Official Competition movie: ‘sophisticated staging, radioactive content’

Madrid, Feb 24 (EFE).- Filmmakers Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, creators of ‘Oficial Competition’, always ask their actors to act as if they are starring in a drama, no matter how comical the scene may be.

And it is these antics that stitch together the hilarious satire starring Spaniards Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz, the Argentine directors tell Efe in an interview.

According to Duprat, ‘Oficial Competition’ is “a film with very sophisticated staging but with a lot of radioactive content”.

The project began four years ago with a blank sheet of paper at Banderas’ London house.

“We didn’t know what we were going to do until we thought of describing the process of acting, which had not been seen in any movie,” says Cohn.

“Each one of us added our baggage and experience,” says Duprat. “Without them, it would have been another film.”

Duprat adds that the actors “were very generous” because “they exposed themselves a lot.”

But in return, he says “they had a movie where they could act because actors cannot always develop their acting expertise and the staging gave them even more freedom to act. I think they really enjoyed it.”

“We wanted them to perform a drama. In all of our movies we ask our actors to refrain from being comical, no matter how comical the situation may be,” Cohn adds.

The film will premiere in Latin America on March 17 and will land in United States cinemas in June. EFE

aga/ch/ks