Cinematographer, Celiana Cárdenas, 'Cape Fear', Apple TV +

0:00Celiana CárdenasI didn't know that I was going to be the first female DP in the school and in Mexico at that time. No reference, no, you know, and of course, nobody believed me. And I know you will not can see me, but I'm 5'2" and I'm 105 pounds. And, when I, you know, I prepared for the exam to the, to the film school, they... I went and I said, "Well, I'm gonna be a director of photography," right? And she like, "Oh, yeah, right. Okay. In one year, you're gonna be a director, or you're gonna be in production, or probably in the art department, but DP, no." And I'm like... It was like, "Oh, no, you don't know where I'm coming from." After…

0:48Jawad MirWatch me.

0:49Celiana CárdenasJust watch me.

0:58Jawad MirYou know, I was going through your IMDb, and I'm… ... I... Not familiar with a lot of your work, right? But at the same time, you are now working on this, or you worked on this series called Cape Fear with Scorsese and Spielberg's name attached to it. It's, you know, I mean, Javier is in it. It's a, it's a pretty big thing, right? And Amy Adams…

1:21Jawad Mir... Is in it. How did you get onto this project? What was the gen... What was the story behind it? Was it just through an agent? You know, you reached your SM… and your a… agent had access to the script or a referral? Just talk to me a bit about that.

1:37Celiana CárdenasNo, this is my third series working with Nick Antosca. I did with him Brand New Cherry Flavor, and then we did A Friend of the Family. So when A Friend of the Family, we were, we were shooting it in Atlanta, he told me about him, he wanted to do the next project to be Cape Fear, right? And I was like, "Really? That's awesome." And Nick and I, we really collaborate really well together. He's, a lot of trust in what I can do. And he trusts me in my intuition and with… in what I can do creatively. So when he told me, "Guess what, Celi? It's going to be produced by Scorsese and Amblin, and it's gonna be on Apple," I was like, "Okay, great." But, right, at that moment, this is like two and a half years ago maybe, I thought that what I needed with these kind of producers, it was something that I could really, I don't wanna say fight, but it will put me in a higher level as a DP, right?

3:03Jawad MirOf course. Of course.

3:05Celiana CárdenasBecause, you know, if you are with Amblin and Scorsese, you can have any DP you want, right? So I talk to my agents, and I say, "I need something that puts me in the next level." And Duster came in with J.J. Abrams. So having a series with J.J. Abrams, it put me in another level, right? So I mean, it was just a strategy of career for me.

3:36Jawad MirYeah. Of course.

3:39Celiana CárdenasAnd, but it worked because, the pilot director, Morten, he, of course, you know, as you probably know, in series, they like to bring DPs. Like, the pilot director normally brings a DP, and sometimes the DP only does the pilot, or we can do this. So, in this case, Evan came to the series, right, with Morten, which is great, and then Nick, because I've been always been the first DP for Nick, he's like, "But I really want you in the series. Will you do the alternative DP?" And I'm like, "Absolutely, I will do it." Like, you know, I will love it, and I… what an experience will be to work with Javier Bardem and Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson and other actors of that, you know, that level. So I say yes, and that's how I got into the series. So it was more like, Nick wanted me to be in there more than two agents…

4:44Jawad MirSure

4:44Celiana Cárdenas... And everything. Yeah.

4:45Jawad MirRight. Series you mentioned about J.J. Abrams, which one was it?

4:49Celiana CárdenasDuster.

4:50Jawad MirDuster, okay. I have to see it. I've heard of it. It's just that nowadays there's so many shows and so many movies…

4:57Celiana CárdenasYeah

4:57Jawad Mir... You just don't know which ones to watch, and the only reason I got into Cape Fear, I won't lie, I'm a huge Spielberg fan, right? I became a director because of Jurassic Park, so whenever I see his name…... Or Amblin, for me, it's like, you know, I don't care how it is, I have to watch it. So I'm, I'm glad I did. It's a great series so far, and as you said, it's gonna get crazier, and I... Without giving away the story of the son, I think that's the most craziest one so far, at least, right? And how that…

5:32Jawad Mir... Is sort of unfolding.

5:34Celiana CárdenasIt's a lot of, it's a lot of surprises because, something that I think is very interesting about this series is that with the, with adding the younger characters, right, we have the chance to see how right now is working communications what's happening with all this technology that we have, with AI, et cetera, et cetera. So I think it was a very interesting turn by adding the kids to the story, and you're gonna find out that all the co… the technology that we use today is big part of our story too, through these characters. So with Zach, which sh… is the son, he's dealing with a lot of things, as you probably know, you know, first he had a girlfriend, and the pictures went out, right?

