Writer/Director Alejandro Monteverde and Actors Christiana Dell’Anna & David Morse talk to The Inside Reel about approach, direction, intent, and environment in regards to their new drama/biopic: “Cabrini” from Angel Studios.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Have to show America we are all people of dignity.
00:18 This project is overly ambitious,
00:21 perhaps unrealistic.
00:24 We are old or we die.
00:27 This is how I learned to live in America.
00:30 Cabrini, you would have made an excellent man.
00:36 You know, between this and Sound of Freedom,
00:38 there's such a diametric sort of approach
00:41 because you're doing so many different things.
00:43 I mean, the classical beauty of this film
00:46 and the way you shot it and the locations and everything
00:49 is unbelievable.
00:50 But it's also bringing a practical application
00:54 of Mother Cabrini.
00:55 Can you sort of talk about that and looking
00:57 at the psyche of the woman, but how the environment sort
01:00 of reflects that now you shot it?
01:03 Yeah.
01:03 Well, I love the word you use, classical beauty.
01:07 And that was one of the main inspirations on this film.
01:12 She lived her life in a very artistic way
01:16 that almost was operatic.
01:22 Some of the lines that I heard that she said
01:26 were very bigger than life.
01:28 The world is too small for what I intend to do.
01:30 It's almost like an opera.
01:34 So we decided to create a cinematic dance with her life.
01:45 She was a woman that her life shined a light
01:49 on those with no voice.
01:51 And we wanted to shine a light in her life
01:55 through the cinematic lens and create
01:57 this language between her life and the audience.
02:00 So we went back and we literally--
02:06 we were influenced a lot by the early masters.
02:09 Well, not too early.
02:11 You know, Tarkovsky was a very big influence
02:13 on this particular film.
02:16 I always kind of study one kind of filmmaker
02:18 for every particular story.
02:20 And this case, we kind of went back
02:23 into study a little bit of Andrei Tarkovsky's
02:27 kind of choreography between the camera and the characters.
02:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:37 I was told that you were rejected
02:40 by three different orders, each time
02:44 for weakness of constitution.
02:46 Your Holiness, we can serve a weakness
02:49 or we can serve our purpose, not both.
02:53 With this film, you know, both these characters,
02:55 it's an interesting sort of beyond the greater
02:58 perspective.
02:59 It's about perspective and perception,
03:01 their own personal perspectives, their flock,
03:04 but also the perception and how that moves.
03:07 Can you talk about looking at those two sides of each
03:10 character and how you each play them?
03:11 Yeah, I'll start with the Archbishop.
03:13 You know, the Archbishop is a man who is a real--
03:17 Archbishop Corgan was a real--
03:19 you know, really good Archbishop of New York and New Jersey.
03:23 He was the youngest bishop ever at that time
03:28 in the United States, 34 years old when he became a bishop.
03:32 And his experience was in Rome, really, at the Vatican.
03:36 That's where he was educated, felt very connected there.
03:39 It was very conservative in his thinking about the Church
03:43 and defense of the Church.
03:45 And he had a real dream of what he wanted to do
03:49 as a bishop and archbishop.
03:52 And without him really being aware of it,
03:56 he became a politician in order to get his work done.
03:59 And his perspective was about, you know,
04:03 really his-- what he needed to do,
04:06 and lost the perspective of who he was as a--
04:11 we'll use the word shepherd because that's
04:13 what he's confronted with.
04:15 A shepherd with a relationship to people, not an institution.
04:22 And Mother Cabrini brings it home to him.
04:26 That is, it's really about the people,
04:28 not about the institution.
04:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:33 My sisters, if we are to build an empire of hope,
04:39 it seems we must first conquer New York.
04:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:45 A filthy day goes, they just keep coming.
04:49 [SPEAKING ITALIAN]
04:55 In America, the greatest nation on Earth,
04:58 rats have it better than the children of five points.
05:01 With that, saying that, you know,
05:02 it's interesting because with his filming,
05:05 it's about perspective and perception,
05:08 how the camera sees you versus how the character sees
05:11 the other characters.
05:12 And you do that.
05:14 Cabrini's at eye level on many things.
05:16 And then you see the perspective when
05:17 she's dealing with the powers that be
05:20 versus the people on the ground.
05:22 Can you talk about that?
