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Creating Hollywood Movie Worlds - Benjamín Fernández Interview Part I: Intro & Gladiator
[TRANSLATED SUBTITLES AVAILABLE] In this special series of interviews we pay a visit to Hollywood renowned art director and production designer Benjamín Fernández to discuss how movies, and specifically their sets and scenery, were authentically handcrafted in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. This is Part I: An introduction to the artist and some memories from the making of Gladiator in Morocco...
Audio transcription
"Good day, everybody. Today is a very special day for me because I am at Benjamín Fernández's home.
Benjamin Fernandez is a very well known name in the world of movies, in Hollywood and in the Spanish cinema as well.
Winner of two Goyas for Alatriste and The Others, nominated for many others."
"You also have an award from the Hollywood Artist Guild for Gladiator.
And well, you've been in all the big movies of my childhood and teenage years.
Some of them recently returned to theaters such as Dune, Alien, Gladiator itself came back this year and recently Indiana Jones.
But we can talk about, I don't know, dozens of films you've worked on."
"This interview is also special because I'm speaking Spanish.
Normally you see me doing the interviews in English and even though Benja has been in Hollywood for half his life speaking English as well, between you and me we are used to speak Spanish.
And the other thing that is special is that you have opened the doors of your house and in the background and around us and all that you do not see, all your walls, almost all your floors are also full of the pictorial work."
"By Benjamin Fernandez, which is what you have dedicated yourself to, I'm not going to say after your career in cinema, but almost in parallel.
Because obviously production designer, art director, you've spent a lifetime drawing, a lifetime outlining and a lifetime painting.
This work is what you've been doing since even when you were working in film and in the years since you retired."
"This is a very long introduction, but first I want to thank you.
Because I think this is a fantastic opportunity for any film lover to meet you.
You've always been low key, you haven't come out sticking your head out and bragging about your work.
I know you're very humble, but I think it's worth always, always knowing about your story."
"First I wanted to ask you about Gladiator.
Gladiator, the original.
You shoot it with Ridley Scott and you do a great job.
Great, especially in Morocco."
"How do you remember that great job, which is a little bit what many people recognise you for?
And especially the aspects you were involved in, the artistic and architectural matters.
How do you approach the project in Morocco?
Well, maybe it's too long to tell."
"The truth is that...
Morocco impressed me, because for me it was the first opportunity to do something in Morocco.
I had worked with Ridley Scott before on Alien, which for me was a film that was very important, because it was the first time I left Spain to work in a foreign film."
"Although here I had worked before in quite a few American or English films in Spain, right?
I was given the opportunity to do all the art department work in Morocco.
In Morocco the best known set of all is the Colosseum itself?
Is it there? Is it built there?
Yes, well, one of the things that was built there was one Colosseum, where..."
"where the gladiators are, shall we say, semi-imprisoned, right?
Locations were also used, such as Tamdaght, which was where the gladiators are educated.
Well, I did all the stuff, let's say, the sets, the locations and so on."
"From time to time, well...
Very seldom.
Very few times came the production designer, Arthur Marx.
We design what is the Colosseum and then we made several..."
"various constructions in Ait Ben Haddou, which is a World Heritage Site, of African architecture And, well, we had a really good time Because the country is very..."
"it's unbelievable, impressive.
I was going every morning.
We worked in the summer.
We were working on a very early schedule."
"We were leaving at five-thirty, six o'clock in the morning from the hotel.
and where the location was, which was in Ait Ben Haddou, and we used the outside of Ait Ben Haddou, seeing what the city looks like, isn't it?
And we did a cleanup, let's say, of the area where there was nothing, but we did need an esplanade where we could put the scenery It was surrounded by hills, which was where we thought we would have put the stage where the spectators were."
"Apart from those who stood in the circle of the coliseum.
And then we use the people in many streets and so on.
for entrances and exits of different sets Apart from that, we made a kind of colosseum."
"where there was everything, bazaars and so on.
And then the interior of that coliseum we used it as the access interiors to the arena, which was used because it was where the gladiators entered, where they were healed of their wounds, where the minotaur came out."
"There was one that had horns that was a minotaur.
We have some sketches there still that you have originals.
It's an incredible construction.
It's all much more computer-driven now."
"Before, you had to conceive everything in pencil.
and really build it all, build the set.
And probably one of the biggest...
Well, you did some bigger ones."
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