Robert De Niro, between horse steaks, pancakes with dulce de leche and applause

Whateverthe five-episode series starring Louis Brandoni Y Robert DeNiro, had this Tuesday, May 3, the second day of filming. Actually, yesterday was the first day of shared filming between the 78-year-old New Yorker and the Dock Sud-born actor 82 years ago. On Monday, at the mansion on Matheu Street, Gaston Duprat Y Mariano Cohn they are directed, in separate scenes.

But yesterday the meeting took place. Brandoni and De Niro have been friends since Lito Cruz introduced them more than 35 years ago, but of course they haven’t acted together yet.

The appointment was really early -at 6:30 AM-, and as we said just yesterday, it was at a grill in the Balvanera neighborhood. The choice was Bravo, in Matheu, between Rivadavia Avenue and Hipólito Yrigoyen, and when the fence that cut the street was erected, neighbors began to gather.

The shot of Whatever It warns of the silence of the neighborhood, with hundreds of fans and spectators, some of whom remained silent, standing for more than three hours, dreaming of seeing De Niro.

But this is not an easy task. First, they thought he saw her, with a light blue chinstrap, but he was the double actor, lending himself to try the lighting. The resemblance, certainly, is great, but it’s not the actor’s Taxi driver.

There were so many people that when Brandoni left, he had to be watched, with at least five television cameras following him, like a rock star.

What did they shoot on Tuesday?

The appointment, we’ve already said, was 6:30, and they finished shooting around 5:00 pm And only one scene was captured. which one A lunch at a fictitious grill, but that happened at the grill also known as “Lo de Omar”, in the name of the place’s owner for more than 30 years, Omar Escudero.

In the series the grill is called “El rebenque de Omar”, and Narda Lepes ’team manages the cooking.

Here we need to make the necessary clarification for those unfamiliar with the footage. While the shots are repeated, even though the menu chosen by Vincent (the role of De Niro) is a chorizo ​​steak on horseback (with fried eggs), 20 different steaks are cooked, each weighing 900 grams. If De Niro cuts the meat, and repeats the take, a new steak has to be put on his plate. And so.

The smoke in the middle of the street, in the open air, closer to Rivadavia Avenue, was strong in the middle of the morning. There are arranged portable grills that cook meat. That’s what most curious people see, yes, in the great detail of the shot. Because of the large white canvases on which light bounced to illuminate the scenes, which prevented one from seeing everything happening a few meters away.

For dessert, the characters tasted pancakes with dulce de leche with burnt sugar. What do they drink? Red wine with soda. Manuel, Brandoni’s character, a food critic, clearly said this in one of the script’s dialogues: “This is the national drink.”

Who said that phrase? The Dumas Cat.

All that meat, nearly 20 kilos, was eaten by a team of technicians, along with scrambled eggs. The same ones applauded the actors at the end of the first scene.

And when they finished the first and long dialogue scene between them — they had two strong acting registers, but with so much singularity each, and clearly different personal styles — there was a resounding applause, a standing ovation that began with the technical team. . .

What are they talking about?

But what are Manuel and Vincent talking about? They catch up, they are two big men who are friends, but have not met for twenty years. Many things were said, and that scene was particularly emotional, as the interpreters went through all the moods, with humor.

And we should note that Vincent and Manuel speak different languages: in Spanish, English and Italian, the series increases the complexity of the shooting. The applause is when the last “Cut!” cried, before the cameras were rolled for a new scene, and they waited, patiently or not, for an hour to resume filming.

De Niro and Brandoni were not alone in the scenes recorded yesterday. Manuel Vicente, who became mayor of the town where Daniel Mantovani, the character of Oscar Martínez the prominent citizen, from Cohn and Duprat, the waiter who served them. But not a typical waiter, he plays a waiter who interacts, many talking to the diners.

Creole revived?

The balconies of some apartment buildings on the other sidewalk, in Matheu, have visual access to the grill. And they said some landlords or tenants started charging to see the view from above. Someone close to the shoot said they asked for up to $ 5,000 …

True or not, the truth is that the balconies have a beautiful view, and the technicians, the electricians, realizing this, are obscuring the vision as best they can with white screens, or however they can.

This is all, technicians, actors and those close to filming, are absolutely forbidden to take pictures, record any picture during filming. It’s all about keeping everything completely airtight.

What will they film today, Wednesday, May 4th

The shooting plan for Wednesday is one of the most complicated, more than anything because of the duration. It plans to film big scenes, but indoors, inside the auditorium of an important hotel in Buenos Aires, one of the 34 with 5 stars in the City of Buenos Aires …

What’s going on there? It is the presentation of a book written by Manuel, and the narrator is Vincent.

But 5:10 a.m. calls for extras to fill the room. And the extras must remain stoic in their seats throughout the long day, lasting until no earlier than 6:00 p.m.

And more, because tomorrow Thursday is the back up day, in case we don’t finish shooting today.

In fact, the shooting plan suggests that these scenes will take a day and a half to another. They need to have patience, but who will take away the luck of seeing Robert De Niro perform live and just meters away from dozens of privileged people.