Following, an interview with the Brazilian director Gustavo Spolidoro, talking about the creation process of his short-film, the experience of working with Wim Wenders, among other themes related to BACK TO ROOM 666.
1) What were your references for making the film?
The main reference is Wenders' film, which inspires our own, Room 666, shot in Cannes during the 1982 festival. In fact, our work was to update the premise created by him in 1982, with which Jean-Luc Godard, Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Steven Spielberg and many others have participated. Actually, they also participate in our film, as holograms that appear to retake the 26 years old story.
2) How can your short-film be defined? How was it structured?
We tried to recreate the ambient of the original film, a hotel room with a left-diagonal plongée camera. Little furnished, a chair and, in our case, a notebook, instead of the original TV set. I this notebook, a scene of Room 666 in which Michelangelo Antonioni predicts the future of the high-definition cinema. Wenders comments on this scene and from that on the characters of his film appear to interact with him.
3) How was it to work with such an unique character as Wim Wenders?
All the crew was a little tense. We hadn't talked to him previously and we would have too little time to shoot the film, about 30 minutes. But he was very polite and helpful, understanding and accepting everything that we asked for him to do inside the set in which he was.
4) In terms of general content, what can be deepened or discussed for the film's audience?
The cinema of XXI Century, in all it's depth and also superficiality. A fast, quick, easy cinema, but still searching for it's form.
5) Any curiosity or personal comment to add? Anything different from what was originally planned?
In the production everything went as planned. He even spoke more than we predicted, about 22 minutes, but I guess it was because he took too seriously my "joke" that Antonioni's 16mm roll had 12 minutes and our film's had about an hour...
But it was on the post-production that the film got a special spice, with the idea of the editor, Alfredo Barros, to put the characters of his film on the set. These "beings" brought a prophetic and at the same time phantasmagoric aura that amazes and makes you wonder...