“My name is Rudy Mancuso. I am the director, composer and co-writer of “Música”. [PIANO MUSIC PLAYING] “This sequence that I call the theatrical montage lasts almost five minutes. The whole thing is therefore shot in a single take. I guess that’s always been my unorthodox approach to your typical second or third act montage. As you see here, it all starts in Rudy’s room. And Rudy, who I play, is inspired by me suffering from this condition called synesthesia, where he has a unique relationship with sound. And the music and sounds turn into rhythm. And the revelation, that we are on stage, opens. And the intention of the scene was that the very chaotic energy of trying to pull off an elaborate play with moving sets flying in and out and being assembled and dismantled in real time reflects the chaos in this character’s life. This is the moment in the film where Rudy is juggling the three people he cares about most in his life, and he lies to all of them. On the page, this is actually called the Rhythm of Lies. As we see here, it’s his longtime girlfriend trying to rekindle things with him, Haley, played by Francesca Reale. “Later.” “Yeah.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Then we see this set disappear and a new installation here that’s supposed to mimic Rudy’s house, the kitchen of Rudy’s mother, another woman in his life who he lies to, who is played by my real mother, Maria Mancuso. ” “I promised – I promised Anwar that I would spend time with him.” “Oh yeah?” “Yeah. But I’ll see you later. “OK I love you.” “Fine, I love you too.” – [NON-ENGLISH] “OK, agreed.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “And then the third one, of course, that we’re about to see is his new relationship with Isabella, Camila Mendes here, who plays Isabella, who he’s starting to really like. And what was important to me, that “was not only that the camera never stops, because it’s difficult and challenging and Rudy’s life is difficult and challenging, but also that the light cues were synchronized to the beat. So every time a new light is on and another is off, those signals are actually synchronized with the music. The other thing that was important to me was that Rudy could change his wardrobe himself in real time. And that’s the big question. How are we really going to change our outfit? And I said: what if he changed it himself? – [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] – [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] – [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] “So this background, this piece, which I believe is on casters, had to be turned around – turned, turned around. The lights must have gone out. New lights had to come in. And yes, it’s a very live and theatrical approach to a montage, which has always been the vision. And at this point we retrace our steps. Basically, we moved forward and followed Rudy from behind, turned to the right, then came back to the left. And now we go back, going back through the steps. Amazonia, which is a subtle nod to our studio: the camera now rotates 180°, and we’re trying to emulate a sort of nightlife, lounge, club environment right now. “But I can’t really spend the night tonight.” I just have so many. “Oh, it’s okay” “So many things. Of course.” “But I want to, though.” “It is very good.” “You understand?” “Yeah.” “And the very last stage location is the one you’re about to see here, which is supposed to mimic a movie theater, which we just did with smart lighting and projection. This whole piece was really well prepared. We didn’t have much time. I guess we never do that. But especially to achieve this one, because it was very elaborate, we also had a very high goal of wanting it to syncopate rhythmically as well. And it all ends where it all began, which was also very important to me. It begins and ends in Rudy’s room. And by the time the camera comes all the way back to where we started, it seems like we’re back in the bedroom. We don’t see this division behind him in the background. So, thanks to clever layouts designed by my production designer, Patrick Sullivan, my incredible cinematographer Shane Hurlbut and myself, we were able to achieve this impossible thing. [PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
