[nabs-l] Fwd: Blindness - Movie Director Fernando Meirelles interview

[T. Joseph Carter]

Hey Fernando, the National Federation of the Blind works for me, and I'm 
blind.  In fact, it works for more blind people than any other organization 
in the United States because it is comprised of more blind people than any 
other organization in the United States.

Your movie failed in US markets because it stank more than the Asylum it 
was largely set in.  There was just about as much excrement involved, so 
this should come as little surprise.

Joseph

On Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 12:37:31AM +0000, Corbb O'Connor wrote:
> In the interest of equal opportunity of opinion, I forward this  
> interview to you.
>
> -----
> Corbb O'Connor
> studying at the National University of Ireland, Galway
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: LPovinelli at aol.com
> Date: November 19, 2008 10:06:23 PM GMT
> Subject: Blindness - Movie Director Fernando Meirelles interview
>
>
> Blindness - Fernando Meirelles interview
>
>
> Interview by Rob Carnevale
>
>
> FERNANDO Meirelles, the Brazilian director of City of God and The  
> Constant Gardener, talks about his latest project Blindness, the  
> controversy surrounding it and why Stevie Wonder was involved in one of 
> the most expensive jokes he’s ever played.
>
> He also relates how the film has become an overwhelming success in his  
> own country even though American audiences turned their backs on it, and 
> why author Jose Saramago was reduced to tears after seeing the film.
>
> Q. When this came back to you after the success of your other movies,  
> did it feel like kind of a reward for those successes?
> Fernando Meirelles: You know, it had nothing to do with the success of  
> my other movies because when [Jose] Saramago sold the rights to Niv  
> Fichman, the Canadian, he didn’t know I was going to direct. They first 
> developed the script and then they tried to think about the possible 
> director. They said they thought about me first, but I don’t believe it. 
> Saramago didn’t know I was going to do it. They just told him later.
>
> Q. How disappointed were you not to get the rights initially?
> Fernando Meirelles: I just moved on very quickly. There was another book 
> that I was interested in, from the same publisher, which was City of God. 
> So we talked about the other one and started negotiating about City of 
> God. So, it wasn’t a big deal. At that point, I’d been doing commercials 
> for nine years and I really wanted to move on because my life was very 
> boring. So, I just bought City of God and started working on it.
>
> Q. Did you talk to Saramago about the book?
> Fernando Meirelles: Actually, after I signed on to the project I went to 
> Lisbon to meet him and I had a lot of questions. We met for dinner and I 
> thought he was going to answer them but he didn’t want to. He said: “It’s 
> my book and this is your film, so let’s not mix them up…” I really wanted 
> to know a lot of things but in the end I think he was right. If he’d told 
> me something about specific characters or events in the film I would try 
> to follow whatever he’d said and not what I was thinking. I would have 
> been a bit divided. In the end, I was happy that he didn’t want to talk 
> about his book.
>
> Q. Did you mention any of your casting ideas, such as Julianne Moore?
> Fernando Meirelles: No, not at that point. His idea for the doctor’s  
> wife was Susan Sarandon, who was also on my list. But we wanted an  
> actress who was a bit younger. We needed her to be 10 or 12 years  
> younger. There were three things he asked us: one, that the film should 
> be spoken in English, so it could be very international; he didn’t want 
> the story to be set in a specific place, it should be very generic; and 
> the dog with the tears, he said he wanted a big dog. So, we had a big dog 
> but he hated it [laughs].
>
> Q. Has he seen the film and does he like it?
> Fernando Meirelles: He saw it right after Cannes. I took the film to  
> Lisbon because he couldn’t come to Cannes. I showed him in a very bad  
> cinema screen in Lisbon and when the film finished he wouldn’t say  
> anything. He was sitting next to me and he wouldn’t talk! I was sure he 
> hated the film and didn’t know how to tell me. But then the lights came 
> on and he was crying. He said he was as happy to see the film as he was 
> when he finished writing the book. Actually, my son was seated in front 
> of us, so when the lights turned on he turned his little camera and then 
> at night at the hotel he put this video on YouTube. So, if you go to 
