Thirteen years after filming the psychological thriller Intruders, the Spanish director and screenwriter based in Los Angeles Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1967), returns with a new film. Damsel is an ambitious fantasy story with princesses, stepmothers and dragons set in a distant land that premieres on March 8 on Netflix and has a powerful female cast in its cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Robin Wright and Angela Bassett.
Why do you spend so little time and what made you agree to direct this film?
People have the perception that I have been unemployed for thirteen years and that is not true. I have been working non-stop, the thing is that I have been involved in some projects that in the end have not gone ahead. Damsel is the conclusion of that journey through different projects. It is normal in the American industry that projects are started, developed and designed but that some of them are not carried out. I have had a few years in which for reasons beyond my control the proposals did not end up coming out and it was finally Damsel when it started five years ago and I got fully into this story. I think it met all the conditions of the type of fantasy cinema that has always interested me. Above all because there is something very powerful in the proposal and it is that kind of revision of the classic story with a more modern look and that always makes me vibrate as a filmmaker. I always try to find stories and characters that have somehow not been seen before. That novelty that the story proposed was very attractive to me. In 2019 I started the design process, but then the pandemic caught us in the middle and there was a pause. But then we continued and finally we are now releasing the film with great satisfaction.
The great novelty of the story is that the protagonist is a true heroine. She doesn’t need any knight to save her from her because she takes care of it herself.
Indeed. The film talks about the new time in which we live and above all I think it is a story that can reach new generations in a more real way. I am particularly interested in fantasy as long as it is as real as possible. And this warrior princess who decides to survive and fight for her life with her instinct and her energy represents a new voice within the fantasy genre and that as a storyteller that I consider myself to be, it seemed to me that it was something necessary to carry out. cape.
The film precisely exalts the female figure over another male figure that is quite cowardly…
Yes, and I think there is also something important and that is that this film is a tribute to mothers. I think there is something that this story clearly highlights and that is the fact of motherhood, of how our mothers have cared for and protected us throughout our lives. My mother was the first who inspired me and gave me the passion for telling stories since I was little. That’s why Damsel has something very personal to me.
It is very difficult to watch the film and not be transported to the memory of a classic like The Princess Bride. And even more so with Robin Wright playing a peculiar queen. What has it been like to work with her?
Well, it has been a dream. I have been a fan of Robin since the beginning of her career. She belongs to that type of actress who does everything with deep humanity. The evil queen that she plays in Damsel is told from a place that is very exciting because you understand the reasons why she acts with that evil and that makes the villains more interesting.
Angela Bassett’s stepmother is not the typical one in the stories either…
She has a warm and close background and above all with an idea behind it that I find very attractive. And we can really find our mothers and daughters beyond blood. That is something that lies in history at all levels and the family that one chooses can be considered the most powerful, the one that has the longest history. And in Damsel this idea appears clearly. I think that the theme of family appears in practically all my films. I’m always interested in family drama. I like to investigate the bonds and emotional relationships that are generated in the family and subject them to extraordinary situations.
It has featured Millie Bobby Brown in the role of the protagonist, Elodie. How has your relationship been?
I am so surprised that someone so young is capable of dedication and has the qualities to play a role as complex as his. For a little more than half of the film she is alone in a cave pursued by a voice that we still don’t quite know what it is. We know she is a dragon but we have no direct relationship with it and she carries the weight of the movie for a large portion of the second act. That’s something only great actresses and great actors can do. At only 20 years old, she is capable of carrying the weight of a story as intense and complex as this one. I think Millie is the best actress of her generation and in this film she clearly demonstrates that she is capable of doing anything.
On a physical level it has also been a demanding role…
Yes, its physical delivery is total. And there was one thing we agreed on and that was to see in his eyes the intense emotional journey he has. Especially in the caves part. This meant that the camera was very close to her, so there were many fast-paced action scenes that she had to do to achieve the best result and she had no problem indulging in it. And the result is that her performance is even more captivating.
What surprised you the most when collaborating with her?
It’s been fantastic. She is also a producer of the film and has given me freedom when developing the character with her. It has been a very constructive relationship. I have been guiding her to the place we should go and I have also given her the freedom to embody her character. She is a very curious woman and accepting this project has a lot to do with her desire to tell a more adult story and investigate tones and colors that she had never done before, like this kind of extreme survival that Damsel contains.
How would you define Elodie?
A young, obedient woman who wants the best for her father and her people and who discovers that in the process of accepting a marriage of which she is not very convinced, she has been sacrificed to a dragon. And this leads her on a hard and complex journey of transformation and growth in which she decides to survive and find herself as the strong woman that she is.
The film has many special effects. How was the experience?
Very complicated. It’s my first big special effects film and you have to be very patient. It is complex to go to the shoot and have to imagine many things because it is not yet possible to see them. But the most important thing when you make a film of this caliber is to be surrounded by a technical team that you trust. I have been very fortunate to have a very experienced visual effects supervisor who has allowed me to explore all the ideas we wanted and also calm me down and give me the patience necessary to know that in the end we would achieve the result we were looking for. It has been a very long process. Especially since we had a dragon that is animated. Damsel not only has visual effects, it is also an animated film. I think the wait was worth it.
Do you want to work in Spain again?
I really want to make a film in Spanish again and I have several projects in mind, but it’s still very early. And then I confess that I am a little superstitious and I don’t like to talk about the things I’m cooking (laughs).
It has been 27 years since his short film Esposados ??was nominated for an Oscar. What memories do you have of that night?
It was very exciting, a very important moment in my life. I was a complete kid and all that made me incredibly dizzy. It was what launched my career a little and made me dedicate myself to making films.
What do you think of J.A.’s films? Bayona and Pablo Berger who are nominated for this Sunday’s gala?
They are fantastic and I wish them the best. Spanish cinema has been demonstrating for years that it is a cinema that is of interest anywhere in the world and the Oscars are confirmation.
