Imagine standing on a corner asking everyone who passes by which Argentine film directors they know. I can tell you the results of the survey: Juan José Campanella, Damián Szifrón and Lucrecia Martel would top the podium. Zero proof, zero doubt.
It will be because with “The Secret in Their Eyes” he brought us our second Oscar for Best International Film before “Muchachooos” appeared. Perhaps it is due to that guy who doesn’t know how to finish becoming an adult in “The Bride’s Son” or to the memory of those ideals and romances that were cherished in the neighborhood clubs, even though the vote in the members’ assembly was lost due to eagerness. , as in “Luna de Avellaneda”, but we all know Campanella. He is the representative of an almost lost way of telling stories that connect with people, without shying away from contradictions or Twitter quarrels. And if you have to get angry there will always be a memorable bitch hidden in the mouth of some character.
He built the Politeama Theater from scratch where he directed “Lezama Park” and it is already an annual rite to see him in charge of some North American series. Now presenting the second season of “The Envoys”a thriller as human as it is violent and biting, starring that ineffable couple of priests with the faces of Miguel Ángel Silvestre and Luis Gerardo Méndez that has just premiered on Paramount+.
The same love for cinema, the same brainstorming in this talk with Juan José Campanella.
News: His characters have always been characterized by humanity and everyday winks. How did you manage to have a metaphysical thriller like “The Sent Ones” star the most earthly priests in the world?
Juan José Campanella: It was a team effort, it was originally Emanuel Diez’s idea and together with Leandro Calderone we worked the first season, there was a back and forth. That is the advantage that series have over movies, that the character develops and grows with the incorporation of the actor. In a film everything is already written, the performer can improve the material, but there is no future for that character. Here there has been great chemistry between Luis Gerardo Méndez and Miguel Ángel Silvestre, they share a sense of humor that was predominant. Simón Antequera, Miguel Ángel’s character, is so mundane and Pedro, Luis Gerardo’s, is so correct that something new is born in the conversation thanks to that contrast. Of course in this second season one already began to have things about the other, they began to feed each other.
News: You are the author of the epic fucking things that Mercedes Morán has said in her films. Here is a nun who stands out for her form and her manners. Do we find an ecclesiastical successor to Mercedes?
Campanella: (Laughs) Great fucking Mercedes, the best! The character of the nun grew a lot thanks to the actress, Assira Abbate, and how we liked working with her. When we started, the Sister was destined to be a small character and in this second season she is the protagonist because she really is our Mercedes Morán in the series.
News: At the beginning there is a very crude scene, “The Sent” has many elements of the toughest police scene. Was there any limit when it came to filming violence?
Campanella: There is a limit, but it has more to do with sensitivity, it is not something that one puts in writing. In that scene you mentioned everything is suggested, you never see a blow, but you feel it as if it were happening to you. You film and then in editing you decide when you see something that makes you want to change the channel, it happens to me a lot. Especially when the characters are decadent. That bothers me more than physical violence, although I don’t at all like gloating in pain, in torture, with very long scenes. When they are stories where no one loves anyone, it’s hard for me. Now I’m watching one that I’m not going to name (laughs) where the violence is justified and fairly well treated, but all the characters are terrible. In my case the “up to here” appears when I decide whether to cut before or after, I have been with that since “The Secret in Their Eyes”, which had a rape scene and the limit was very fine, because I didn’t want it to seem like I was cutting that either. by the way.
News: Does the same thing happen a bit with the sex scenes? Lately sex disappeared from the screen.
Campanella: I don’t like those types of scenes when they finish having sex in bed and they appear with the sheets that just cover their parts (laughs). That seems so far-fetched to me, so ridiculous. You have to find a way to make it feel real, so that it doesn’t seem like you’re hiding it from the public. In the case of violence, this is compounded by the fact that at the same time the crudeness does not disappear.
News: At this time there are several series and films that coincide on the theme of religion, good and evil, such as “Sister Death” by Paco Plaza, the saga of “La Monja” or “30 Coins”, the series by Alex de la Church where Miguel Ángel Silvestre also performs. Why do you think this phenomenon occurred?
Campanella: It’s hard to know. It very often happens that there is a collective unconscious. It usually happens that for two years they are all cowboys, then another two where they are all horror films. Now apart from what you mention regarding these very popular topics, I think that the platforms favored a great boom in documentaries and that is welcome. But within that phenomenon is True Crime, now everyone wants to do something like that, I don’t know what it is (laughs).
News: And how well it does. “The Envoys” draws heavily from the police.
Campanella: Yes, I have always liked the genre, I have been a police fan since I was a child, I have done it a lot. Both “The Secret in His Eyes” and “The Sent Ones” tell sensitive stories, real characters. What I like about the genre is that it gives you a hook to keep watching, but at the same time it is a great vehicle to tell human stories that perhaps on their own would not captivate you as much. I need movies and series about common people.
News: Is it more difficult to convince producers to film that type of material when much of the audiovisual offering is very bland and similar?
Campanella: Yes, it is difficult to make them and also to convince investors… because I can’t pay for them so the producers have to put the money in, but there is a very strong hunger for that material, I am developing something that I would like to do. I recommend a movie, “The Holdovers”, the new one by Alexander Payne. I went to see it at the cinema and I loved it. This is what we are asking for, people, real, failed, who have many problems, but you love them. And I want to love the characters, it bothers me deeply as a viewer when I don’t love any of them.
News: ANowadays there are many stories with cynical characters like those in “Succession”, “The Triangle of Sadness” or “The White Lotus”. Do we need to believe a little in redemption?
Campanella: Exactly, we need more humanity. It’s hard to see stories where all the characters hate each other. Children to parents, husband to wife, wife to son, that makes me more upset than graphic violence.
News: The first season of “The Sent” took place in Mexico, the second is in Galicia. With the tradition of fantastic literature and Argentine detective fiction that we have, are we betting on a third here?
Campanella: Yes, of course, we would love to. Within the police there is an element that I am a fan of and it is the AgathaChristianesque, the famous whodunit. You find some of that in the series, a crime happens and you have to find out who committed it. Since I was 10 years old I had been reading Agatha Christie and I always had the idea of having a Mrs Marple, the little old lady who is in a small town and unravels everything she sees. I would like to find an Argentine town in the North or South and have these guys come here, I would love it.
News: You have said that to film films that are only seen for a few weeks in theaters and then move on to home consumption, you prefer to make series. With “The Secret in Their Eyes” we learned that a guy can change his face, his house, his family, but the only thing he cannot change is his passion. Tell me he’s going back to the movies.
Campanella: Look, we are trying and it is very possible, You find us in the middle of managing a rights issue to make the film version of “Parque Lezama”, so we are working very actively on that. Besides, we are still working on a project with Sacheri that we have been working on for a few years. It is not yet ready and I cannot tell you when it will be. But in “Parque Lezama,” which is based on a North American play, the only thing stopping us is getting the rights. I believe that it is given to us.
