“The nerves will get to the party.”

If it was a normal day Oscar-nominated Spanish director Pablo Berger When I was visiting Los Angeles, I would go into a comic book store like the one where this interview took place and go to the graphic novel section. He would ask about wordless picture books and look for gems for his collection, e.g “Robot Dreams” is guilty of having a presence in Hollywood today.

“I'll look for European comics or American underground comics. I'm not a fan of superhero comics, but I'm a fan of graphic novels,” the director (Bilbao, 1963), who holds Sarah's book in his hands, tells EFE in an interview with Varon, who found it. A decade ago and years later it turned into the most successful and international film of his career.

If it were a normal day for Pablo Berger in Hollywood, it would not be in a rush and on specific schedules, with successive conversations and interviews, but it would not be a few hours away from sitting in the theater surrounded by the most famous actors and directors in the world.

But today is not an ordinary day for Pablo Berger in the Mecca of Cinema, as there are less than two days left until she removes the red carpet of the Dolby Theater and the plastic that covers it to protect it and steps on it for the first time in her two decades. . Professional life.

That's why the nominee for Best Animated Feature for “Robot Dreams,” based on the graphic novel he fell in love with, piles up on the agenda of these days, which his press officer is trying to exploit to combat these events. Heavy traffic in the major city and lack of taxis due to rain. And at Golden Apple Comics, their slogan says “The Comic Book Store to the Stars,” you can't even browse a single book to add to your collection.

“There's Spielberg.”

Despite the craziness of the days, Berger is not stressed. He's just thinking about “enjoying himself,” promoting his film and how much fun he'll have on the red carpet next Sunday, when the 96th Academy Awards are held. “I'll be looking, to see what directors or actors I see in Hollywood, I'll be curious to say, 'There's Steven Spielberg, there's Martin Scorsese, oh, look, there's Emma Stone.'” The people he's most excited to see are legends like “Meryl Streep or Robert D. Nero, those actors who are truly above good and evil.”

The tensions will arrive when the ceremony begins, when “that fanfare that always accompanies all award ceremonies” begins. “Those are the ones that always make me nervous, when 'chan chan chan' starts then I'll be aware of it,” he explains.

There he will begin to think about his speech, even if half of it is already written. “Experiment a little with the gel bottle, but hey, you can change it up until the last minute,” he adds. Although the popular media forecasts – which are often wrong and do not predict his candidacy – do not give him a favorite candidate, Berger feels he can win with the story of the friendship between a dog and a robot in New York. From the nineties.

“There are 5 films nominated and if we do the math there is a 20% chance. There are favorite films and without a doubt the great Miyazaki among them, and Spider-Man for the great success he achieved in this country, but we all know the story “David vs. Goliath and I am going with enthusiasm and imagine that I have won.” “With the prize.”

The “Snow White” director points to his competitors, Hayao Miyazaki's “The Boy and the Heron” and Sony's “Spider-Man: Crossing the Multiverse,” a list completed by Pixar's “Elemental” and “Nimona,” from Netflix. Berger will be accompanied on his big night by his wife and daughter, and several members of the team have also traveled to Los Angeles, such as editor Fernando Franco or producers Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estabi, Sandra Tapia and Jerome Vidal.

“There will be about 30 people from the team with me at the ceremony and we will all imagine that they will say, ‘And the Oscar goes to Robot Dreams,'” he says, mentally envisioning the idea that any Hollywood dream can come true.