05:23 Because that's not just, obviously,
05:25 the fluidity of the camera.
05:27 That's how you direct.
05:28 Cristina, that's how you make everything sort of move.
05:31 Can you talk about that?
05:33 Yeah, I mean, I am a big believer
05:35 that the gold in a visual, in a cinematic storytelling,
05:44 it's the subtext.
05:45 It's how to create the subtext, how
05:47 to create a language that the audience want to come on board.
05:53 It's an invitation to not just rely on the dialogue,
05:58 but to rely on the visual journey
06:01 that the character is going through.
06:03 One of the things that we used in this film that was also
06:08 very challenging was the use of reflections,
06:12 because she was an immigrant that was still
06:16 very proud of her roots, but was willing to embrace
06:20 a new culture, the American culture.
06:23 So that was her philosophy.
06:26 So we decided to, in every way we could,
06:30 to always continuously to use that subtext of the reflection.
06:34 There is a scene on the film where she comes
06:37 and she has to speak.
06:41 At that time, women did not have a voice,
06:45 especially in places where they were run by men.
06:50 And this is the scene where she's talking
06:51 to the board of directors.
06:53 And as the camera is pulling out, you see behind her,
06:57 you see a painting of George Washington.
07:00 But as the camera comes down, you
07:02 see the reflection of George Washington on the table.
07:05 And we figured out a way where her face comes
07:10 and is framed on the reflection from the painting that
07:14 is behind, almost like she's taking--
07:16 in a way, she's being hurt, and she has become a leader.
07:22 And you have all these men listening carefully with her.
07:25 And she says one of my favorite lines,
07:28 "Begin the mission and the means will come,"
07:30 because they were always challenging her.
07:33 She had all this big--
07:34 she had a big vision on how to--
07:37 of what she wanted to do.
07:39 She didn't have the means.
07:41 And that was one of her mottos, "Begin the mission
07:44 and the means will come."
07:45 And as a filmmaker, I use that now.
07:49 I'm like, let's just start the movie,
07:50 and we'll figure out where the funding will come.
07:54 Welcome to America.
07:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:10 [CHATTER]
08:14 Well, I guess for me-- and I wanted
08:32 to think about it a little bit, because it was very important
08:35 for me to stress how her perspective and things
08:40 actually was reinforced by the experiences
08:42 that she collected over the years.
08:45 And because she started off as already
08:50 with some kind of difficulties and obstacles in her life.
08:56 She was a very fragile woman of ill constitution.
09:01 So she was already battling with a condition.
09:06 And then she has to face the fact that she's a woman,
09:09 and all the consequences of that,
09:13 and what it means to be living in a world that
09:16 doesn't offer much to women.
09:19 So the more she experiences life,
09:23 the more she reinforces her values
09:26 and what she believes in.
09:27 So going to New York and having to face such difficulties
09:32 and obstacles, but also the kind of friendship
09:36 that eventually, even between us, our two characters,
09:40 Sparks, it helps her develop.
09:45 And she matures very much.
09:48 And in fact, that was very much the journey
09:50 that I imagined for her to start off as a more--
09:55 I don't want to use the word naive, but definitely
09:58 less experienced woman in the new world,
10:02 but with a huge background.
10:05 And then she becomes more and more self-aware
10:07 of what her mission is, what her abilities are.
10:11 She gets even stronger in her beliefs
10:15 and what she wants to do and achieve.
10:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:21 [HORSES NEIGHING]
10:24 Now, in terms of directing Christina as Mother Cabrini,
10:50 I mean, obviously, there's a lot of background on her
10:53 and these kinds of things.
10:54 But you have her play it very practically.
10:57 You see her flaws.
10:59 You see her strengths.
11:00 You see her weakness.
11:01 You see her-- she's a powerhouse in that way.
11:04 But you saw that yin and yang.
11:05 Can you talk about speaking to Christina about it,
11:08 but then also using the language?
11:11 Because when she speaks in Italian versus English,
11:14 there's an interesting note of what language does universally.
11:19 Yeah.
11:20 You know, when I was casting this film,
11:22 I always-- every time I look at a character,
11:26 I know what I'm after, like literally physical.
11:30 And with Cabrini, Mother Cabrini, I was going out,
11:39 and I was looking for the eyes, the power on the eyes.
