A: We are in a good moment for foreign movies. Even [though] the screenings and the distributors are almost nothing compared to a big [budget] movie. Just to be released in twenty theatres we have to come here almost every year and be naked in front of you. This market demands more than anyone. I think it’s a good moment for the foreign movies perhaps because the European market has survived so many crises. But it seems to me that there is more to just seeing movies with subtitles. So here I am to take advantage of all that. Anyway, the situation in
the eighties for the foreign movies...it was enough just to be successful in two theatres in New York. And in fact when there is a group of people who like yourwork that is enough. Many of the repertory cinemas in New York, the Quad, The Bleeker Street Cinema closed and it seemed to be a bad moment for foreign films. But I think that fortunately now it seems like subtitled and foreign films don’t interest only a small minority of intellectuals and artists but seem to be getting through to a more mainstream audience. Maybe this is all a matter of passion. I see that a lot of people here want to be dressed in Gucchi and Armani and other European designers and maybe this sudden interest in European fashion has raised an interest in other things European like cinema.
Q: Is there a pressure on you as an independent director to have one star that’s going to appeal to a mainstream audience in order for your films to be seen more?
A: Since I have my own production company I feel quite free to do what I want. Of course with a limited budget and with the limitation that comes with the language. But I’m almost self-sufficient. If I want to keep on making movies in Spanish with a small budget I feel wonderful with that. I’m doing what I want so I’m responsible for the movies that I do. The bad ones also. And this is a luxury that’s very rare to find in this industry. But of course I have been tempted by offers from Hollywood but it would have implied working in a different production system and with the stars. I haven’t fallen for any of those temptations because honestly I didn’t like the scripts they offered me. But if I do end up making a film in English I’ll try to avoid big stars in order to be able to make the film with as much freedom as possible. I’m much more concerned about having complete freedom at the time of shooting a film than in the potential of maybe reaching a wider audience. I don’t want to compete with Titanic. This is not my goal.
Q: Can you talk about casting Penelope Cruz because she seems like she’s on the brink of something big?
A: [Laughs] It seems that way to me too. I got a very similar feeling when I came to Tie Me Up... with Antonio [Banderas] that I felt by the characters that he creates. With Penelope I got the same feeling. There is a big vitality about her. She has a wonderful energy. Both of them are absolutely natural born actors. Penelope was born to act. She has a lot of qualities and also has a wide range. She can be very funny. She can be absolutely dramatic. She can be ordinary. She can be sophisticated. She really controls...sometimes there are actresses who are very good in drama or wonderful in comedy but they don’t control both. She controls both. She is also very congenial. I only tell her not to forget to make movies in Europe and with me because I would like to keep on working with her.
Q: Can you talk about [the transvestite) Antonia [San Juan]. How did you cast her?
A: Well, after a lot of auditions. I was making connections with many transvestites, but they were too much. They were real but I wanted a transvestite who was...back from everything. Someone a little older like 45 with everything very heavy [in their life]. I wanted a character that I could not recall having ever seen. All of the other real transvestites I tried for the part were too strident and too loud. I wanted someone who was less like that. But I was not very sure because Antonia was like an unsure Penelope. We did a very lengthy audition of almost three weeks with her because I wasn’t sure. I made her/him audition the entire role. What the character has ended up being is a mixture of the character I had written and part of who Antonia had inspired. She has been a great revelation to the film.
Q: Is she a sex change?
A: [Pause] I can’t answer that question. It’s too personal.
Q: Was she an actress before?
A: She didn’t have a lot of experience. She was a stand up comedian in bars and discos. But she made underground monologues but with success. She made two other movies before this but in very small roles. So for me she was completely new. She really didn’t have experience in movies.
Q: The reason I brought this up is we [press people] were having a discussion on what’s a cross dresser, what is a transexual and what is a transvestite.
A: The character is a transvestite. It is supposed that he has... or she has a dick. In one of the scenes when Nina asks her "Why did you have an operation?" Because this is something that I learned from the real ones. That they don’t because the client wants a dick. And it really happens. A lot of the real transvestites in Barcelona...It’s true when they have the operation and they become transexuals they don’t have [any more] clients. Men want big boobs and a big dick. These are what the clients ask for. And I have to say the clients arenot gay people, are not bisexual people... I came to the [brothel] a lot of nights -- with a helmet so they don’t recognize me -- and they were completely regular clients. But about Antonia and her past you have to ask her.
Continued Page Three: What the movie is about.
