Why this idea to make a film on Maradona ?
Emir Kusturica : The first reason is that I'm one of the millions of people around the world who jumped with joy when he scored his two goals against England in 1986. That match is perhaps the first and last time there was justice in the world. Argentina and Serbia are two countries that have been crushed by the IMF. The IMF is a Western power, Argentina and Serbia are fighting against it. So, I feel a closeness to Maradona. Moreover, in Serbia, Maradona is very popular, our Football resembles that of the Argentineans. It is sometimes said that I am the Maradona of cinema … The second reason is that I read some of the books that appeared on him, newspaper articles, I listened to the radio, and each time I found that the authors did not do him justice.
In Black Cat, White Cat, your character Matko the Gypsy plays alone a game of cards, cheats anyway, wins a game and exclaims: “Maradona! ”. Why ?
EK : My idea was to make the ultimate feeling of victory. At first, the actor should have shouted “goal! ”. And then, stronger than “goal! There is “Maradona! Because a Maradona goal is still above that, it's not just any goal.
And his dark side?
EK : Maradona really has a double personality. Like all of us, by the way, but at home, he is necessarily exacerbated. He can be great, so necessarily his negative side can be extremely negative. We were talking earlier about his ads for Pepsi or Cola, or his political commitment. Diego has no problem to criticize the United States one day, and take the money from Coke the next day. Or to cheat on the ground. Finally, we always come back to this match against England. A goal angel, a goal demon. These are the two faces of his genius. Maradona is a kind of saint. He has seen death face many times, he almost killed himself, but the truth is that I believe that God refuses to take him back.
He seemed happy to you?
EK : It depends on the periods. One day, we took him back to Villa Fiorito, his native slum, and we filmed his childhood home. He was happy like everything. At other times, it's harder. Maradona reminds me of Marlon Brando, or other great movie actors. Once they get off stage, they do not know how to live. The ideal life, for Diego, it would have been a match whose referee would never have whistled the end.
Interview conducted par Stéphane Régy, translated by Matthieu Dhennin.
en/itv_07-12_sofoot.txt · Last modified: 2018/02/11 13:15 by matthieu1