Interview to Max Bellocchio, director of the Tropical saga

 

In this corner of the internet where I write movie reviews fool story context about movies from the tropical saga, we have tonight the presence of the director of all the Private Tropical movies, that were filmed from 2002-2009: the Italian Max Bellocchio. This interview was answered exclusively for Tropical Luscious Dreams on March 17, 2023.

Dear Max, now that I am more or less half way through, still with 20 films to go, I would like to ask you some questions related to the tropical saga and the performance you have brought to the project.

Why a tropical saga? It seems obvious that an exotic vacation destination is very seductive, but what was it that finally drove the idea?

- The idea was from the company PRIVATE, they call me one day and ask. I was interested in a Tropical  line, I  take a couple of days to think about, I called a friend who lived in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), and I asked him if he could organize a shoot on the island, a month later I started my first film of the Private Tropicale line (Survivors).

How did you start in the world of cinema? Did you always want to be a director or was it rather an improvisation, a choice of the future of youth?

- It was fate's fault, one day I went to the Treatro San Carlo in Naples in the company of an American girl, there was a friend of mine who worked as a firefighter, as soon as he saw me he began to talk to me about a film he had shot in Naples, at the time I had a big Jaguar and I asked him to ask the producer if my car could be used for some film, The producer said yes and from that moment I never stopped shooting films.

In some movies like Ocean Dream, Coral Honeymoon or Tropical Heat there are truly masterful plot twists. Was there a person in charge of developing such elaborate scripts or was it more of a team effort?

- I did everything myself, I wrote the plot, I chose the locations and organized the cast, all by myself. And I'm very proud of myself because for other directors it would have been impossible to take on this challenge.

In some movies there are nods to different styles of cinema, ranging from Latin soap operas to detective series in beach cities (for example, Miami Vice) through mafia stories. What were your sources of inspiration or your influences?

- Many of my stories were born, while I was making long journeys by car or at night, I would suddenly get up and write a piece of the plot, it was all born from my imagination

All locations are outdoors, which adds some extra difficulty. I remember that in the making of Caribbean Vacation you confess that you had to go to a bar in Guadeloupe because it wouldn't stop raining. Do you think that current conventional cinema has lost freshness by making excessive use of digital effects and shooting inside studios?

- Until then many films were shot in the studio or on location, away from prying eyes, the name of my series Private Tropical, had the reverse purpose to shoot all the scenes outdoors and so I did.

There are actors who are recurring in the tropical saga. What kind of relationship did you have with them on a day-to-day basis? Did affinity emerge and was there a good working environment on these trips?

- It's true, in my films you often see actors and actresses who have already shot Tropical films, I used them because I was sure that they would have fulnzionata in that context not easy, not everyone is able to shoot a hard scene, in the water, on board a catamaran, or on a small plane while flying over the Caribbean sea. With many of them a kind of friendship and a very strong understanding was born, between the actors with Philipp Dean, George Uh, Francesco Malcolm, with the actresses Tarra White, Nesty.

In your feature films for Tropical saga, in the plot part, you play many genres: police, comedy, horror, drama, romantic. In which one have you felt more comfortable?

- I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I found myself comfortable in all the genres I've shot.

Of your entire tropical line movies, what is your favorite film in terms of story/plot?

- No doubt about that: Millionaire.

Finally, any special memories of the 8 years of intense filming in paradisiacal places? And some anecdotes that can be told…

It was a splendid adventure shared with my wife Lucy, who followed me in these 8 years and who helped me as a make-up artist. I saw wonderful places, which otherwise I would not have visited, I met people of all social levels, but at the same time it was also very exhausting.

There are so many anecdotes, I remember that we were in Madagascar, it was the end of a scene on a beach, it was 4 pm and there was little time left for light and the actor  did not finish… so I had to stop the scene and four days later go back to the same beach, make up and dress the girl, Tarra White as she was four days before and finish the scene...

Link to spanish version (The original interview was in english)