'The Snow Society' and 'Robot Dreams' land in Hollywood on their method to the Oscar: “The awards are forgotten and the films are remembered” | Oscar Awards | Cinema | EUROtoday

Rarely has the Hollywood Walk of Fame seen as many Spanish landings as this March 2024. On Friday afternoon, some colleagues from Basque tv have been on the lookout for a method to get a spot on the door of the Dolby theater, already taken over by the cameras; Meanwhile, a handful of Spaniards from the workforce Robot Dreams (their accent and the badge on their lapels gave them away) they have been approaching the celebrities that cowl the bottom of Hollywood Boulevard. The arrival is official. The groups of The Snow Society (nominated for finest worldwide movie and finest make-up and hairstyling) and Robot Dreams (which is up for the statuette for finest animated movie) are already within the metropolis of stars and dreaming of them.

The agenda today is tight: everybody has talks and panels with the opposite nominees of their class on the Academy of Motion Picture Museum, and likewise dinners, conferences and plenty of press to take care of. Perhaps the truth that the 2 movies are very totally different from one another – by way of theme, typology, budgets, manufacturing and distribution – has helped to create extra brotherhood between them. On Friday morning, the workforce The Snow Societywith the assistance and logistics of Egeda, organized a breakfast with the Spanish press residing or touring to Los Angeles on the trendy restaurant within the metropolis, Telefèric, which additionally hosted the smaller group of Robot Dreams. Something that served as a hyperlink and helped put each inside attain of the various media which have come to California to comply with them.

Upon arrival, Juan Antonio Bayona and his producers, Belén Atienza and Sandra Hermida (the three are the nominees for finest worldwide movie), joined the sisters Ana and Belén López-Puigcerver (hair and make-up designer, respectively) and David Martí and Montse Ribé (particular make-up results supervisors) to speak with the dozen journalists. Before a protracted desk, they declared themselves fairly relaxed. “The fact that we are not favorites takes the pressure off,” Bayona joked. But then the morning handed, the hours handed, and when he sat down once more with this diary, issues had modified. “Now I am more nervous than when I arrived. I was very calm until I sat here in front of all of you,” he laughs. “It is unavoidable with all the media attention that comes with getting to the Oscar. There have been many months of hard work, months of pick and shovel, teaching the film, which is the best tool.”

It is not the first time that Bayona goes to the Oscars —The impossible, then the highest-grossing film in the history of Spanish cinema, It was present in 2013 thanks to Naomi Watts' nomination for best actress—but it was the first one her parents attended. “I am very excited that they come and see them in that context, that it is the first time they take a transatlantic flight and come to the ceremony,” she acknowledges. Especially for her father, who was the one who instilled in her a passion for cinema and who for a few years was a poster artist, hand-painting the billboards of the cinemas in Barcelona.

The filmmaker and his team recognize that, in this decade since The impossible, They have learned many things. Few people had seen the tsunami film when they arrived in Hollywood, something that has not happened to them this time with this story about the air tragedy in the Andes. “I think there are films that sometimes break paradigms or preconceived ideas,” said Atienza. “This is how the industry works, barriers are being broken. And this film specifically has contributed to that, for our future projects and for those of other filmmakers,” he adds, praising the distribution, for example, from which they have learned a lot. Would they want to win the Oscar? “Yes,” Bayona says, without hesitation. “But I think awards are forgotten and movies are remembered and this movie will be remembered for many years.”

The Barcelona native said that this project has helped him become the director he wants to be. In the last seven years he has filmed A monster comes to see me, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and now The Snow Society. “Very large and very, very absorbent. So I need to stop, take a little air, because this movie has also left me with a very sweet taste. I have found myself, I have rediscovered myself as a director in a space in which I also feel more comfortable and everything I do as a filmmaker. It's more personal, it has been very interesting. And looking to the future, there are many of the successes of this film that I want to capitalize on for the next one. It's a learning process, rolling Jurassic World and those chapters of The Lord of the rings they allowed me to roll The Snow Society and this has also been done a little against those projects. It is a constant exploration where one learns along the way and tries to learn from mistakes. They are the way of realizing things. Sometimes success is intoxicating and error allows you to calculate and correct.” So getting into those big Hollywood projects was a mistake? “No, because without them I would not have done The Snow Society. But one sees his name a little crushed by that of the franchise. You disappear under the name of that franchise and now you have to rediscover yourself with this project, which on the other hand I wanted to have filmed 10 years ago. This was the moment, I have learned a lot along the way.”