6:43Celiana CárdenasIt got viral at the school. He got isolated and kicked out from the school and the friends, so he's going through his own thing. But then we have this thing that is called AngelX, right? So AngelX, which is... Which he looks, he's playing a game. It's gonna be a big turn and it's gonna be crazy what's gonna happen. So…

7:11Jawad MirThat's awesome

7:12Celiana Cárdenas... I think it's, it's going to be, not only for him but also with Natalie, the daughter, it's a big turn in the story that is gonna be, "What?" I think. So…

7:25Jawad MirI'm looking forward to that

7:25Celiana Cárdenas... Very excited. Very excited to see how people receive it. Yeah.

7:30Jawad MirYeah, I mean, that's, that's, that's one of the biggest reasons I think people in the creative business, you know, no matter whether you're an AD or a director, a cinematographer, an editor, we kinda do it for, you know, just wanna see that reaction of people, and sometimes that doesn't really go all the time really that well, but it is that…

7:49Jawad Mir... Affirmati… affirmation and validation that we seek as artists, right? And plus, we enjoy doing it, so it's, it's awesome.

7:56Celiana CárdenasAbsolutely.

7:57Jawad MirIf you can, I'll just sw… move away for Cap… from Cape Fear for a second. In your career, or in your life… ... What was that one moment, the catalyst, where you felt, "I wanna be a cinematographer. This is what I wanna do for the rest of my life"? Was it, was it a movie? Was it a TV show? Was it a book? Family history?

8:20Jawad MirI don't know.

8:22Celiana CárdenasNo. I'm... I was a dancer, a ballerina from six…

8:30Jawad MirYou're a ballerina?

8:32Celiana CárdenasYeah, I was. From... And I'm gonna tell you why I think it's important.

8:38Jawad MirSure

8:38Celiana Cárdenas... From 6 to 17, I went to train in Cuba with Alicia Alonso for a year when I was 12, and then my mom didn't let me go to Russia, because I was, you know, 13. And anyway, so my mom was an sculptor and a painter, so my access to visual, arts…

9:02Celiana Cárdenas... It was very big. That's one of the things. And my mom loved film. Loved film. So at six year olds, I, one of my biggest memories I have is, the drive-through, you know, where we used to see movies in the cars? I saw, I was six years old, and I have two other sisters, younger sisters, and my mom put us in jammies and went to the car, and we saw Odyssey of Space 2001.

9:34Jawad MirAh.

9:34Celiana CárdenasOf course, I didn't understood a thing, right? But I couldn't take my eyes away from that. I, that's what my biggest memory I have when I was a kid with films. And Bambi. Bambi was another one. So as the time went by, and I keep dancing and studying, you know, whatever, in 1984, I think, I saw Blade Runner in Mexico City, and I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what, how to explain it, but I saw it, and I was like, "I don't know what is that, but I want to do that." You know? So at that time, I was, you know, 17 years old, and I was like, "Well, how do I get there?"

10:35Celiana CárdenasRight? I start taking pictures since I was 11, like, with a still camera. My grandfather was a photographer also. My mom had a boyfriend who gave me a camera. I finished high school very young at 16. The universities would not, accept m… accept me, so I have to wait a year. So I went to study still photography. And I study still photography with two great still photog… Mexican photographers. One, is Graciela Iturbide, and another one is, Lourdes Grobet. So with them happened something very particular, because of course the photography that they do is very documentary.

11:21Celiana CárdenasIt means that you take your camera, snap a picture, and that's the moment that you capture.

11:27Jawad MirThe candidness.

11:28Celiana CárdenasRight?

11:29Jawad MirYeah.

11:29Celiana CárdenasBut one day, I was presenting my pictures, and they say, "Well, so..." It, I... Sorry, it was kids with a hose, with water, and they were playing in the water, and so, you know, Lourdes asked me, like, "How did you got that pictures, and how did you were capable to have so many in that moment?" And I'm like, "Oh, no, I planned the moment." Right? And he's like, "You what?" I said, "Yeah, I saw the hose in the floor. I saw the kids," and I said, "Why you don't play with the water and, you know, do things? And then I just take pictures." And, oh, my God, he was like, "No, you know, you have to be, like, in the moment, capture it." And she said, "That, I think you should go and study cinema." And I'm like, "Oh, you can study film?" Okay. Great. So I went, and just to give an idea, at that time, that was 1986

12:34Jawad MirSo it was all film?

12:36Celiana CárdenasIt was, yeah, it was in film, but I didn't know that I was going to be the first female DP in the school and in Mexico at that time. No reference, no, you know... And of course, nobody believed me. I'm, I know you not can see me, but I'm 5'2" and I'm 105 pounds. And, when I, you know, I prepared for the exam to the, to the film school, they, I went and I said, "Well, I'm gonna be a director of photography, right?" And she like, "Oh, yeah, right. Okay. In one year, you're gonna be a director or you're gonna be in production or probably in the art department, but DP, no." And I'm like... It was like, oh, no? You don't know where I'm coming from. After…

13:27Jawad MirWatch me.

