Pedro Almodovar

Started by bonanzataz, January 11, 2003, 02:53:27 PM

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MacGuffin

Almodovar eyes 'Piel' as next pic
Cruz likely to star
Source: Variety

MADRID — Pedro Almodovar is focusing on vengeance drama "La Piel que habito" as his next film, with the idea of casting Penelope Cruz in a starring role.

A final version of the screenplay has still to be finished. Until that happens and Almodovar feels a gut necessity to move into production, there's no absolute certainty when or if "Piel" will roll, or just how the screenplay will turn out, allowing a lede role for Cruz. But at the European Film Awards in Warsaw this weekend, Almodovar talked enthusiastically about "Piel" as being likely to be his next film.

The movie is a long-mooted Almodovar project, an adaptation of the 1995 novel "Mygale" by Thierry Jonquet, about the hideous revenge a plastic surgeon exacts on men who have raped his young daughter.

The large screen transfer will only retain one scene from the novel.

Almodovar's "Piel" would be a departure for the helmer, bearing little similarity to "Volver" and Almodovar's life, the director told the Spanish press.

The film is "immensely tough and complicated, targeted at select audiences, the kind of film that's discomfiting and doesn't tend to win many awards," Almodovar said.

The project had originally been talked up as teaming Cruz with Antonio Banderas, but the male lede still has to be cast.

Cruz for her part told Variety she would be "absolutely delighted" to play in another Almodovar film.

A decision about whether to move into production, and so cast, could be taken in February or March next year, said Pedro Almodovar's producer, Agustin Almodovar. "First of all we like to confirm the project ready, then we confirm the cast," he said.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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w/o horse



This box is goddamn greater than that whole other forum in my books.  Which haven't been well kept, truly, as I just missed theater showings of Law of Desire and Matador and will soon miss The Exterminating Angel as well.
Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

MacGuffin

Inside Move: Cruz, Almodovar to reteam
Thesp to star in helmer's next pic
Source: Variety

MADRID -- Penelope Cruz is expected to take the femme lead in what will most likely be Pedro Almodovar's next pic, "La Piel que habito."

Almodovar announced the project in early December. At that stage, it was probable that Cruz, Academy-nommed for her lead role in Almodovar's "Volver," would have a part in the film.

Based on Gallic author Thierry Jonquet's 1995 novel "Mygale," long-mooted Almodovar project concerns a plastic surgeon who exacts a hideous revenge on his daughter's rapists.

"The role is far darker" than the feisty heroine Cruz played in "Volver," the helmer's producer brother Agustin Almodovar told Daily Variety, confirming that the screenplay for the Spanish-language "Piel" has been rewritten.

"It's 70%-80% certain to be Pedro's next," said Agustin Almodovar. "But Pedro always works on several ideas at the same time, and he has a second screenplay on the go as well," he added.

With the Almodovars able to kickstart production without awaiting distribution contracts, final greenlight will come from Pedro Almodovar.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Almodovar Joins Thousands in War Protest

Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar joined tens of thousands of people in a march through the Spanish capital on Saturday to protest the war in Iraq and to demand the closure of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Chanting "No to War" and "The People of Madrid with the People of Iraq," the protesters marched along a 2 1/2-mile route from central Cibeles Plaza to Atocha Square. Organizers estimated the crowd at 400,000, but eyewitnesses put the attendance at less 100,000. Police did not give an estimate.

Other rallies were held around Spain, with some 2,000 gathering in Barcelona and 500 taking part in Seville, according to news reports.

Almodovar told the private Europa Press news agency he was protesting "the barbarities they have been committing in Iraq for the past four years."

"We're here for peace and for the closure of Guantanamo because it is a disgrace for civilization," he added.

Spain was the scene of major anti-war protests in the run-up to and during the first months of the war, with demonstrations in Barcelona and Madrid attracting more than 1 million people apiece.

Former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar was one of the strongest supporters of the U.S. invasion Iraq in 2003. His party was voted out of office in March 2004, days after 191 people were killed in bomb attacks claimed by Islamic radicals to avenge the presence of the country's troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The country's new prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, immediately withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq, claiming it was an illegal war.

Elsewhere Saturday, thousands crossed the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to rally near the Pentagon. More than 3,000 people protested the war in two separate demonstrations in Istanbul, Turkey, and 1,000 people marched in Athens, Greece.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Almodovar fixes on new project
Cruz would have starring role
Source: Variety

MADRID — Pedro Almodovar is focusing on a new original screenplay as his possible next film, with a starring role for Penelope Cruz.

The film, if finally made, would also topline Blanca Portillo, who played kind neighbor Agustina in Almodovar's "Volver," and Lluis Homar, who appeared in his "Bad Education."

