Behind all the pomp, praise and prizes is a friendship and collaboration that has endured for decades.
They have supported one another and helped champion new voices, in Mexico and around the world.
The conversation between the three old friends flows easily and requires little moderation.
DirectorsAlfonso Cuaron,Alejandro Gonzalez Inarrituand Guillermo del Toro attend the 79th Annual Academy Awards held at the Kodak Theatre on February 25, 2007 in Hollywood, California.Vince Bucci/Getty Images
I remember thinking, Who is this guy who everyone likes?
When youre 20 or younger, youre envious of everybody [laughs].
Why do people likethis guy?
He gave me Alejandros phone number and a VHSwhich I still haveof an early cut ofAmores Perros.
ALEJANDRO G. INARRITU: It was also Antonio Urrutia, no, Gordo?
DEL TORO:Yeah, Antonio and Alfonso both.
They did say, This guy is a genius, but hes the most stubborn motherfucker.
And its still true today [laughs].
INARRITU: Look whos talking [laughs].
Before I met Guillermo, I went to LA to visit Alfonso.
He was already preparingGreat Expectations, and he was living in the fancy hotel, the Chateau Marmont.
He was already kind of a rockstar for me, and I hadnt met him yet.
I literally went to get his advice, and he was very generous and read what I wrote.
I remember how generous he was, and in that moment, I really appreciated it.
And yes, its true that the film was finished.
And he succeeded, I guess, because thats the film as you know it now.
Well, how many minutes did you say, Gordo?
You said 20, I think, and we lost seven.
DEL TORO: Listen, I still say it and you should take my word for it.
I have the VHS.
We did lose about 20 minutes.
You may have put some back.
And we flipped the bank robbery from one reel to another.
INARRITU:Honestly, maybe it was a masterpiece and you destroyed it.
I felt he wasnt just a great filmmaker, but a good guy.
Theirs was a friendship forged in brutal honesty.
We dont see failure or success as things that are defining.
We can see the good in the bad and the bad in the good.
We remember, at the end of the day, that we grew up together.
And I mean, the communication between us is brutally honest.
DEL TORO: Its true.
Some of the stuff Alejandro says, or Guillermo with his language, it really stings so bad.
It hurts so much.
DEL TORO: Thats a great way of putting it.
The way we talk to each other, when Alfonso says brutal, he means brutal.
Change it or dont change it, but this is what you must accept.
We talk about technical things, stuff that is on the surface.
DEL TORO:Alfonso and I co-producedThe Devils BackboneandPans Labyrinth.
We co-produced with Alejandro onBiutiful.
The three of us co-produced a movie together calledRudo y Cursi.
But its more than just producing; Im inspired by them.
I remember one time I discussed with them writing a one-setting thriller.
Alfonso said, Oh, Im going to write one myself, and he wroteGravity.
I asked Alejandro how much he spent onBirdmanand he told me, and it was something not that high.
So, if you ask me, were constantly inspiring one another, but were also tough.
Alejandro and Alfonso have both been really tough with me when I make a mistake.
And I go and I do it, and its a mistake.
We warn each other.
Very lovingly, but very sternly.
INARRITU: For me its the same.
you’re able to do it.
They kick off the door to see things you cant see in a particular moment.
LikePinocchio, for Guillermo: I wouldnt even know where to start making a film like that.
And yet I admire it and I learn from that.
They belong to the same generation, the same country, the same thing.
DEL TORO: Its so true.
Our movies together are not a filmography.
Theyre a biography of each of us.
The first part of our career was how to handle the language of cinema.
The latter part of our career is when the language of cinema and who we are start making contact.
The films become a lot more personal, not necessarily in visible ways, but sometimes.
They are joined in similar ways.
Different approaches, but ultimately the way we have deepened in our own biography within film is very similar.
CUARON: Symbolic biographies, we can put it that way.
DEL TORO: I remember seeingAmores Perrosand thinking, Look at this guy, and his rhythm.
It was percussive, and it was an incredibly prodigious handling of the tools of cinema.
The virtuosity for me onBardois a lot more exquisite, a lot more refined.
Its not percussive, but its lyrical and really hard to execute.
It was the same withRoma.
CUARON: Everything we say to one another comes from a place of love and generosity.
It doesnt come from competition or jealousy.
I think thats very reassuring, and its what allows for that brutal honesty.
I remember having that same thought when I sawAmores Perros.
I found I needed to recover something that was a bit lost.
Then we went together to seeBirdman, and we came out and said, Oh my God.
And his quick, small movie wasBirdman[laughs].
It was so demolishing to see what he was doing formally.
I will never forget how blown away I was seeingChildren of Menfor the first time.
I couldnt understand how Alfonso had done some of those shots.
Every single sequence was better than the last.
In a way, it was Guillermo who opened those doors.
I think thats what we are always trying to do for one another when we talk.
CUARON: Im still amazed and in awe of the possibilities of cinema, including the unexplored ones.
I think that spirit is in our conversations.
Many times, in all the years of knowing each other.
And I know that, regardless of what happens, Ill have these guys.
Thats always the real consolation.
I think were also mindful to shepherd new voices, and we need to produce and mentor new directors.
Were very conscious and conscientious about that.
