Nicolás López
López in 2015
Born (1983-03-16) 16 March 1983
Santiago, Chile
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter, producer
Years active1996–2022
Websitesobras.com

Nicolás Javier López Fernández (born 16 March 1983) is a Chilean film director, screenwriter and producer. He is known for comedies such as Promedio Rojo (2004), the Qué pena trilogy (2010–2012), and the Paz Bascuñán vehicles Sin filtro (2016) and No estoy loca (2018). In June 2018, a few months after López begun working on a film project about the MeToo movement, the magazine Sábado of El Mercurio published a report where various actresses made claims of sexual and workplace abuses against him.[1][2] In an ensuing trial, López was in 2022 found guilty of two sexual abuse charges and sentenced to five years and one day in prison, but was modified few days after by the Supreme Court of Chile to a penalty of three years and one day of intensive probation.

Life and work

López became interested in filmmaking at a young age. After reading Robert Rodriguez's Rebel Without a Crew (1995) and watching Kevin Smith's Clerks (1994), he began experimenting with his family's video camera. By the age of 12, he was already writing a column for El Mercurio, one of the most prestigious and conservative right-wing Chilean newspapers. His column, "Memorias de un Pingüino" ("Memories of a Penguin"), ran from 1997 to 1999 and described the life of a student, commonly known as a "penguin" in Chile because of the typical black and white uniform. The comments he made in the column led to him being expelled from school. At the age of 14, after his expulsion, he began a new column called "López" with a more mature style.[3]

At the age of 15, López made his debut at the Valdivia Film Festival[4] with the short film Pajero ("wanker"), which tells the story of a teenager constantly interrupted during masturbation. The next year he filmed Superhéroes, the story of a teenager who tries to convince people that he is a superhero, and in 2000 he filmed Florofilia, a love story between a man and a plant. He became partner and co-founder of sobras.com, a website about cinema, television, books, comics and video games that focused on young audiences. He then founded the first independent film festival in Santiago, the "Sobras Independent Film Festival", as well as Sobras.com Producciones, a film production company. As associate producer, López took charge of the marketing of Jorge Olguín's horror movie Ángel Negro in 2000, and the adult animation Cesante ("unemployed"), which he co-wrote. He also ran the marketing for other Chilean films such as Olguín's Sangre Eterna (2002) and Orlando Lübbert's Taxi para tres (2001). He co-directed many music videos, and won an MTV Latin Music Award in 2002 for "Mujer Robusta" by Sinergia. He co-wrote the 2003 edition of the MTV Latin Music Award and, also in 2003, he directed, co-wrote and acted in an absurd comedy series for the same network, called Piloto MTV, along with Eduardo Bertrán.

At the age of 20, López directed his first feature film, Promedio Rojo (2004), an absurdist romantic comedy about teenage nerds, in which the main character slips in and out of reality, with the 'unreal' scenes animated. He won the special jury prize at the Viña del Mar International Film Festival, and featured in the Mar del Plata International Film Festival and LA Film Fest. Although the film was criticized in his native country, it caught the attention of international directors and other industry personalities including Salma Hayek, Alfonso Cuaron, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro.[5] In 2005, and with a bigger budget, López began working on Santos,[6] a film about a failed comic artist. Released in 2008, the film was poorly received by critics and did not fulfill its financial expectations. In 2010, after the failure of Santos, López wrote and directed his highest-grossing film yet, Qué pena tu vida, spawning two sequels and building a cast of regular actors such as Ariel Levy, Paz Bascuñán, Lorenza Izzo, Andrea Velasco, Ignacia Allamand, Nicolás Martínez, Ramón Llao and Alison Mandel.

In 2012, López partnered with the American director Eli Roth to release Aftershock, a Chilean-American disaster movie loosely inspired by events that took place during the 2010 Chile earthquake. It was López's first English-language film and was produced for his company Sobras, by Roth, Miguel Asensio and Brian Oliver. The movie debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival.[7] Following the box-office underperformance of Aftershock, The Green Inferno (2013) and Knock, Knock (2015), López put his "Chilewood" ambitions with Roth on hold and returned to bawdy comedy, scoring huge hits with Sin filtro (2016), Hazlo como hombre (2017) and No estoy loca (2018).

On 30 June 2018, eight Chilean actresses and models accused López of sexual harassment and workplace bullying.[8] The following day Netflix announced it was putting its deal with Sobras "under review" and López himself posted a video online stating he was resigning from Sobras and that he would defend himself against the allegations: "I don't understand what is happening nor the break in my years-long relationships of trust and affection. If I sometimes have been misunderstood, I apologize. But I'm not a stalker nor an abuser."[9] On 26 April 2022, López was found guilty of two sexual abuse charges,[10] and on 16 May was sentenced to five years and one day in jail,[11][12] but few days later it was modified by the Supreme Court of Chile to a penalty of three years and one day of intensive probation.

