Los Angeles – Will Alejandro González Iñárritu “The Revenant” do a repeat and walk away with the Best Director award from the Academy like he did last year? Or will the charming veteran George Miller run away with the Oscar for his epic movie “Mad Max: Fury Road”?
Don’t look now because Tom McCarthy of supposed frontrunner “Spotlight” may be rewarded the trophy for Best Director; and don’t ignore “The Big Short’s” Adam McKay, or underdog Lenny Abrahamson of “The Room.”
We interviewed all five contenders and here’s what they told us:
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu and Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘The Revenant’
ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU, ‘THE REVENANT’
How did you pick this film and how did you make Leonardo DiCaprio agree to do it?
“Honestly, I didn’t know what I was embarking on. Yes, there were rough times in this film where situations were extremely difficult in every level, creatively, financially. I compare my experience on this to the kind of film-making that has disappeared already. Today, we could basically control the elements working with green screens. This was different because we actually embraced the difficulties of working with the environment. So, it was a method directing.
“I was really exposing myself to that and the actors too. It’s like these guys who do rock-climbing without the rope, once you are in the middle of that wall and it’s vertical there is no way out, there is no way down so you cannot get back.
“Viewers could respond to this because first, I think Leo has this incredible commitment to the environment. He has incredible foundation. He’s very committed to the fight against global warming. We share the same vision and mission. The context of this film is so relevant today, which is how human beings relate with nature.
“There’s a moment in the film where there are no words and Leo has to express a complex amount of emotion from fear, desolation, anger, cold, hope, only with his body and his eyes. For an actor, that is a great challenge. I think that’s one of the reasons why he accepted the role.”
George Miller and Charlize Theron ‘Mad Max Fury Road’
GEORGE MILLER, ‘MAD MAX: FURY ROAD’
Can you talk about Tom Hardy and Mel Gibson? Is there a comparison?
“Yeah. When Tom walked in the room, he reminded me of Mel Gibson when he walked in the room 30 years before. They are both extremely talented actors. They are both very lovable but they also possess that quality of mystery or danger, which we usually see in charismatic actors.
“But Tom is a guy that is prepared to try any sort of role. He’s talking about doing Elton John, and he’s just done the Kray Brothers thing and I have also seen him do Bronson so, I think, Tom posses a kind of unpredictability that we need for the character.
“So, yeah there’s a lot similarities between the two but in a lot of ways there are also a lot of differences.”
Adam McKay and Christian Bale ‘The Big Short’
ADAM MCKAY, ‘THE BIG SHORT’
This is quite a departure for you and I think you accomplished it very well. What got you passionate about this and why this subject? Was that something you followed or were aware of?
“We did a movie called ‘The Other Guys’ with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell and we attempted to make it into a comedy about the collapse of the stock market. Most people just laughed at it and it didn’t quite come across like we wanted to.
“Then I just picked up ‘The Big Short’ one night. It was like 9 o’clock and started reading it and I couldn’t put it down. I ended up reading it all night long. My wife was like, ‘What were you reading?’ and I tried to describe it to her. I really wanted to do it the moment I finished reading it but then I just figured someone else would make it. I thought, ‘I’m a comedy guy, no way this would ever come my way.’
“A year-and-a-half later, I had done ‘Ant Man,’ we had ‘Anchorman 2’ come out and my agent asked me in a sort of playful way, ‘If you could do anything what would you want to do?’ and I just blurted ‘The Big Short.’ Turned out it was good timing. Plan B had the script and they were interested in me doing it so, it worked out really well.”
Tom McCarthy, Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo ‘Spotlight’
TOM MCCARTHY, ‘SPOTLIGHT’
Have you shown the film to some Catholic groups and what was their reaction to it?
“I personally have not been involved in that. I don’t know if they did it when they were testing the movie. I do know we’ve had a lot of Catholics see the movie and come up to talk to me personally.
“As a filmmaker, I just want to sit in a theater and be around after for the Q&A’s. That’s how I want to experience my film as opposed to listening to any one particular group or another.
“Certainly in Italy, I would just about guarantee 90% of our audience was Catholic and there were some discussions about the film so, it was a really wonderful place to premiere the movie.
“I’ve had several priests reach out to me directly telling me that they thought it was an important movie. Even my mother’s parish priest in New Jersey drove to New York to see the movie and waited for two sold out shows. Joking aside, my mother who’s a devout Catholic, was really rocked by the movie.”
Lenny Abrahamson, Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay ‘The Room’
LENNY ABRAHAMSON, ‘THE ROOM’
This isn’t just a fluffy popcorn piece. Why did you want to make this movie?
“I was interested in the idea that surround what appears to be a straightforward although difficult story. It’s a metaphor for parenting in general, the way in which the child and the parent are held together in a way that can be wonderful but also claustrophobic. This is true of all parents and children. Then it’s also a metaphor for growing up, the cozy mythology of a child moving into being an adult, but in a colder, more complex, less clear world of being a grown-up.
“It was an intellectually stimulating novel. It connected to me emotionally. It was also a challenge to me as a filmmaker to work in such a small environment and create something about this idea that there is a full universe for the boy. I wanted to do that in a way that it felt real to the audience.”
Credits: Janet Nepales, Manila Bulletin
