An Interview with Jean-Michel Hugon, Art Director On the Set of Evita in Budapest

Q: Jean-Michel, just tell me about what this scene is for, and what you've had to do to make it look like the end of winter in Buenos Aires. JEAN-MICHEL HUGON: This is a funeral scene which was taking place in June in Argentina, which is winter. It's not a problem not to have leaves on the trees, and we're just try to add a little more life and make the street look a little more Argentinean by adding some palm trees, a lot of flags, and covering all the shops which aren't in that period. Q: Is it a problem for you to match the scenes in Argentina and the ones filmed in Budapest? JEAN-MICHEL HUGON: It's not going to be too much of a problem for us. It's more a problem for the lighting people because obviously the sky is not the same and neither is the sunlight. We didn't have too much sun (in Argentina), so we hope it's going to match. Q: What do you think the main problems are going to be tomorrow with the filming of this scene? JEAN-MICHEL HUGON: It's a huge crowd -- 4,500 people -- so it's going to be quite tough to move everybody around. That's the main problem. Q: Do you think that you're going to see a little bit of Budapest somewhere if you look very carefully at this film? JEAN-MICHEL HUGON: No. No. No. I don't think so. No. You will have the feeling you are in Argentina, because the architecture is pretty much the same as the period our story covers. We have chosen some locations which have the same kind of architecture, so it shouldn't be a problem.