Brandon Judell
21 Grams of Guillermo Arriaga
by Brandon Judell
21 Grams, the brilliant new film starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio Del Toro, is the latest endeavor from the Mexican artistes, director Alejandro González Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga. If you saw the Oscar-nominated Amores Perros, you already know how extraordinary this pair is.
"But what's 21 grams?" you ask. Apparently, the moment one dies, the body becomes 21 grams lighter. Is it one's soul that has departed?
This jigsaw puzzle of a film tries to supply the answer, but if it doesn't succeed, it will still keep you on the edge of your seat as its elements slowly come together. To be more explicit about the plot wouldn't be fair to you.
Anyway, NYTW sat down with screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga at the Regency Hotel when he was recently in the Big Apple promoting the flick.
Mr. Arriaga is not only a screenwriter but also a critically-acclaimed novelist, a television documentary director, a radio and television producer, plus, for you cademics out there, he's also a college professor.
And this is what we had to say to each other.
NYTW: Your three films, including the first which I haven't seen, seem to deal with revenge. The trio all seem to depict how loss and death affect man. Why does this theme show up in all of your work? Is this an autobiographical element?
GA: Ernesto Sabato said, "You do not choose your obsessions. Your obsessions choose you." I had the loss of my grandmother when I was 15. And when you're a teenager . . . I loved her very much. She lived with us, and her death came with very great violence that I couldn't understand. So I'm kind of obsessed with that, with those kind of themes. I never overcome really the death of my grandmother. Life went on. My personal life. But her presence is like . . . Her 21 grams are with me all the time, and I think these are the personal experiences that go through your work always.
NYTW: You're almost too good-looking to be a talented writer. Did you start off as an actor? You're tall and attractive. Many writers are short and dumpy.
GA: (Laughing) Thank you very much. My wife is going to love this, and you
made my day. I wanted to be an actor, but I soon realized I had not the
discipline to be an actor. To be an actor means a lot of work. I knew I didn't
have that kind of motivation, and I discovered that here in New York. I came
here to study acting, and a friend of mine invited me to an off-Broadway play.
There were ten actors and only six of us in the audience. So I realized I
would never have that passion like those ten actors giving the best of themselves
to only 6 people. My friend, the actress, she had a nude scene for 6 only.
My passion was writing.
NYTW: You and director Alejandro González Iñárritu seemed
to have really
meshed. This is your second effort together. Would you get upset if he worked
with
other screenwriters? And would he come and slap you if you worked with
another director?
GA: If he's going to slap me if I work with another director, he will have
to come and slap me because right now I'm in three different projects here
in
the States. Right now I have written an original screenplay for Tommy Lee
Jones. He's going to act and direct. I'm very happy to put up with Tommy.
I think he's one of the great actors. After some time now, I consider him
one of my biggest friends. He's an absolutely great person to work with. Very
educated. Harvard. And we have various things in common. I also have a project
that Marc (Monster's Ball) Forster is intended to direct. And Marc and I,
we met here in New York like three years ago, and he's a guy I respect a lot.
A good friend and an incredible director. And right now I have a project with
Joe Carnahan who directed Narc. I'm very happy to work with someone with the
talent and passion of Joe. So I think Alejandro's going to slap me.
NYTW: Will you move to New York?
GA: No, I want to live in Mexico because I think Mexico can give me the material for a different vision.
NYTW: Is there a certain symbiosis between you and Alejandro? I really can't
imagine any other director realizing the power of the 21 Grams and Amores
Perros screenplays. Are you in the mood now to see your work transformed through
someone else's eyes?
GA: Of course, I like very much working with Alejandro. I think that Alejandro
is a genius. I absolutely believe this. I have been working with him
closely. I think he is one of the greatest directors of all time. He's very
meticulous. You don't how much he works when he's on the set. He doesn't improvise
anything. He arrives with a lot of cards filled with notes, and he knows perfectly
what he's going to do. Of course, I would like to work him all the time, but
it's also interesting to see my work with other directors. I think that for
a writer, it's interesting to collaborate with different voices. And I think
it will be interesting for Alejandro also to work with another writer. At
this moment, I'm really proud and happy working with him. [Judell]
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