Rodrigo Prieto responde todo sobre él y su historia en el cine

GQ Mexico

Rodrigo Prieto está listo para responder las preguntas más buscadas sobre él en Internet. El director de fotografía mexicano (y dos veces nominado al Oscar), confiesa si es verdad que convenció a Greta Gerwig de incluir el rosa mexicano en Barbie, por qué usa hasta tres cámaras simultáneamente para grabar una escena y cuál ha sido un momento memorable entre Rodrigo Prieto y Martin Scorsese. ¡Descúbrelo!

Transcript

00:00 Is it true that Rodrigo Prieto convinced Greta Gerwig to include the Mexican pink in Barbie?

00:05 Well, yes. Yes and no. I told her, "Hey, we have to include this pink color.

00:11 We have an infinite range of pinks in the movie. The Mexican pink has to be there."

00:16 Hi, friends of GQ. I'm Rodrigo Prieto.

00:24 I'm going to enter the Internet incognito.

00:26 This is Realmente Yo.

00:30 First, let's create some accounts.

00:32 How does Rodrigo Prieto approach the viewer from the perspective of the characters in a movie?

00:43 I think that's the most important part of my job.

00:46 How do I put the viewer in the perspective that the characters are experiencing this story?

00:52 What do they feel?

00:53 I try to color, let's say, to give a color to the grammatical moments of a story.

00:58 To make you feel a sensation as a viewer.

01:01 Is it true that Rodrigo Prieto convinced Greta Gerwig to include the Mexican pink in Barbie?

01:05 Well, yes. Yes and no.

01:08 I told her, "Hey, we have to include this pink color.

01:12 We have an infinite range of pinks in the movie. The Mexican pink has to be there."

01:16 And then they didn't know what the Mexican pink was.

01:20 I took examples on the Internet.

01:23 I saw this and the production designer, Sarah Greenwood, told me, "We do have it."

01:28 So, in a way, we do talk about it and it's in the movie.

01:33 But it wasn't that they added it more than I had already thought.

01:36 But it's there. It's present.

01:39 How to choose between natural or artificial light?

01:41 Lighting has many objectives.

01:43 One is, the main one, is the creation of atmosphere, sensations.

01:47 And the second is continuity.

01:49 In movies, it takes a long time to create a scene.

01:54 Light changes in life.

01:55 As we know, the sun moves.

01:57 We have to create the illusion of continuity.

01:59 So, artificial lighting is used for that.

02:02 For example, in this case, "Killers of the Flower Moon,"

02:05 you feel like you're in Oklahoma and it's the light of the sun that comes through the window.

02:11 But it's artificial.

02:14 It's something I like to use.

02:16 Or, at least, to be inspired by natural light.

02:19 What has been the most difficult challenge for you in the making of a movie?

02:23 In every movie, there are challenges.

02:25 But I remember, for example, in "The Irishman,"

02:28 there was a moment where there was a very intense snow storm.

02:31 We were filming in a cut.

02:33 We were on the fifth or sixth floor, a very high place.

02:36 And I had some cranes.

02:37 So, the storm was such that we couldn't get on the cranes.

02:40 There was no way to light the windows.

02:43 So, I changed the idea of the light in the scene.

02:47 And I said, "Well, let's make it a night scene."

02:50 So, it was even better.

02:52 So, a lot of times, those challenges force you to find solutions

02:56 that sometimes turn out better than that infinity of things.

02:59 But, well, that's just an example.

03:01 How has the process of incorporating new technologies in your work been?

03:04 Well, it's constant.

03:05 The photography work is intimately related to technology.

03:11 I'm not, honestly, a very technological person.

03:14 All the time, I'm trying to renew myself

03:17 and to always learn and apply new technologies.

03:20 Even in movies like "The Moon Slayers,"

03:23 where that time, obviously, happens in the '20s,

03:27 I applied robotic lighting technologies,

03:30 or LED, or drones, or all kinds of things,

03:34 film cameras, digital cameras,

03:36 a combination of old technologies, new technologies,

03:40 to achieve what's on screen.

03:42 A memorable moment between Rodrigo Prieto and Martin Scorsese?

03:45 Well, yes, many, many memorable moments.

03:47 One that I remember fondly?

03:49 A photo shoot that we shared.

03:54 We both went out in a photo for the cover of a magazine.

03:57 The magazine "Time," which was like...

04:00 At the beginning, that was already spectacular.

04:02 Why does Rodrigo Prieto use up to three cameras simultaneously to film a scene?

04:06 There are times, and there are scenes, where we film with two or three cameras.

04:10 And with Scorsese, that happens a lot.

04:12 We film, in fact, many of the actors' dialogues simultaneously,

04:15 with two cameras, one in each actor.

04:18 And it's a big challenge.

04:19 To light, it's not easy at all.

04:21 What's the anecdote that people don't know about the filming of "Amores Perros"?

