Director Claudia Pinto opts for a dark comedy for her new film
Shooting under the rainstorms that have hit Valencia in recent weeks and in one of the neighborhoods most affected by the dana, Parque Alcosa in Alfafar: these have been some of the challenges that film director Claudia Pinto has had to face in her new film ‘Dying Doesn’t Always Go Well’, her first comedy.
This was indicated by the winner of the Goya for Best Documentary for ‘As Long as You Are’ this Tuesday during the filming of the film in which she is venturing into dark comedy for the first time, with a script by Luis Moreno and the director herself based on an original idea from her partner.
As the filmmaker explains, the film tells the story of characters who seek happiness by «maneuvering as they can.» A human story that addresses social differences with «intelligent and empathetic humor, delving into issues such as family inheritances and the ties that bind us or serve as springboards.»
«From the first time I read the script, what attracted me the most was that I had a lot of fun and at the same time could read between the lines. I found a story that captivated me from the surface and also from the depths. I immediately saw a story of mirrors between two opposing families, workers and powerful, who end up complementing each other and result in a powerful portrait of our current society with its miseries and its virtues,» she emphasized.
The film has been shooting for four weeks in the city of Valencia and has also included locations in Alicante and in Parque Alcosa in Alfafar, one of the neighborhoods most affected by the dana on October 29.
According to Claudia Pinto, the decision to shoot in this location was made before the flood because they found it a «very interesting» community with the appearance of a «working-class neighborhood» and «dignity,» and they decided to keep it as a way to put Parque Alcosa on the map as «a good filming location.»
«VERY GRATIFYING EXPERIENCE»
«We have filmed there super comfortably and, in that sense, we are very happy, and the neighbors have treated us very well: you could hear many stories as you were filming, about the things that had happened, a lot of banners placed there (…) There were also people who said it’s a good thing you came here to film and it brought them a little joy as well. So it has been a very gratifying experience,» she asserted.
Likewise, the director has stated that these first three weeks of filming have been «very intense» because the film is set in summer and «it didn’t stop raining.»
For the rest of the actors who were filming in the Port of Valencia on Tuesday, the bad weather has been one of the ‘handicaps’ that has accompanied them throughout the filming process. So much so that they have filmed summer scenes in a pool with the water at four degrees Celsius.
«I had to fight a lot against the cold that I was feeling all the time. There is a moment when I am in a swimsuit and my goal was not to shiver in the shot,» said actress Paula Muñoz while acknowledging that, despite the bad weather, the filming went «very well.»
As Muñoz explained, she plays Meli in the film, the older sister in the family, a character «with a lot of determination, very ambitious, with a somewhat ambiguous morality» who, when her father dies, takes on a leadership role within the family.
«She has always been the apple of her father’s eye. And let’s say that the mother and brother are a bit more subdued, and she takes on the role of making all the decisions that happen in this story,» she said.
«TWO UNIVERSES THAT EVENTUALLY CONVERGE»
Regarding the script, the actress pointed out that when she read it, she found it «very interesting» because it is a dark comedy that also addresses «class differences» and there is «a social drama» that, in her opinion, «is told with intelligent humor, but with a depth that does not remain in just an empty comedy, but in the end is creating a portrait of two universes that end up converging through various stories.»
She also noted that this was the second time she had worked under the direction of Claudia Pinto, as they also coincided in the series ‘L’Alqueria Blanca,’ and she affirmed that working with her from a different «perspective» has been a «discovery.»
For Juan Carlos Vellido, who is part of the working-class family, he explained that these characters are affected by the loss of their home, a «great social drama» that leads them to a series of circumstances that unfold during the film.
«We are a family of five who are going to end up on the street. There is no greater tragedy than that, right? I mean, a family that has just lost their job and finds themselves in a very unfortunate and extreme situation. So, the way to approach a comedy that has these starting points and twists can only be by working on the drama. Because comedy ultimately emerges from these situations. And undoubtedly, in this script, there are situations that arise from that drama where the funniest part comes out,» the actor emphasized.
The film stars Tamara Casellas (Nos vemos en otra vida), Ana Wagener (Te estoy amando locamente), Juan Carlos Vellido (Bajo terapia), and Pau Durà (Pájaros) along with Carmen Arrufat (La inocencia), Paula Muñoz (Eres tú), Daniel Pérez Prada (El pueblo), Raúl Prieto (Antidisturbios), Roberto Hoyo (Dieciocho), and Jorge Motos (El aspirante).
It is a co-production between Voramar Films and Tornasol Media, with the participation of RTVE, Movistar+ and À Punt Media, and with support from the Institut Valencià de Cultura and the ICAA of the Ministry of Culture, as well as funding from the ICO.