13:28Celiana CárdenasJust watch me. After nine years of ballet dancing six hour, through pain, through effort, through discipline, I was like, "You know who you are dealing with." And I did. I'm the first female to graduate in a film school in Mexico. I'm the first female DP in Mexican history of film. So, of course, that, at that time, you know, it was kind of difficult, to work because, the union didn't accept me for being a woman, so many things happened in my life. But, and other great things happened, and that's how I really went into cinematography.

14:16Jawad MirThat's a great story. A st… It requires a film on its own.

14:22Celiana CárdenasThank you.

14:24Jawad MirI, so I'm assuming, you know, Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, who directed that film at the age of, I think, 43 or 44, because he was do… doing commercials for the first 40 years…

14:35Celiana CárdenasCorrect

14:35Jawad Mir... Of his life.

14:36Celiana CárdenasCorrect.

14:36Jawad MirAnd, is that something that you would want to work with him one day?

14:45Celiana CárdenasI mean, if... Of course, of course. My dream director already died, the one that I really wanted to…

14:57Jawad MirWho was that?

14:57Celiana CárdenasThat one of my... Is Krzysztof Kieślowski. I really love that man. I think his films were awesome and, you know, the DPs that he worked with, you know, Itziar, Sobocinski, all these DPs, they are kind of my favorite DPs. But definitely. I mean, if you... Can you imagine? I mean, it would be like, yeah. But I, yeah, you know, I'm, many directors that I would like to work with and, but definitely he will be one of them.

15:36Jawad MirYou know, you were talking about your influence, in terms of directors and all that you would wanted to work with, so I do see that you're, at least in Cave Fear, you know, and I haven't seen any of your work, so my apologies…

15:50Celiana CárdenasThat's okay

15:50Jawad Mir... Any other besides Cave Fear, there, it's, it's not your conventional cinematography, right? There is, it's not your typical mainstream Hollywood cinematography. I'm not just talking about camera movements, I'm talking about lighting, or choice of no lighting or cha… choice of using the lamp in the room, at least that's what, you know, it suggested to me. So I, it really shows in your work, at least in the, you know, the episode two, and I'm looking forward to your rest of the episodes that you shot.

16:17Celiana CárdenasThank you. Yes, and for me, when I did Brand New Cher Flavour, is another series that call a lot of attention because of the cinematography in that one, and actually brought me my first agent in United States…

16:40Celiana Cárdenas... Because of that series. And it's a, I call it like a horror fairytale kind of thing. Also, it's, it's in the '90s, it has very, it's a very, unique look. And I didn't wanted to do the typical horror series. And if you said it's crazy, but I love it because, again, Nick gave me the trust to explore part of myself creatively that I never had before. You know, I come from, as you probably know, Mexican DPs, and our history with visual arts is very big, very important. So this feeling of do the right thing, you have to be correct, you have... It kind of is, kinds of I felt at that point kind of liberating from that, an experiment. And maybe you will like it or not, but it was different, it was unique.

17:42Celiana CárdenasAnd since then, I was like, "I wanna do that," you know? "I want to do that. I wanna find, projects or things that allow me to find this uniqueness," in the light can be, or in the darkness, or in the contrast, or in the color, or the contrast of color, right, in the scene.

18:05Celiana CárdenasAnd I think Cave Fear opened up again for me that opportunity. That opportunity to be creative beyond what it seems natural or realistic without leaving the story, you know, the realism of the story or, you know. But I think the thriller part, the suspense part, the voyeuristic feeling, all this, I think we complemented, Evan and I, very well with the lighting too, I think. And the colors and the saturation that we did with that, I think it's, it's, it's very... It was really exciting for me to be again doing a show that was about what else you can do, what else that you can find, you know, in the layers of the theme of the story and the scene and what I can create. So that excites me very much.

19:06Celiana CárdenasLike, I love that. I love that.

19:09Jawad MirYou know, you talked about saturation, which is something I've become such a... I notice saturation now in TV shows and movies more than ever before because a lot of the stuff that comes out, it's not really much saturated. It's kind of like David Fincher style. Like, you know, like, kind…

19:25Celiana CárdenasYes

19:25Jawad Mir... Monotone and…

19:26Celiana CárdenasVery monotone.

19:27Jawad MirRight?

19:28Celiana Cárdenashuh.

19:28Jawad MirAnd I love the saturation because, I mean, just seeing, you know, during the daylight, like Amy Adams' character… ... And just the skin color, right? It, there was, there was colors, which it was supposed to be, right?

19:42Jawad MirAnd then at, obviously at nighttime you guys followed that too, and there was a lot of noise in some of the shots, which I thought was really neat. Because you guys didn't try to de-noise it or, you know, kind of light it up to make it look fancy because it ref… didn't reflect the character that was in the shot.

19:57Jawad MirSo again, this is just a comment, but, you know, what was the most challenging part, and because episode two is the only one that came out that you shot, on lighting or not lighting a scene in episode two?

