Cesc Gay: "I prefer my film to be released directly on Netflix"

BarcelonaThe stories of Cesc Gay (Barcelona, ​​1967) are once again traveling from stage to screen. After Sentimental, which adapted his debut as a playwright (Los vecinos de arriba), the director has turned 53 domingos,, the play he premiered at the Teatre Romea in 2020, into his first Netflix original film: 53 domingos, which will arrive on the platform this Friday. The plot and characters remain almost intact: three siblings try to meet one day to decide what to do with a father who is starting to lose his mind and the wife of one of the brothers, who enjoys the spectacle of watching them argue. What does change is the cast: Javier Cámara, Carmen Machi, Javier Gutiérrez, and Alexandra Jiménez play the roles that in the theater were played by Pedro Arquillué, Marta Marco, Luis Villanueva, and Àgata Roca.

If Los vecinos de arriba was born from an anecdote by Gay – the orgasmic fervor of a neighbor –, the origin of 53 domingos is the director's interest in the arguments that siblings often get entangled in. "I have a very good relationship with my siblings, but I've always found it curious how siblings can argue, and how there can be so much jealousy and resentment in such a close bond that comes from so far back —explains Gay—. There are conflicts from when you're 10 years old that are still present at 60 and that are magnified when they appear." The film, like Jiménez's character, observes with evident delight the squabbles and tug-of-wars of the siblings, and squeezes the comedic juice out of the situations. "Friends can get angry and never see each other again, but siblings can't —points out Gay—. It's like an ex when you have children together, you never completely break up. And that's what interested me, that inability to fight, which leads you to pretend. And that very bourgeois thing of acting like nothing is happening, but then a little comment..."

That Gay's two films, written with theater first in mind, are the director's most directly comedic has a very simple explanation. "Cinema has become very serious and intense –he says–. People go to the cinema looking for a certain solemnity." That's why, instead of rehearsing the resigned discourse of so many directors, Gay celebrates that 53 domingos is premiering on a platform. "I love that my film isn't premiering in cinemas, I prefer it to premiere directly on Netflix –he assures–. Platforms are ideal for a type of film like this one, which lasts 70 minutes and has an ideal tone for watching at home." Evidently, he stresses, what works for 53 domingos shouldn't work for all films. Gay would have been very upset if Mi amiga Eva hadn't been shown in cinemas. But in the case of his new film, he insists, a platform release seems "very appropriate, without detracting from the film in any way."

A 53 Sundays repeats Javier Cámara, a regular actor in Gay who also appeared in Sentimental. His role in both films is precisely the one Pere Arquillué played in the stage plays. "They are two accomplices, two actors with different energies, but at the same time very similar and with a brutal capacity for comedy –Gay points out–. And I found it interesting to transfer that actor repetition to cinema." The director acknowledges that the casting arose from the "letter to the Three Kings" that he writes for all his films, and that on this occasion it came true. "We've been very lucky." Regarding the difficulty in getting the film's tone right, Gay emphasizes the work with Javier Gutiérrez and his character of the successful brother. "It happened to me in theater with Lluís Villanueva, who played the same role, and I insisted to him that the key was that he was one of those people who don't realize the harm they do you with the things they say. I remember a friend who, when Mi amiga Eva premiered, told me: 'Tomorrow I'm going to see your film, let's see if I like it more than the previous one.' The typical comment made from the most absolute innocence that will keep me from sleeping for two days".

A million-dollar 'remake'

Cesc Gay's cinema is also topical thanks to the success of The Invite at Sundance, the remake of Sentimental with Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton in the cast, which was acquired by A24 for more than 10 million euros. "I have friends who, when the news came out, thought I was a millionaire now, but no, the 10 million are for the American producers." The director has not yet seen the remake, although he has spoken with Penélope Cruz and Olivia Wilde, who is also the director of the film. "The producer explained to me the other day that it will be released on June 27 in the United States, and here Elastica will distribute it," says Gay, who did manage to see some of the seven remakes that have been made of the film and is completely fascinated. "It's very curious to see other versions of your film. The Korean one blew me away – he says –. The director clearly knew what he had in his hands, but, suddenly, he found a vein in a dialogue between Javier and Griselda and dedicated himself to making shot after shot of the guy touching the woman's ass".

The director suspects that the international success of the story has to do with its ease of adaptation. "Producers see it and realize it's cheap: four actors and a set – he points out –. And it has a very solid script in the sense that they are like dominoes: you can't change a single line, one leads to the other." 53 domingos has also begun to have an international run and has been performed in a couple of South American countries and, next month, in Munich. Gay hopes that the release of the adaptation on Netflix will increase interest in the text, but assumes that the success will be much lower than that of his first work. "This is a somewhat more complex story and, unlike The Neighbors Upstairs or Sentimental, it doesn't rely on sex, which is an ingredient that always sells well," he points out.