Axel Kuschevatzky, the Argentine who was on both sides of the now champagne carpet of the Oscars on Sunday, it is clear when the closure was for all those who have traveled from one end of the world to the other accompanying Argentina, 1985.
It wasn’t Sunday at the Oscar ceremony, it was at the meeting at the home of Barbara Muschietti, sister and producer of Andy, the director of Itemwhich will be premiered this year FastSaturday evening.
Barbara surprised them twice. On one side, on a huge screen, it was being projected Argentina, 1985 -like those who see, once again, the World Cup final in Qatar-. And on the other he entertained them, among other delicacies, with an equally huge cake, decorated with the film poster.
Perhaps what convinced Kuschevatzky, the film’s producer, was seeing it Ricardo Darin, leaning against a wall, watches the last scenes of the film. And that everyone, in the end credits, sang a capella the song by Charly Garcia with which it closes Argentina, 1985.
“It’s always very difficult for us all to be at the same time, in the same place, because we’re always on the go,” says Kuschevatzky. Cinema is a nomadic profession, there is a point where, systematically, what ends up happening is that you find yourself and get lost along the way.
So, now that we’ve all managed to stay together, I think we closed a stage yesterday, indeed, not today with the Oscar. The phase in which we meet and say we are happy, contented and proud of the story we have managed to tell”.
On Sunday, already at the Tatel, the restaurant around Rodeo Drive where the technical team who did not participate in the gala at the Dolby Theater followed what was happening at the ceremony on giant screens, there was a menu of four cocktails, prepared with a tequila base, which had the following names: 1985 Darín, Lanzani and Oscar.
Axel arrived there after attending the Governors Ball, the official post-ceremony party offered by the Hollywood Academy to candidates.
“What happened at the ceremony? Ah, I don’t know, I don’t count votes. The magic of the Oscar is that, since the results are not official, one will never know if he lost by 1,500 votes or by 2 votes. It’s a little frustrating… No, lie, it’s completely frustrating, but there’s nothing you can do about it. I want to feed my fantasy that it was only for 2 votes. Total, I will never be able to verify it ”, she began.
“We would have liked to see him win”
Was there a moment, a feeling of frustration?
-Yes of course. Why not. We love the movie, not the frustration in the sense of “I’m going to get depressed, I won’t get out of bed for the next six months.” Yes, we would have liked to win. I think I’m saying total platitude, but I can’t think of any other way to explain it at this point.
After the platinum awards, which are presented in April, the film is no longer ours, it belongs to all the people, as long as it lasts. Actually, we wished it would win the Oscar for people, mostly, to reciprocate that thing of love that we’ve been getting all this time. But in general we’re happy, exhausted, it’s been six months in the countryside, from Venice to here.
And we said, and not to make a particular comparison, but the spirits of the island, The Fabelmans they got nothing… That’s how it works, there is no logic or internal system that can be decoded, far from it. They vote for what they think, they liked someone better, they will have heard that the German film was a film about war, and a contemporary film… Nothing invalidates the existence of others. I’m not saying this to console myself, however, I truly believe it.
And remember his “long time with Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, The Last of Us), which is already like a family. I admire Pedro’s resistance, because everyone stops him. These events have a level, the profile of the people is so high that no one takes pictures. They asked Pedro Pascal for photos.”
-Speaking of Latinos, that two Latinos have announced the award…
-(Interrupts) Antonio Banderas told me on the carpet, and I was surprised. I knew it. “I introduce him with Salma (Hayek),” and he was like, “Oh, well, interesting.” Yet it doesn’t mean anything, it’s not that they choose the couple because they already know what will come out of the envelope… It was more to do with the perception of an international film, we need international figures.
But when Salma said “Argentina”, she said it with a lot of energy, and when she said the winner’s name she didn’t put much love into it… So next time I see her, I’ll give her a hug. If the bodyguards let me.
-You’ve had an amazing friendship, almost like a brotherhood all this time.
-But not only between us, we fear something as a very close group with Lukas Dhont (director of Neighbor), you talked to him, we became super friends with Lucas. Tomorrow I’m going to have a coffee with him, because he’s an amazing director and we all love him.
Out there with other directors that we’ve competed with, like Skolimowski, who’s a guy from another generation, we have a good vibe, but it’s more difficult. Berger has always been very friendly, but we haven’t had such a good vibe, like with the Irish. What happens to you while you go to the awards is that you end up running into them: we are always the same, I have been seeing people for three months more than I have seen my family.
Returning to the feeling of family – they also have a WhatsApp chat group – “we all have a pretty close relationship, being the smallest group, I always talk to Santiago, every day”.
There will be more projects.
-If he wants… Miter has to tell you. Beyond the fact that the Daríns have something genuinely familiar, Ricardo and Santiago are close friends, Dolores and Florencia too, Peter is like my godson… It’s not something that falls apart because we all live in different places. Also, since WhatsApp has existed, we no longer fear the possibility of not replying to messages.
It’s strange now to stop the ball and think we have to let go. It’s been four years of our life, and six very intense months. You have seen that obstetricians say that a pregnancy is 8 months and a month, because the last month is external. For me, there’s something about the making of the film that took four years and six months, because the last six months have been a beautiful, complex, challenging decade for us.
But now we are afraid to kiss him and say goodbye to the film. And that feeling is very rare after having such an intimate connection with a project.
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Source: Clarin