López, Roth and Levy

Awards

Sitges – Catalan International Film Festival
  • Nominated, Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver, Official Fantàstic Panorama Selection, Mis peores amigos: Promedio Rojo, El regreso (2013)
  • Nominated, Maria, Best Motion Picture, Aftershock (2012)
Tokyo International Film Festival
  • Nominated, Tokyo Grand Prix, Promedio Rojo (2004)
Viña del Mar International Film Festival
  • Won, Special Jury Award, Promedio Rojo (2004)

Filmography

Film

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
2003 Cesante No Yes Executive
2004 Promedio Rojo Yes Yes Executive
2008 Santos Yes Yes Co-producer Also executive producer
2010 Que Pena Tu Vida Yes Yes No
2011 Que pena tu boda Yes Yes Executive
2012 Aftershock Yes Yes No
Que pena tu familia Yes Yes Executive
2013 Mis peores amigos: Promedio Rojo, el regreso Yes Yes Executive
2014 Fuerzas Especiales No Yes Executive
2015 Knock, Knock No Yes Yes
2016 Sin filtro Yes Yes Executive
2017 Hazlo como hombre Yes Yes Executive
2018 No estoy loca Yes Yes No
2019 Dulce familia Yes Yes No

Producer only

Year Title Role Notes
2000 Ángel Negro Associate producer
2006 80s, El soundtrack de una generación Executive producer Documentary film
2007 Normal con alas Producer
2009 Retorno
2013 The Green Inferno
2014 The Stranger Producer /Executive producer
2015 Te Kuhane o te Tupuna: El espíritu de los ancestros Co-producer Documentary film
Fuerzas Especiales 2: Cabos sueltos Executive producer
2016 Madre Producer
Que pena tu vida Executive producer Mexican remake of his film Que pena tu vida
2017 El habitante
2018 Una mujer sin filtro Mexican remake of his film Sin filtro
Sin Rodeos Spanish remake of his film Sin filtro
Re loca Argentinian remake of his film Sin filtro
Sin pepita en la lengua Panamanian remake of his film Sin filtro
2019 En las buenas, en las malas Mexican remake of his film Que pena tu boda
Recontraloca Peruan remake of his film Sin filtro
2020 Cosa de hombres Chilean remake of his Mexican film Hazlo como hombre
Cambio Tutto! Italian remake of his film Sin filtro
2021 El Mesero Associate producer

Short film

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
1999 Pajero Yes Yes No Also cinematographer and editor
Superheroes Yes Yes Yes
Dédalos Yes No No Documentary short film
2000 Florofilia Yes Yes Yes
2019 Cineminuto Cinemex: Dulce Familia Yes No No Advertisement short

Television

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
2003 MTV Video Music Awards Latinoamérica 2003 No Yes No TV special
2007 Súper Niño Bully Yes Yes No TV Short
2011 El Crack Yes No Executive TV movie;

Co-directed with Guillermo Amoedo

2015 Que pena tú serie Yes Yes Yes TV series
La leyenda de el Carack No No Executive TV movie

Webseries

Year Title Director Producer Notes
2011 El Crack Yes Yes Co-Director with Guillermo Amoedo
2013 Se venden General Director No

Music videos

  • Mujer robusta – Sinergia, with Eduardo Bertrán (2002)
  • Concurso – Sinergia, with Eduardo Bertrán (2002)
  • Chilerobot – Sinergia, with Eduardo Bertrán (2003)
  • Te quiero ver muerta – Tiro Al Aire, with Eduardo Bertrán
  • Traigo el aguante – Santo Barrio, with Eduardo Bertrán (2002)
  • Toma lo que quieras – Claudio Quiñones, with Eduardo Bertrán

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chernin, Andrew; Fluxá, Rodrigo (30 June 2018). "El director sin filtro". El Mercurio. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  2. ↑ Reyes, Veronica (30 June 2018). "Abusos sexuales y manoseos: actrices de TV relatan hostigamientos del director Nicolás López". Radio Bío-Bío. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  3. ↑ "El Mercurio, y que le acarrea la expulsión de su colegio por sus fuertes críticas al sistema educativo. Insiste con una nueva sección, "López", donde muestra una pluma más madura. "Nicolás López- Cinechile Nicolás López datasheet, Cinechile, Enciclopedia del Cine Chileno / Santiago, Chile retrieved on 18 January 2015
  4. ↑ PANIKO interview Archived 1 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine Cristóbal Bley, Paniko.cl retrieved on 26 February 2015
  5. ↑ Young director has Hayek in his corner 2 July 2007 Lorenza Munoz Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times Articles – Copyright 2015 Los Angeles Times retrieved on 19 January 2015
  6. ↑ Santos (2008) IMDB IMDB 1990–2015, retrieved on 19 January 2015
  7. ↑ Movie Review: Fate Is Cruel and So Is Aftershock 2010–2015, New York Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. Vulture – Bilge Ebiri, retrieved on 15 January 2015
  8. ↑ El Mercurio. "Revista Sábado | Página 10 | sábado, 30 de junio de 2018". Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  9. ↑ De La Fuente, Anna Marie (July 2018). "Netflix to Review Nicolas Lopez Deal Amid Harassment Allegations". variety.com. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  10. ↑ "Nicolás López es declarado culpable de abuso sexual consumado y absuelto del delito de violación". CNN Chile (in Spanish). 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  11. ↑ "Cineasta Nicolás López es sentenciado a cumplir 5 años de cárcel por dos delitos de abuso sexual". La Tercera (in Spanish). 16 May 2022. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  12. ↑ "Chilean Filmmaker Nicolás López Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Sexual Abuse". Variety. 16 May 2022.
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