20:11Celiana CárdenasOkay. There are a couple of ones that I can mention, but…

20:19Jawad MirPlease

20:20Celiana Cárdenas... I wanna go... I don't know if you remember, the shot where Max Casey, Javier Bardem, comes into the jail.

20:32Jawad MirYes.

20:33Celiana CárdenasAnd he talks to Ruben, which is the character who is in jail.

20:38Jawad MirYep.

20:38Celiana CárdenasAnd then the lighting change and we see the reflection of Javier's…

20:43Jawad MirYes

20:44Celiana Cárdenas... Face on Ruben. Okay.

20:45Jawad MirYes.

20:47Celiana CárdenasSJ Clarkson, the director of episode two, she's an incredible director, really, and very visual, as you probably noticed.

20:58Jawad MirRight.

21:00Celiana CárdenasThe style between episode one, right, which is more point 10, like more… ... The suspense, the thriller. You know, the movements are more like a, you know, slow motion. And then we go to episode two and it's crazy, right? But SJ wanted to have this scene m… make like this. Actually, we have to design the set to make it possible, okay? Because of course she gave me the reference of Paris, Texas. The only difference in Paris, Texas is there is no one shot of him walking in and then sitting down and then... No, he's, he comes, sits down, and that's it. I have to go to a dolly, right, with Javier going seeing Ruben, then sit down, and then the light changes, but I, but I'm already established the place, right? And also we have to, the design of the set, you know, I have to deal with a lot of how the windows, we can gimbal it so the reflection of the camera we didn't see it.

22:08Celiana CárdenasAnd then when Javier sit down, and it's one shot, then the light changes, right? And we see Ruben. And the idea behind this l… lighting choice and shot is because we start seeing the... He is kind of this seductive, charismatic, but mag… he has a magnetism. The people believes him, right? But also he's a liar, and he is dark, and he has this thing inside him that is rotten and dark, right? With Ruben, he's trying to show that he's like him, right?

23:00Celiana CárdenasThat he wants to make Ruben feel to trust him, to be... So that's why we did this kind of communion with the lighting and everything because he's taking his place. Like, "Yes, I'm, I understand where you are. You know, I start being a killer inside the jail. I never kill anybody else, so I understand, my friend, where are you," right? But he's, he's not really doing that, and he's just trapping. He's, you know, sending the... I just will say, like, to bring him to him, right?

23:36Celiana CárdenasSo that was the idea to it. So to make it happen, and it was awesome, it had to do with a lot of lighting board effects. Without touching everything in the background, it had only to change in the foreground. So that was very challenging because of the movement and the cue to make it happen, and it didn't look so cheesy if it's, or, i… you can believe that it's, naturally happened. So that was something that I found, at least for me, to make... And with Jamie, the producer, the production designer… To, we work together to make this happen, right? So I could say that is one of them, and then the other one, I think for me, I can tell you about the scene where Patrick Wilson is, I don't know if you remember, but he's writing in his computer and suddenly the lights, the emergency…

24:50Jawad MirYeah

24:50Celiana Cárdenas... Lights come out.

24:52Jawad MirYeah.

24:52Celiana CárdenasAnd then we go into this homage to Esportese with a pshew, like a, you know, fast zooms and movements and... Right? When he comes out to the pool, to the garden to look for people, I don't know if you remember, but it's a 360 going around him. Also…

25:13Jawad MirI remember that very clearly.

25:15Celiana CárdenasRight? Also with zooms going zoom. Right? Okay. So we have this idea that Es… I mean, SJ wanted to have a feeling of the paranoia that they start feeling, right? Max is out of jail. They know they did something that we don't know yet, as an audience, right? But they start having paranoia, and they know he's dangerous. So it's how we can make this feeling of, you know, that you feel like 1,000 eyes looking at you, and you don't know where he's gonna attack you, and that kind of anxiety, we wanted to make it also in the visuals. So we pr… we say, "Well, what if we do this movement and this thing?" But I'm in a Steadicam, and I put my operator in the Steadicam with an anamorphic zoom, 70 to 100, to make that happen.

26:25Celiana CárdenasI don't know any other Steadicam operator that will do it. Jared is awesome, and he, like, "Sally, do you wanna do that? Let's do it." I say, "Okay, buddy, let's do it." And Jessica, my B camera operator, was doing the fast zoom in and zoom out as Jared is going around with Patrick turning around, and I was like, "Now, in, out, in, out, in, out," like that. So it was so much fun. We did it four times. And then the zoom is 4.5 at night.

27:01Jawad MirOh, God, yeah.

27:03Celiana CárdenasSo…

27:03Jawad MirI like...

27:06Celiana CárdenasYes. So to bring... I have to double the light for that moment because I, to, just to expose properly, right? It was complicated, so it was a factor of, you know, the lighting, the zoom, the movement. But I'm, again, I'm very happy with the result because I think we did, again, something very unique. Like, I haven't seen that shot, you know, done it the way we did it. So I was like... And it works. You know, emotionally works. That's the most important thing.