The long-mooted vengeance tale "La Piel que habito," an adaptation of French novel "Mygale," has been put aside, at least temporarily.

"I need to be completely sure about it," Almodovar said of "Piel," talking to the Spanish press at the premiere of the stage version of "All About My Mother," put on at London's Old Vic theater under the artistic directorship of Kevin Spacey.

"The new story has characters from a universe which is familiar to me and makes me feel more involved," Almodovar is quoted as saying.

He added that the story features five or six key roles and one is earmarked for Cruz.

Also at the presentation — she took a cameo in Almodovar's "All About My Mother" — Cruz confirmed her desire to play the role. "Pedro's call is the one I'm waiting for most." She also had a lede role earmarked for her in "Piel."

Not that there's a 100% certainty that either the new project or "Piel" will be Almodovar's next movie. The Spanish director likes to have several projects on the go simultaneously.

Almodovar is able to kickstart production without awaiting distribution contracts. A final greenlight for a project only comes when he feels a gut necessity to make a film.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

#50
Almodovar embraces 'Abrazos'
Pic to be shot in style of 50s film noir
Source: Variety

MADRID — Pedro Almodovar's next film will be "Los abrazos rotos," a "four-way tale of amour fou, shot in the style of '50s American film noir at its most hard-boiled," in Almodovar's words, and toplining Penelope Cruz, Blanca Portillo and Lluis Homar.

"Abrazos" will go into pre-production in the New Year. Almodovar aims to shoot in spring, capturing the season's light. The film will partly shoot in Madrid.

El Deseo, the Madrid production house owned by Pedro and producer brother Agustin Almodovar, will 100% produce the film. Budget will come in around $15 million.

Echoing traditional financing practices on Almodovar movies, the brothers aim to pre-sell a small clutch of foreign territories to longterm distributors of Almodovar film, said Agustin Almodovar.

Featuring characters who belong to the world of film, "Abrazos" is set in the '90s and current day.

It will mix stylistic references such as Nicholas Ray's "In a Lonely Place" and Vincente Minnelli's "The Bad and the Beautiful" with signature Almodovar themes: "Fate, the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers," Pedro Almodovar told Daily Variety.

Just as "Volver," a contempo drama, featured Cruz with an updated Italian neo-realist look, "Abrazos" will present her in a contemporary version of classic Hollywood heroines.

"Penelope (Cruz) will exchange the era's aprons, cardigans and the hairdos for an up-dated look but one that mixes the transparent turbulence of Gene Tierney and the mistreated, challenging beauty of Linda Darnell in Otto Preminger's 'Fallen Angel,' " Almodovar explained, talking about points of departure for the film.

Almodovar is currently completing the screenplay. "Like some of my other films — 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown' — this film came easily, in one go," Almodovar said.

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Almodovar embraces 'Hugs' as next film
Source: Hollywood Reporter

MADRID -- Spanish director Pedro Almodovar has decided to switch projects and will next shoot the film noir "Broken Hugs," starring Penelope Cruz.

The Oscar-winning director made the announcement Tuesday at the presentation of EMI's "B.S.O. Almodovar," a CD compilation of 29 songs from the director's films.

According to Almodovar, "Broken Hugs" (Los Abrazos Rotos) will feature Cruz, Blanca Portillo and Lluis Homar.

"As for Penelope, I'm going to delve into one of her little-known facets," Almodovar said of the Spanish actress, who was nominated for an Oscar for best actress for her role in his most recent film, "Volver." "This won't be a comedy, but humor will be present."

Almodovar, always reluctant to give details about his films in advance, said he will start preparation on the film in January. The script, which he said is his longest ever, tells of a "crazy love."

Previously, Almodovar had said his next film would be "El Piel Que Habito."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Almodovar, SPC team for 10th time
'Broken Embraces' stars Penelope Cruz
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Sony Pictures Classics, renewing its longtime ties to Pedro Almodovar, has acquired North American rights to the writer-director's latest film, "Broken Embraces," starring Penelope Cruz.

Cruz, who received a best actress Oscar nomination for Almodovar's previous film, "Volver," will play a provincial actress in the movie, which has been shooting in Madrid and the Canary Islands. Working from his own screenplay, Almodovar has described the movie as an amour fou involving four characters (played by Cruz, Blanca Portillo, Lluis Homar and Jose Luis Gomez) in the style of a hard-boiled, '50s American film noir. The cast also includes Rossy de Palma, Kiti Manver, Chus Lampreave, Lola Duenas and Angela Molina, who will play Cruz's mother.

Produced by the director's brother, Augustin Almodovar, "Embraces" is the 10th Almodovar film that SPC has handled. In addition to "Volver," SPC was the domestic distributor for Almodovar's foreign-language Oscar winner "All About My Mother," his best original screenplay Oscar winner "Talk to Her" and foreign-language nominee "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown."

