Total Film rocked up at the super stylish Bing Bar on Main Street earlier today for a chat with Rodrigo Cortés, director of starry supernatural thriller Red Lights .
The film stars Cillian Murphy and Sigourney Weaver as college professors who make a living out of debunking claims of paranormal phenomena, whose scepticism is challenged by Robert De Niro’s sinister celebrity psychic.
Lights has had something of a mixed reaction at the festival – reports of a lukewarm reception during the Friday night premiere contrasted with a wildly enthusiastic response after yesterday’s public screening (which Total Film attended).
“The first screening and the second screening had such different energies,” smiled the amiable Spaniard who says, like it or not, he’s made the film that he wanted to make.
“It’s very difficult in festivals to have a clean perspective on films. They have to compete with the expectations everybody has and you can get very strong reactions – positive or negative,” he continued.
“That’s part of the game and as a filmmaker you should be very aware of this in order to keep your position strong. There’s always gonna be wind out there – sometimes blowing for, sometimes against… But you better know what you wanna do and try to keep your centre.”