27:42Jawad MirYeah.

27:43Celiana CárdenasRight? More than it's cool and everything, is emotionally works? Yes, I think it does. So I think that was also challenging for, to really make it. And you remember the bathroom in the hospital?

28:04Jawad MirYes. The mirror scene? I was wondering about that because that, I was trying to figure out what's real and what's not real. It was really complicated, but go ahead.

28:17Celiana CárdenasAgain, that bathroom is a set that we built.

28:21Jawad MirYeah.

28:23Celiana CárdenasThe whole hospital, we... It's a set. We designed it because it was a one, a big one, and we went to look in different hospitals in Atlanta, look everything, and nothing work with the idea that SJ wanted to do for that scene. So…

28:49Celiana Cárdenas... We design it, and it got built because of the idea that she had with the one, right? Because it was a whole... Now because they cut it's not the big one or that we had, you kind of don't understand quite well where the space is, right? Where Max is, where Zach is. Before, it was all connected, right? So it is like you go to a corridor, then you turn around, and then you go to another corridor, and then you go around until you find Max. So in the bathroom scene, which we, is part of that set, okay, the part of the hospital set, SJ again wanted to do this idea with the mirrors. But, you know, we, you, I'm sure you have done it in your movies. I have done it many times, the idea of the mirror. And then…

29:49Celiana Cárdenas... You know, there is no, the mirror, and you're seeing, you know, in the elevators for example. It's a very typical one, right?

29:55Jawad MirYeah.

29:55Celiana CárdenasThat you think you're seeing the actor, and then the actor comes into frame. Oh, I was in the reflection. But multiply that by three. And the way, again, Jamie, the production designer, and SJ and I, we work with how the mirrors... We have nine mirrors in the room, so a reflection… It's reflection with reflection, so they're all playing together. And of course, the difficult, or the challenge of that shot is where the camera is, right? Without seeing it. So we find also ways with the height of the camera and the gimbal of the mirrors and... But it was, it was a choreography that took us a while to really figure out the way they want it. But again, I think emotionally it's good because what we're trying to say is, you know, Max is everywhere.

31:04Celiana CárdenasEverywhere. He start, like, it's like the humidity in the house, right? It start growing and growing, and it's just you're getting, y… you start getting trapped by him.

31:14Jawad MirYeah.

31:15Celiana CárdenasAnd that's what we wanted to do. And also how he played with the psychology of the character, with his multi,.. How you say, like, a multi

31:27Jawad MirTalent?

31:27Celiana CárdenasNo pers… not personalities, but kind of, you know…

31:31Jawad MirOkay

31:31Celiana Cárdenas... Faces.

31:32Jawad MirMultiple f… yeah, multiple faces or personalities, yeah.

31:35Celiana CárdenasExactly, right? So that's how we wanted to ma… start making feel this way. That Zach also, you know, start getting disoriented because he's talking to him, but he's talking to him almost like he understands Zach, you know?

31:51Celiana CárdenasZach feels understood by him, in a way. So it's this kind of little thread that we start building. So I think that was also interesting.

32:02Jawad MirYou know, you talked about the zoom-in, didn't realize that it was a 4.5 f-stop lens. And I, now that you mention it, even at that time I thought that the lighting that was coming on his face was from the pool lighting, right?

32:17Celiana CárdenasOf course.

32:17Jawad MirBecause he was by the pool, right?

32:19Celiana CárdenasOf course it is.

32:19Jawad MirBut you guys still, but you guys still lit it up a little bit, correct?

32:23Celiana CárdenasWell, I mean, if you re…

32:25Jawad MirYou just…

32:26Celiana CárdenasYeah.

32:27Jawad MirYeah.

32:28Celiana CárdenasYeah. But I definitely, what I did is we have a small sources, for the pool. I put, like, you know, I don't know what I put, I was using for that. Probably, like, equivalent to a 10K, to 12, to 10Ks or to 12Ks…

32:52Celiana Cárdenas... Just to have the stuff, to give us the stuff to play with that. And of course, you know, all the background, and I have, you know, cranes with lighting and et cetera, et cetera. But the pool light, right, which is, as you notice in the series, like, you're gonna keep seeing it, is kind of one of the sources that we play with.

33:12Celiana CárdenasIn the interior of the house, in the exterior. So it's always that color, the teal color is something that is present through the whole series.

33:21Jawad MirThat's smart. I really like that. I, y… y… you know, instead of covering the pool, you know, just because it's kinda in the way… ... You guys have been u… li... And obviously, you know, because the episodes are out, I can talk about it. Like, the, you know, you see the dead squirrels. Not the squirrels, sorry.

33:37Celiana CárdenasThe skunks.

