How Alejandro G. Iñárritu explores his own inner journey through ‘Bardo’ | ‘The Beach’
When film director Alejandro G. Iñárritu met Oscar-nominated director Robert Redford at an early screening of the upcoming BABO (Beaches of Beyond) in early September 2017, the two of them had never met.
Redford was directing the biopic, his first feature film as a director, and Iñárritu was a member at the screening.
“He wanted to have lunch or have a coffee or whatever, get to know other people and the kind of work I do,” Iñárritu says.
While Redford was busy with his duties, Iñárritu invited Redford to be his mentor, and began writing the script in his first day at the editing suite at Sony Pictures Classics. The script would take the form of letters Red (Redford) sends to his son when, at a young age, he hears about his father (Iñárritu) while playing around the house with Iñárritu’s four-year-old children. The script was originally titled The Beach, but became BABO.
In a 2015 interview with Variety, Redford says that, “I wanted to play the role the way the man played the role,” referring to the film as an “immersion narrative,” telling stories about the people and places that made up his father’s life, rather than just acting as its vehicle. In speaking to the audience, Redford says, “The Beach” has to be the most emotional and visceral film ever made in the history of cinema, because I met the most deeply and profoundly fascinating, and also tragic, person I’ve ever met in my life.”
From that point, Iñárritu began planning his dream project, a film where, as his mother says, “He’s making a film that feels like he
