‘They Shot The Piano Player’s Animation Brought Brazilian Jazz Artist Tenório Junior Back To Life – Contenders Documentary
They Shot the Piano Player is a documentary about Brazilian jazz artist Francisco Tenório Júnior, who went missing in 1976. Spoiler alert, the film uncovers why Tenório Júnior is no longer here. Directors Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal joined Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary to discuss how they used animation to articulate historical moments for which they had no archival footage.
“My first commitment was to be fair to Tenório Júnior,” Trueba said. “I think you must do something for him, not just for us. For him and also for the audience to discover him, but I wanted the audience to know him, to meet him and to listen to his music.”
More from Deadline
Some animated portions depict Tenório creating music, for which the filmmakers had audio recordings. Mariscal said the music guided the visuals.
“Thanks to the animation, we can again give life to Tenório recording and re-creating this moment,” Mariscal said. “The colors and this space is like a dream, like a memory.”
RELATED: Deadline’s Contenders Documentary – Full Coverage
Mariscal said he used bright colors to show “how happy and how nice and how complex” the musicians felt while playing. Mariscal said Trueba’s script was clear, and accompanied by plenty of research material. Where there was lots of material, Mariscal animated accurately. Where it was more firsthand memories, he took more artistic license.
Mariscal knew what New York and Buenos Ares looked like, so he re-created the locations. When people share their memories, Mariscal animated in the style of their story, sometimes “like noir or very dark” or depicting love scenes as “more caricature.”
Jeff Goldblum narrates the film. Trueba had directed Goldblum in the 1989 film Twisted Obsession and they remained friends. Trueba said Goldblum essentially played him looking into Tenório Júnior, but with an American accent.
“It’s a kind of alter ego,” Trueba said. “He’s doing what I did and meeting the people that I met. But I always thought what the hell is a Spanish director doing there? The United States and Latin America were connected by not the best reason in that historical period. I thought it was more interesting and more truthful to the story to make it an American, but I’m a Spaniard.”
Trueba said Buenos Ares authorities actually arrested Tenório by mistake during the one of the region’s many coup d’états. “They tortured him during nine days before killing him,” Trueba said. “In this period of time, the coup d’etat took place in the middle of the final nine days of his life.”
The filmmakers can’t fix the past, but they hope They Shot the Piano Player can be a living testament to the artist. “Tenório is dead but he’s not dead,” Mariscal said. “We can listen and see how he played the piano.”
Check out the panel video above.
cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ settings: { plugins: { pmcAtlasMG: { iabPlcmt: 1, } } }, playerId: "1d932e57-b397-4448-b4b7-d30563744457", mediaId: "2936ae0f-d99e-48d9-a4fc-2705fdb5fb7f", }).render("connatix_contextual_player_2936ae0f-d99e-48d9-a4fc-2705fdb5fb7f_4"); });
Best of Deadline
2023-24 Awards Season Calendar - Dates For Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, Tonys, Guilds & More
New On Prime Video For March 2022: Daily Listings For Streaming TV, Movies & More
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