> YouTube and put in Saramago, Blindness and maybe my name, this is the 
> first thing that pops up. There’s like 200,000 hits already. My son’s 
> footage is more successful than mine! But it’s a very moving moment 
> because I was so pathetically nervous next to him. I was sure he hated 
> it. But then when he said he loved it, I kissed him. I don’t kiss people 
> a lot. But I kissed his head because I was so moved.
>
> Q. How did he feel the film worked compared to the book, because the  
> book is more of an allegory and the film is more naturalistic?
> Fernando Meirelles: He said he liked it. He said they were different,  
> because they had to be as there were different sensibilities and  
> different people telling the same story. But what he liked about it was 
> that the spirit of the book was totally respected by the film. I came 
> from Lisbon yesterday and the day before yesterday, we had dinner  
> together and he presented the screening. I didn’t stay to see it but  
> before I left I went by his house to say goodbye and he was so moved. He 
> said: “Fernando, yesterday I watched it again and it’s a great film.” He 
> talked about the violence in the film and he really loved the texture of 
> the tension… Again, he was very, very happy, so that was good news for 
> me. But, again, he didn’t like the dog. And that’s an important thing to 
> me because I had read this interview and among all his characters that 
> he’d written for this book, he was asked which was his favourite and he 
> said: “I could kill all my characters but the dog of tears.” So, for him 
> the dog was really important and that’s why it was the only character he 
> had something to ask for. And I missed it!
>
> Q. Did the criticism from blind groups in America take you by surprise?
> Fernando Meirelles: It was not a surprise because when we were preparing 
> the film and they read the story was going to be shot, they [The National 
> Federation of the Blind] wrote to us and said they didn’t approve of the 
> project and they’d only approve if we sent them the script so they could 
> revise and correct it. They were very bossy. So, we politely answered 
> that they could have their own opinion, etc, etc, but it was our film. 
> So, as promised, before we released the film they told us they were going 
> to demonstrate and they carried out demonstrations in front of 75 
> cinemas, which is quite a big thing. To be honest, they missed the point 
> completely. They thought the film tells the audience that blind people 
> can’t be adapted, that blind people can’t work because they’re stupid and 
> aggressive and it has nothing to do with blind people. It’s about human 
> nature. It’s about people just going blind and losing their humanity. 
> It’s a totally different story.
>
> Q. Did Stevie Wonder give you any feedback about it as you use one of  
> his songs?
> Fernando Meirelles: Well, that was actually a little joke that happened 
> when we were shooting. We were waiting to shoot the scene where Gael 
> [Garcia Bernal] was talking on the microphone to attract everyone’s 
> attention. But before doing that, he had the microphone in his hand and 
> so, for fun, started singing Stevie Wonder [I Just Called To Say I Love 
> You]. I thought that was funny and maybe we could shoot it. I wasn’t sure 
> I was going to use it but we were laughing a lot, so finally I decided to 
> use the joke and we bought the rights. That was the most expensive joke 
> in my life. They charged us $50,000! But we paid.
>
> Q. You say the story in the book and the film is about human nature. So 
> what does it say about the human nature of a group that protests against 
> something before it’s been released?
> Fernando Meirelles: Well, what we found out about this group is that  
> this organisation don’t really work for blind people. It’s more like a  
> PR organisation. They want to promote the idea that there is an  
> organisation for blind people. Other organisations have training for  
> blind people for adaptation or school. They don’t have that. It’s just a 
> news agency and it’s about promoting the idea that blind people can  
> adapt. That’s fair. But I think their decision to protest before seeing 
> or hearing the film was really a mistake. Saramago’s reply was quite 
> aggressive. He said something like, [with regards to human blindness] 
> there’s some people who can see but are blind, and some blind people who 
> are really blind but can see how stupid somebody can be.
>
> Q. Is this the first film you’ve made that’s not been praised by the  
> international press?
> Fernando Meirelles: Everybody can have their opinion. We’ve had some  
> good reviews. The Guardian here, and the LA Times gave us a good review. 
