Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
“I came upon the project as a finished script. I was really fascinated with the subject matter; both the portrayal of this iconic figure that everyone knows as this macho adventurer – seeing the personal side of the story of who he was as a real person – and his struggles and tribulations towards the end of his life. He was suffering from, basically, mental illness and depression,” director-producer of “Papa: Hemingway in Cuba” told Hollywood on the Potomac at a private screening at The Washington Post’s new location on K Street, Washington, DC. “I did do research on Hemingway. Much of what you see on the film is true to the script and which, from what I understand, is Denne Petitclerc’s actual observations and recounting of his story and experiences with the Hemingways.”
Bob Yari
We were particularly interested in knowing if the letter that Petitclerc – then a cub reporter – wrote to Hemingway which started it all, played out as was portrayed in the movie: It seemed a bit farfetched to us. “The letter being sent is true. Hemingway calling him is true. I’m not sure that the girlfriend sending the letter is true. He wrote a letter, really not expecting to ever hear back from Hemingway. He just wanted to tell him that during his dark childhood years in an orphanage during the depression era where the orphanages were crowded and not a nice place to be, how Hemingway had given him hope, and actually then given him a career by teaching him to write. He just wanted to tell him that, but never expected Hemingway to reach out to him.”
We asked Yari if there was anything he learned that surprised him? “A few things. One, and I think most incredibly, I could not find anywhere any reference to his involvement in the Cuban Revolution meaning I don’t think he was a major figure in that, but he definitely had taken sides and was supporting the underdogs, as he usually did, and as he did in the Spanish Civil War. He really loved Cuba and the Cuban people. I believe he thought that Batista was keeping them in poverty and there was an unjust system in place. He certainly wasn’t communist at the time, because neither was Castro. Castro turned to communism after he took over. He was a socialist, but he wasn’t a communist. The majority of the last years of his life, twenty years, he lived in Cuba. When the revolution happened, they made a decision to leave; primarily because I think Castro, in his back and forth with the US, decided to take all US property. Even though I think in her book, Mariel Hemingway claims that she donated the Finca to them. It would have been taken anyway under the Cuban rules that Castro brought in to play.”
“The other thing I learned,” Yari added, “other than that historical fact which I’d never heard before, was this real insight into this man, into Hemingway, that I had always had a very different impression of. I knew he was rough and gruff, an adventurer, a boxer, a big game hunter, a war correspondent. I never knew these other sides to him that come out in his last few years. He had a lot of humanity in him.”
Diplomatic relations had not been restored when Yari was filming there, so we asked him what it was like getting visas and permission to film: “The embargo was in full force and it took about two years to get the approval. Initially we were turned down because we filed for a special license from OFAC, which is a division of the Treasury Department. Then the State Department got involved. We spent a lot of time trying to convince them that just as a documentary has an exception under the embargo rules, that this was worthy of being considered a docu-drama because it was preserving historical facts as they happened in historical places that may not be there that much longer. Of course, we got a lot of support from people like Senator Feinstein who wrote a letter for us and Barbara Boxer and a lot of others that helped. We finally convinced both the State Department and the Treasury Department to give us a license to go down there. We’re very, very happy that the embargo is being lifted; all of us worked hard on this.”
We asked him to comment on the aforementioned Hemingway’s well known problems with mental illness: “The fact is that he truly did suffer from mental illness. I think there’s about nine people in his family that have committed suicide, including his father, his uncle, most famously his granddaughter. It is definitely a genetic predisposition to depression. I don’t know if it’s ever been diagnosed. That type of diagnosis is in flux even in today’s medicine. For example, there used to be that they had some name for it that in this years’ PDM has been completely thrown out. Now they call it all Autistic Spectrum Disorder. A lot of prior labels that they put on it have kind of all merged into one large label. They can’t really distinguish between them. He left Cuba right at the revolution and went to Ketchum, Idaho where his condition was exasperated. Doctors here, unfortunately, sent him to get shock therapy, which affected his memory. For a writer, that’s pretty much all you have. He really then couldn’t write anymore after the shock therapy. That’s what ultimately, I believe, led him to kill himself.”
The evening was sponsored by Rosetta Stone and Papa Pillar’s Rum: Thank you Pilar!
