Fernando Meirelles Quotations

When we first saw the locations we would be using, we decided to use a different visual approach to each part of the story,

She impressed me because she knew even more than me about the character.

I did want to expose the pharmaceutical industry a bit, ... The industry promotes itself very well. I think the film helps people see it in a different way, not through its press releases.

He does the right thing every day and lives by a code,

When we finished filming I had a political drama, a love story and a documentary. But the love story was so strong I decided to make it the axis of the film.

I think, in the next two or three years, we are going to see a lot of films set in Africa, or about Africa,

I think I was very lucky with this. Not only because they're good actors but because of their commitment. I was not expecting that level of commitment with stars.

When I first read the script, the political side of the story really interested me. I was interested in talking about pharmaceutical companies, and how corporations and government work together,

We knew that we couldn't use lights and ask the boys to hit marks. Because they don't have the technique. They were not trained for that.

But then, watching the whole film, it was like hearing my own voice - like the director preaching to the audience. So I started to cut and in the end, I think it became more of a love story.

We're supposed to capture what's in the air and give a form to it. The artist is like an antenna, always searching for new ideas and ways to express them.

Sometimes, you read a script, and you believe passionately that you must play this character. And I needed to show that passion to him, although I think I downplayed my passion a bit because I didn't want to scare him off. I didn't want him to think I was crazy enough to be a problem.

Ralph deserves an award for this performance. He's so relaxed, so natural. We're used to seeing Ralph Fiennes as cold, rational. Here he's lighter. He brings a humanity to the role. He's played a lot of edgy characters. Here he plays an average character.

This plot in this film is based on this particular case in Nigeria -- but it's very usual to test drugs in Africa because it's less expensive for big companies, ... City of God.

This is the sequel. Geography makes them seem separate, but eventually the connections between them will become clear.

This is the part that I like most, in the process, is to edit and try to find (the story). Sometimes you think you have a film, and then you change something and it becomes different. It's a wonderful job. Because it surprises you.

That little village that's raided in the film, it's just lost in the desert. There's nothing there. We came in and turned it into a big operation, like an al-Qaida training camp in the middle of the desert.

In 'City of God,' it was more complicated, because we were shooting in areas controlled by drug dealers, so we always had people around, boys with guns, ... It was sort of threatening, not totally relaxed. Kenya was more relaxed. There was no organized crime inside the slums, and we were well received.

In Kenya, the faces of the people, the colors, I wanted to bring as much of the landscape to the screen as I could, ... That's why I thought we should shoot in Kenya with a small crew - you just turn the camera around, and the real thing is happening here. If you do it big - lights, crew - you turn around and there's only crew, and it affects everything all around.

No country. is as harsh as the world.

I live in a developing country.

Is so interesting, is that when you're blindfolded and you're talking to somebody the conversation goes to places that it would never go if you could see the other person's reaction. You start talking about very intimate things. It's such an interesting experience.

I knew I wouldn't have another day off for a while, so I needed to get to London immediately.

The actors feel very free. The actor, he doesn't need to think about where the camera is, he just has to focus on what he's doing and forget the camera. The camera is never in the perfect position, and I think this is what keeps this feeling of reality. The frame is not perfect.

We forgot this continent for a long time - and now, finally Africa is being rediscovered.

The film deals with pharmaceutical companies using Africans as guinea-pigs,