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'The Three Amigos' to coincide at the 2023 Oscars

The films of Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro G. Iñárritu are in the running for an Oscar at the 95th edition of the awards ceremony.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón y Guillermo del Toro (Archivo / Netflix).

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón y Guillermo del Toro (Archivo / Netflix).

Published by
Rosana Rábago Sainz

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro are regulars at the Oscars. However, this is the second time (the first was in 2007) that the three directors will coincide since all of them were nominated in this 95th edition. Del Toro’s version of Pinocchio is nominated for Best Animated Film, Iñárritu and his Bardo, False Chronicle of Handful of Truths could win Best Cinematography and Alfonso Cuarón is a contender for Best Live-Action Short Film for Le Pupille.

The Mexican trio share a great friendship and affectionately call each other "The Three Amigos." However, Del Toro confessed in a chat the three of them had together at the Film Academy Museum, that lately it seems like their group should be renamed: "This is supposed to be The Three Amigos and it seems more like The Two Amigos."

The three amigos reunite

He was referring to the fact that, during the conversation, Del Toro and Iñárritu were calling the shots, while Cuarón preferred to stay back. It may be because they were all attending a promotional event for Netflix which has the rights to the two friends’ films and he wanted to leave the spotlight to them.

Del Toro and Iñarritu did not disappoint. Both of them fondly criticizing each other and while del Toro said that "Everything Alejandro says is intense!" his friend replied with, "Well, but before I'm done, you've already eaten it!" The banter continued as the conversation went on. Iñarritu said that whenever they talk to each other they always say that the film they release will be their last, something that is never true:

Every time we finish a film, we tell ourselves that it's the last one we're going to do, but it ends up being like what happens a lot with Mexicans; if you're with someone in a bar and they say 'one last drink and we're leaving', you know that at least two more bottles are coming.

Then it was time to talk in depth about their films and, therefore, to get serious. Iñárritu kicked off the event by explaining what cinema means to him just after the screening of his latest film, Bardo, false chronicle of a Handful of Truths: "Art exists to free us from pain, and this film has allowed me to free a lot of things. The white beard had to have some advantage."

The importance of death

Alfonso Cuarón shared his sentiment. He asked his friend about the metaphorical or literal death that tends to appear in his movies. His response was forceful in stating that it is a recurring theme in his life:

This recurrence comes from a primal fear, because I have been thinking since I was a child about what it means to stop being present. Later, I decided to imagine what my death would be like, but not for morbid reasons, but because I could give it a deeper meaning.

After this, it was Guillermo del Toro’s turn. He also talked about some qualities that, for the Mexican director, are fundamental when it comes to filmmaking. Among them, he highlighted:

The virtue of disobedience, which I believe is vital; the inalienable right to be fucked up, to be imperfect, which is what characterizes monsters; and, death, which I have been thinking about since I was seven years old.

Del Toro also mentioned his religion. According to him, Cuarón always defined him as a very Catholic filmmaker, something that does not please the creator of Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio:

Alfonso has told me that I'm a super-Catholic filmmaker, because everyone in my films has to die to be happy, and the truth is that I grew up with that cosmology, so it's part of my bones. The worst thing we have invented is that we have to be 'nice'; we are all complicated.

Complications and deaths could result in "The Three Amigos" posing together with their Oscars on March 12. They could dominate, as they have done for the past two decades, this year’s Oscars ceremony. .

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