The Mexican master speaks with us about a new book commemorating the thrilling Amores Perros 25-years on—the film that announced him to audiences.
Chris Cotonou: Why was now the right time to release the book?
Alejandro González Iñárritu: 25 years seems like a good time to do it. We never shared anything of the process and it seemed fair to share the dirty laundry with the people that love the film around the world.
CC: Can you tell me the process of gathering materials, storyboards, etc, that you didn’t have on hand?
AGI: When we did this film, we never planned or even dream to someday have a book about it. There were not marketing or branding plans or influencers aligned! So it was to get some boxes stored in Mexico and LA and see what things could be interesting to show. I like this thing are truthful to the process and ordinary images and objects that reflect the time and the attitude we were doing this film. I want the book to be faithful to the spirit of the film and I think Joseph Logan did a great job designing it.
CC: This new book gives us a glimpse of your handwritten notes and scene breakdowns. What was the most difficult narrative thread to structure or emotionally calibrate in Amores Perros, and how did your original notes help you shape it?
AGI: Those notes, in three different colors for each of the stories, were my bible. I learned that from my teacher Judith Weston and since then, I keep doing it. Each one of those cards, even when they look simple, took me several days and many hours each of them in order to be very clear and precise on the objectives and action verb of each scene and actor.
CC: You’ve spoken about how Amores perros was conceived as a triptych of interwoven stories. Looking back 25 years later, how do you think the “collision” format of intersecting narratives changed the language of cinema?
AGI: My father’s favourite film was Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon. Without certainty, I think this is one of the first movies that ever did this so bold and for sure the first one I saw that really impressed me and left a resonance in every filmmaker. Godard went even further in structures along his career with every film he did. In literature, the circular structures have been used for a long time and in Latin American literature this have been a tradition. As I mention in the book, at that time, Short Cuts, Before the Rain, Pulp Fiction and Chungking Express were undeniably a beautiful compass to explore.
CC: Many directors speak about their first film as a kind of exorcism. Was Amores Perros a personal reckoning for you, and if so, what part of yourself did you leave in that film?
AGI: Yes. I left fear, rage, tenderness, and a city I loved and resisted in equal measure. I also left my ignorance and virginity—and I’m grateful for it.
CC: The Mexico City of Amores Perros is raw, brutal, and full of tension – yet also deeply humane. What decisions went into visually capturing that balance of violence and vulnerability?
AGI: I am glad you mention this because when the film came out, many people were disturbed by the violence and step out of the cinemas. When you have experience violence and live in a city like Mexico, Violence its not cool of funny. Especially the dog fights. I personally was never interested in the violence for violence sake.
Amores Perros (2025) by Alejandro G. Iñárritu published by MACK.
