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A friend of mind made a clever point
that I should repeat here:

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that Bunuel invented reality shows
with <i>The Exterminating Angel.</i>

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And he's right.

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What is <i>The Exterminating Angel</i>

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<i>if not a reality show about people</i>
<i>who can't leave that room?</i>

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<i>To this very day I don't know</i>
<i>what the film is about.</i>

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And I discussed it
a lot with Don Luis,

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but he'd say whatever he wanted,
things maybe he himself didn't believe.

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That's how he was.
He'd play with your mind,

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and with the ideas you'd formed.

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For example,
a bear appears.

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Then the film starts,
and we make two entrances.

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"No, don't make them
exactly the same.

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Make it clear
it's two different shots,

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that they entered
the house twice."

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I asked him, "Why do we enter
the house twice?"

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He said, "Haven't you ever had breakfast
twice or bathed twice in one day?

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"Well, yes."
"Well, then? Why not go in twice?"

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Not very convincing,
but that's how he explained it.

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I asked him about the "disease."

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We'd all concluded
it was like a plague

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<i>that we human beings had brought</i>
<i>upon ourselves through our faults,</i>

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<i>our aggression,</i>
<i>our lack of effort, our laziness, etc.</i>

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<i>It all causes this disease</i>

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<i>that keeps us from moving,</i>
<i>making any progress, leaving, etc.</i>

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<i>That was my conclusion.</i>

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<i>I talked to Bunuel a lot about it,</i>
<i>because the actors had their doubts.</i>

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<i>Many of them</i>
<i>had very fixed ideas,</i>

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taking their character
as their starting point.

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For example, I thought Rambal
was like Jesus Christ,

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because he blindfolds himself
and the lamb,

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things that make you see
a character a certain way.

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But it was very hard.

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He puts the bear and lambs
in the beginning as part of a joke,

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and he keeps the joke up
until they trip up the waiter.

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These are all gags
in the beginning

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to show we're in a totally
absurd context.
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So I asked, "What happens
to the lambs and the bear now?"

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So when I see the final version
in the theater,

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I see the scene where
the bear chases the lambs,

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and one of the lambs
comes into the room with us.

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The point was
that we'd eat the lamb.

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He said, "A person can live X days
without water and X days without food."

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The butler got water
by cracking open the pipes,

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but what about food?

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The bear chases the lambs
and provides us with food.

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People in the theater were saying,
"The bear is a communist!

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It's a symbol of communism!"

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When Bunuel heard that,
he nearly died laughing.
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It was a very surrealistic film,

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<i>so you can't analyze it.</i>

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<i>We'd analyze things</i>
<i>but never really understand them.</i>

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<i>There's the hand that</i>
<i>moves around on its own.</i>

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<i>They smash up the cello</i>
<i>for firewood to roast the lamb.</i>

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<i>That's because Bunuel had</i>
<i>an ongoing feud with Casals,</i>

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<i>so he's destroying Casals</i>
<i>and his cello.</i>

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<i>His feelings were mixed up</i>
<i>in what he was making.</i>

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<i>For example, when the ladies</i>
<i>come out of the "bathroom,"</i>

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they say, "Did you see that?
An eagle flew by. How odd!"

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I got up the courage
to ask Bunuel why.

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He said, "When we'd go hunting
back home in Calanda,

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there was an outcropping
on the mountain,

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with a pit
where we'd relieve ourselves.

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Once while I was peeing,
I looked over, and an eagle flew by."

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So he put it in the film,

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<i>though it was an entirely</i>
<i>different context.</i>

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<i>But he'd incorporate</i>
<i>his own life experiences.</i>

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<i>That's his genius as a surrealist.</i>

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And before I sat down,

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an eagle flew by 40 feet below me.

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The wind blew
a gust of dry leaves in my face.

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<i>The setting was laid out</i>
<i>in the screenplay,</i>

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which was originally called
<i>Castaways on Providence Street.</i>

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He'd written an adaptation
with Luis Alcoriza,
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but he wanted
to make it in London,

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because the characters
were Londoners, Europeans.

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So he wanted to make it there.

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Financially we weren't
in good shape.

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<i>Viridiana</i> was critically acclaimed,
but no money had come from it yet.

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So we thought
about how to make it.

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Gustavo, who'd jumped in
as producer right from the start,

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figured that we could
make it in Mexico.

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He'd spoken to previous
collaborators of Bunuel's.

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"There's even a house
on a street called <i>Providencia.</i>

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We could get that in a shot."

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I joined in,

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trying to convince Bunuel
to make it in Mexico.

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But he kept saying,
"No, we can't make it in Mexico.

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There aren't napkins
of this size here

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like there are in Europe."

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"Come on, Don Luis.
We can have those made."

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We gradually convinced him,
but it made it a difficult shoot,

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because he was unhappy
with lots of things.

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He demanded more and more things
that we just couldn't find.

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There are beautiful things
in Mexico,

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but people wouldn't always lend
or rent them to us,

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and we simply couldn't afford
to buy works of art for the set.

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To the delightful evening
our friend Silvia provided us...

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<i>Casting was difficult too.</i>

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<i>It was like two lead roles</i>

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<i>divided among 22 characters.</i>

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When he found out
I wanted to be in it,

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he said, "After <i>Viridiana,</i> how could
you do one of these small roles?"

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I said, "For you I'd do any role!
I'm going to be in it!"

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<i>'All right, you'll play the Valkyrie. "
<i>And that's the role he gave me.</i>

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<i>Making the film</i>
<i>was terribly hard on the actors.</i>

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<i>I happened to mention to him</i>
<i>that I didn't feel grimy enough.</i>

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<i>"I go home every night</i>
<i>and shower and wash my hair.</i>

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<i>I get a little dirty,</i>
<i>but I don't feel dirty.</i>

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My hair doesn't really
get messed up."

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He says,
"You know what?

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I'll smear all of you with honey
and then dirt."

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My God!

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You can't imagine
how unpleasant and repugnant it is

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to have honey
all over your arms

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and dirt rubbed
on your neck, face, and arms,

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and in our hair too.

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<i>Then we really did start</i>
<i>feeling grimy and awful,</i>

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<i>what the characters</i>
<i>were really going through.</i>

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<i>It was all very strict,</i>

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<i>very measured,</i>
<i>very calculated.</i>

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<i>Nobody could deviate</i>
<i>from what he asked for.</i>

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<i>He alone knew</i>
<i>what he was doing.</i>
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<i>We knew</i>
<i>what we were portraying...</i>

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<i>happiness, sadness,</i>
<i>discomfort, etc.,</i>

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<i>but we really couldn't</i>
<i>find out why.</i>

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As a person, he was like a child.

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He was arbitrary like a child.

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For example, his sister Concha
often came to visit him.

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He used to get up at 6:00 a.m.
and have lunch at 1:00 p.m.

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He'd receive friends
around noon or 12:30.

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Dinner was at 6:00,
and everyone was in bed by 7:00.

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He had his poor wife Jeanne
used to that.

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At least she eventually got
a TV to watch in her room.

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When Conchita arrived,

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their dogs would scratch
at her door

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and wake her up very early.

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She'd quarrel with Bunuel and complain
that she couldn't get any sleep.

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Don Luis wouldn't answer,
and the dogs would do it again.

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One day she snuck out
on the terrace and caught Bunuel

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scratching the dog's paws
against the door.

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He was childish
about things like that.

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He behaved
like a stubborn child.

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<i>He wanted to do</i>
<i>what he wanted to do -

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<i>and he did!</i>