Today we sat down with Gabriel Bologna, director of Tango Shalom, the wonderful dance/family/comedy film about a rabbi who’s down on his luck and must win a tango competition in order to save his school. The only problem is that he must dance the tango – the forbidden dance – with a woman who is not his wife, and who he is forbidden to touch.
Darida Rose, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): This film is, according to promotional material, “the first film in history that was a joint collaboration with The Vatican, a Hasidic Synagogue, a Sikh Temple, and a Mosque.” Can you tell us about what this collaboration looked like?
Gabriel Bologna (GB): Who would have thought that all these religions would come together to make, of all things, a comedy?! This film has many firsts: We are the first film to ever shoot at the Synagogue at 770, the capital of the Lubavitch Hasidic Movement, we are the first film to use a Vatican Choir in our soundtrack — their official name is La Cappella Musicale di Circolo di san Pietro. We also worked hand in hand with a mosque and a Sikh temple. I think it is all emblematic of how the world is changing, Pope Francis’ trip to Baghdad, the Abraham Accords, we are all realizing that tolerance and peace is the only direction, and that the future of humankind depends on it.
(UM): What was the inspiration for this story?
(GB): Jos Laniado(main male lead), an observant Jew, while at a Purim Hasidic celebration, was watching Hasidic men who after celebrating with a few drinks started wildly break-dancing, came up with the original idea, “what would happen if a Hasidic Rabbi enters a Tango Competition to save his Hebrew school from bankruptcy but he cannot touch a woman?” He started writing the script, then his brother Claudio Laniado(from the movie Mudbound) joined in. After many drafts, Oscar nominated writer Joseph Bologna, who also plays the priest, joined the team to give it that one two punch of touching and funny. Thus Tango Shalom was born.
(UM):Moshe has several dreams about being in the Sinai desert with Moses, who points to the promised land. But the promised land turns out to be Crown Heights in Brooklyn. Can you speak about the symbolism here? In what sense is Brooklyn the promised land?
(GB):The promised land is different for everyone. For Gandhi it was the emancipation from the British. For Martin Luther King it was freedom for Afro-americans from oppression. In our movie, it is the wish that we all become kind and compassionate to each other. When someone dreams, it is often related to people’s experiences. In this case we have a hasidic Rabbi who has learned the Torah(the first 5 books of Moses) from a very young age, and who did not have many other experiences except studying and teaching the Torah. So if he dreams, it will be most likely something that was associated with his religious studies.
If you have ever been to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, you would think you are in Israel. It is literally filled with throngs of Hasidim shopping at Jewish bakeries and kosher markets, coming in and out of synagogues. If you don’t have enough money to take a trip to Israel, just take the Line 5 Subway from Manhattan to Crown Heights. And when you are there, make sure to pick up some Babka bread, because it is the greatest thing you’ll ever eat in your entire life.
(UM): Jos Laniado, who plays Moshe in the film, is a great dancer. Was he already versed in the tango or did he have to take lessons? And what about Karina Smirnoff, who plays Viviana?
(GB):Jos Laniado, who plays the lead, Rabbi Moshe Yehuda, and Claudio Laniado, who plays his brother, Rahamin, were Jewish child refugees from Egypt who fled with their families , traveled through Europe to Argentina before going to America as a poor family to follow the American dream. It was in Argentina that Jos told me that he got bit by the tango bug. Through their windows Jos would hear Tango playing in the streets every night. After coming to America, Jos fell even deeper into the tango world. Jos, eats, drinks and sleeps Tango. He even met his wife at a Milonga, a weekly Tango social dance. And as far as Karina goes, when she sleeps she dreams of Tango. She has won slews of awards in Tango dancing. She has taken the dance to a whole new level. She is known in the dance community for modernizing it and helping it to go mainstream. We were blessed to get Karina Smirnoff through the help of Lainie Kazan , after Joel Zwick, the Director of My Big Fat Greek Wedding , suggested casting against stereotypes. Usually people who are not in the tango world, imagine tango as done only by Argentinians, but in fact it is done by many people of different races, religions, and backgrounds. This is Karina’s debut acting in a major role. We think that her followers will be very pleased.
