MARGOLIS: Did you have any clue that “City of God” was on the shortlist for the Oscars?
MEIRELLES: None. Six months ago, my producers at Miramax told me they had filled out the entry forms for this year’s Academy Awards, but I figured I didn’t have a chance. I guess Miramax believed in the movie much more than I did. I was back in London, in a meeting in my office, when the phone rang with the news from the Academy. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t.
Brazilian critics came down hard on you when “City” was released. Have things changed?
Some critics said the movie glamorized violence, that it was a picture made to please the film establishment. I guess those people probably feel that they were right now. But the film has no stars. It’s not a story in three acts about a hero. And it doesn’t make violence into a spectacle. I think we struck a nerve. Few films have stirred up as much debate in Brazil as this one did.
You once were quoted as saying that “City of God” was a film made with a certain talent, good will and good intentions. Is that still the way you feel?
It was never my intention to use the cinema to make a statement. I wasn’t a part of Brazil’s “Cinema Novo” generation [the experimental film school of the 1960s], where, if a director didn’t launch into political discourse, then it wasn’t a film. We do not have to declare whether we’re on the left or right anymore. The world has moved on since then. That’s history. But the critics still have a bit of that mind-set.
You are a relative newcomer to the film world. How are you regarded by Brazil’s film establishment?
Before I launched “City of God,” I was a total outsider. I mean, I studied architecture. But in the last year and a half, since “City” has been circulating, I’ve had very positive feedback. I have been received very well since then.
But you were best known for your work in advertising. Was there a moment when you knew you’d crossed the line into cinema?
Ever since I shot my first movies on Super 8, when I was around 14 or 15 years old. My university thesis was a short film. After I graduated in architecture, I started making experimental videos. I spent 10 years producing drama for television before entering the world of advertising. I learned a lot as a publicist about film technique, how to use the camera and lighting equipment. But I never fit into that world. I didn’t have a clue what market share was. I always liked making movies. In fact, I liked making them more than I enjoyed watching them.
What do you think came over the Academy to nominate “City of God,” a picture about violence and drug gangs, set in Brazil?
I wondered the same thing. I think there’s a new generation in Hollywood. People with fresh ideas about the world. Just to give you an idea, with my nomination, a total of four Brazilians are now part of the Academy and will be eligible to vote for next year’s awards. [An Oscar nominee automatically wins admission to the Motion Picture Academy.] It was a lovely surprise to discover that they would take a chance on a film like mine. Especially because of the times in the United States, and Bush’s politics and all. I honestly had the idea that the United States was a country in the process of closing down, and building a wall against the rest of the world. In fact, the Academy is surprisingly open and outward-looking. Bush is not the country.
Now you are in London, making an English-language film based on John Le Carre’s thriller “The Constant Gardener,” set in Africa and the U.K. That’s quite a transition.
Well, in fact it’s a very similar film to “City of God.” We open in a slum in Kenya. It’s a story about the pharmaceutical industry, profiteering, and AIDS and tuberculosis. It’s a Third World setting. I feel at home in this picture. The protagonists are British; Ralph Fiennes plays the diplomat. But the film has lots of Kenyan characters, including many who aren’t even in the book. I guess you could say I’m here representing the Third World.