> It was really divided. But it’s a difficult film. There’s people who love 
> the book and those who can’t read it to the end. The good news is that 
> the film in Brazil is doing really well. We did an investment to do 
> 300,000 tickets because it is a hard film to sell. So, we did 95 prints 
> and we thought we were going to do 300,000 tickets. The Constant Gardener 
> did 500,000 in Brazil, but this is a harder film so we thought that maybe 
> it would do less. But now the film is now going to go to 900,000 and we 
> might make a million. And that’s with no investment. It’s all word of 
> mouth. We released eight weeks ago with 95 prints and still have 95 
> prints going on because the cinemas are still packed. So, audiences are 
> responding very well… in Mexico as well.
>
> But in the US the film didn’t work at all. I don’t know why. They  
> released it four weeks ago and now we have only 80 prints left. The  
> American audience wasn’t interested in seeing the story. They opened  
> very wide and on the first weekend, the audience didn’t show up. They  
> saw the trailer, saw the posters and decided they didn’t want to see a  
> depressing film. So, they didn’t go. If the film hadn’t been so  
> successful in Brazil or Mexico I’d say it was a problem with the film.  
> But I’d say it’s a cultural thing. Maybe the election is really creating 
> a tension. In this financial crisis, people are losing their jobs, losing 
> their houses and losing their investments. It’s not a good moment for 
> dark stories… because in the same week that we released Blindness, 
> Beverly Hills Chihuahua opened on the same day and was a big hit!
>
> Q. The blindness camps sounded like an interesting part of the process, 
> which you took part in as well. What did you discover about yourself 
> while doing that, because it makes you confront one of every person’s 
> worst nightmares?
> Fernando Meirelles: You know, we had groups where we blindfolded people 
> for hours and did different exercises. In every group, there was always 
> two or three people who, at some point after two or three hours, would 
> sit down and cry. They really, really couldn’t go on – but we wouldn’t 
> let them take off the blindfold. Somebody would go there and say: “No, 
> let’s keep going.” But for me, it was the opposite. It was so comfortable 
> and so cosy. I remember I did it twice. The first time we did a lot of 
> things and we were taken to a restaurant, we were served and we had to 
> eat while blindfolded. After lunch, the guy said we could remove our 
> blindfolds but I didn’t want to. I think I stayed with the blindfold for 
> another eight minutes. It was so pleasant being with myself. It’s so good 
> because when you’re talking to people you don’t see their faces. When I’m 
> talking to you [now] I have expressions, I’m trying to engage you. But if 
> you can’t see, it’s much more free. It’s so liberating.
>
> Another thing I’ve found, which is so interesting, is that when you’re  
> blindfolded and you’re talking to somebody the conversation goes to  
> places that it would never go if you could see the other person’s  
> reaction. You start talking about very intimate things. It’s such an  
> interesting experience. I recommend maybe Sunday morning and spending  
> the day in a blindfold. It’s really, really interesting.
>
> Delicious
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> Quite apart from his incorrect characterization of our objections to his 
> movie, Mr. Meirelles proves in this interview that he knows nothing about 
> the National Federation of the Blind and what we do. We operate three 
> model training centers in the United States that offer the best available 
> rehabilitation training to help people adapt to blindness, and we are 
> very involved in mentoring blind youth and encouraging them to 
> participate in careers that are falsely thought to be closed to the 
> blind. And those things are just the tip of the iceberg. In our 
> sixty-eight years of existence, we have done more good for blind people 
> than any single organization that claims to “work for the blind.” This is 
> because we are an organization of blind people, and blind people are in 
> the best position to know what blind people truly need. The biggest 
> problem that blind people face is the public misconceptions and 
> misunderstandings about blindness and blind people, so public education 
> is a critically important part of our mission, but it is not true to say 
> that we are simply a “PR organization.”
>
>
> — Chris Danielsen    Nov 19    #
>
>
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