"El Ardor," the latest film by Argentinian director Pablo Fendrik, hits cinemas this Friday, providing audiences with an opportunity to see a Western from a Latin American perspective.

Fendrik is the director of such films as "The Mugger" and "Villa Tranquila" and has written such screenplays as "Blood Appears" and "Possible Lives." The Argentinian spoke with Latin Post ahead of the film's release, revealing his inspirations for the work and the greatest challenges he overcame in making it.

David Salazar: While watching the film, I felt there was a lot of influence from Westerns and the films of Sergio Leone. Were you inspired by those films in making "El Ardor?"

Pablo Fendrik: You are absolutely right. Inspirations included the films by Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood. The epic qualities and stylized violence of those films really inspired me and made we want to explore in a film. It was fun for me as the director to draw inspiration from this genre.

DS: What other inspirations did you have?

PF: When I went to the jungle in 2010, I was looking for some inspiration for a film. I came across this kind of conflict that you find in the film. For me this kind of conflict over land was perfect for the movie. I thought it might be a good idea to tell that story.

DS: At what point did Gael Garcia Bernal and Alice Braga come into play?

PF: Gael was there from the start, and Alice came in later. In some way this film came from us wanting to work together. We knew each other from Cannes, and from the first time we met at a party we got along well and wanted to work together. When I was working on the script, I realized that Gael could work for it. I told him about, and he agreed to get involved. He looked at some early drafts of the script and eventually became the producer.

DS: What were the greatest challenges of filming in a jungle?

PF: I would say that the greatest difficulties were solved by our prep work. I knew that the jungle had a lot of dangerous insects, and it could have been a huge problem for production. But we spent so much time preparing to minimize the possibility of errors that we wound up with a very smooth production. The key was preparation.

There were obviously some issues. It is inevitable regardless of your preparation and resources. The mosquitoes eat you alive. There are a lot of snakes. It was really hot, and it is exhausting to be in a habitat that is not intended for us humans. But to the feeling of victory at the end of the shoot was sweeter for what we accomplished and how.

DS: How many days did you film for in the jungle?

PF: Six weeks, straight through. We only rested on Sundays.

DS: One of the most interesting parts of the film was the final action set piece in which you changed the perspective. Instead of following the protagonists, you wound up keeping us with the perspective of the antagonists. Why did you make this decision?

PF: I wanted some variety. But I also wanted to showcase some of the identity of Latin Americans. To know that in making a Latin American western, there had to be some freshness in the outlook. It could not be the usual western. So while I wanted to give an homage to the genre, I also needed to make it personal. So I wanted to make some revisions to the genre. The native is the good guy here and the people in charge of supposed progress are in fact the villains of the piece. This is a reversal of the classical form of the genre.

And in the final sequence I wanted us to feel how the enemies feel. Just because they are the villains does not mean that they are evil. They are just in a tough situation and have a job to do. They have no other understanding of how to live life.

It is also their final passage in life, and I wanted to follow them in their final moments.

DS: What is next for you?

PF: I have a number of projects, but they are early in their developments. There is really not much I can say about them. I am hoping to shoot a project in a big city with a lot of violence. Then there is another that would be in the mountains and would be apocalyptic.