33:38Jawad MirSkunks. Skunks… ... In the pool and,.. No, it works really well. And, you know, w… I don't wanna talk about the future episodes, but you, each episode you worked on has been more than two different directors, right? If I'm not mistaken.

33:53Celiana CárdenasWe have nine directors.

33:55Jawad MirNine directors.

33:56Celiana CárdenasI…

33:56Jawad MirOkay. S…

33:56Celiana CárdenasIn the…

33:56Jawad MirSo you worked with how many directors?

33:58Celiana CárdenasI worked with five.

33:59Jawad MirFive. All the directors ha… you know, are serving the story, right? Because it's…

34:08Celiana CárdenasAbsolutely

34:08Jawad Mir... It's just one story, and m… it, I always wonder, it's, it's, you know, it could be sometimes challenging when you're doing a TV episodic series… ... 'cause you're taking other people's stuff and you're moving the story forward, right? For the lack of better word.

34:25Jawad MirIn that sense, what, and I'm not looking for any controversy or anything, all five directors, even though they are serving the story in a similar way, they all have different approaches and different visions, right?

34:37Jawad MirThat's just because who they are. We're all different.

34:39Celiana CárdenasOf course.

34:40Jawad MirWorking with f… each and every one of them, what was different that you found, aside from serving the story, you know, whether it's personality, whether it's approach to movement of the camera, whether it's the characters, what did you see? Because you were sort of the constant in those, you know, five episodes or six episodes.

35:03Celiana CárdenasYeah. So my five directors were EJ Clarkson, which is a British female director, very good. Rick Morano, former director of photography. Trey Edward Schultz, who did Waves, which is a beautiful film. I have Steven Williams, who won the Emmy with Watchmen, and he was the house director of the series Lost for the six years that series, and he's a very experienced director. And I work…

35:41Jawad MirI love that series, by the way

35:43Celiana Cárdenas... And I work with Jonathan van Tulleken. Jonathan is right now probably, you know, is the kind of director that he does pilots or close a series, so I closed the series with him. He's the pilot director of Shogun. He's, he's, he's a big director in TV. He's also British. So very different, right? EJ, as you noticed, s… again, sorry, because I forgot to mention this. Remember the shot where Javier goes into a war and comes back into the interview?

36:26Celiana CárdenasRight? So that one was another challenging shot, to make it happen. And she had this vision and she's so passionate about it, but it has to be with the s… have to do with the story, but she really, is a very visual director. So it was really cool to work with her, and I learned a lot from her, to be honest. To... Reid is amazing. Also, as a former DP, and a very good DP, I was, you know, nervous to be DP-ing for her. But she was... We did really well together. Her personality is very giving, is,.. She respect me, you know, for what I was doing and believing what I was doing.

37:26Celiana CárdenasI have some, you know, crazy proposals to her, and she was like, "Let's do it. Why not?" You know? And see what happen. We did also some visual things with her, very interesting. Episode six is with Trey Edward Shults.

37:45Celiana CárdenasIs, from my five episodes, it's the episode where so much happen to each of the characters. If you s… know his movie, Waves, or if you have seen other movies of him, It Comes at Night or, Wait Till Tomorrow. He's a…

38:11Jawad MirSounds familiar.

38:14Celiana CárdenasYeah. Yeah, I do... You will... I'm pretty sure you have seen his films. He's a young director. He's 37 years old. But he has a great sensibility and a great, way to get the performances, the tone. So in episode six, the family gets drugged by the acid that we have seen in episode one and two the father takes…

38:50Celiana Cárdenas... Where everybody gets, you know, high on acid. One of the things that was also important for Evan and I in this series is to feel the heat, to feel Atlanta and Savannah is like you never dri… it's like Toronto in the summertime.

39:11Jawad MirYeah.

39:11Celiana CárdenasRight?

39:12Jawad MirYeah.

39:12Celiana CárdenasYou're always sweating. A, and the only difference is in there, you know, it can be beautiful blue skies and suddenly a lightning storm comes and… ... It's like that. So we wanted to keep that. That's why the actors are always kind of shiny and the clothing is slightly wet. The streets are wet always, no matter if it's day or night, because we want the feeling of it just rain, cars were wet, et cetera, et cetera.

39:43Jawad MirRight.

39:44Celiana CárdenasSo, in this episode, the air conditioner is broken. It doesn't work, and they are so hot, right? So when we talk about this scene, Trey and I mean, we were like, "We don't wanna go to the, you know, the commonplace of, oh, they're high. Let's use the, you know, the baby lens and the, let's do this and that and let's do crazy stuff." So I was thinking, "Okay, so how we can approach this scene that it could be interesting and not the commonplace of being high and everything is, you know, distortion and the lighting," you know. And I didn't know, like, what acid does to you, right? I, sorry, I never did acid but, you know, I was like, "Okay, so because I, of course, I hear it can be very visual, right?

