Moreno cast in Che pix

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A few months ago I read Peter Buchman's two Che Guevara scripts, The Argentine and Guerilla, that Steven Soderbegh will begin turning into moving images starting on 7.25 in Spain. I'm bringing it up because Catalina Sandino Moreno has joined the cast of both films. Emiliano de Pablos' Variety story doesn't say which character she'll be playing, but pretty much everyone on the Che side of the battle in Guerilla winds up dead.

Obviously political and terse and rugged, Buchman's scripts are about how living outside the law and fighting a violent revolution feels and smells and chafes on a verite, chapter-by-chapter basis. They're about sweat and guns and hunger and toughing it out...friendships, betrayals, exhaustion, shoot-outs and trudging through the jungle with a bad case of asthma. What it was, how it happened...the straight dope and no overt "drama."

If Soderbergh does right by what's on the page, The Argentine and Guerilla (which Focus Features will open within weeks of each other in 2008) will have, at the very least, a Traffic-like impact. The films will almost certainly be Oscar contenders, and you have to figure that del Toro, playing a complex, conflicted hero who ends up dead (i.e. executed in a rural schoolhouse by a drunken Bolivian soldier), will be up for Best Actor. The Guevara role is too well written (nothing but choice, down- to-it dialogue from start to finish) and del Toro is too talented an actor -- it can't not happen.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 19, 2007 at 1:42 PM

comment #1

Breedlove says ...

Sweet Jesus, did you say they start shooting next week? Surely you mean they are shooting in Spain starting next week. Hasn't this fucking thing been shooting for like 9 years already? I thought it was originally supposed to come out in '06. And I remember seeing photos of Del Toro in costume a long time ago. Really looking forward to this, although Soderbergh seems addicted to being "experimental." Why shoot one giant Che Guevara biopic when you can shoot two seperate ones, and release them within weeks of each other?

Posted by Breedlove at July 19, 2007 2:12 PM

comment #2

NYCBusybody says ...

Ah...rich, spoiled Western actors, living in million dollar apartments, portraying socialist/proletariat leaders. Can't get enough of that.

Posted by NYCBusybody at July 19, 2007 2:18 PM

comment #3

jeffmcm says ...

Do you have the address of Benicio Del Toro's million dollar apartment? Does he have five plasma screens?

Posted by jeffmcm at July 19, 2007 2:20 PM

comment #4

Mike Schaefer says ...

Yeah, NYCBB, kinda like millionaire Republican politicians pretending to be just like Joe Sixpack. :-)

Posted by Mike Schaefer at July 19, 2007 2:22 PM

comment #5

erniesouchak says ...

Considering what a debacle The Good German was, I'd argue success isn't quite certain.

Posted by erniesouchak at July 19, 2007 2:29 PM

comment #6

tholl-yung says ...

boobies everywhere, I mean maria full of grace, great movie

Posted by tholl-yung at July 19, 2007 2:30 PM

comment #7

BurmaShave says ...

I have to say, going by your previous script reviews, these films don't really seem to focus at all on Che's evil or his crimes. Not only do I find that troubling, but dramatically, it's a strange omission. Isn't the most compelling arc of his life how he went from a dreamer, the young Argentine doctor seen in THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, to a mercenary leader who liked to beat people to death and who personally executes scores of people? Also, why two movies? That's what is going to cost him his Oscar.

Posted by BurmaShave at July 19, 2007 2:31 PM

comment #8

George Prager says ...

I do hate rich Jews. I love poor Jews.

There's a denominator in there somewhere.

Posted by: NYCBusybody [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 12, 2007 02:38 PM

Posted by George Prager at July 19, 2007 2:36 PM

comment #9

source188 says ...

To erniesouchak: The Good German was obviously meant to be nothing more than an experimentation flick by Soderbergh that no one ever really intended to have any impact, just come and go quietly. As long as Clooney is in on it and Soderbergh signs the dotted-line for those Ocean's flicks, he can do whatever.

Posted by source188 at July 19, 2007 2:38 PM

comment #10

OddDuck says ...

Hey NYCBB, what race/ethnicity are you are you going to claim you are today?

Posted by OddDuck at July 19, 2007 2:50 PM

comment #11

BurmaShave says ...

I understand that the OCEAN films are the commercial compromises Soderbergh makes to be able to do his art projects, but why is it that OCEAN'S ELEVEN and OCEAN'S THIRTEEN are really the best films he's made since THE LIMEY? (I know I just ommited TRAFFIC, but I actually am not really too crazy about that movie).

