Bill Condon is no stranger to the musical of the film. He wrote in 2002 Chicago and continued to direct the two Oscar winners Dreamgirls And Disney Hit Beauty and the beast. Last winter, Condon made his debut, The kiss of the spider womanIn an unexpected place: The Sundance Film Festival.
Although he made his debut on his right sharing of Star Power, Sundance is better known for his silent dramas than spishy musicals with one of the greatest popstars in the world. (It should be noted that it was not the first time from Condon to the Fest – Gods and monstersFor which he won an Oscar, made his debut in Park City in 1998.) But the Eccles turned out to be a warm place for the film, which applauded the public for the showstopping tour of star Jennifer Lopez and the film won extremely positive criticism.
Condon The kiss of the spider woman -Based on a 1976 novel by Argentinean Author Manuel Puig, Which was adapted for the Big Screen in 1985 (Landing William Hurt A Best Actor Oscar) and then Became a Tony-Winning 1993 Broadway Musical from Legendary Songwriting Team John Kander and Fred Ebb-Focuses on Two Cellmates, Valentíno (Diego Luna), A Political Prisoner with Hopes of Overthrowing the Dictatorship, and Molina (Tonatiuh), a Queer window convenient found guilty of public indecency. The two form a link when, to pass the time, Molina recounts the intrigue of a Hollywood musical with her favorite star, Ingrid Luna (Lopez).
Before The kiss of the spider woman screening in another film festival, this time the Locarno, Condon spoke to THR On the reason he made the film independently and the future of film musicals in Hollywood.
What was your relationship with The kiss of the spider woman – The 1985 film and the musical?
See this film at the end of the twenties as a homosexual which was quite remarkable. William injured a gay hairdresser, he was one of the first actors, at the height of his warmth, to play a role like this – it was incredible. And then the musical, obviously, I am a great lover of Kander and EBB and great musical theater – really powerful musical dramas. Then I wrote the Chicago script, and that is what made me think of that as a film, because he had the impression that there was such a link between Spider woman And Cabaret And Chicago. He struck me that Molina and Roxy Hart and Sally Bowles be cut off from the same fabric. They all sought to show both a kind of exhaust of a difficult life.
What made your own attempt Kiss the spider woman?
I finally decided to do something about 10 years ago. I went to meet John Kander, whom I knew ChicagoAnd I am so happy to say Terrence McNally, who had written the booklet for the musical. I launched them on what I wanted to do in a film, especially by being more true of the original novel than they could have been. In 1993, the musical, like the film that preceded it, was forced to make the story of central love a little transactional, because I think that the idea of fluidity in this right character was something that is everywhere in the novel, but they already inaugurate such a bit [the sexual fluidity] A little. In addition, Molina’s proto-trans-trans nature was a reason to start again. Then, of course, there was a brick wall of seven and eight to obtain the rights. There were people who claimed to have the rights. It was a very long detour.
Have you all considered the studio road?
I knew that the only way to do it, the way it was to be manufactured, was independently. It has never been as common as these two other Kander and EBB musicals. It is the darkest of them, in a way, and it takes place in a prison. There is brutality. For me, it was a mirror image of what I did with Gods and monsters. With Gods and monstersI bought this novel and I sat there and I wrote it on Spec, then I waited. It took 18 months to collect money, and we came to Sundance without distribution, then concluded an agreement. It was the same thing here. This is an advantage when you have made films: by writing it, you can write something almost to all the means that you will have to do it. Making a low -budget musical generally means that it will not be a good musical. The idea I had was: there are two films. This is the prison, which is the film that we finally made in Uruguay for 10% of the entire budget. Then there are the musical numbers, but what makes him doable is that it lasts 35 minutes from the film. So you did not do a two -hour musical, you make a 35 -minute musical. There were no corners cut there, there were fewer.
Where did the musical numbers turn?
In New Jersey, the hellish corners of the New Jersey of converted warehouses and things like that. (Laughter.) The idea of Jennifer Lopez who hunted there every day is like: “Oh, my God. I hope she has stalls where she cannot see where we take her, because it’s like terrifying! ” The office I had looked at on this marsh where you just knew that everyone of sopranos presented itself every week to throw a body. It was this kind of production, but it was fun.
Why was Jennifer Lopez the right person for this part?
Jennifer Lopez is the reason why this film was made. There is only one person who could play this diva. We don’t have as many divas. I can count them on the one hand. And how many of them are great dancers, singers and Latin? I think there is only one. She gave our producer the Golden Globe to DreamgirlsAnd I met her that evening. She was talking about how much she wanted to make musicals. So I just had this faith that it would speak to him.
Was there a number or a musical sequence that concerned you the most to do well?
It was like every day. Jennifer shot in just under four weeks, then she finished. It was crazy. In any typical musical, you turn over 12 weeks and you do it at most a number per week. She makes a number every day, practically. We have shot the musical numbers as much as possible in the style of a musical from the 1940s, from the 1950s, which were all informed by what Fred Astaire said when he came to Hollywood: “I want to be the body full as much as possible and I want to do it without as much as possible.” He wanted the cinema audience to know that everything he was doing, he actually was doing. This is how musicals were shot down to Cabaret And Bob Fosse where assembly has become choreography. There is this number called “Give Me Love”, and we only had one day to shoot it – it was just towards the end. We did it but there was a little sense: “God, are we running on smoke now?” This is an elaborate number – she enters the club, begins to dance, goes to the first table, goes on the bar, jumps from the bar on the ground and short. Jennifer did everything in a single catch and when we had this first take, it was like: “Oh my God, we have it.”
Are the cinema musicals best experienced in theaters?
I think this is the only way for musicals. Jennifer a few moments when you start to applaud, it is built because it comes out of theatrical roots. I was lucky to be one of three different musicals. For DreamgirlsI would like to present myself in different districts and [seeing] Young girls singing in Beyonce. I grew up at the end of these exaggerated roadshow musicals. For Beauty and the beast At the El Capitan Theater of Los Angeles, we had an opening and we had programs and it was exactly what it was when I was a little child. It is simply unthinkable for me that you have a film musical where you did not have his first exhibition with the public.
What is the current appetite of industry for the musical of the film?
Film musicals have been dying since 1931. They have done many of them just after [1927’s] Jazz This audience said: “No more!” And they had left to 42nd street rekindled them. Look at the 80s and 90s. The 90s have Avoid And that’s it. They became dormant. Then at the beginning of this century, with Red mill And ChicagoThey returned. It’s a shame that it feels like every film musical has the weight of the genre on their back. We can indicate those who have not worked in recent years and everyone is afraid. And, frankly, those that work in a huge way – as Wicked And Beauty and the beast – The genre does not get credit for them, because people say: “Oh, it’s a brand.” I will really give accessories to the road and to Lionsgate that the film is sold [as a musical] 100% in trailers. It is a musical, there is no doubt.
