Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor, two of the most respected actors of their generation, have long admired each other. They met during the filming of the dystopian Gattaca (1997), when the Briton went to visit his friend Jude Law, and they were about to coincide in a film that ultimately did not go ahead. Hawke even auditioned for Moulin Rouge, but the role of young writer Christian in Baz Lurmann's riveting musical went to the actor who has brought Obi-Wan Kenobi to life in the revamped Star Wars universe.
The person in charge of bringing them together for the first time on screen was the Colombian director and screenwriter based in the United States, Rodrigo García, son of the great Gabriel García Márquez, who saw them as two perfect stepbrothers for his new film Raymond
Raymond (McGregor) goes to Ray's (Hawke) house to tell him that his father, a man who always looked down on them and with whom they had no contact, has passed away. After an argument between mutual reproaches, both then embark on an adventure to the rhythm of a road movie in which they will meet the father's lover (Maribel Verdú), one of the nurses who took care of him (Sophie Okonedo) and, step, a handful of half brothers.
The father, who apparently had another personality that they never saw, left in his will that he wanted his children to be at the funeral and dig his grave, which causes the most hilarious situations. In the midst of a range of emotions in which they must manage strong pain, there is no choice but to reinvent themselves.
"At first I had in mind the idea of a man who buried his father, with whom he had a complicated relationship. At a certain point I was blocked and then I thought of two stepbrothers who had the same name and dragged a trauma with that father, although each one wore it differently", comments the director by videoconference from Toronto to a group of journalists, including La Vanguardia. The film was presented at the festival in that Canadian city in early September.
"With Ewan I had already worked on Last Days in the Desert, I sent him the script and he stayed with Raymond. With Ethan we had coincided in the jury of the Sundance festival, I told him about the project and he agreed immediately. I always knew that both would have a chemistry like brothers and that's how it turned out. They also brought a lot of humor to their characters. I never thought this shoot would be so much fun, as the situations in the film are quite extreme."
Ethan loved the quality of the script and "I could immediately see myself playing the role alongside Ewan. It took me 30 seconds to answer Rodrigo from the moment I finished reading the pages. They were like sheet music," explains Hawke. "The two of them had a troubled childhood and were very close in the past. Ray carries a lot of pain. He has been clean for seven years but has had several addictions and has lost his wife. When Raymond knocks on his door after five years without seeing each other, he remember all that past", continues the actor, who has worked this summer with Almodóvar in the short film Extraña forma de vida.
"The two of them have grown up together and hate their father for different things. Raymond's life hasn't been very good; he's had lousy relationships. He's been divorced twice and I think he's trying to bring order to all that chaos. He and Ray are very different but at that moment they need each other, "says McGregor about that journey in which they discover new things about a father who was horrible for them but loving for other people. "I feel good letting him go. Forgiveness is good," says Raymond, who was subjected to various abuses by his mother. At one point during the funeral, he surprises by unleashing a vent that struggles to get out. And he does it causing delirium among the attendees.
Ray had to suffer the sinking of his musical career as a trumpeter and it is something that has been nailed ever since. Hawke reserves a scene in which he seems to emulate that wonderful Chet Baker from Born to be blue. "It has been a joy to work together. We felt that we were like brothers. The script was very well written and it does not happen very often that you receive a proposal like that," confesses the American.
"The truth is that from day one playing these characters was something natural and easy," comment Hawke and McGregor in unison. "Somehow they make an inner journey whose destination is the liberation of everything that was buried in the past." Regarding these complicated relationships between parents and children, García points out that it does not always have to be like this, "but it is inevitable that during adolescence it is a really difficult period."
For her part, Verdú is delighted to have made her dream of working with Rodrigo García come true. "The role of Lucía is wonderful. She likes to take on challenges and doesn't judge anything or anyone. I love that brutal humor that Rodrigo shows off, even though they are talking about serious and transcendent things," admits the actress, who has pending this year Stories to not tell, by Cesc Gay, also previewed in Toronto and is part of the Now series
