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I Wrote El rey de la fiesta Because I Felt Like I Had Two Lives, Says Salomón Askenazi

Gustavo R. Gallardo

El rey de la fiesta (2021), co-written and directed by Salomón Askenazi, was presented at the 19th edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM).

The film, starring actors Giancarlo Ruiz, Daniel Adissi, Daniela Bascopé, Juan Carlos Colombo, Paulette Hernández and Mar Mediante, tells the story of a man who, during an emotional crisis, assumes his twin brother’s identity for a week while thinking he is dead.

Askenazi said that El rey de la fiesta is a movie he wrote five years ago, about a man whose "life gives him the opportunity to be someone else for a week." He adds, "it's a film that talks about transformation, about identity; it's a pretty intense film, and people have liked it a lot at festivals."

The director recalls that when he began writing the story he felt that he was living a double life because he combined fatherhood with his work as a filmmaker. "I felt I had two lives: the family life and the artistic one. And I wanted to portray a little bit of that in this duality. With a brother who went the most conventional way and another who hasn't followed rules."

Actress Paulette Hernández laughed when she explained that her character, Nicole, goes out with the "free, fun" brother, but ends up being "tricked" by the other "evil" one. "But there is something about the brothers she’s really attracted to because, even if they switch, they both have some kind of darkness, and that attracts Nicole," she added.

Actor Giancarlo Ruiz, who plays the brothers, said he researched twins and found that there is a great search for identity, but also a lot of resentment and competition between them.

From that research, "I had to create a method, each character asks different things of you, and for these characters, each scene had a particular song that put me in a situation, and each brother had his own song, so I always had headphones on and I was listening to the scene. That helped me a lot to define the characters and not get confused. "

Salomón Askenazi was open to input while filming, and he said that several of Giancarlo Ruiz's scenes had "a lot of improvisation”, which he feels “helped the film get that special vibe.” He added, “While editing, they got to share their thoughts and put their ideas into it. I think all that makes a film richer in content."