11:44 I needed somebody who had--
11:47 if I wanted to compare with an actor, is Michael Corleone.
11:52 You know, the power that he had in his eyes from the minute
11:58 you meet him, I wanted that.
12:01 And I was looking--
12:04 when I was looking at all the actresses to play this role,
12:08 when I met Christina, I saw the power in her eyes.
12:11 I said, OK, she can speak with her eyes.
12:14 And only if necessary, she should deliver lines.
12:18 But if she can say everything with her eyes, that in itself--
12:22 because she achieved so much that she
12:26 must have to enter a room and close a deal with just
12:31 her presence.
12:32 Otherwise, how could she open-- we just saw the whole movie,
12:36 it's about one institution, a hospital.
12:39 After that, she went and opened 60 more all around the world
12:43 with different languages and everything,
12:45 languages that she didn't even speak.
12:48 So I needed those eyes, and Christina had those eyes.
12:52 So for me, I was directing her eyes more than anything.
12:56 I would just be looking at the monitor.
12:58 And a lot of the times, I will talk to her about the way
13:04 she will look at a character, whether it's compassion.
13:08 When you look at a child, it's very different than when
13:10 you look at your opponent.
13:12 When you look at your opponent like the pimp,
13:15 you are-- in a good way, you have the eyes of a fighter.
13:21 You mean it.
13:23 And when you look at a child, you
13:25 have the eyes of a saint, of a loving mother.
13:29 And she was able to transition from one place to the other.
13:35 It's not safe, not for you.
13:37 Be careful.
13:38 This place will eat your life.
13:39 [GRUNTING]
13:41 Doctors tell me five years.
13:46 Five would be a miracle.
13:49 In that case, I should not do it.
13:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:55 I need an orphanage with more room,
13:57 where my children can be children.
13:59 You know, because you play her very practically.
14:01 She's very grounded.
14:01 You see her flaws, her strengths, and her ambition,
14:05 but also her empathy.
14:07 Could you sort of talk about that?
14:08 Because it's the physical and forming the emotional
14:10 and back and forth.
14:11 But that's a journey in itself, because at times,
14:14 you make her feel very frail.
14:17 And then other times, she is like a powerhouse.
14:19 Nobody can stop.
14:20 Can you sort of talk about sort of that yin and yang
14:23 of playing that physically, emotionally, intellectually?
14:25 Because she's always thinking things through.
14:28 Yeah, I wanted her to be very human, very relatable.
14:33 And you only do that through weaknesses
14:35 and how she overcomes her weaknesses
14:39 and finds strength in things that are bigger than her.
14:43 And I personally do that all the time.
14:46 I have ideals that I appeal to whenever I feel less strong
14:53 in any way, or if I feel insecure, or I'm afraid.
14:56 I always appeal to what I believe in.
15:00 So the physical part was very much human.
15:03 And what she felt was right was the empathy towards others,
15:10 the responsibility towards the children,
15:15 the people she was helping.
15:16 It was the more, her inner world,
15:20 it was always balancing these two things.
15:23 But I definitely wanted her to be even annoying sometimes.
15:28 Well, all the time, really, because she's relentless.
15:31 She's always like, insisting on things
15:34 until she wears people out, until they say yes.
15:37 Yeah, I know. I can speak to that.
15:39 I was just going to say, she became a,
15:41 you used the word powerhouse.
15:42 Really, she became a powerhouse from the weakness
15:46 and the obstacles.
15:47 You know, she had to become that to do what she had to do.
15:52 Mm-hmm. Yeah.
15:53 ♪ I'm in the fighting ♪
15:57 I'd like you to keep your crime
15:58 and your filth out of this neighborhood.
16:01 The mayor will find a way to get you out.
16:03 ♪ I'm in the fighting ♪
16:05 You have an election coming up, do you not?
16:08 I believe I am being threatened by a nun.
16:12 You have swatted the hornet's nest.
16:15 Get out, Jagger. Go!
16:19 I built the best hospital for your people and for mine.
16:26 (SCREAMING)
16:27 (SCREAMING)
16:28 (SCREAMING)
16:29 (SCREAMING)
16:30 ♪ I'm in the fighting ♪
16:33 ♪ I'm in the fighting ♪
16:36 (whooshing)