SPC brokered the deal with the Almodovars' production company El Deseo. Universal International Studio, Uni's foreign production arm, is co-financing the film with El Deseo. Uni's Focus is handling worldwide sales outside of Spain, France, the U.K., Benelux and Switzerland.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Pedro Almodovar on 'Verge' of TV series
Filmmaker teaming with Fox TV Studios to adapt 1988 hit
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar is venturing into television with a series adaptation of his first international hit, the Oscar-nominated 1988 feature "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown."

Fox TV Studios is developing the English-language hourlong project and has tapped Mimi Schmir to pen the pilot script. Almodovar and Schmir are exec producing.

The movie, starring Carmen Maura and featuring Antonio Banderas, was inspired by 1950s Hollywood comedies. Featuring Almodovar's trademark rapid-fire dialogue and fast-paced action, it chronicles a two-day period in the life of a voice actress who has been abandoned by her lover and gets in a series of comedic situations while frantically trying to track him down.

FtvS -- which boasts an international management team, including president Emiliano Calemzuk, an Argentine, and senior vp Diego Suarez, a Spaniard -- acquired the rights to "Women" attracted by its pedigree, subject matter and international appeal.

"Pedro Almodovar is unarguably one of the great filmmakers of our time, and this movie overflows with rich, funny, complex characters and relationships -- that isn't a bad place to start," FtvS executive vp David Madden said.

Almodovar will be very involved in "Women," which will be developed with an eye for the international market.

"We know that the Almodovar brand will be meaningful both internationally and domestically," Madden said.

FtvS produces drama series for U.S. cable networks, including "Burn Notice" and "Saving Grace," as well as lower-budget series made with international co-producing partners, including "Mental" and "Persons Unknown."

Schmir, an Almodovar fan, already has mined the arena of women in midlife crisis in a novel she is writing based on her "Hot Flashes" blog.

The "Women" series "will be a suburban drama about a group of women who have known each other for a long time, perhaps from college, who are in the middle of their lives and looking at the second half of their lives," Schmir said.

Like the movie, the series will feature a fair amount of humor. Schmir also is planning to pay homage to the movie by keeping some elements, like the film's ongoing gag of unsuspecting visitors to the actress' apartment being knocked out by sleeping pill-laden gazpacho she had intended for her philandering lover.

Almodovar, who won a writing Oscar for "Talk to Her," will premiere his next movie, "Broken Embraces," next month at the Festival de Cannes.

Schmir, whose series credits include "Grey's Anatomy" and "Shark," is repped by WMA and Mosaic.

The deal for Almodovar's "Women" comes on the heels of FtvS aligning with another well-known international filmmaker, "Internal Affairs" director Andrew Lau, who inked a first-look deal with the studio.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Antonio Banderas in Almodovar's 'Skin'
Pair will work together for the first time since 'Tie Me Up'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

MADRID -- Antonio Banderas will star in Pedro Almodovar's next film, marking one of the most anticipated film reunions in Spanish cinema more than 20 years after the actor starred in "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down."

"La Piel que Habito" (literally translated: "The Skin I Live In") will shoot this summer over 10 weeks in a studio in Spain and other unannounced locations.

"The film will be a terror film, without screams or scares," Almodovar told the Spanish daily El Pais. "It's difficult to define and although it comes close to the terror genre -- something that appeals to me that I've never done -- I won't respect any of its rules. It's the harshest film I've ever written and Banderas' character is brutal."

Almodovar had not planned to announce the project yet, but Banderas jumped the gun in an interview published in the Russian daily "Kommersant," while attending the first St. Petersburg Film Festival.

"Antonio is impatient," Almodovar told El Pais in an exclusive interview. "And I understand it. He had to push back his return to Broadway to do the film and he also had to reject other important projects. And despite the law of silence we had imposed on him, he couldn't keep quiet any longer."

Almodovar was not available for further comment.

While the rest of the cast is yet to be announced, the director confirmed it will not include his muse of recent years, Penelope Cruz.

"As the story has developed, I don't see her in that role," he said in the interview. "But that's not a problem because I'm going to continue seeing her in other roles. I have a lot of stories I want to shoot. Without going any further, I have four scripts in development in my drawer."

"Skin" narrates a plastic surgeon's revenge on the man who raped his daughter.

Almodovar said he had rewritten the script, based on Thierry Jonquet's novel "Tarantula," nine times.

Before launching his career in Hollywood, Spanish actor Banderas starred in some of Almodovar's most emblematic early works like "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," "The Law of Desire," "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down" and "Matador."

"He's exactly the same as when he left," Almodovar told El Pais, referring to his chemistry with Banderas 20 years after finishing their last film together. "From the minute he walked in, it was as if we had just finished "Tie Me Up" the night before."