Just this year, Alfonso produced a short [Le pupille] and I love that hes doing that.
Every time we produce other directors, we know were being part of the flow.
Cinema doesnt start and stop with our generation.
The people that came after us are doing great, inventive and beautiful things.
That we have in common.
We are not completely commercial filmmakers in America, nor are we making movies exclusively about Mexico.
We have the bardo commonality that we can articulate between ourselves in a very unguarded way.
We have had residency of cinema, you could say, since we were kids.
Thats another country we inhabit.
I think work conditions are something very important: to create standards for those conditions.
Here Im talking about within the industry in general, not necessarily about filmmakers.
I think its very important to address that, for workers.
Thats a concern I have worldwide because its not just happening in Mexico.
DEL TORO: All I wish is that we can establish continuity to what has already been gained.
Mexico and Mexican cinema, in its relationship to the world, is very prominent now.
The continuity of that generation is important.
It was left completely unprotected by many of the big government moves.
Other industries in Mexico were protected, but the cinema industry was left completely open.
Thats why it requires a subsidy.
Its not capricious, its not about quality, its about it being left alone to fend for itself.
A generation of amazing masters that the three of us owe such a debt to.
It is as much an industry continuity as a cultural continuity.
And probably that, perhaps, would be the biggest argument in support of those incentives.
We should have done that tequila, by the way.
The Three Amigos Tequila.
He was a wise guy, I think, Mr. George Clooney.
DEL TORO: I look back on that time and I see three young guys.
Weve been incredibly wise and loving with one another about failures and successes.
Ive witnessed the deepening of Alejandro and Alfonso as people and as filmmakers.
Theres a mythology about film being something that just happens, but its something you will.
Its an accident that you must calculate with the help of hundreds of people to make happen.
Its a tribal birth.
Every shot in a movie is a tribal birth that a director has had to orchestrate.
Theres a beauty to aging that I value a lot.
The added validation [of Oscar and critical success] is just the cherry on the cake.
As friends, you need each other to warn you to be careful of success.
Its ordered as content.
Thats some of it.
Where its almost like youre expected to line up with content in a way.
Two very important parts, but theyre not exclusively what cinema is.
DEL TORO: A lot of people talk about film in terms of the business of it.
But that discussion doesnt take into account the other possibilities of the artform as a form of expression.
There are big movements happening that are very interesting.
Its a very interesting moment in cinema.
A lot of it feels like end-of-days cinema, as people are not discussing it in that context.
I find it to be the most amazing period.
DEL TORO:AndRoma.
Why dont they turn and look at what young filmmakers are doing, and the amazing cinema theyre creating?
INARRITU:Yesterday I was talking to a friend about coffee.
A friend of mine wants to start a coffee company.
Hes obsessed with coffee: the grinding, the brewing…
CUARON: He should call it Tres Amigos.
Its a good name [laughs].
The way you have a conversation with a friend, and take a moment to enjoy life.
And then, suddenly, Starbucks came along, and it transformed the coffee habit into a faster pace.
Black coffee represents three percent of what they sell, and everything else is coffee with other things.
DEL TORO: But it will.
INARRITU: It will, it will.
Like Guillermo said, we must stop being so obsessed with the numbers.
What is the obsession with those numbers?
All the numbers offer is a point of comparison, but were in a world thats lost in statistics.
What would be the reason?
We just need to acknowledge that the new generation engages with cinema differently.
But Im by no means going to say its the only way to experience a film.
Theres a lot of cinema Im quite happy to watch on a platform.
They said it wouldnt survive and people would stop going to the cinema.
So, I think cinema will prevail.
If you hear Beethoven or Mozart on your headphones, does it stop being great music?
Its about the movies that are being made to just that media.
If you watch a Fellini or a Godard movie on your box, its still a great movie.
It doesnt change the power of the idea.
The reduction of the idea is what we should discuss, not the possibilities of the medium.
Cinemathe marketing and financial sidehas always tried to be constrained by rules.
Thats always been true.
it’s crucial that you have a strong opening sequence.
CUARON:I agree.
I dont think its a conversation thatll change because its a lazy one.
Its easy to have, and its one that sells.
Thats not going to change.
Older generations criticize how thin-skinned the younger generation is, but I think its the opposite.
This generation growing up in the world of criticism and shame-giving on social networks, theyre used to it.
It can be cruel, and it can be paralyzing.
INARRITU: Ive always said that making a film is a miracle.
Its an act of courage and its very, very respectable.
I dont want anybody to say anything bad about any of the films.
If you didnt like the film, dont bring it to the table.
Lets just bring what we love, and lets fight for that.
I actually think its artificial to say that the [negativity of] the discussion today is unique.
Thats a valid position.
And dont forget the fears we all had when we were first coming out.
We were full of fears.
Youre always surrendering yourself to existing structures.
I think thats good and healthy.
But its our responsibility for each of us to talk about the love of this and that.
I like that people dont like the movies I make.
I actually like it [laughs].
And I think the conversations can often become destructive.
CUARON: That kind of conversation will always exist, but its OK to expose it.
Its a lazy way of looking at things.
The dialogue continues and it transforms.
It belongs to the next generation.
Theyre in charge, not us.
Theyre really very solid.
Its going to go on without us, and thats the beauty of it.