The Washington Post’s Lois Romano and Executive Editor Marty Barron introduced the Q and A after the screening. “I have followed the US-Cuba relations for decades, so it’s a special pleasure for me to be here and to recognize what this film represents,” said Barron. “The movie is really a signature development and the changing dynamics between these two countries. So much is now unfolding after decades of intractable conflict. This is the first full length movie with a Hollywood director and actors filmed in Cuba since the 1960 trade embargo. Hemingway lived and wrote in Cuba for twenty years. He lived through the history of the Cuban revolution. All of us are now living through another historic moment. This movie is testament to two remarkable writers – Hemingway of course, and also a reporter [named Petitclerc] who was furious over a review in the paper that had proclaimed Hemingway’s only contribution to the English language to be the short sentence to which he responded ‘not true’ or in so many words. Hemingway received a letter from Petitclerc that took issue with the review, and the two struck up a friendship.”
Marty Barron
“Petitclerc would study writing by copying Hemingway’s novels long hand and went on to become an accomplished screen writer,” Barron added. “His final screenplay before his death ten years ago was this movie Papa based on his own experience with the great Hemingway. In the film tonight, you will hear from director Bob Yari about how the film came to be, and from White House National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes who has been front and center in talks with Cuban officials. I want to thank Bob and The Yari Film Group for screening this newsworthy film at The Washington Post. We’re honored that it’s taking place in our new headquarters.”
“I got the script about 10 years ago,” responded Yari, “and it was actually going to star Anthony Hopkins and the people involved at the time were going to shoot it in Portugal, I believe. I remember reading the script and thinking that Cuba is such an integral character in the movie that I couldn’t see it not being shot there. Cuba just has a certain feel to it with its certain iconic locations. They went off and I think tried to do it. It didn’t work and then I got the rights to the script and then it became this mission to try and shoot it in Cuba.”
The Washington Post’s White House correspondent Juliet Eilperin: Moderator
Juliet Eilperin, who was on the trip to Cuba with President Obama and Ben Rhodes, asked Rhodes to describe the historic event: “Ben, can you talk about some of these initial ripple effects from the opening, including this, and the exhibition game that the President attended while we were down there? Can you talk a little about how you see these activities in the context of what’s happening right now with diplomacy and how both The United States have used them and also what you’ve heard from the Cuban Government and how they’re approaching some of these decisions?”
“For all those of us who wanted to be a fly on the wall in Hemingway’s house in Cuba, now we get to do that,” responded Rhodes. “The purpose of our whole policy is that promoting, advancing, supporting, accelerating interaction between Cubans and Americans is going to be to the benefit of both countries, and especially to the benefit of the Cuban people. That’s at the center of everything that we’ve been trying to do. The specific question of projects like this, what’s interesting is there are … I’d say three things. In our own government what’s been a shift essentially is a policy … We obviously support lifting the embargo wholly. In terms of how we look at the embargo, the policy was focused for so many years and decades on trying to prevent anything from happening in terms of [activity] and we’ve had to turn around an ocean liner the last couple of years and try to find ways to open up space within the confines of the law. That not only involves both broad changes, but also licensing and authorizing these types of individual cases. It’s time-consuming, but that is an accelerating process.”
Juliet Eilperin, Bob Yari and Ben Rhodes
“On the Cuban side,” Rhodes added, “it’s also been this question of how do they receive interest from the United States – from US businesses, cultural programs, sports – and it’s a conversation that people are having while trying to get to know one another and get to know one-an-others laws and regulations. And what’s been interesting is that the places that have been the easiest to start are where there is a cultural affinity and overlay; something like Hemingway and his legacy, something like music and concerts, something like baseball – those have been the easier places to begin. They’re just now beyond that beginning to be more traditional US businesses that are going down there to operate. What’s interesting about The United States and Cuba is there’s so much shared culture, even though we’ve been estranged. We share all these things in common. It’s like two family members who haven’t spoken to each other in 50 years but still eat the same food and listen to the same music and read the same stuff. I have to say, even when we were in the negotiations with the Cubans, they were very proud of the Hemingway connection and they would raise it and when you go to Cuba they point out, ‘Here’s where Hemingway stayed.’ It’s a point of personal pride to them that they have this piece of the legacy and that I think made this a natural project for them to begin this type of interaction with the US film industry.”
Q: “Bob, I was wondering, could you talk about some of the hurdles you faced in really carrying this out both on this end and potentially in Cuba? Obviously you were in this house which has been preserved, but you’re again filming in what is obviously an iconic place and landmark for Cuba, as well as getting permission from US authorities. Can you talk a little of that process?”