Almodovar said he could have continued in the vein of "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down," where Banderas played a marginalized young man crazed by his love for a woman, but has chosen to go a different route.

"I could have continued with a puerile guy with an overpowering power of seduction, but this guy (in "Skin") is a real psychopath and Antonio, at 50, is perfect for this exercise is something so different from anything I've done until now."

A spokeswoman for Almodovar's production company El Deseo said she couldn't give any more details, but that the film is in active preproduction.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

SPC scores Almodovar's 'Skin'
Gothic tales stars Antonio Banderas
Source: Variety

Sony Pictures Classics has snagged North American rights to the latest Pedro Almodovar pic, "The Skin that I Inhabit" toplined by Antonio Banderas.

A gothic tale about a father out to avenge the death of his daughter, "Skin" began production in August. Elena Anaya ("Talk to Her") and Marisa Paredes ("The Devil's Backbone") also star in the movie, based on Thierry Jonquet's novel "Mygale."

"Skin," produced by Pedro and Augustin Almodovar's production company El Deseo, will be the tenth Almodovar film released by SPC, following a string of prior films including "Broken Embraces," "Volver" and "Bad Education."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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wilder

Pedro Almodovar To Next Tackle A Biopic Of Italian Singer 'Mina'
Source: The Playlist

As Pedro Almodovar sculptures his latest film "The Skin I Live In" in hopes of finishing a cut in time for its inevitable première at Cannes, word has already surfaced of his follow-up plans.

According to several reports that have been circling for a while, Almodovar's next project will be a biopic titled "Mina" about the life of the Italian singer of the same name. Based on a novel by Paolo Limiti—who worked a lyricist for the singer—the film is set to depict Mina's life as a talented singer who stirred up controversy when she had a child with a married man in turn forcing her to withdraw from the public eye in the late 1970s. Though early discussions of the picture circulated as far back as last May, Screen Daily has announced that the film will indeed be Almodovar's next feature.

Seems pretty straight forward for an Almodovar flick, but as with the rest of his films, expect the seasoned director to have more up his sleeve than one would imagine. Mina is expected to feature Almodavar veteran, Marisa Paredes ("All About My Mother", "Talk to Her", "The Skin I Live In") in the lead as the controversial musician.

His current feature, "The Skin I Live In", is expected to finish post-production in March with a release to follow in September, though, as mentioned above, the film will more than likely make its first splash in France come May. Anticipation is high on this one with Antonio Banderas back once again with the director that helped make him a star.

Stefen

Best poster of 2011. Reminds me of something you would see in an encyclopedia at your grandmas house. Can't wait for this one.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

Pubrick

i have no idea what to expect. almodovar has kinda lost steam recently and i wonder if making the same movie over and over again has finally worn him down.. kinda like hitchcock.

so if this is no good maybe his next film the biopic will be his comeback.
under the paving stones.

MacGuffin

Pedro Almodóvar Says His Next Project Will Likely Be In English
Source: modage wrote this

¡No lo hace, Pedro! Pedro Almodóvar may have just finished up his latest, "The Skin I Live In," but enterprising journalists in Cannes are already digging for details about his follow-up. The Spanish director's fifth film in the last decade has received mixed reviews, with our reviewer calling it "uniquely beautiful and distinctively imperfect," but that hasn't stopped us from being just as excited to check it out for ourselves. Almodóvar is one of world cinema's most distinctive voices, having tackled every genre from comedy to melodrama to horror, usually switching between several of these in the same film. Despite success all around the world, including winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2003 for "Talk To Her," he's hasn't yet been lured to Hollywood. While he isn't signing up for the latest Katherine Heigl rom-com, he has been working on an English language project. Speaking with Indiewire, the director said, "I have a few different projects right now and one of them is in English -for the first time. It's based on a story and it's pretty far along actually, but I don't want to talk about it too much right now because everyone will keep asking me about it." While we'd follow Almodóvar anywhere, we're having a hard time picturing the directors extremely stylized vision working in, say, LA? It's possible that he's describing "Mina," the biopic of the controversial Italian singer we reported on a few months back. AP also reports that he's writing the script in Spanish but has spoken with an American writer about doing the English version. While switching to English has been the kiss of death for many foreign auteurs (remember "My Blueberry Nights"?), we can think of a couple directors who have successfully crossed over. (Ang Lee comes to mind.) Still, it seems like a shaky proposition to us, though we'll surely find out more about the project in the coming months. "The Skin I Live In" opens stateside in November (with a likely North American premiere at the NYFF before that).
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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modage

Quote from: MacGuffin on May 21, 2011, 04:01:33 PM
Source: modage wrote this
Haha, I totally did! Watch for an Aronofsky one coming soon.  :yabbse-grin:
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.