Skip to main content

Interview: Director Francesco Cinquemani on His New Film "Andron"

Alec Baldwin in a scene from "Andron"
Set in the 22nd century, the new sci-fi movie "Andron," follows a group of young men and women who wake to find themselves in a confined maze. At first they don't remember anything about their lives but slowly their memories return and all they want to do is find their way back into civilization. But in order to break out of this underground world, the members of the group must find their inner strength and work together. This means learning to decipher codes, and overcoming mentally and physically challenging tests all while the outside world watches through a game, placing odds on their fate. 

"Andron" is visually layered with a combination of scenes shot on the Mediterranean island of Malta and computer-generated imagery (CGI). The element I enjoyed the most was the exchange between the characters. The film features a crop of beautiful, young protagonists with some pretty sharp acting chops. There are some lines that I interpreted as a way to slip in some comedy relief. For example, "Clearly, we're not in Kansas anymore." The script for this kind of film is not written for the way we talk in everyday life. So there is an element of fantasy just in watching the actors recite their lines. I enjoyed watching the scenes with Alec Baldwin and his fellow veteran actor Danny Glover. Even if their lines are few, it is a pleasure to see these two American screen artisans work together.

Francesco Cinquemani directing Alec Baldwin
The sci-fi genre is not one that has really interested me in the past but I was drawn to this movie for two reasons- Alec Baldwin and the director Francesco Cinquemani. I grew up with Baldwin’s work in the 80s, first on television with "Knots Landing" and then with films like "Beetlejuice" and "Great Balls of Fire." I remember when he left acting for a while and hosted a music series on the New York classical radio station WQXR. Then being from upstate New York, we were treated to some funny promotional work he did for the Wegmans grocery store chain where his mother is a dedicated customer. I consider Baldwin one of the most versatile and bravest actors of our time, always taking on new and interesting roles. He has never given a weak performance, so I was interested in seeing what he’d do with this role and genre. Cinquemani is an acquaintance I met a few years ago in Rome. He was introduced to me as a "Top Journalist in Italy". We became connected on social media and then recently, I noticed he directed this film. 

I had some questions about the making of "Andron," and what goes into transitioning from journalist to sci-fi film director. Cinquemani was generous with this time and answers.

Cinquemani with his producers Monika Bacardi and Andrea Iervolino
Where’d you come up with the idea for this film?
I have always been fascinated by the fantasy genre. I was born in Rome and I live near the Colosseum. The gladiators have always fascinated me since childhood and that fascination was marked by old movies like "Rollerball" and "The Tenth Victim" (which is Italian). My background as a journalist led me to mix power, media manipulation, reality and gladiators in a vision of the future, even if it's slightly pessimistic. "Andron" began as a TV series. A pilot of the series was commissioned by RAI in 2011 and implemented in 2012. It was called "The Place." I shot it in Italian with Italian actors. Then due to an excessively high budget for Italy, the series did not continue, but the pilot has been shown in several festivals. The recent success of "The Hunger Games" has brought this type of genre back into fashion and allowed my dream for this series to become reality. My producers, Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi viewed "The Place" and they asked me to develop it as a film.

The cast is very impressive and quite diverse. Did you have the actors in mind while you were writing the screenplay?
When I write, I hear the voices of the different characters. It's strange but true. For me, it’s as if they were alive and I see them and hear them. I never think of the actors first because it would influence and alter the characters. But there was an exception in "Andron" because I’ve known Gale Harold for years and I respect him as an actor and as a friend. I readjusted the character I had created for the TV series to accommodate him.


Speaking to the effects, how did you create the city?
Through months and months of work by interacting with my VFX (Visual Effects) supervisor, Peter Nalli and his incredible team of special effects wizards. Everything was discussed and decided beforehand. It was planned, designed and modeled in 3D, made with the other elements, inserted in the actual scene and eventually animated. In the scene of the dolly in which we see the city appear behind Michelle Ryan, there are over a hundred moving elements incorporated that we discussed and decided on in post-production. From the shape of each individual in the building where the river would form the inlet, the quantity and quality of the powder that had to be suspended in the air. In the film, there are nearly a thousand VFX. In the first installment of "The Matrix," there were just over 400.

What did you shoot in Malta?
All of the exterior scenes were shot in Malta. We shot most of the film in an underground power station located in Malta where there are several kilometers of studios. The rest was shot in Rome.

How did Alec Baldwin get involved?
He got involved thanks to Bruno Rosato, my casting director and to Danny Glover's conviction. I had already filmed the scenes with Danny and he spoke well of me as a director. Alec really liked the script and the character. He is a fan of science fiction. He understood all the irony that I had incorporated into the script. "Andron" for me is a bit of parody of this kind of movie where the hero always does well. The film tells the story of the bad guys. It starts with them and ends with them. For me it's the story of the rise to power of Adam (Alec Baldwin). There's a joke that he tells, pointing to the contestants: "You do not even understand the rules of the game." If a game like "Andron" existed in reality, competitors would not have any chance of escaping.

What was it like working with him?
He is a kind and extraordinary person with an exceptional talent. Baldwin is like a charge of nitroglycerin ready to explode. He likes to experiment and is wide open to improvisation. It's like having a Stradivarius in your hands, a tool with which you can play anything. He is always energetic and ready to go. Between takes and during down time, he doesn’t even sit because he doesn’t want to lose his energy.