A: “Yeah, the challenges on the Cuban side were many. The Cuban government really stepped up and I think, like you said, because of Hemingway and that he is such a bridge, a cultural bridge, between our two peoples they were very supportive of the project. They had never allowed a filming crew inside Hemingway’s home so we were the first feature ever allowed in there. Even if you’re a tourist they’ll let you look in the window but they won’t let you go in. It was unprecedented for them to give us that access and they helped us in every other way. The greatest challenges to shooting in Cuba obviously is that the infrastructure for filming isn’t really there. We had to bring a lot of equipment and personnel. I think, oddly enough, the biggest challenge was the Cuban crew and cast who were the most passionate, skilled people I’ve worked with. They’re really good. Cuba has a terrific film school that people from South America go to and then go back to their countries. The skills are there, the passion is there, but their work ethic is just … because of Communism … that is can get done tomorrow. It’s very slow-paced. There’s 90 minutes in an hour.”
“We did it in six weeks,” Yari explained. “A Hollywood film schedule is really grueling. Sometimes it’s 14 hours a day. They just couldn’t keep up. They were having a hard time but they really stepped up. They loved the idea of Hemingway, they loved the idea of Americans being there. I think the embargo has built a lot of distrust with the people but they love Americans. We were embraced with open arms. Ultimately, we watched the crews there step up and make it happen for us. That was the greatest challenge but it was overcome.”
Q: “As Hollywood looks to make more films in Cuba, what resources are available? What is the size of the industry of the people who are working there? Can you describe a little about what the scene is like at this point?
A: “Well, when Hollywood starts paying attention to a location and if we have the government’s blessing to go down there the infrastructure will build very, very quickly. Investment dollars will go in for equipment houses. I think everything will shape up very quickly. One of the interesting things that we saw happen over the few years that we were involved down there was, for example, the food was not that great when I first went down there. Then the government allowed people to start opening and owning restaurants and within 2 years it’s some of the best food in the world. Great restaurants down there. The same with the filmmakers. Believe it or not, the government also allowed some of the filmmakers to keep the fees that they get from foreign production companies like Canadian and European that go down there and shoot commercials. Those people are the hardest working, the best crews you can imagine. Those were our big little pieces of success with the crews. Yeah, I think that will fix itself.”
Ben Rhodes
Q: “I was wondering and Ben maybe you can start, but Bob I would also be interested in your perspective, on one maybe surreal moment that stands out to you in terms of spending time down there. It seems so interesting that the past is so close when you are there, given the architecture, the cars, and things like that, and then also, again, certain things haven’t caught up given the regime. So Ben, I know now you’ve had a little distance from the trip. I know it all went quite quickly but is there anything that stands out, either in your time there or in your doings with them, that kind of gives you the sense of the juxtaposition of the past with the present?”
A: “Well, there are a lot of things. I don’t know how many of them I can talk about. I think what the most surreal moment was finding myself in between Rachel Robinson and President Obama and Derek Jeter while Raul Castro was talking to Malia Obama. You have these moments where you kind of think, ‘How is everything I’ve done in my life led me to be standing right here at this moment?'”
“There’s something about Cuba that just attracts,” he noted. “When we were planning the trip we heard from two of Hemingway’s grandsons. They said they’d be interested, that they have good relationships with the Cuban government, they had done a good program there and we said, ‘Well, come along.’ We reached out to Jackie Robinson’s widow and said, ‘He played on this field. Do you want to come?’ Not to mention, of course, the so many thousands of Cuban-Americans here, almost all of whom we feel like we spoke to in preparation for the trip, but there are all these intersections between different facets of American life in Cuba. You almost couldn’t invent it as fiction. There’s not an iconic aspect of American culture that doesn’t seem to have some tie back to Cuba. The Hemingway piece of that, one of the things I remembered during a visit down there I did, is that they wanted to take me out. ‘If you stay an extra day, we’ll go see Hemingway …’ They’re so proud of this house. I haven’t done that, but I’ll have to go back down and do that. Despite the embargo, despite the mistrust, despite the very intense and sometimes violent and certainly difficult history between us, there’s this kind of basic shared experience that I was referring to that you just keep bumping into the more you interact with Cuba. That was the impression that I took back is just simply that … starting with all the Cubans who are now in the United States and had all of these powerful family ties they’re also just all these other connections that create these circles between the United States and Cuba. As you were saying, the entrepreneurial spirit that you see in these small restaurants and small businesses is just also totally captivating because you walk into what looks like kind of a run-down building and then have one of the best meals of your life. They’re making incredible things out of very little.”
