Raquel Laguna/ SUCOPRESS. Spanish director Paula Ortiz premieres Across the River and Into the Trees in the U.S. and Canada. The highly anticipated film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel stars Liev Schreiber, Matilda De Angelis, Josh Hutcherson and Danny Huston. In this interview, Paula Ortiz talks about working with the cast and about the biggest challenges she did encounter while filming in Venice during the pandemic. Across the River and Into the Trees follows Richard Cantwell (Schreiber), an American Army Colonel in post-WWII Italy. Haunted by the war, Cantwell is a bona fide hero who faces news of his illness with stoic disregard. Determined to spend a weekend in quiet solitude, he commandeers a military driver (Hutcherson) to facilitate a visit to his old haunts in Venice. As Cantwell’s plans begin to unravel, a chance encounter with a remarkable young woman (De Angelis) begins to rekindle in him the hope of renewal. The film will be released exclusively in theaters on August 30th and will later be available on all VOD platforms in the U.S. and Canada.
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00:00What attracted you to this project in the first place and why did you want to direct
00:07this Hemingway adaptation to the big screen?
00:13It's funny because I received this script in, I think it was 2018, and it was because
00:23I just directed La Novia, that was an adaptation by Federico Garcia Lorca, an original stage
00:30play by Lorca.
00:32So these producers, they thought, when they were looking for someone new to adapt Hemingway,
00:40they thought, okay, she adapted Lorca, she can adapt Hemingway.
00:44And I say, wow, it's not the same.
00:47They are pretty, pretty opposite sensibilities.
00:52But I've learned during the journey that they are no such opposite.
00:58And they were very crucial songs of the 20th century.
01:04They are crucial authors because they had same fights, same conflicts in many, many,
01:11many ways.
01:12And to me, this script, I was attracted because Hemingway was in a way an author that I admire.
01:20I studied him in college and I really loved his literature, but in a very weird way because
01:28he was very opposite from me.
01:32He is a very masculine author, very male.
01:39His literature, his stories are about war, love, women, boxing, bullfights, party.
01:50And it was not my world, but it was a big challenge to try to retell one of the most
01:58important men in the 20th century, an Anglo-Saxon man.
02:03For me, as a Spanish woman from the 20th century, 21st century.
02:09So it was a kind of interesting movement in a creative term.
02:16So when I get into, then I really realized how big Hemingway was and it has been really
02:24a beautiful journey with him.
02:26How did you manage to put together this amazing cast?
02:31Well, it was because it was Hemingway.
02:37And at the very beginning was Liev Schreiber, the one who decided to make Colonel Campbell,
02:47that was kind of another Hemingway, literally Hemingway.
02:53And he was the big force of the movie because he has that kind of energy and gravitas to
03:00be Hemingway, that mixture of melancholy and strength and wild man, but at the same
03:10time, very intellectual and very sensitive.
03:13So at the very beginning was Liev, then Matilda, Matilda de Angelis came when we were in Italy.
03:22And I think she brings us such beauty and that's the force of nature she is.
03:32And she was another kind of energy for the interpretation and for the crew.
03:39And the rest of the cast is amazing.
03:42Just Hatcherstone, Danny Houston, Laura Morante, Maximo Bobolizio, Maurizio Lombardi.
03:48I have to say that is the most amazing casting I ever worked with.
03:52What was the biggest challenge for you filming in Venice during the pandemic?
03:58Venice, Venice is a privilege, but it's also a big, big, big obstacle.
04:08It's a it's a in any way, because it's a very complicated city to shoot in in logistic
04:17terms.
04:18But, you know, it's one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
04:24Venice is like the example of how much beauty human being can create.
04:30And at the same time, it's a city that is sinking.
04:33So it's kind of a symbol of many things.
04:36It's a crossroads of culture, of periods of our history.
04:42So and if you just go and walk through Venice, you can see beauty in every corner because
04:50of the mix of water and stones and piece of art and that sense of art so delicate and
04:57so sophisticated and so melancholic because it's something very decadent.
05:03So shooting in Venice during the pandemic was hard because of the pandemic for the crew
05:09was hard.
05:11All of us, we had a we never met for a drink or have dinner together because we couldn't.
05:19So it was really weird for us as a crew, as a team.
05:24But in the other way, then empty Venice is a miracle.
05:29It's a it's a huge privilege for a filmmaker.
05:32So we were I mean, I was aware of the privilege when we were shooting in San Marcos Square
05:38completely empty one night in December.
05:43So it was kind of that contrast of privilege and really a hard moment.