“I
think that 21 Grams tries to demonstrate that life has an enormous power
– and that life has much more power than death,” states screenwriter Guillermo
Arriaga (Amores Perros) regarding his second feature. “I think this is a
story of love. How love can help people heal. It’s basically a movie of hope. I
think we are living in very dark moments in the world situation right now. I
think that in these very dark moments we must find a way to find hope.”
A tall chiseled man with a soft, calm voice, Guillermo Arriaga betrays the
violence and emotional extremes of his work with an introspective first
impression. He claims that William Faulkner and William Shakespeare are his two
favorite writers – then makes clear that ‘Guillermo’ translates as ‘William.’
21 Grams represents his second collaboration with director Alejandro
Gonzales Inarritu. Although the action was originally set in their native
country Mexico, it was ultimately translated to an American milieu for its
filmed realization. As for the process, he notes, “It wasn’t very tough. I think
the screenplay touches very basic emotions that you can have anywhere. So it
wasn’t difficult to translate.”
The most controversial aspect of his screenplay has so far been its structure,
which is constantly shifting time and action. His approach was simple: “I think
every story has a way to be told. Here I wanted to approach the way we tell
stories on a daily basis. When I want to tell the story of how I met my wife, I
don’t go linear. ‘You know how I met my wife? Well, three years ago when I was
on a trip…’ It goes back and forth. So I wanted to try that kind of structure in
21 Grams. To have it the way we tell stories daily.”
Guillermo continues, “First of all, I didn’t want an intellectualized structure
– I wanted an emotional structure. I think that audiences are much more
sophisticated day by day. I think that cinema is a very young medium. It’s very
young. It’s not like literature or architecture or painting. Because with
Picasso you have one eye here and a nose there – you pull back and can see it is
a woman. So I think audiences are much more sophisticated. I want to have a
dialogue with the spectators. A dialogue where the spectator is filming a
dialogue of his own, trying to fill in the huge gaps in the structure. I think
you must risk to find new languages, because as I said, every story has a way to
be told. For me, this was the best structure to tell the story emotionally. It
was not my intention to make an intellectual game, but to make an emotional
experience where the audience is participating more than in other types of
films.”
Much of his work, while not necessarily autobiographical, has a genesis in his
life experiences. He offers, “I’m a novelist. Most of my novels have to do with
people who die and that weighs over the one who survives. My grandmother died
when I was 15 years old, and I think I never overcame her death. A sense of
trying to explain it to myself. My work has a lot to do with the absence of a
loved one.”
Guillermo’s first feature Amores Perros dealt with dogfights and 21
Grams deals with a family murdered by a hit and run. It isn’t light
material, but he stresses, “I don’t think a hard movie means that it has to be
depressing. I think that a hard movie can show us that we have to be very aware
that life is fragile. I would like that after watching 21 Grams people will be
more in touch with the ones they love.”
While he hopes that audiences see the light through his darkness, he explained
how his work was coming full circle – and the dark experiences that fostered his
creativity. “I hope to work a trilogy with Alejandro. It’s a trilogy that began
with car accidents. I’m obsessed with car accidents. I had a car accident. I was
sleeping in the backseat and we rolled down a very steep cliff.”
“I’m now writing a screenplay. But I think the screenwriter must seduce everyone
to participate. So I must seduce again Alejandro. I want to be even with every
other screenwriter and earn the chance to be filmed. I want to write a
screenplay to which he’ll say, Yes, of course. And that will be the trilogy.”
Copyright 2003 Jamie Stuart
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