04:25 When we film the accident, the crash,

04:28 in this case, we film with nine cameras,

04:30 to capture several different angles of the moment of the crash,

04:33 which we only had one chance to do.

04:36 But one of them was in a trash can.

04:38 At that time, it was negative for cinema, it wasn't digital cameras.

04:41 So, to see through the frame, I had to get into the can.

04:45 But there was so much going on that people were always blocking the frame,

04:49 and they thought it was a trash can.

04:50 No one was worried about not obstructing.

04:52 And time was passing, and it was getting dark,

04:54 and I was a little stressed.

04:56 And, well, there came a time when I exploded, in a spectacular way, as they tell me.

05:01 And I screamed like crazy,

05:03 that they should get out of the frame.

05:04 I said several stuttering words,

05:06 so that people would get out of the frame.

05:08 Suddenly, there was no one in the frame.

05:11 And, well, I calmed down.

05:12 Thank you very much.

05:13 Thank you very much.

05:14 Well, that would be an anecdote for "Amores Perros".

05:16 How does Rodrigo choose the format of a film,

05:19 and why does he sometimes combine them as a mixture?

05:21 It's true that there are several films where I've done this combination of formats or textures.

05:28 And sometimes, I even change the frame.

05:31 If they are stories that happen in different places, or different characters,

05:37 I try to give a personality to each story or each character.

05:40 So, in the end, each film has its own thing,

05:43 and I like to play with that,

05:46 with things that you don't realize as a viewer,

05:49 but there's something that needs to be changed with each character or each story.

05:53 What does Rodrigo Prieto mean by doing subjective cinematography?

05:57 I'm thinking of "The Moon Settlers".

06:00 There's a moment in the film where there's an intentional fire,

06:06 but we visually represent that fire as a bit exaggerated,

06:13 as if it were hell.

06:14 It reaches one of the characters, who is Ernest Burkhardt,

06:18 who is played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

06:20 He's in a totally different place, he's far away, he's in the village,

06:23 he's not near this ranch.

06:25 However, we brought the lighting, like fire,

06:28 to his scenes at that moment, even inside a room.

06:33 And it's subjective.

06:35 He feels in a moment of conflict so big,

06:39 that it's as if hell itself was there, present in him.

06:42 That's what subjective cinematography is.

06:45 What does Rodrigo Prieto do once he reads the script of the film that he's going to direct?

06:49 Well, the first thing I do when I read a script,

06:52 is that I try to read it as if it were a novel.

06:55 I try to feel it,

06:57 so as not to create an image in my head that may not be what the director wants.

07:04 The next step is to talk to the director and understand what the vision is,

07:09 and listen.

07:10 Once I've interpreted what the director is telling me or asking me,

07:16 I do a second reading,

07:18 where I'm more focused on seeing what images I get.

07:22 And then I do a visual investigation.

07:25 I start looking for photography books, especially art, whatever,

07:30 where there may be visual references that I can show the director.

07:33 And the conversation begins,

07:35 more specifically, on how we're going to resolve each scene visually.

07:38 What was the most difficult scene to film in the movie Alexander, by Oliver Stone?

07:42 It's a battle that takes place in India.

07:45 Talking to Oliver Stone in the preparation,

07:47 we talked about the realism we wanted in the battles,

07:50 and the intensity we wanted the viewer to feel

07:53 when they're physically in a battle at that time.

07:57 I remember that I wanted to do an exploration in infrared,

08:02 in negative, in color,

08:04 which is very unusual, especially at that time.

08:07 Of course, the producers and the studio were very against it,

08:11 because they thought it was very risky.

08:13 But I was very happy.

08:14 When I saw the dailies, I remember it was a very special moment for me.

08:17 It's a very particular moment in this movie.

08:23 What has it been like for you to direct and photograph such an iconic and relevant work?

08:27 For Mexico, like Pedro Páramo.

08:28 Yes, it has been tremendous.

08:31 I'm just finishing the editing,

08:34 and there's still a whole process of visual effects and sound mixing.

08:37 But I think the main challenge is that you're dealing with

08:41 the most transcendental works of universal literature.

08:44 For now, what matters to me is that I've put all my heart into making this movie,

08:49 and it will depend on you, the viewers.

08:52 Where do you get your inspiration to pose the image of a movie?

08:57 From many places.

08:58 Inspiration is life itself.

09:00 I have a collection of books by photographers.

09:03 I just start looking at images, images, and suddenly an image comes to mind.

09:07 I thought of Barbie. There's a scene near the end,

09:11 a space that's like a kind of sky.

09:14 We filmed in London, all the interiors,

09:16 and there was an exhibition by Turner.

09:19 I took a lot of pictures of various paintings.

09:21 Mr. Greta liked the idea.

09:23 We created an animation that was projected on a giant screen,

09:29 which was the background of the set.

09:32 It would be hard to imagine that it was a reference for Barbie, but it was.

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