Q: “Bob, do you have a moment that comes to mind for you?”
A: “Wow, there are so many. I think one of the most interesting moments was, and this may be off-topic from what you’re asking but, we had the full cooperation of pretty much the whole Cuban Government. The Coast Guard had given us a coast guard cutter, and the military had given us weapons and we were shooting on water and we had very few days on water and shooting on water is very hard. The weather changes and so we were trying to get the actors to the boat to shoot the film and they have very strict rules about getting on a boat. I guess people get on a boat and they split. We were trying to get on a boat to get to the filming site on the water and the customs decided, ‘No, the actors are not getting on the boat.’ It took half a day to get the parts of the government to talk to each other until we got those people on the boat.”
Q: “I wanted to ask Ben that after Obama’s trip Castro, of course Fidel Castro, was critical saying, ‘We don’t need the empire to give us anything.’ I’m wondering how do you think these policies can go forward given some of the mixed messages that we’re getting?”
A: “No, I think that’s entirely what you would expect. If Fidel Castro was welcoming everything we did on our visit I think that would be more of a surprise. Look, this is not a government with whom we share a political system or a conception of human rights. That was a core point of what the President said and did down there. I will say this, President Obama was talking about the future. He acknowledged the difficult past but it’s always, in my experience, better to be talking about the future if you are a leader. The Cuban people are young. They can clearly make something out of very little. They’re entrepreneurial and their expectations for the future are going up.”
“That doesn’t mean that the decision to normalize relations wasn’t a risk for both countries,” he acknowledged. “It was risky for the government of Cuba, and Raul Castro’s the President who initiated that, not Fidel. But we’re kind of now going down this journey and we’re going to have serious differences as governments but again our belief is that if we can open up space for people to interact and businesses to interact and academic institutions to interact and cultural institutions to interact that is the space that is going to be empowering to the Cuban people. It’s going to improve their lives. The reason that they can open these restaurants is often because they’re getting remittances from The United States. It’s going to get them greater access to information, greater access to the outside world. I’m sure they’ve learned something just in this one movie filming there. They’re going to do something with that. They’re already doing things with that in terms of these businesses they’re starting, these conversations that they’re having.”
“So really, we’re trying to get out of the way,” Rhodes stressed. “The embargo has been preventing that type of interaction and we said we’re not going to force the Cuban Government to change through what we say and do. What we are going to do is open up the space so that the Cuban Government, the Cuban people, are going to be in a better position to make their own decisions. We don’t see this as a debate we have to win with the Cuban Government. This is about letting the connections between people lead to the place where the Cuban people want to take it.”
“If you don’t mind, I just wanted to make a comment about what Ben said,” interjected Yari, “which is we actually saw that – just that little bit of artistic interaction. We saw how things can change. I just wanted to thank Ben, The President, and this administration for everything they’re doing which will bring about a happier, healthier Cuban population and do a lot for our country as well, I believe.”
Myra MacPherson Photo credit: Janet Donovan
Former Washington Post Style writer and author Myra MacPherson relayed to us her own experience in Cuba which we excerpted here from a 1994 updated piece The Long And Violent Road To Miami-Havana Detente: “Havana: That famous face is a foot away. At 67, the “old man” of a distant revolution stands tall and tanned. The image is intact – khaki green uniform, white star on each epaulet, long beard. Thick salt-and-pepper hair is brushed back from a forehead dotted with several moles. An aide presses into his hand an iced, pale martini with olive. Fidel Castro is talking too much to drink it.This was in April 1994–21 years ago–and Castro was 67. Now he is either a stooped 88 year old with a pale drawn face, white hair and beard, or–as constantly rumored– dead. Alleged recent pictures are examined for signs of touched up fakes. And now President Obama shakes hands with his younger brother, Raul, who took over in 2008–and a new page in the defiant, turbulent, long history of Cuban-American relations appears ready to unfold. With it will probably go the tough Embargo that rocked the island but injured the United States image as well by embargoing food and medicine. At this point, the rocky half-century path–fueled by the “domestic” politics of United States Florida presidential campaigns and the violence of anti-Castro hardliners –bears remembering.” MacPherson was also married to the late former Florida State Senator Jack Gordon.
The Trailer:
