Ana Piterbarg

Ana Piterbarg

Ana Piterbarg is a filmmaker to watch out for this year as she makes her directorial debut with Everybody Has A Plan.

We caught up with her to chat about the movie, working with Viggo Mortensen and her chance meeting with the actor.

- Everybody Has A Plan is your new movie so can you tell me a little bit about it?

It’s a film of suspense that happens in a particular area called Tigre E Sedalta; it’s close to Buenos Aires but it has a different way of life, people live on islands, sometimes isolated.

It’s the story of a man who needs a change but he at first doesn’t know how to change or what to do. Then in a strange circumstance, he takes the place of his twin.

- There has been a longstanding fascination with twins in movie so where so did the idea for the film come from?

The heart of the film revolves around the idea that there are two sides to everyone and how it is difficult to make them work together and integrate the two sides.

With the twins you can see the sides graphically, yet you can find the theme of duality in all of the characters.

- This movie marks your feature length directorial debut after working in TV so how have you found the transition into movie?

It was really difficult but because it was my first movie, and it was a really big movie for my first maybe, the difference between it and my work in TV felt much bigger.

In film, above all, if you are working with your own material like I was, I think it is also the most difficult to do.

Sometimes I have worked with the script of someone else, whether that’s in my TV work or as an assistant on another movie, but when you have your own material to work with, it is hard to distance yourself from the script. It’s emotionally more difficult.

- Viggo Mortensen takes on the roles of Agustín/Pedro in the film and I heard that you bumped in to him quite by chance at a football club.

I met him at my local football club’s headquarters. My son went there to use their swimming pool and I met Viggo by chance in the merchandise store inside.

I had been picturing Viggo in the role for a number of years because, when looking at his work I always found the duality I required in my character, and I think that is why he wanted to do this movie too.

- Mortensen is a great actor and he turns in a really good performance so how did you find working with him?

He’s such good company and we’re great friends now. We had a lot of fun on set and, as he got involved in the movie from the beginning, we worked with it a lot so when we began shooting, we knew what we wanted from the film.

He’s a great artist and when you make a movie, you don’t know whether personalities will work or in what ways an actor will contribute, but I was surprised with how much Viggo did contribute to movie and how he benefited the finished piece.

When I saw the movie edited, I was surprised with the character curve that he made, it’s a difficult character, he’s not a likable character and it’s hard to create a curve with an unsympathetic character, but I liked very much what he did to him.

- And what ideas did he bring to the table in terms of developing the character?

We worked with the screenplay early on and he contributed not only with some ideas and discussion, but as it took a couple of years to complete the shooting he had time to suggest some books on similar themes which improved my screenplay as I added to it along the way.

He offered help on set and even brought in photographs of his childhood to add to his character’s apartment.

- And he plays twins in the movie so what kind of challenges did that pose during filming because the scenes where the two brothers are together, which doesn't happen too much, are some of the most important in the film?

We were working in two ways. For Viggo it was technically very difficult because he had to portray the twins differently at the same time yet act like they are brothers.

In regards to the camera, it wasn’t too hard, we shot one brother, then the other and put them together to create the shot.

With Viggo it was good because he made the scenes of the twins convincing, so he had to be aware of how the other twin was acting around him, without him actually being there.

- You shot down in Argentina where the major mode of transport is by the river and on boats. And I was reading that you did a lot of shooting from boat to boat so what sort of challenges did all of that pose as you were making the movie?

It was more difficult than the twin aspect actually! We were there for 6 weeks and every day we had to take everything and everyone we needed on and off boats, make-up, cameras, actors, it was tiring.

It was really cold in the winter and the tide rose and fell throughout the day which was a problem for continuity. It was a gruelling shoot.

The movie has screened at the Toronto International Film Festival as well as here in London so how have you found the response to the movie so far?

It was great. It was the first time that I had seen the film with a non-Spanish audience and it went really well.

- Finally what is next for you?

I don’t know yet. I want to make more films but I suppose I will end up working on both TV and film.

Everybody Has A Plan - in cinemas 31st May


by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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