Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘9 Steps’ With Marisa Crespo

Review Fix chats with Review Fix chats with 9 Steps’ Marisa Crespo to find out what inspired the film and more.

Review Fix: Why is the subject of this film important today?

Marisa Crespo: The film deals with universal themes that almost all viewers identify with, such as the fear of darkness and parent-child relationships. One of the messages we want to transmit is the non-material inheritance, often we are not aware that one leaves a non-material legacy, a series of values that are transmitted from generation to generation, it is very possible that if a father is cruel to his son, he ends up becoming a cruel person. “You reap what you sow”. We also seek to draw attention to the  new generations’ use of technologies and networks, and the obsession with getting some fame through them at any price.

Review Fix: What inspired this film?

Crespo: This film is very autobiographical (laughs). When I was a child I was afraid of the dark. We spent our summers in a big country house in a small village in La Mancha, and I had walk along some dark corridors in the house in the dark of the night to go to the bathroom that  was quite an adventure! On the other hand, my father was always a very demanding man who wanted his children to face the difficulties by their own so that in the future we would be prepared adults. I never woke him up to take me to the bathroom, but surely, if I had, he would have behaved like Saul’s father. 

Now my father is seventy years old and I am sure that if my nephew, his grandson, asked him to accompany him to the bathroom at night, not only would he turn on the light, but he would carry him there in his arms, especially after seeing 9 steps (laughs).

Review Fix: How hard was it to make this film?

Crespo: We had to overcome two challenges: finding a corridor with the characteristics we needed and finding a seven-year-old boy who could act our story. For the corridor we had lot of offers, it is curious how many apartments with long corridors there are in Valencia. Regarding the main character, after several castings, we were beginning to despair because we could not find the Saul of 9 steps. We met Pablo Muñoz in the last session. He was accompanying his brother to the casting. We invited him also to participate in the casting and as soon as we saw him through the camera, Moisés and I looked at each other and at that moment we knew we had found the protagonist. Of course, we had to rehearse and prepare the character, but Pablo made it very easy for us. He’s an extremely intelligent and sensitive kid and working with him was very simple and fluid. 

Review Fix: Tell me about the cast.

Crespo: Regarding the main character, after several castings, we were starting to despair because we couldn’t find the Saul of 9 steps. In the last session was when we met Pablo Muñoz, who was accompanying his brother to the casting. We invited him to also participate in the casting and as soon as we saw him through the camera, Moises and I looked at each other and at that moment we knew we had found the protagonist. Of course, we had to rehearse and prepare the character, but Pablo made it very easy for us. He’s an extremely intelligent and sensitive kid and working with him was very simple and fluid. 

His father plays Jordi Ballester, a professional Valencian actor we already knew. We liked his physique very much, and he also shares features with Pablo, in fact some of his colleagues thought that Pablo was one of their sons.

Review Fix: How was the sensation on the set?

Crespo: The filming of 9 steps was very special and left us so good memories. Despite being shot in one day, we were able to shoot all the shots and we finished on time. We chose to work with a small team and that was a success. Each professional was totally focused on their task and an excellent atmosphere was created. We finished the shoot exhausted, but with a great feeling of euphoria, each and every one of us had given our best and enjoyed it.

Review Fix: How did the audience react to the 9 Steps?

Crespo: The public’s reaction to 9 Steps is excellent and is backed up by the more than 30 public awards it has won to date. 9 steps transmits in a very short time a great amount of emotions, dosed millimetrically in the 7 minutes that the short lasts. The public projections are very gratifying, we love to camouflage ourselves among the spectators and to feel next to them. While they enjoy the short, we enjoy their sensations. It’s a symbiosis. At the end of the screening many tell us that they have felt like when they were children, that this is one of our goals, and we love this.

On the other hand, as we did 9 steps as a sample for a long project, the great acceptance it is having gives us security on the feature film project. Well, that and the large number of people who, after seeing the short film, claim to be “wanting more” and ask us about the long project.

Review Fix: Which films inspired you the most?

Crespo: Consciously, we weren’t inspired by any film. It was very clear to us that we wanted the viewer to feel like a frightened child again, and we were inspired by those feelings. A couple of critics have told us that they think it’s a “very Kubrick” film, which has made us feel very proud of our film, because we consider him to be a genius and we both admire him deeply.

Review Fix: What have you learned from yourself throughout this process?

Crespo: I have reinforced the idea that if you work hard and believe in what you do, you can achieve your goals. When we shot 9 steps we were aware that it was a simple short film in terms of production and concept, but when we saw the team fully committed, leaving all their energy in the project, and when we attended the first screening and felt the enthusiasm of the audience, we realised what we were dealing with. I have always believed in teamwork, and with 9 steps I ratify my dogma.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Crespo: We have several feature film projects at various stages of development. One of them is 9 steps, in fact, we shot the short as a sample for this feature film project. I hope this will be next.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Crespo: We conceived 9 steps as a story for adults, but, surprisingly, there are many children’s festivals that are programming it. Kids love it. Recently a psychologist contacted us because she thinks it’s a very interesting story to use as therapy with children to deal with the fear of darkness. 9 steps never stops surprising us. 

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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