ALATRISTE
HISPANIC INTROSPECTION DISGUISED AS SUPERPRODUCTION
22 million Euros, more than 4 months of filming, 10,000 extras and a star like Viggo Mortensen. Arturo Perez-Reverte’s anti-hero adaptation has given us the biggest Spanish-cinema project. Alatriste now lands in Mexico after alluring more than 3 million viewers in Spain.
“He wasn’t the most honest man, nor the most compassionate, but he was a brave man”, with these words writer Arturo Perez-Reverte opens more than a decade ago the Captain Alatriste saga, an authentic literary phenomenon in the Spanish speaking world with his just released sixth book, Corsarios de Levante (Levante’s Corsairs). Those same words are the ones that put an end to Alatriste, the movie directed by Agustin Diaz Yanez (Bendito Infierno, 2001), conceived with the idea of achieving an impact similar to the novels that inspires it, because “we are almost 400 millions of Hispanic-speakers in the world,, and we’re still being included into the Anglo-Saxon culture, so the best answer to that is to make movies that stand up to the technical level they have, but at the same time be furiously Hispanic in their content.”
In Spain, Alatriste opened on September 1st 2006, beating James Bond, Eragon, Superman and the X-Men, positioning itself as the fourth most viewed movie of 2006, just behind Pirates of the Caribbean 2, The DaVinci Code and The Ice Age 2.
Just Like a Hero
When the time came to put together a super production like this one, and be able to compete with the big Made in Hollywood productions, the people responsible for the project did not think about expenses, starting with a big A-level star, Viggo Mortensen, still fresh from the memory of The Lord of the Rings’ Aragorn.
“We had two names, Viggo Mortensen and Benicio Del Toro –Agustin Diaz Yanes explains-, but the later barely spoke Spanish, and Viggo showed great enthusiasm for the project, and was very committed since the start. He rejected other offers just to be able to have time to prepare his character; he’s a methodic performer, always ready to give himself entirely. He’s a luxury as an actor and person. The only condition he made was that we couldn’t even consider the option of making this an English-speaking movie just to give it a more international acceptance, but I assured him that was out of the question.”
During the press conference before the shooting of the film, Mortensen explained some of the reasons he found the script -which concentrates the five books published at the time- appealing. “It’s a very deep story, in it you can find the crumbling of an empire that lost strength and presence do to it’s war excesses, something that even though takes place in the 17th century Spain, it’s also applicable now days”, he said in open reference to the American empire.
Apart from Viggo, they also thought of Gael Garcia Bernal (Babel) for the part of Inigo de Balboa- Alatriste’s friend and narrator in the books-, about him the director Diaz Yanez said: “I’m passionate about him as an actor, but he had a very tight agenda and the producers had already changed the due dates lots of times in order to have Viggo, and it was impossible to match them with Gael’s dates.”
A Blockbuster that it is not.
One of the biggest complaints the movie has received is the fact that it concentrates the five novels, instead of making a saga, but this is something that bothers the director: “If we spent 2 million Euros, and it’s the biggest film budget ever spent in a Spanish film, Is there really someone that thinks we are in conditions to start a series of movies which costs would be over 100 million Euros? That’s idle talk…”.
And the fact is that, contrary to what we may think, Alatriste’s not an action-adventure movie, at least not in the strict sense of the term: “Some say there’s very little action inn it for an adventure movie- Agustin Diaz Yanes says-, but that it’s because they don’t get our approach, we never attempted to make a Spanish version of Pirates of the Caribbean, the books’ background and story have too much depth from the historical and political point of view to make it a cape and spade film”. The same way it’s leading character is more an antihero than a hero, the movie gives preeminence to the story of an empire’s fall throughout 30 years of history, than to it’s splendor.
We are in presence of an anti-epic movie, with spectacular sequences, and yes, a dose of royal intrigue, sword fights, and massive use of extras, but where introspection is more important than action itself. A suicidal approach that has disappointed more than one spectator, but one that at the same time has conquered many applauses, because what really transcends is the effort of showing the Spanish society that had in people like Cervantes, Quevedo or Velazquez, it’s mayor founders, artists that in their works reflected the beginning of decay, the end of a dream, the resigned awakening to the misery of an empire.
Because of all this, Alatriste is much more than a simple movie is a passionate journey to the origins of a sentiment in which identity is at last achieved.
