There are films that, from your first encounter, you know will leave a calendar-proof impact on you. And ‘City of God’, without a doubt, is one of them. It doesn’t matter if you saw it at the time of its premiere, back in 2022, a few years later or just yesterday, the film directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund is always an unforgettable experience.
Curiosities about ‘City of God’
one from the area
All non-professional actors appearing in the film they actually lived in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. In fact, many of them did so in the “City of God” itself.
City of God at eCartelera
2 material adjustment
‘City of God’ adapts a novel by Paulo Lins to the cinema, which consists of more than 700 pages. A mass of important text which, in view of its leap onto the big screen, was summed up in 130 minutes. And it’s short, watch out.
City of God at eCartelera
3 shocking start
Fernando Meirelles will never forget his debut on the set of ‘City of God’. And it’s that, on his first day on the job, a local boy held a gun to his head. Of course, that same minor was the one who spoke to a local drug dealer to pass the director off. Strong emotions.
City of God at eCartelera
4 Panic in the hotel
One of the best scenes in ‘City of God’, and it has a good handful of memorable moments, is where a group of characters rob a hotel. Well, due to an information error and a schedule chaos, no one informed customers of the aforementioned shooting complexwhich caused a series of panic attack motivated by the shots fired by the cast.
City of God at eCartelera
5 unexpected success
Though its quality was indisputable, none of the ‘City of God’ team could have imagined the huge success achieved with the project. And is that, beyond his triumphant awards season tour, with 4 Oscar nominations included, the film, which had a budget of 3 million dollars, has grossed more than 30 worldwide.
City of God at eCartelera
6 praying
During the moments before filming one of the most important scenes of ‘City of God’, Fernando Meirelles was visited by a boy from the area who was part of one of the gangs in real life. During this meeting, the young man asked the director if the film’s characters would not pray as they always did before every important battle against their enemies. Meirelles, who hadn’t thought of it at first, He told him that he would film that moment of prayer, also proposing to guide him. The boy accepted and this was reflected in the final assembly.
City of God at eCartelera
7 Preparation
Once the main cast of ‘City of God’ was selected, the film crew was created an acting workshop that non-professional actors and actresses have attended for more than eight months. Seeing the result on the screen, well, it’s very clear that it worked.
City of God at eCartelera
8 unexpected audition
Leandro Firmino, who plays the unforgettable Zé Pequeno, was one of the young people who really lived in the ‘City of God’. Moreover, his participation in the film happened quite unexpectedly, since then Firmino went to the auditions to accompany a friend of his.
City of God at eCartelera
9 agreed shooting
While filming in the favelas, Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund had to agree working conditions and hours with various local mafia bosses.
City of God at eCartelera
10 Bad business
Both Alexandre Rodrigues and Leandro Firmino, the film’s leads, initially received an offer from the studio to receive an upfront payment of approximately $3,000 for their work or to keep a cut of the box office. Both didn’t hesitate for a second and immediately accepted the first option, thus making a significant mistake. And it is that, taking into account the final success of the film on a commercial level, if they had agreed to keep only 1% of the box office they would have earned 25 times more.
City of God at eCartelera
The reasons are many and varied, but it would be impossible, and in some ways unfair, to talk about the most salient elements of this masterpiece, without mentioning the impressive work of its cast, its frenetic pace, its masterful direction or that particular atmosphere that captures you from the first to the last minute. In short, we are talking about one of those films in which everything, absolutely everything, works at the same level of perfection.
It also happens that, several decades after its arrival in theaters worldwide, ‘City of God’ has not lost a bit of its ability to keep you mesmerized in front of the screen, hooked on its characters and their corresponding stories, trembling with his shots of violence and fascinated by the incalculable amount of cinema that flows through his veins. A contemporary classic. An essential film.
Source: E Cartelera
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.
