Little Ashes

Despite the number of extras, the degree of interest remains limited.

The auditions with Javier Beltran and Marina Gatell are impressive if you don’t know how actors operate. Without props, they speak their emotional scenes as if in a vacuum. How they manage this so well is a mystery and a wonder.

The interviews are a mixed bag. There is the director, writer and four actors, excluding (surprisingly) Robert Pattinson, who plays Salvadore Dali. Paul Morrison (director) talks of his love of Lorca as a dramatist, not a poet, how the script was 150 pages too long and he did not start on his own research until “after the screenplay was working well.” Philippa Goslett (writer) does not complain about having her work pared to the bone, praises Morrison and says how privileged she felt being allowed on the set. She mirrors the director’s opinions about the relationship between Lorca and Dali being the core of the drama and that “this is a feature film not a documentary,” excusing poetic licence. The actors are less forthcoming. Beltran insists “I am not homosexual.” Gatell “fell in love with the script.” Matthew McNulty (Louis Bunuel) says it was “wonderful working with Javier and Rob.” Arly Jover found the character of Gala, who became Salvadore’s wife, “fascinating,” or words to that effect.

Behind The Scenes is a conventional Making Of featurette and the Shooting of 7 Scenes is exactly that, snatches of moments during the long process of filmmaking, which are less than illuminating.