Filming 'Jurassic World' and two chapters of 'The Lord of the Rings' allowed me to film 'The Snow Society' and this one has also been done a bit against those projects.”

Juan Antonio Bayona

His makeup and hairdressing colleagues are also excited, they can't find adjectives to describe him, they admit that they never expected the nomination. “Beat, yes, I think that's good,” they chant. Ribé and Martí already took home the statuette in 2007 for The Pan's Labyrinth, and now they come with the newest López-Puigcerver sisters. They are happy, exhausted, and a little worried, because after the flight some of the suitcases with the objects that they were going to show on the Academy panel were lost; They are already safe and on their way. They recognize that this film has made them get out of their usual work by working with real people, many of them alive, having real models by their side. “They cried watching the filming, it was very exciting, it is a lot of responsibility,” they say about the survivors. “They went to Uruguay and before we asked them they all said: wow!” when they saw the actors' makeup. The fact that they are nominated for a subtle and choral work, without a single protagonist, is “vital and exquisite on the similar time.”

Pablo Berger already sees himself with the Oscar in his hand for his robot and his dog. “Yes, yes, without a doubt, of course I can imagine. And then it would be the bomb if the award goes to Penélope Cruz and instead of shouting 'Pedrooo!' she shouts 'Pabloooo!'” she laughs. If not? “Well, we are going to use the cliché: the nomination is the prize, we’re all winners… and because the one who wins all the time says that he shares it, I’ll inform him that then it’s a little bit mine.” In reality, he knows that it is very difficult for him and, beyond joking, he confesses that “in a honest method, for the director the significance of awards and nominations is that extra folks go to see it, that extra audiences go to the films.” , initially, because this film was designed for the screen. “I’m a romantic and I nonetheless initially need the movies to be seen within the cinema after which, as soon as the theatrical window passes, after all, I would like them to go to the platforms.” RTVE has the broadcasting rights and therefore Robot Dreams It will also be seen on public television. Furthermore, he explains that the word Oscar has boosted ticket sales: “Since the nomination came out, the box office rose 100% and it was re-released in 30 or 40 theaters. We are still in almost 50 cinemas in Spain.” His foray into the world of animation has been very happy and successful and it is not going to be “a one-time adventure”, as he can tell stories that, in real images, would be impossible. Furthermore, he acknowledges that he has “created a bond” with the other nominated directors: “We have exchanged telephone numbers, we have talked about coming to Spain; Truly, we have made friends.”

“Since 'Robot Dreams' was nominated, the box office rose 100% and it was re-released in 30 or 40 theaters. We are still in almost 50 cinemas in Spain”

Pablo Berger

For Berger, one of the great joys is being here with his team. ”Obviously, we have come with our families. Yes, many people from the team have come, but a lot: producers, animators, the art director, animation director, musicians, designers, sound… and many will be able to enter the gala. I go with my closest collaborator since my first film, my wife, Yuko Harami, the music editor and associate producer. Our daughter is also coming. “They separate us nominees and companions a little in the patio.”

And on Monday, what? The majority, with or without a golden statuette, will return to Spain that same day. Berger recognizes that Robot Dreams He still has some nerve left: “I'm still with the megaphone shouting: 'Come in and see!'” he laughs. She has a festival left in Cáceres next weekend, then Nantes, a week of promotion in Italy… until summer. “And then to rest and procrastinate, which I love. I'm looking forward to watching movies, reading books a little, feeding myself, because in the end we directors are the result of what we have experienced, what we have read, traveled… “. Bayona will keep a couple of days in Los Angeles together with her mother and father, sightseeing. Afterwards, she’s going to take a trip to learn scripts, put her concepts so as… Is that stopping? “Well, yeah, it's not this rhythm anymore. “I have a dry brain.”

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