Posted by BurmaShave at July 19, 2007 2:52 PM

comment #12

OddDuck says ...

For some reason, I really got into Solaris in a big way, and feel that it's right up there with his best work.

Posted by OddDuck at July 19, 2007 2:58 PM

comment #13

Craig Kennedy says ...

erniesouchak, I reject your assertion that The Good German was a debacle, but then I'm on record as a Soderbergh apologist. I really liked Solaris too. Traffic hasn't aged as well for me, but I'd say Full Frontal is his only film I almost hated.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at July 19, 2007 3:05 PM

comment #14

JoeJustice says ...

Wait-- wasn't Vinnie Chase in these movies?

I'm confused.

P.S.--The Limey is a piece of genius.

Posted by JoeJustice at July 19, 2007 3:41 PM

comment #15

bmcintire says ...

THE LIMEY and SOLARIS are my favorites of his, but I'm still a sucker for Julia Roberts (and her boobs) in ERIN BROCKOVICH. At least the production design for GOOD GERMAN was beautiful. Too bad the movie blew.

Posted by bmcintire at July 19, 2007 4:01 PM

comment #16

Craig Kennedy says ...

I don't know, I'm watching it again tonight and may not be so taken with it the second time, but I thought The Good German was a flawed but fascinating little movie. It wasn't completely successful, but I admired how it tried to turn the tone and themes of a movie like Casablanca upside down and magnify the switch by trying to recreate the same old Hollywood style.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at July 19, 2007 4:29 PM

comment #17

lazarus says ...

It seems that almost every time NYCBB chimes in with some snarky comment, he's immediately struck down by logic and a illumnation of his hypocrisy, and disappears until next time.

At least D.Z. keeps fighting until he's been proven wrong several times over.

Anyway, I'll throw in with the support of Solaris. May actually be his masterpiece, using his new wave techniques in service of a film that one would think would be all sci-fi mumbo jumbo but turns out to be quite personal and haunting. His fracturing of time worked perfectly with the themes about the past and memory. Clooney was certainly more award-worthy here than before or since.

I don't really think there's a BAD Soderbergh film; something like Schizopolis or Full Frontal were meant to be niche hodgepodges. At least they didn't lose tens (or hundreds) of millions of dollars like other director's missteps. As for The Good German, it wasn't perfect, but that film was NEVER going to make any money, regardless of any critical acclaim it may have received. NEVER. Technically, it was perfect, from Soderbergh's photography and direction to the score to the costumes to the art direction. While the script could have been a little better (especially the climax, which was more anti-), you couldn't fault anyone for getting involved.

By my accounts, this guy's got a handful of masterpieces already, while daring to work in many different genres while continuing to push the envelope in mainstream cinema. Even his "hack" work (if you could call it that, as he isn't a hired gun) with the Ocean's films is supremely entertaining.

The Che films may not be the be-all, end-all of historial biopics, but they won't be boring, they won't be generic, and they won't be overtly parisan, despite what jackasses like NYCBB want to assume. I can't wait.

Posted by lazarus at July 19, 2007 4:31 PM

comment #18

Craig Kennedy says ...

Lazarus if I'd just waited a couple of minutes you'd have spared me having to spout off since you did it so much better anyway.

Since it's too late anyway, let me ask: were you shocked by how much you liked Solaris? I was. I expected a pretentious, boring mess and what I got was one of the more emotionally moving movies I've seen from a director often criticized for being cold and for placing craft and cleverness above human feeling.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at July 19, 2007 4:37 PM

comment #19

OddDuck says ...

About the Solaris praise, YES YES!!

Solaris was emotionally moving and one of the more deeply felt movies of that year. And the score was great. There's a scene towards the end that's a sort of flash-forward and the music there is haunting and has this emotional resonance that was just perfect for the movie there.

Posted by OddDuck at July 19, 2007 4:49 PM

comment #20

Craig Kennedy says ...

Yes it warms my heart to see some Solaris love. I'd further add that in lesser hands, the time shifting could been pointless showing off, but here it really played into the idea of what you'd do differently if you were given the chance and it also highlighted the imperfection of memory.

I'll also admit Soderbergh's version got me to better appreciate Tarkovsky's original which I originally found to be a little inscrutable.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at July 19, 2007 4:58 PM

comment #21

lazarus says ...

OddDuck, are you talking about where we see Clooney "back on Earth", and he says something about being haunted by possibly remembering her wrong?

