It looks like director Doug Liman and Tom Cruise’s supernatural thriller, “Deeper,” is going forward.
At a screening of Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck’s documentary, “Gaucho Gaucho,” Liman told me last week that he and the “Mission Impossible” star plan for a “scary” movie. “I have never done one,” said Liman, “and neither has Tom Cruise.”
Liman — director of hits like “Edge of Tomorrow” and “American Made” — hosted the “Gaucho Gaucho” a private screening of excerpts in his downtown Manhattan apartment, followed by a Q&A with Michael Dweck. The filmmakers already had celebrity fans from their previous effort the 2020 film, “The Truffle Hunters.” Liman also joined the gang of admirers, hence the screening. “Gaucho Gaucho,” about Argentinian cowboys, is making the rounds of film festivals to much acclaim.
On the face of it, “Truffle Hunters” and “Gaucho Gaucho” could not be more different. Shot in black & white, “Gaucho Gaucho” takes place in a hilly landscape, featuring a community close to nature, far from our tech world. In one clip, a still mound moves. A horse rises from rest, a man on top of it—all in one long take. The filmmakers knew this “horse whisperer” often slept on his animal, and simply filmed it—like a Warholian meditation. The Hollywood filmmakers appreciate how challenging such a one-shot scene can be. No tricks, cut-aways, or B-roll–just the camera recording what takes place, taking its time. The audience at Liman’s comprised documentary filmmakers all know that even non-fiction filmmaking relies on crafting. Without the customary “script,” Kershaw and Dweck get as close to the real moment as one can get with thrilling results.
Prior to their recent screening at DOCNYC, I had a chance to speak to them on Zoom. Onto the next project, they were filming in Burgundy, in France’s wine country, yet another off the grid community—their specialty. While the doc team was honored to be lauded by Zemeckis and Hanks, and to meet Liman and be friends, as they said, they work on a smaller canvas. “We have the luxury of time to create the film we want to make,” said Dweck.
“We desire to take the documentary genre to the language of cinema. Our process is intuitive. We go in with a hunch, shooting one scene a day which gives us time to study the lives of inspiring people.” Referring to gauchos, they observe, American cowboy culture is about domination over land. A gaucho gaucho is more than simply a gaucho who goes through the paces without the adherence to a distinct code of behavior and ethics. He is a man to be honored.
“We are looking for magic. We are surprised every day. We may be shooting a family having lunch without knowing that this day his cow had died,” said Dweck. “Our films make audiences consider their own relationships to family, food, the environment.”
