OnFilm Interviews A Conversation with Xavier Pérez Grobet ... - Kodak

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KODAK: Online Publications: OnFilm Interviews while I realized that it wasn't something that I felt passionate about. QUESTION: What did you do after you came to that realization? GROBET: After about a half year in architectural school, I decided to board a cargo ship to Europe. I got onboard in Acapulco and rode through the Panama Canal. The trip took about two months, and then I spent about a half a year backpacking around Europe. QUESTION: That must have broadened your outlook. What did you do after that odyssey? GROBET: I went back to Mexico and worked for a while until it was time to apply for film school. The exam consisted of several stages and ended with an interview where five tough teachers made it really difficult. Around 300 people applied, and I was lucky enough to be one of the 12 they selected. QUESTION: How about sharing some your memories from film school? GROBET: We studied every aspect of filmmaking during the first year. It was a great opportunity to meet real filmmakers. During the second year, the director of the school, who is a well known documentary filmmaker, Eduardo Maldonado, was working on a feature documentary about the festivities in Xochimilco, an area south of Mexico City. I worked as camera assistant on that film. That was my first experience on a film other than our school projects. QUESTION: We noticed that you were also an assistant cameraman on an number American films while you were still in your mid-20s. How did that happen? GROBET: There were different American films shooting in Mexico that were looking for locals who spoke the language and had enough experience to work on their crews. My first experience was on a film that David Watkin shot called Last Rites. Tom Berenger was in it. It was an incredible opportunity to see how David Watkin lit the interior of that church. I also assisted on Revenge shot by Jeff Kimball (ASC) and Total Recall by Jost Vacano (ASC). QUESTION: You earned your first cinematography credit around the same time. GROBET: La Mujer de Benjamin (Benjamin's Woman) started as a graduate student film project and ended up earning many awards all around the world. It was directed by Carlos Carrera, with whom I did three films. QUESTION: You earned the first of your four Silver Ariel Award nominations for best cinematography on a Mexican film on that project. By the early 1990s, you were shooting one film after another in Mexico. Do any of them stick out in your memory? GROBET: I remember a film called Sin Remitente or No Return Address in English. That film was also directed by Carlos Carrera. I did some interesting and risky things for the first time on that film like underexposing the negative and using color and neutral density grad filters, and our sets were painted really dark. It is great when a film gives you opportunities to explore new things. QUESTION: You earned your second Silver Ariel nomination for your work on that film. But, you just raised an interesting point about creating looks that are right for different films. When does the inspiration for that happen for you? Does it begin with the script? GROBET: I can't really say that I see the look of a film in my mind the first time I read the script. I came onto The Woodsman (2004) only around two weeks before we started shooting. It was Nicole Kassell's first film, but she had a very clear vision of what she wanted. At our first meeting, she said that she wanted kind of an overcast day look throughout the film. We experimented with desaturation and grain, looked at some 1970s films Page 2 of 5
KODAK: Online Publications: OnFilm Interviews together-Five Easy Pieces, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and also Rat Catcher-and spoke about the language they used. I considered flashing the film, but because of budget I ended up using cyan and a "pull" process on the negative. I chose an older set of Zeiss prime lenses, because we didn't want everything to be crystal sharp and clear. QUESTION: What an interesting example of visual grammar. How about another one? GROBET: There were POV shots where we wanted a sense of unreality to represent a feeling of uncertainty We over exposed the film by three stops, so the images are grainy and washed out just enough to tell the audience he might be seeing something he doesn't want to see. QUESTION: Where do ideas like that come from? GROBET: You are always learning and looking for ways to push it a little bit farther, but you can't do it alone. I can read a script and have ideas that might work for the film, but unless I am working with a director who shares that vision, and is willing to experiment, it isn't going to happen. Every film has its own language with endless possibilities, but you have to create it together with a director who shares your vision. QUESTION: How do you decide whether or not you are interested in spending months of your life working on a particular film? GROBET: There are many different reasons to choose a film. First is the story and most important the director. Without that match it is hard to come up with a visual understanding. After The Woodsman, I was ready for a comedy. It is really easy to get categorized as someone who does certain types of films, and once that happens it is difficult to get people to see you as someone who can do other things. QUESTION: You shot a comedy, Nacho Libre, fairly recently. GROBET: The director was Jared Hess. He has a very specific vision in terms of lenses and framing, which I embraced and found interesting. We used wide angle lenses and composed the action in the center of the frame. We mainly used a 21 mm even for close-ups and the long lens was a 27 mm. It was the right language for this movie. QUESTION: You have also occasionally shot documentaries. GROBET: I have shot some documentaries like Blossoms of Fire (2000). It was a 16 mm film directed by Maureen Gosling and Ellen Osborne. It is about a community in the south of Mexico where the women wear the pants. Documentaries are kind of like hunting. They teach you that you have to be ready to shoot when unexpected things happen. All of your senses have to be open to what's happening around you. QUESTION: Do you ever see a cross-over between documentary and narrative filmmaking in terms of visual language? GROBET: Unexpected things happen on fiction film sets as well, and it's magic when you capture them. QUESTION: When did you move from Mexico to Los Angeles? GROBET: That happened in 1999. I shot Before Night Falls that year. That film was directed by Julian Schnabel. It was produced in Mexico and in New York. Lot's of doors opened with this movie. QUESTION: Do people in different countries approach filmmaking differently? GROBET: I guess there are some differences but filmmakers everywhere have a common language. One interesting thing is that whether you are shooting in Mexico, the U.S., China, Russia or Buenos Aires, film crews are the same. Page 3 of 5
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OnFilm Interviews A Conversation with Xavier Pérez Grobet ... - Kodak

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