Most filmmakers don’t make movies in hopes that one day they will be projected on the shell of the Hollywood Bowl. So when the decision to make an concert event out of a movie is made, someone else is tasked with the responsibility of making that event a memorable evening that brings new dimensionality to the experience of seeing the film. Such is the task facing Felipe Fernandez del Paso, who is directing tonight and Saturday night’s Coco: A Live-to-Film Concert at the famed venue.
Fernandez del Paso was Oscar-nominated for his work as the production designer for the film Frida. In addition to his work as a designer, he has also directed film and theatre. But nothing quite on the scale of this weekend’s concerts.
I spoke by phone with him as he was making his way to the Bowl to begin yesterday’s rehearsals. Right from the start he exuded a calm and honest charm as it related to getting all the moving pieces in place: the film, a live orchestra, a ten-person cast, mariachi musicians and numerous other surprises ready for the first performance – which was only 32 hours away
How do you take what you and others loved about the film and translate that to the stage of the Hollywood Bowl and the expanse of that venue?
Can I be honest or should I lie a little bit? I don’t know yet. We’re going to see tonight and tomorrow what tricks we’re doing and if they’ll work. It is an enormous space and the sentiments and the moments of the songs and the singers are very emotional. They are driven from their gut and their beautiful voices. That will definitely make it very intimate.
It’s a big show. With 30 dancers, 65 musicians, lots of costume changes, the movie itself and the beautiful video mapping on the shell of the Hollywood Bowl. There are a lot of tricks in theatre with the lighting and the stage and the blocking, but what will really convey the intimate moments of the show will be the performances of the actors and the singers.
What inspired you most when you first saw the film?
I was blown away by the empathy and the love and the message that Coco was relaying. I was blown away by the beautiful music by Michael Giacchino and the beautiful songs. It’s not one of those films that’s full of songs. It’s not a musical, it’s a movie about music. It really impressed me with the vibrancy, the love and the enormous respect for our conditions and our culture.
Coco is a very emotional film, particularly when Miguel sings Remember Me to Mamá Coco. How will that emotion be maintained at the Bowl?
That moment in the film, which is so captivating, I decided to keep it as it is in the film. We won’t be doing that moment in the film live. There are some moments that are easy to translate to a huge show and there are moments like that one where bringing it to life would take away the atmosphere from the film.
We will be carrying people’s emotions over from the beginning and we will be building up and building up and when we get to that moment it will explode into emotion. Songs like Proud Corazon, the song performed one year later when Mamá Coco has passed, we come back to a live singer. I want to make that the biggest and best moment in the show.
If you contrast how the American culture deals with death with the way the Mexican culture does, it seems as though your culture has a better approach. What makes Día de Los Muertos special?
I think that in many cultures, death and the dead and the treatment of the subject has always been an obsession to humankind. There’s all sorts of celebrations, there are all sorts of nods to the dead and to death. For example, China has a celebration for their dead ones in the month of April. In Spain they clean the tombs of their deceased every year. I think what we do in Mexico is we celebrate death and the dead, but as a means to reconcile with it.
That doesn’t mean that people don’t cry when their loved ones die. We do celebrate in a very beautiful way, but there’s an element of sadness and solemnity. It’s not a party. It’s not a party to get drunk. It’s a moment to remember, to reconnect with your lineage, to be grateful for what you have become because you were born from this lineage. I think that’s what makes the holiday very special. And we’re Mexicans. We’re happy. We are colorful. We are a nation of joy. We are a people of joy. It’s all translated in a holiday like this.
For more details about the concert and links to purchase tickets, please go here.
Images from Coco courtesy of Pixar.com