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J.A. Bayona reveals what connects his 2012 Oscar-nominated film The Impossible to his new project, Society of the Snow: Details Inside
J.A. Bayona reveals the connection between his 2012 Oscar-nominated drama, The Impossible, and the story of Society of the Snow
J.A. Bayona's Society of the Snow, a Netflix drama about the 1972 Uruguayan Andes flight disaster, has been shortlisted for the Oscars in four categories, including best international feature, makeup and hairstyling, original score, and visual effects. The film gained critical traction since its Venice premiere.
Society of the Snow is Bayona's first Spanish-language movie since The Orphanage in 2007, and his most ambitious since 2012's The Impossible. Bayona became accustomed to big-budget Hollywood productions like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and The Rings of Power which he directed the first two episodes of the Amazon mega-series. Society of the Snow, starring Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, and Tom Holland, is a return to his roots.
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J.A. Bayona reveals what connects The Impossible to Society the of Snow
As Society of the Snow dropped on Netflix worldwide on January 4, J.A. Bayona talked to THR about recreating the Andes in Spain, telling a snow-based story, and other challenges he faced in working on the project. During the interview, Bayona was asked if there was a connection between his 2012 Oscar-nominated drama, The Impossible, and the story of Society of the Snow or something that links the themes of both movies to which Bayona replied, "Yes, there is."
Bayona continued, "There’s a direct connection because I read [Pablo Vierci’s book] Society of the Snow while researching for The Impossible, already in pre-production. At that time, The Impossible didn’t have a title, and actually, the title comes from Pablo’s book, from a paragraph where he repeats the word “impossible” seven times. So it was a huge influence on The Impossible because what I think is great about Pablo’s book is that he gives you the inner life of the characters. It’s not only about the fact of physical survival but also in terms of emotional survival, in terms of the human side of the story."
He continued, "I remember reading pages of the book to Naomi Watts and Tom Holland and giving the book to the heads of department of The Impossible. So for me, it’s very difficult to separate The Impossible and Society of the Snow because Pablo’s book was a huge help for me in figuring out what The Impossible was about."
Bayona was then asked how the two stories of the two films connect. "This similar idea of survival — not just the physical but also the emotional aspect. This idea of understanding that there is something else, some bigger good that we are somehow a part of, and the celebration of that. I remember a scene from The Impossible where Naomi Watts hears a baby crying. She’s with her son, Lucas (Holland), in the middle of this devastation and she wants to rescue that kid. Lucas sees his mother is badly injured and wants to take her to the hospital. But she says: ‘I’m gonna save that kid even if it’s the last thing I do.’ " Bayona said. "This idea of giving yourself to others is in Society of the Snow."
J.A. Bayona became obsessed with the events of Flight 572
The Impossible director, J.A. Bayona, became obsessed with the events of Flight 572, a Uruguayan rugby team that crashed during a cross-border journey to Chile. The story has been told in various forms, including books, documentaries, and feature films like Survive! and Frank Marshall’s 1993 English-language drama Alive starring Ethan Hawke. It also served as inspiration for Showtime's Yellowjackets.
Pablo Vierci's 2008 non-fiction book, Society of the Snow, was the most captivating for Bayona, who believed other versions of the Flight 571 disaster were simplistic and failed to capture the spiritual and philosophical layer of the real story, as it was written with the full collaboration of survivors and their families.
Bayona acquired Society of the Snow rights after finishing The Impossible. It took over a decade to get the film to the screen, thanks to Netflix's agreement to shoot the epic film in Spanish with unknown South American actors, with a budget of nearly $70 million. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
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