Is "Andron" your first feature-length film?
It's my first feature-length fiction. Before, I had only made a documentary for an hour and twenty minutes, but when you are used to turn twenty-one episodes per year of a TV show, as I did from 2010 to 2012 when I had my own sitcom on RAI, it is not difficult to manage the timing of a film.

Tell me about your transition from journalist to filmmaker.
I wanted to be a director since I was six-years-old and saw "The Thing" and "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Then as I grew up, I realized that it was difficult to find a job working in cinema in Italy. So, I abandoned my dream and I started to study electrical engineering. To pay for school, I started writing articles and was published right away. I was eighteen and this crazy 23-year-old publisher asked me to run his company. It went well. I ended up publishing 30 magazines and in the end, I never became an engineer. Years later, I received another offer and I switched to another publishing house. Things were going well until one morning when I looked into the mirror and saw my old dream. I said to myself: "You're getting old. Soon, you're not going to have a choice. You either try now or live with regret for the rest of your life." So, I went into work that morning and quit my job. Six months later, I had my first TV series on Sky Cinema.

 "Andron" is available to stream through Starz on Amazon..

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Anna Foglietta: Actress and Activist with Old School Elegance

One look at actress Anna Foglietta in her any of her roles, and the Golden Age of Italian cinema comes to mind. Among Italy’s most sought-after actresses today, Foglietta brings to the table a classic eloquence of yesterday while representing Italy’s modern woman. Born in Rome in 1979, Foglietta began her career in 2005 with a role in the RAI television series La squadra . Her character Agent Anna De Luca had a two-year run on the series as she was transitioning to cinema with Paolo Virzì’s 2006 ensemble project 4-4-2- Il gioco più bello del mondo . Since then, she has become one of Italy’s most diverse actresses, transforming herself into interesting, layered characters for comedies and dramas alike. Aside from a small part in Anton Corbijn’s 2010 film The American starring George Clooney, Foglietta’s work began reaching mainstream American audiences in 2015. As Elisa in Edoardo Leo’s 2015 comedy Noi e la Giulia , Foglietta showed her funny side playing a goofball pregn

The Life and Work of Monica Bellucci

Monica Bellucci as Malèna Born in Umbria in 1964, Monica Bellucci is one of the most recognizable faces of international cinema. But she didn't always have her sights set on the spotlight. She went to college to study law and modeled to pay her tuition. Her success in the fashion world coupled with the offers that were pouring in to appear on the big screen eventually took over, changing her fate. Bellucci made her on-screen debut in the 1990 television movie, " Vita coi figli." Just two years later, she scored her first American role in Francis Ford Coppola's "Dracula."   In addition to her native language, she speaks fluent English and French, which has made for a smooth transition from Italian to international cinema. Stateside, she has acted in blockbusters such as "The Matrix-Reloaded,"     " The Passion of the Christ" and " The Sorcerer's Apprentice." She has also appeared in several French films, a

Pasolini's Playground of Roman Ruins

Anna Magnani in a scene from "Mamma Roma" Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1962 “Mamma Roma” starring Anna Magnani , follows the title character, a Roman prostitute determined to change her life and give her son the opportunities she never had. She seizes the opportunity to leave her life on the streets behind when her pimp (Franco Citti) gets married and frees her from his possession. Mamma then goes to the small provincial town of Guidonia to fetch her son, Ettore (Ettore Garofolo), and bring him to Rome to embark on their new life together. She buys a pushcart, finds an apartment in a nice neighborhood, and uses her connections to secure him a job in a restaurant. However, Ettore gets mixed up with boys who are petty thieves and is negatively influenced by them. At the same time, Mamma Roma’s pimp resurfaces and sends her back to the streets. When Ettore learns about his mother’s prostitution, he goes astray and wholeheartedly joins in on the petty crimes of the boys. One day, while

Stefano Natale- the Charismatic Muse behind Carlo Verdone's Iconic Characters

The beauty of Italian cinema lies in the diversity of its genres and styles. Although the ’80s have received its share of criticism for its less-than-profound output, it was the decade in which contemporary maestro Carlo Verdone emerged as a creative young director and actor. The characters he brought to life during those years became permanent fixtures in Roman pop culture. Films like “Un sacco bello,” “Bianco, rosso e Verdone,” and “Borotalco” gave birth to the iconic Mimmo, Leo and Sora Lella.   Enter Stefano Natale, the real-life muse behind Leo and Mimmo. Natale was the subject of a documentary presented at the 2015 Festa del Cinema in Rome. One of four protagonists in Luca Ferrari’s “Showbiz,” he is a soft-spoken gentle giant who recalls his life with Verdone and the creation of his characters in a nostalgic, affectionate manner. “Verdone and I grew up together in the same building near Ponte Sisto,” Natale recalls. “Our grandmothers were cousins, and for 30 years we saw each o

Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni.. What cinema dreams are made of

The Toronto International Film Festival is wrapping up its retrospective of the cinematic collaboration of husband and wife team, Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni. Over the last few days, the couple have participated in discussions, Q & A sessions and have introduced several of their films. Today, I attended a screening of "La voce della luna" (The voice of the moon). It was  Federico Fellini's last film and is a wonderful tribute to the director's signature poetic madness. The film gave Benigni the opportunity to team up with fellow beloved comic, Paolo Villaggio, and the two created a truly unforgettable adventure. Today's screening began with an introduction by Benigni. The moments leading up to his introduction were noticeably serious and somewhat tense. Benigni's publicist and TIFF security staunchly guarded his privacy. There was no interaction and no photos were allowed. Guided by his entourage, he walked quickly from the Green Room to th