexico City who turn to crime in an attempt to change their lives. The Mexican star says the lives of the characters are completely foreign to what he experienced growing up.

    "What's so striking about the world they live in is they grew up in something that I am so far away from," he told The Associated Press in an interview this week. "I grew up in a very loving family and these kids (have) not. They don't have it. And I just can't understand how anyone grows up like that.

    "It's like 'how do you do it?' I don't know there's something about wanting to know a person … (and) the consequences of this cycle of violence that they go through."

    This is not the directorial debut for Garcia Bernal, but he is better known for his acting projects, including "The Motorcycle Diaries,"  "Bad Education" and "Mozart in the Jungle."

    Garcia Bernal first considered making the film a decade ago but decided to put things on hold following the birth of his son.

    "I had to get out from it a little bit. So, I've been revisiting it constantly and now I've ended up making it," he says.

    The film stars Daniel Giménez Cacho and Dolores Heredia, along with Benny Emmanuel, Gabriel Carbajal and Leidi Gutiérrez.

    Gael Garcia said the casting was among the more complicated aspects of getting the movie done, particularly casting Emmanuel as the main character Cagalera.

    "We had to find him, or rather he had to find us — rather he had to discover us because that's more or less what ended up happening," he said.

    He added:  "We did workshops for two years with actors and yes, it was really nice. It was wonderful."

    Tags:Cannes Film FestivalChicuarotesGael Garcia Bernal



    Blake Lively accuses “It Ends With Us” director Justin Baldoni of harassment and smear campaign

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Blake Lively poses for photographers upon arrival at the UK Gala Screening for the film 'It 'Ends With Us' on Thursday, Aug, 8, 2024 in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)

    Blake Lively has accused her "It Ends With Us" director and co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the movie and a subsequent effort to "destroy" her reputation in a legal complaint.

    The complaint obtained by The Associated Press, which The New York Times reported was filed Friday with the California Civil Rights Department, precedes a lawsuit. It names Baldoni, the studio behind "It Ends With Us" and Baldoni's publicists among the defendants.

    In the complaint, Lively accuses Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a "multi-tiered plan" to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed "repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior" by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.

    The plan, the complaint said, included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively. The complaint also says Baldoni "abruptly pivoted away from" the movie's marketing plan and "used domestic violence 'survivor content' to protect his public image."

    "These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media," attorney Bryan Freedman said in a statement. Freedman represents Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives.

    Freedman pushed back against Lively's allegations of a coordinated campaign, saying the studio "proactively" hired a crisis manager "due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production." He said Lively threatened to not appear on set and not promote the film "if her demands were not met." Those demands were not specified in the statement.

    "I hope that my legal action... Read More

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