40:46Celiana CárdenasIt can be very, physical feeling, the sound, et cetera, but also can be very internal," right? Like, sometimes you can go into these spaces where you can go more inside than outside. And I was like, "what about if it's that?" Right? And Trey was like, "Yes, we should do that." Because then we went into the script like, "Let's see what's happening," and we saw and it's like, "Yeah, let's, I think that could work." So the only thing we did is I changed the optic.

41:27Celiana CárdenasI changed the aspect ratio. Instead of going to 235/1, we went to 133.

41:36Jawad MirOkay.

41:37Celiana CárdenasThen I changed from the Atlas Mercurys into the Baltars, which is a very soft kind of thing. Very, you know, vintage, soft image, creamy, et cetera. And then I play with flares, but not your flare with anamorphic with the lens. It was more like the heat that they're feeling and everyone, the four of them are, like, in this internal trip, right? It's like pulsing light, you know? It's more like a flares of pulsing warm light, and then it goes into the blue of the pulse, it start pulsing. And it's subtle. It's not something huge, but it works so well, so well with the scene. We were so happy. And… It was like, the actors listened to us. Because the way that they went into the scene, it was like that. It was not about, "Oh, I'm seeing," you know, r… no. It was about going internal and one is laughing, the other one is feeling the towel in the face.

42:47Celiana CárdenasAt one, it's suddenly looking at the wallpaper and the wallpaper start moving. The birds, they start moving, right? But it's what happened. And suddenly it's a drone, a little drone. And you know, they start seeing a drone and it's like, "I'm, I'm seeing a drone." And suddenly like, "Me too." So it's like, "It's real," right? It's not like an hallucination. So anyway, it has a different... It has a result of that is very, in… incredible. And things like that. So Trey was really,.. He took that episode, that had so many things happening, into... You know, it was very easy to go just to the, like, a, at, like a climbing the mountain, going more and more.

43:43Jawad MirYeah.

43:44Celiana CárdenasAnd you know…

43:44Jawad MirYeah, dreadlin. Yeah

43:45Celiana Cárdenas... Sometimes less is more.

43:48Jawad Mir100%.

43:48Celiana CárdenasAnd that's how we work in that one. Then, you know, Stephen Williams. So Stephen is a very experienced director, great eye. Very economic. Very economic. He knows when he has something. He doesn't need more. He doesn't need more shots. He know exactly what he wants, and it's clear as a glass. Like, no... And it's so good. Like, very great. And then Jonathan Frakes came. And Jonathan is so good in what he does because he's used to do, like, these huge, epic, episodes. And I learned so much from him, too, and, we did, like, just crazy stuff. Like, crazy stuff. And…

44:41Jawad MirThat's amazing

44:41Celiana Cárdenas... We have a scene that is, in the script, it's 22 minutes long.

44:50Jawad MirOh, wow.

44:51Celiana CárdenasSo…

44:52Jawad MirWhich episode is this?

44:52Celiana CárdenasWait for that. 10.

44:55Jawad MirOkay. Yeah, don't talk about it. Don't let, tell me.

44:56Celiana CárdenasNo, I'm not gonna talk about it. But it was incredible, what we did. Yeah.

45:01Jawad MirThat's almost like an episode almost. Like, almost half an episode, or… ... Close to half an episode.

45:06Celiana CárdenasYeah.

45:06Jawad MirThat's awesome.

45:08Celiana CárdenasSo…

45:08Jawad MirOh, that's amazing

45:09Celiana Cárdenas... Yeah.

45:09Jawad MirThis is great.

45:10Celiana CárdenasYeah. Yeah. I'm very... I feel very lucky, and I'm very thankful. And I hope that everybody likes the series. We'll see.

45:23Jawad MirI think, unless it's a top secret thing, are you working on something right now, or are you just on vacation, or...?

45:29Celiana CárdenasWell, no, I, right now I'm interviewing for new projects, a very exciting project, so…

45:37Jawad MirIn Mexico City?

45:38Celiana CárdenasWe'll see, but it's... No. Right now actually all the projects that I have are in the United States.

45:45Jawad MirAmazing. That's awesome. I r… I'm really…

45:48Celiana CárdenasThank you

45:49Jawad Mir... Rooting for you. And when are you back in Toronto?

45:51Celiana CárdenasI will be back probably next week, to Toronto. And, if one of these things that I'm consider to be my next job comes through, so maybe I go, very fast back and then leave. But no…

46:11Jawad MirAmazing

46:12Celiana Cárdenas... I let you know so we can meet in person and we can keep talking.

46:16Jawad Mir100%. I would love to have lunch, coffee, whatever you want.

46:20Celiana CárdenasAbsolutely.

46:20Jawad MirBecause I think, what you, what you have done with Cape Fear is remarkable. And you know, Javier Bardem is known for his launch of his career from No Country for Old Men, where he barely talks. Right?

46:35Celiana CárdenasYeah.