Perfect. As is Viola Davis.

Posted by lazarus at July 19, 2007 5:52 PM

comment #22

OddDuck says ...

yes, lazarus, that scene! in addition to the music in that sequence, there's a shot of clooney walking up some rain-doused metal stairs that is also just completely perfect, and fits in with the music and the somber tone of the overall sequence and creates this vibe and mood that envelopes you and lets you feel precisely what soderbergh wants you to feel.

Posted by OddDuck at July 19, 2007 6:37 PM

comment #23

Craig Kennedy says ...

See there? Earlier I got all worked up and totally glanced over lazurus' comment about past and memory, jumped ahead with my zeal to hop on the Solaris bandwagon and totally regurgitated what he'd said without even realizing it.

Is there a Douche of the Day award and can I have it?

Posted by Craig Kennedy at July 19, 2007 7:18 PM

comment #24

lazarus says ...

No worries, cj; I think you said something similar but different--a heightening of my original points. And I imagine many of the negative reviews of Solaris repeated the same bullshit, so a chorus of praise here isn't inappropriate.

It's interesting, OddDuck, how we'll often talk about great lines or scenes from films, but we can also share the arresting and transcendent singular moment of a shot of a man walking up a metal stairway, with this stark music behind it. To me that speaks more to the power of cinema than "I could have been a contender" or crosscutting a series of murders with a baptism, because we're all bringing much more to the table with Solaris, and likely taking much more away.

Posted by lazarus at July 19, 2007 7:41 PM

comment #25

lipranzer says ...

Count me in on the Solaris love. I remember the Village Voice year end issue that year, with Hoberman (or maybe Michael Atkinson; I don't remember) pointing out how odd it was that it was people who loved Tarkovsky's original who seemed to appreciate what Soderbergh did more than the critics who either hadn't seen the original or didn't like it. I still think this movie had Clooney's best performance - even better than Syriana. And the way Soderbergh managed to play with time and memory was extrordinary.

Soderbergh may not have made a truly awful movie, but I'm sorry, I still didn't like The Good German. It was an interesting experiment, but it was still a failure.

And I certainly hope the Che Guevara movies don't overly romanticize him, like Motorcycle Diaries did.

Posted by lipranzer at July 19, 2007 8:18 PM

comment #26

le corbeau says ...

Just making a Che movie is glamorizing the little fashion accessory torturer.

Posted by le corbeau at July 19, 2007 9:01 PM

comment #27

lazarus says ...

Sorry, cj. Looks like someone just stole your "Douche of the Day" hopes right out from under you.

Che is neither as great as the "fashion accessory" t-shirt wearers would like to think, nor as evil as the right wing kneejerk fools want to demonize him as.

The guy IS more than a stencil pattern, and as I said before, I'd be very surprised if Soderbergh painted him out to be a saint or a Hispanic Hitler. It will not likely be partisan, certainly not like Stone's Castro documentary.

Do you WANT it to be biased, so you can rail against it, or do you actually want to see a decent film about a complex individual. It must have infuriated you to see Walter Salles focus on the young, idealistic Che in The Motorcycle Diaries, and since there's no-one in that film to hate, you're only left with "...but look what he turned into!"

Posted by lazarus at July 19, 2007 9:37 PM

comment #28

le corbeau says ...

Sorry, I just don't find him complex. The 20th century was full of his kind, if not him on a T-shirt, it would have been Mao, or Beria, or Ignatz Trebitsch Lincoln.

Posted by le corbeau at July 19, 2007 10:20 PM

comment #29

Craig Kennedy says ...

It's possible Soderbergh will treat the subject with all the subtlety of a bumpersticker slogan which is what passes for political discourse these days, but I'm going to go ahead and give him the benefit of a doubt until I see the movies.

I will say an extremely complex subject felt oversimplified and occasionally preachy in Traffic. The same thing could happen with the Che films, but I hope not.

And I just rewatched The Good German. It still works for me...even better the second time around in fact.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at July 19, 2007 10:46 PM

comment #30

lipranzer says ...

lazarus, you may not have been directing this at me, but just to clarify; I don't want to rail against the movies. Like cjkennedy, I want to see a more-than-decent movie about a complex individual. I just was very disappointed in Motorcycle Diaries, because it meant to illuminate why that time period was important to Che Guevera's life, and in my opinion, it didn't. And also, I'm still a Soderbergh fan, even if I did find Good German disappointing as well.

Posted by lipranzer at July 20, 2007 10:04 AM

comment #31