Article by Jaime Iglesias, Madrid
Premier Magazine, Mexico
Issue 151, April 2007
Translated by Nimthiriel for TheOneRing.net
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AKA ‘The Return of the Stash’. Nimthiriel did another fine job of translating this article from Mexico’s ‘Premier Magazine’. It features Viggo Mortensen with his now (in)famous mustache from his film ‘Alatriste’ which is getting a release in Mexico. Take a look! [More]
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The Elusive Mr. Mortensen
Translated by Nimthiriel for TheOnering.net
“Now we have the American Empire falling, and making war, and us be ashamed of it”
The air of mystery that surrounds Diego Alatriste seems to move also around the person who brings him life and voice in the movie, Viggo Mortensen. For reasons only known to him, the interview kept being changed, confusing reporters and publicists, and started to become an obsession for me. Finally the day came, and Viggo’s answers, given in a very formal Spanish, gave me even more questions. The images of Alatriste and Mortensen seem to want to stay: mysterious, in shadow and with frank lucidity. Maybe it’s better this way.
What similarities do you find between Imperial Spain’s Golden Age and today?
The Spanish Empire was the biggest world power of the time, but it was falling. Soldiers barely could live under a system that offered very little possibilities of improving one’s life, and none to individual expression or free speech. Now we have the American empire, also falling, making war, and making us be ashamed of it.
How do you think the movie will do in the US, taking into account it comes from a less developed film industry than Hollywood?
I’m worried about the people promoting the film outside Spain, because they haven’t done a good job so far. If we are allowed to visit the countries where the movie is being screened, and to the places where I and others from the production are known, I think we could get an unprecedented success.
Do you consider that a movie has to be faithful to the novel which is based on, or it can be a reinterpretation?
It has to be faithful to the original, and as meticulous as possible of the language used and to the storyline.
Did you consider the novel’s fans when creating your character?
Not much. I respect the fact that everyone has their own ideas and images about the book, but I think an actor has to be faithful to his own investigation and personal knowledge in order to create and play a character.
In four or five words, how would you describe your experience in Alatriste?
Could not have been better.
Interview by Paulette Jonguitud Acosta
Primetime Magazine April 2007 issue nº 151.
Mexico
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Mark Keuthan writes: I have created a survey to test my ideas about how Tolkien’s novel and Jackson’s movies speak religiously to people. This is for a Quantitative Research Methods class and I would really appreciate your participation.
Here is a link to my research website with the link to the survey: here
Thank you for your time.
Mark Keuthan
Doctoral Candidate, Regent University
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It will be an important and historical day in Tolkien history when the new book, “The Children of Hurin” goes on sale. It will be even more significant for a few hundred people who manage to snag a copy signed by Christopher Tolkien and illustrator Alan Lee! At the Manhattan’s Barnes & Noble (555 Fitfh Ave., between 45th & 46th streets) fans will start lining up at 8 a.m. to get one of the rarest of rare, highly coveted copies. TheOneRing.net will be on hand to distribute edible breakfast stuff to keep fans alive until the book goes on sale at noon. Better yet, the first 500 fans in line will get a great (and we mean great) prize from Sideshow Collectibles! Click here for more details!
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It will be an important and historical day in Tolkien history when the new book, “The Children of Hurin” goes on sale. It will be even more significant for a few hundred people who manage to snag a copy signed by Christopher Tolkien and illustrator Alan Lee! At the Manhattan’s Barnes & Noble (555 Fitfh Ave., between 45th & 46th streets) fans will start lining up at 8 a.m. to get one of the rarest of rare, highly coveted copies. TheOneRing.net will be on hand to distribute edible breakfast stuff to keep fans alive until the book goes on sale at noon. Better yet, the first 500 fans in line will get a great (and we mean great) prize from Sideshow Collectibles!
Our friends at Sideshow Collectibles have a surprise (except that we just let it slip) for the first 500 people attending. This is no promotional trinket, but is worth virtually what an unsigned book costs. (What the signed books might sell for on Ebay is anybody’s guess.) In addition Sideshow has provided 10 or so bigger prize items for a lucky few and Turbine Inc., producers of the ready-to-launch online Tolkien game “The Lord of the Rings Online” have another dozen grand prizes. (Something do to with the game perhaps?!) So, in the course of waiting for the almost unthinkably cool copy of “Children of Hurin” signed by J.R.R. Tolkien’s son and literary heir, Christopher Tolkien, TheOneRing.net, courtesy of Houghton-Mifflin, Sideshow Collectibles and Turbine Inc. will distribute many thousands of dollars worth of prizes!
Barnes & Noble will have a security agent on hand and all people participating in the 8 a.m. line are expected to behave in an orderly and polite fashion. Our goal is to make an event out of the greatest Tolkien literary event in 30 years! (Not to disrupt business.)
Those TORnados planning to attend (part of the greater Tolkien public sure to attend) please go to Barnes & Noble line party and sign up. This will help us know how much breakfast stuff to plan for! Rumour has it that the publisher may rally local media and we definitely want to show the world that the Tolkien era is far from over and the heady days of Hollywood blockbusters was just another stage in many decades of Tolkien fandom. See you there!
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