46:35Jawad MirI'm sure you have seen. And in this one, especially in the first episode, that laugh that he does, that is in the trailer… ... You know, is mind-boggling. And in real life, he's just a gentle person, from the interviews that I've seen of him, you know…

46:49Celiana CárdenasHe's so nice

46:49Jawad Mir... You know. Like, you know…

46:50Celiana CárdenasHe's…

46:50Jawad Mir... Talking about Palestine…

46:52Celiana Cárdenas... So nice

46:52Jawad Mir... And standing up for that…

46:53Celiana CárdenasYeah

46:53Jawad Mir... And all that stuff.

46:54Celiana CárdenasYeah.

46:54Jawad MirAnd yeah, so it's, it's, it's great.

46:58Celiana CárdenasYeah, he's, he's a... You know, a… and Amy too, and Patrick too, one of the things that is, you will be... Or I was surprised, is that bigger they are, they are more kind. I don't know how to explain it.

47:19Jawad MirNo, I... Yeah.

47:20Celiana CárdenasThey are beautiful people. You know? Like, Javier is super professional, right? Super professional. He's always ready. And listen, he was doing Cape Fear, and he was doing Dune 3 at the same time. He was flying to Romania and come back, and dead on, always center, always calm. I mean, see him in work is incredible, right? Amy is also, she's so funny. She's always singing and dancing. And the camera rolls and she, you know, immediately goes. She's, sh… she cares very much about what she's doing, the words that she's saying, the way that she, even enunciate, certain things. Patrick is w… is like a machine. Patrick is, like, dead on, very, you know, very professional, too.

48:22Celiana CárdenasAnd the three of them, you know, you see them laughing and joking on set and they talk to us. You know, I... Sorry, but some actor, they not even look at us, you know, when… When we're working with them and they will joke with us. They, it's, it's, they were so kind

48:40Jawad MirIt's a family kind of environment, yeah.

48:42Celiana CárdenasThey were so kind.

48:44Jawad MirYou know, with Amy, I've been watching her work for a long time, right?

48:49Celiana CárdenasYeah.

48:49Jawad MirTo me, she has this classic '50s and '60s type of approach…

48:54Celiana CárdenasBeauty.

48:55Jawad Mir... Beauty as well. As well as her... The way she plays them, you know? She d… And she's, she, even though she's a star, I have never felt that she's a star, even in the roles… ... That she does because she's just so, what's the word I'm looking for? She has such a wide range…

49:11Celiana CárdenasAbsolutely

49:12Jawad Mir... You know, in terms of emotions. And to me, she still looks like the Amy Adams that I saw 25 years ago. I mean, if she heard that, she'll probably take that as a compliment. But she still looks like exactly the same person I saw 25 years ago.

49:24Celiana CárdenasYes.

49:24Jawad MirShe's amazing.

49:25Celiana CárdenasNo, she's amazing, and, you know, I mean, she's been nominated for the Oscars six times. Like you say, her range as an actress, I mean, you can see her in Sharp Objects or,.. Sorry, what's the last mo… this movie, bitch, Nightbitch. Nightbitch.

49:49Jawad MirOh, yeah. That would be adaptive.

49:50Celiana CárdenasThe one that she…

49:51Jawad MirYeah. Yeah

49:51Celiana Cárdenas... The one that she's, transformed like in a dog, but then you see her, you know, in, Nocturnal Ani… An… Animals, or you see her in Enchanted, you know? So it's like, or like The Nun in, you know, in The Dark, or, you know, it's like, she's, she's really an amazing actor. And the depth that she can go to is really incredible to see it, and her eyes says it all. You know?

50:22Jawad MirYeah.

50:23Celiana CárdenasLike these big windows of her soul and feeling out of her eyes, and she knows how to use it and... I don't know if she's warmth. She's... It was incredible to work with her. Like I said, to work with all of them.

50:38Jawad MirYeah.

50:39Celiana CárdenasAnd Javier can give you seven different performance in the same scene, right? So he's incredible, really.

50:50Jawad MirYeah. With Amy, I was watching the series with my wife, and when she had a laugh at that scene, 'cause we're parents, right? And she's a mom.

51:02Celiana CárdenasYeah.

51:02Jawad MirWhen she has a cell phone, she's like, "Oh, what's this picture?" He's like, "What?" And ch…

51:06Celiana CárdenasYeah.

51:06Jawad MirRight? And I thought, I mean, that was, that was like, that was like a such a parent thing to do, especially a mom thing to do.

51:13Celiana CárdenasOf course.

51:13Jawad MirI thought, and the way she executed that was amazing, right? So yeah.

51:16Celiana CárdenasYeah.

51:16Jawad MirBut no, great stuff. I thank you so much for being part of the series. I'm looking forward to the more episodes.

51:22Celiana CárdenasThank you.

51:22Jawad MirThank you for being here, and, you know...