He declares himself free…
Yes, I do what I want to do.
Do you chase success?
I do what I do for my own pleasure.
He takes it seriously.
No! I don’t care at all. Pere Gimferrer didn’t want me to film him, saying: “It’s just that I’m not interested in myself”. Like me!
Doesn’t he play at mythologizing his own life?
I mythologize it for others, not for myself.
Despite everything, he succeeds.
“The secret of success is to deserve it,” said Morgen. It’s true: if you deserve success, your chances of success skyrocket.
And to deserve it, what do you do?
have fun Fun is always the most important thing.
More than anything else?
More than anything: I put fun at the heart of my creation, of my work, of everything I do!
How do you put it?
I inoculate chaos. And things happen. Chaos raises insecurity, and this vitalizes! The unexpected is what amuses me.
Can you give me an example?
One: shooting in strange places. Another: when I shoot I call all my actors every morning. And no one knows if that day it will be his turn to act or not. And so they are all very tense.
And that… is it good?
Tension generates energy, and energy generates intensity. I squeeze the actor like a lemon. After that it’s an empty shell.
Do you despise actors?
I despise what they do in other shoots: they say sentences from a script. And this so worn…is it a movie? Bah, bah! But… I do admire what they do on my shoots.
What stories do your films tell?
Stories? None! I only create new atmospheres. They are impossible to plagiarize.
How do you choose the actors?
It’s the decisive moment, the casting! I look at the candidates… and I know which ones are yes and which ones are not.
And how does he know?
Mystery: something emanates from everyone. Once I have chosen the actor, I explain to him what I am looking for… and I no longer direct him. It will be done!
ah Don’t you tell them what you want from them when you shoot each scene? Nothing?
Nothing. what do i know I trust it. I believe in acts of faith. From them to me and vice versa. I believe in his inspiration. When I roll I only notice the air above their heads, not them.
Do you know which actor will shoot?
neither This is dictated by the moment.
And once the movie is over, what?
They go to another shooting, another bubble of unreality: how lucky! And, meanwhile, I sweat doing the assembly. Arali I will ask a question… for you to think about.
A question for me?
Yes. And don’t look for my answer later: I won’t give it! Why is the best room, during a shoot, for the actor and not for the director or the producer? Because?
Well… I don’t know. I’ll think about it…
Really good. As I said, doing the assembly I see subtleties that no one will appreciate.
But do you?
Yes, and the footage talks to me and tells me how to set it up.
Who was your great teacher?
My plowing grandfather, from Banyoles: he plowed by hand with his donkey, little by little and obsessively, with great determination.
It doesn’t mention filmmakers, movies…
I’m not going to the cinema! That would contaminate me.
I don’t believe him.
I only go there if I’m interested in some aspect to assimilate. I’m not interested in cinema. What interests me is literature.
So why does he make movies?
To mock the world. Umbral said: “I do everything”. Is this! I laugh at filmmakers who take themselves seriously.
But we are here talking about his cinema.
In my films, I care about what is not seen. And the fiction that infiltrates reality. Five people from one of my shoots changed partners after finishing it.
Fiction is another reality.
To be an artist is to want to live in a fiction all the time without interruption.
More fiction, then: is there a monster in the Banyoles lake?
Who knows… Swimming in it is disturbing. The bottoms are muddy, unfathomable, it is very difficult to find a drowned person. The fascination of twilight.
Is there fun in Banyoles?
There are no better parties in the world than those in my town. There we have the party inside. I only listen to music from the sixties precisely for this reason: there is illusion, there is utopia, those musicians brought the party inside!
Are you lying to me a lot?
We have every right to lie. Politicians have it too, naturally.
Is it childish to ask them for the truth?
“Let’s save the principles for the big occasions!”, suggested Stendhal… or was it Baudelaire? I don’t know, but I agree.
