Rio 2016: Final opening ceremony rehearsal a 'disaster', director says

Marc Lancaster

Rio 2016: Final opening ceremony rehearsal a 'disaster', director says image

The director of the opening ceremony for the Rio Olympics is hoping his team perform when it counts.

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Fernando Meirelles said on Friday that an overly casual atmosphere led to a mistake-filled run-through on Wednesday, but he is hoping the performers got it out of their systems.

"We had a very bad rehearsal two days ago, our last rehearsal was a disaster - this might be a good thing, everyone is now very aware," Meirelles said.

"We were very relaxed then we had this rehearsal and everything went wrong, so now everybody is very intense."

Meirelles is best known for directing 'The Constant Gardener' and 'City of God'.

The 60-year-old said he resisted overtures to direct the opening ceremony in his home country for six months before giving in.





 

While obviously a different environment than he is accustomed to working in, some of the process aligned with moviemaking - most notably constant battles over the budget.

"During the last two years I regretted several times and almost quit one or two times because the budget kept going down, down, down," he said.

"We had the show then we had to start from scratch, three times. This show is the fourth one.

"Now it's all good. I am happy, it's done. Let's see what happens."

Marc Lancaster

Marc Lancaster Photo

Marc Lancaster joined The Sporting News in 2022 after working closely with TSN for five years as an editor for the company now known as Stats Perform. He previously worked as an editor at The Washington Times, AOL’s FanHouse.com and the old CNNSportsIllustrated.com, and as a beat writer covering the Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, and University of Georgia football and women’s basketball. A Georgia graduate, he has been a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2013.