(UM):Can you tell us about the other dancers in the competition in the end? Were these all professional dancers? How long did it take to film the competition?
(GB):The big finale dance competition was quite an intricate shoot. Over the course of two days, we shot several world-renowned Tango-dancing couples. Jos and Karina’s big dance number was shot with six cameras. All the dances in the film were choreographed by Jordi Caballero, the lead choreographer for Dancing With The Stars.
(UM):This is a family-friendly film, but it’s also a film that makes use of various stereotypes about different religious groups. I found it delightful. But these days many people take offense at anything that smacks of cultural appropriation, etc. Were you concerned that there might be some controversy?
(GB):Our Muslim Imam, was played by an Iraqi Muslim, we had Sikh that played Sikh, Jews play Jews, even my father, a former alter boy who was reared by the Jesuits, played the Priest. I think we did something groundbreaking in that we chose to show characters with multidimensional sides: a hasidic man who loves and kisses his wife passionately, a Muslim Imam who is tolerant and gets a long with Jews, a priest who is quicker to quote Shakespeare than the bible. A stereotype is when you strip down or strip away complexities. Once you add nuances and depth to a character what you get is a human.
There are several films and TV series that might depict Hasids in the negative light(although we totally respect their view and they have their importance), and they don’t always see the community as a whole and the good things of that community, and their religion. Tango Shalom is probably the first film against stereotypes compared to the characters in films and TV series that were done. We can’t please everyone, but they say vive la difference! Let’s all try to celebrate our common humanity! Let’s open the doors of dialogue! Let’s learn about the “other”!
(UM): There’s a connection between Tango Shalom and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Were you trying to capture a similar vibe with this film?
(GB):Well they are both ethnic comedies. I brought Joel Zwick on to help us develop the film so that it would have that great balance of appealing to both a few and many. Joel and I find it very funny that people are comparing our film to My Big Fat Wedding. There are so many similarities. I think anyone with a big extended family will find much in common with Tango Shalom, and anybody who comes from a small family, after seeing our film, will want to go out and get a bigger one. My Big Fat Greek Wedding was said to be an ethnic film, but it appealed to the masses. It was the highest grossing comedy ever. It had a human being with struggles…..just as Rabbi Moshe Yehuda, who had struggles. People can identify with these characters. We hope that our movie continues its successful award winning festival run, and eventually gets picked up by a major distributor so that the film can be seen around the world!
(UM):What was filming like? Did anything unexpected happen?
(GB):Quite honestly, after so many obstacles in making this movie, we had a couple of mystical experiences which I believe were miraculous. That is the only way I could describe it. We shot five non-consecutive scenes that took place in the rain. It is pretty hard to get a rain machine for the streets of New York, so my plan was to just digitally put in the rains as a visual effect. Would you believe on every one of those non consecutive shoot days it actually rained? My father was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer just before we went into shooting. We had to stop and start principal photography in between his chemo and radiation therapy. Not only did we get such a brilliant performance from my dad, but he lived three and a half years, when he was only given a couple of months to live. I think the fact that he had something to strive for, is what kept him alive. It is funny that I made a movie about family and that my parents ,my wife Zizi Bologna ,music supervisor, one of the music composers and producers, and I were able to experience our greatest memories together as a family, that I owe entirely to working on Tango Shalom.
In addition, we are quite thankful to the Laniado brothers(Jos and Claudio ) for having found the amazing locations.It was I believe another miracle from the Almighty. In the process of talking with the religious leaders, and their congregants that we were actually learning about each other’s religion, our commonality, our differences, in such a way that it was quite unique and mystical. For instance, there was one of the Sikh leaders who said the Sikh are the “Jews of India” and how they went through a time of discrimination. We were welcomed by the Sikh, and they insisted that they feed the whole crew, and did not want any money for it. There were many other miracles in our film. Compassion and kindness are key elements that we all need to nurture and share.
by: Darida Rose
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.