Paul Soriano’s 1st Hollywood film ‘Diamond’ gets standing ovation in Cannes

After a seven- to nine-minute standing ovation at the world premiere of Andy Garcia’s passion project, “Diamond,” at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, Filipino filmmaker-producer Paul Soriano proudly stood by Garcia’s side.

The indefatigable producer, who was also behind Lav Diaz’s Philippine Oscar entry “Magellan,” is one of the lead producers of Garcia’s long-time 15-year-old passion project.

Soriano became the first Filipino to ever co-lead produce a major Hollywood film that had its world premiere out of competition in a major festival. He co-produced with Garcia, Frank Mancuso, Jr. and Jai Stefan.

 

 

 

 

 

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At a press conference at the Palace of Festivals and Conferences, Soriano beamed with pride as he faced the international press alongside Garcia, DeWitt, Huston and Stefan.

From left: Andy García, Rosemarie DeWitt, Danny Huston, Jai Stefan and Paul Soriano | Photo from Cannes Film Festival YouTube

Andy Garcia (writer, director, producer)

Where does the idea for the movie come from?

My daughter Daniela, who was in the movie and plays a hotel clerk at the beginning of the movie, was a senior in high school and asked for my help with her English homework about writing a little short story about a noir.

So, I asked her to bring out her computer, and I wrote some scenes with Sharon Cobbs, Vicki’s character. She turned the paper in, and we got a B.

Based on my love of the genre, and seeing all these films growing up, and reading Chandler, I said, who is this person? A period detective, traditional, a Chandler-esque detective. But what if he is living in Los Angeles today, but he is not of today? There is something there, and the curiosity continued to captivate me.

I started to pitch the idea to HBO about doing a series, and they all said, Oh, that’s very interesting, but it wasn’t written, and so I just challenged myself, and I started writing, and then I had 60 pages, like a pilot for television, and nobody bought it.

I said, well, okay, let me challenge myself and continue to explore this as a film, and then maybe down the line, if we make the movie, or if they see the longer version, they might buy it.

Fifteen years went by of trying to sell it, but also, more importantly, I continued to be haunted by the story. Then I had a thought about what would be the kind of loss, a traumatic situation that shook this guy.

Then I wrote a little voiceover, the narrative voiceover, the inner monologue that’s traditional, and the genre says the only thing worse than crying yourself to sleep is crying in your sleep.

I thought that was the essence of the film, so I just continued with these dreams for 15 years, shaping the story and creating something.

So I was never able to sell it in a traditional way, to a studio, or to a streamer, or to anyone, or pre-sales, nothing, until members of BCP (Black Cap Pictures), Paul Soriano and his group, and our producers, Jay and Frank, and we pulled together a film independently and independently financed it completely. Then we sent it to Thierry Fremaux (artistic director of Cannes) online, and I said, “Here’s my movie. I hope you like it.”

And they called back and said, “We love your movie. We’d like you to be here with us and come.” And here we are in Cannes.

So, I said it last night, but I’ll say it again. For young kids, life is just a series of obstacles to get where you want to go. And you just keep climbing and falling over the obstacles, getting closer. But no obstacle can be overcome by a dream. You can’t give up the dream. Because one thing will happen. When you give up on your dream, it will never happen. That’s the only certainty. You might not achieve it, but the struggle is worthwhile.

Paul Soriano (producer)

How did you manage to produce this?

It’s just a blessing to be here. Andy, I can’t thank you enough for the opportunity and for working with this wonderful cast. But Andy’s vision was clear from the moment I got the script from one of my business partners, Simon.

I was all the way in the Philippines. And at first, I get this call from Simon, and he goes, “You know, I got a script from Andy Garcia.” I was like, wow, really? You know, it’s like, “The Godfather.” And I was, it’s like Terry Benedict. Really? I said.

I love reading scripts. It’s just what I love to do. So, I read it, and I read it again, which is quite rare. I couldn’t put it down, and these words were very visual to me. I fell in love with the story.

Long story short, I think it was over a golf game at Lakeside (California). At least from my perspective, I fell in love with the story, but I also fell in love with Andy. I think his passion and doing what he does best for decades, and for him to listen to this young filmmaker from the Philippines, I thought was just so humbling, and it just inspired me to work even harder.

If someone of his caliber is talking to someone like me, I gotta step it up, and so this is one of the greatest cinematic experiences of my life, and I’m just gonna be forever thankful to the “Diamond” team with Andy as the captain of the ship.

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