{"id":563449,"date":"2021-06-14T14:21:56","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T18:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=563449"},"modified":"2021-06-14T14:21:59","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T18:21:59","slug":"hollywood-film-director-cant-forget-familys-escape-from-castros-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hollywood-film-director-cant-forget-familys-escape-from-castros-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood Film Director Can\u2019t Forget Family\u2019s Escape from Castro\u2019s Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhollywood-film-director-cant-forget-familys-escape-from-castros-cuba%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=563449&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-600651678.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>Director Julio Quintana knew he had a true story on his hands with \u201cBlue Miracle,\u201d but he took pains to make sure it wasn\u2019t too true for comfort.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf I had written this as a fictional story everyone would roll their eyes,\u201d Quintana says of the debt-ridden orphanage rescued by a fisherman (Dennis Quaid) and some never-say-die Mexican lads. Even with a fact-based story from which to draw, the director still excised a few details that, while accurate, could make even true believers wonder about Hollywood excess.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The real head of the Casa Hogar orphanage, played by \u201cMayans M.C.\u201d star Jimmy Gonzales, actually dreamed of his heroic moment just like it played out in both real life and on screen. That nugget got left behind, says Quintana, who co-wrote the film with veteran scribe Chris Dowling (\u201cRun the Race,\u201d \u201cThe Man From Nowhere\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cTrue life seems to have some crazier things in it than fiction,\u201d says Quintana, a filmmaker who studied under legendary director Terrence Malick earlier in his career.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The true story behind \u201cBlue Miracle\u201d defied every odd it could find. The orphanage couldn\u2019t afford entry into Bisbee\u2019s Black &#038; Blue fishing tournament if not for an anonymous donor who ponied up for contestants who used local boats. The team\u2019s improbable win made it the first time a Mexican squad came up victorious in the long-running tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And, of course, the orphanage in question couldn\u2019t survive much longer due to its staggering debt, a crisis made worse by a massive storm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBlue Miracle\u201d may be a sports story on the surface, but the fishing perspective let Quintana steer clear of the genre\u2019s cliches \u2013 like the inescapable training montage \u2013 while tackling meatier themes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt gave us the opportunity to explore the flip side of hopelessness \u2026 hope and optimism,\u201d he says. Quintana\u2019s personal back story offered plenty of both.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The director\u2019s family fled Cuba during the Castro revolution, a part of his legacy he cannot forget.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cMy family was very much influenced by their experience in Cuba and the system they ran away from there,\u201d Quintana says of the Communist government. In fact, his grandfather vowed never to return to his homeland while Fidel Castro remained alive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sadly, his grandfather passed the same year the Cuban dictator did, so \u201che never got the chance\u201d to go back home, the director says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Still, those family stories flavored his upbringing, and they\u2019re never too far from his thoughts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cCuba and that history have been a formative influence in my life,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBlue Miracle\u2019s\u201d title alone suggests it falls squarely in the faith-based movie genre, but looks can be deceiving. Both \u201cBlue Miracle\u201d and Quintana\u2019s directorial debut, 2016\u2019s \u201cThe Vessel,\u201d with Martin Sheen, deal directly with faith, but each avoids some genre tropes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The latter film follows a village shattered by a tidal wave which struck the town, killing 46 school-aged children in its wake. Quintana would rather tell a story than send a message. Films focusing on the latter, he says, lack the nuance great narratives demand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe filmmaker goes into it with a certain set of ideas that they want to come across,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a trap.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As a storyteller he\u2019s not interested in telling people what to think. He\u2019d rather explore challenging issues from multiple sides, allowing audiences to \u201ctake whatever they want from it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He got some help on the \u201cBlue Miracle\u201d set from its youthful cast, including Anthony Gonzalez, Nathan Arenas and Miguel Angel Garcia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThey inject an energy, an enthusiasm and innocence into every scene they\u2019re in,\u201d the director says of the young actors, who were quick studies in memorizing their lines. \u201cThey\u2019re joking around between takes \u2026 it\u2019s easy to take your job so seriously. It\u2019s so hard to get these movies made and have fun [at the same time].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Quintana\u2019s \u201cThe Vessel\u201d graced a fair share of movie theaters during its 2016 release, while \u201cBlue Miracle\u201d went straight to Netflix like many movies do these days.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The film boasts eye-popping colors and wonderful vistas, but Quintana takes a pragmatic approach to bypassing theaters. More people will see \u201cBlue Miracle\u201d than \u201cThe Vessel,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cPeople who don\u2019t have time to get to the theater now can watch it and talk about it with their family,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBlue Miracle\u201d co-writer Dowling says handing a script off to a collaborator can be \u201cterrifying,\u201d but his partnership with Quintana blazed a different path.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cJulio knew exactly what he wanted and how to pull it off \u2026 the look, characters even the color palette,\u201d Dowling says. \u201cHe really took it off the page and brought it together in a very elevated way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><i>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>member<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Director Julio Quintana knew he had a true story on his hands with \u201cBlue Miracle,\u201d but he took pains to make sure it wasn\u2019t too true for comfort.\u201cIf I had &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2280232,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-600651678.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Hollywood Film Director Can\u2019t Forget Family\u2019s Escape from Castro\u2019s Cuba","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-563449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-600651678.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Hollywood Film Director Can\u2019t Forget Family\u2019s Escape from Castro\u2019s Cuba","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2280232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}