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An interview with Nicholas Goldbart about "Phase 7"
I was working on another film,
it was a much larger project,
and was a very demanding job.
We got a little money to do it,
but the project was not progressing and the movie was stopped...
for a long time,
and the person who invested the money started...
to ask us what we were doing.
So we convinced him to make another movie,
but still didn't know what!
At that moment, I found myself forced to write a new script,
and it happened just when started the epidemic of influenza A.
We were at the peak of the epidemic in Buenos Aires...
and it seemed to me that what was happening...
was both tragic,
because people were getting sick and dying,
and also comical, absurd,
because of lack of information and by not quite knowing what was happening,
it generated a panic that might have been worse and more dangerous than the disease itself.
So... it was a good idea for a movie.
I thought about absurd things, with a lot of black humor,
and thought it had potential.
It also seemed to be a possible movie, so I started to think...
in the typical idea for a low-budget film:
two characters and one set.
I wanted to make something possible, quickly and practical.
So, the film began with a more theatrical structure.
Two characters in the same location....
and outside the epidemic manifested itself with small things...
entering and leaving the frame.
But after some time the idea began to grow,
and my argument began to take a larger shape.
Therefore, the film was more important than the initial idea.
We never explain what the virus is, can be any virus,
and everything related to the virus in the film is almost ignored.
Every time there is a important information,
the characters are looking to the other side.
But what matters in this case...
are the people, what happens to the people.
The virus kills, but not as much as people!
I didn't want it to be a story about Influenza A.
It's about an extreme situation and how people react to it.
It could be anything out there: an alien invasion, zombies
World War III...
We use a virus, but it could have been another issue.
No, I haven't seen. And I didn't want to see later.
After I finished filming,
everyone started talking about "REC".
I hadn't seen because...
I finished my film a bit later, but not much.
When they started talking about "REC" I hadn't seen and didn't want to see,
because people said that both films had much in common...
and I preferred not to see so it doesn't influence me.
But from what I saw in trailers and ads,
"REC" is more about monsters In this case zombies.
And my film has nothing of that.
REFERENCES
"The Crazies", Romero, Carpenter...
and the American cinema of the '80s.
To me is very interesting how... Romero is also from the 70's...
I like these directors because they use the genre as a vehicle...
- ...to tell something else. - A social critic.
Yes, it has a political subtext.
Romero and Carpenter are two directors whose films I see...
and some more, some less, but always agree with the film.
I like these directors for using the genre as a vehicle.
SOUNDTRACK
While editing, I worked using some musics as reference...
from "They Live" and "Escape from New York".
And later, with the musician, we try to get,
without repeating and without copying, to a song like that,
original, but with that spirit.
With the same orchestration...
and this characteristic repetition of chords.
I wanted a soundtrack like a Carpenter's soundtrack,
but not a copy of Carpenter's music,
something with the same rhythm,
because I think it works well with this claustrophobic situation.
Yes, it's easy to recognize. The song has two or three...
of these Carpenter's clichés, which are very characteristic.
And at times also reminds Morricone, something epic,
some chords like Morricone.
So yes, there is this reference to the music of "They Live" and "Escape from New York",
and also "Assault on Precinct 13", one of my favorite movies.
I think "Phase 7" has this siege situation,
so my movie also has something of "Assault on Precinct 13".
SHOOTING PROBLEMS
The filming was hell, because the location...
Most of the film takes place in the stairs, not inside the apartments,
and there was very little space. So...
the whole crew was positioned vertically...
in the stairs. For example, on the third floor was the sound guy,
on the fourth floor was my assistant, always up and down...
in a very small space.
And it was very hot, because of the space and so many people,
it was very hot in there, and the actors were dressed in that suits.
They were very hot, stifling, suffocating,
and masks were blurred all the time.
Between one take and another, they needed to take off the suits.
And it was not simple, demanded a whole process.
Every time (Daniel) Hendler removed his mask,
he took off his fake mustache and had to stick back.
It was complicated because we spend weeks confined in one place.
I think the filming could generate a movie by itself. It was very stressful.
And I thought it would be easy.
In the first week everything was very easy.
Because in the first week I filmed the scenes with the couple in their apartment,
and was very pleasant, with only two actors,
something close to my initial idea of only having two actors in one apartment.
But when we had to go out and use the suits, the first day with the suits,
I realized it would be complicated, and we have four weeks of it!
So, the prospects were dramatic.
And actor Yayo (Guridi), in his first day with the suit,
he said he could not work with that.
So we had to work depending on his mood.
- And he appears almost every time with the suit!
It was a long time wearing the suit, and he hated, became furious.
So, sometimes I used the suit for him,
to spare him of that torture.
And those suits were actually... inhuman.
Many people ask me about a sequel,
and I started to think about it.
I already have some ideas, but I don't know if it's worth.
Many people asked me, but I'm not sure if they are serious.
The movie has an open ending that leaves room for a sequel.
I don't know if I should continue the story.
But if I decide to continue, the sequel will look like "Mad Max".
- Apocalyptic? - Yes, but the opposite.
A movie filmed in open spaces, and not so claustrophobic.
- With more money. - Yes, more money...
because filming outdoors would require a larger budget.
I don't know... I could make a sequel,
I even thought about it, but I don't know if it's a good idea,
if it makes sense.
ACTORS
Daniel is my friend. He wanted to make a film with me,
he read the script, liked and accepted.
He was already in the previous project,
and when I said "We'll do this and not that other",
he accepted at the same time, read the script and liked it.
These actors do not have many opportunities to do this kind of production.
They like and admire it.
And they found interesting because they would work with each other.
Frederico wanted to work with Daniel,
Yayo wanted to work with Daniel and Frederico.
So it was very easy to convince them to participate.
I was surprised for having Frederico in the film.
It was a surprise to me, I sent him the script without hope.
Daniel put us in touch and I was very hesitant to talk to him.
I went to visit him with the script and the worst possibility was that he said no, but he said yes.
So, actually, it was not difficult.