Pedro Almodovar to Direct First Full-Length English-Language Feature “A Manual for Cleaning Women”

Posted on January 7, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Pedro Almodovar is switching tongues, and he’s recruiting an Oscar-winning actress to help…

The 72-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning film director, screenwriter and producer is preparing to direct his first full-length English-language feature A Manual for Cleaning Women, with Cate Blanchett set to produce and star in the film.

Still in the early stages of development, the film is based on Lucia Berlin’s 43-part collection of short stories, examining the lives of women working a wide variety of demanding jobs.

Blanchett, Andrew Upton and Coco Francini will produce for Dirty Films, with Almodóvar for El Deseo, and Brian Oliver and Bradley Fischer for New Republic Pictures.

The film is Almodóvar’s follow-up to Parallel Mothers, the Sony Pictures Classic drama starring Penélope Cruz about two mothers who give birth the same day, and the English-language short The Human Voice starring Tilda Swinton, which was shortlisted by the Film Academy last year.

Almodovar has won two Academy Awards: He picked up the Best Foreign Language Film award for All About My Mother and the Best Original Screenplay award for Talk To Her.

Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Rights to Penelope Cruz-Starrer “Madres Paralelas” from Pedro Almodovar

Posted on April 25, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Penelope Cruz’s latest film is going global…

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in North America, Australia and New Zealand to Parallel Mothers (Madres Paralelas), starring the 46-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actress.

It’s the 13th collaboration between the distributor and director/producer Pedro Almodóvar’s production company El Deseo.

Production began in Madrid last month on the film, which reunites the Spanish filmmaker with longtime collaborators Cruz, Julieta Serrano and Rossy de Palma.

Parallel Mothers is a drama that centers on three mothers, portrayed by Cruz, Aitana Sánchez Gijón and Milena Smit.

The film expands Almodóvar’s previous depictions of womanhood by turning his focus on imperfect mothers, in a departure from his prior work exploring mothers and motherhood.

Written by Almodóvar, the film also stars Israel Elejalde.

The film is produced by Agustín Almodóvar and Esther García through El Deseo.

Sony Pictures Classics recently released Almodóvar’s short film The Human Voice, starring Tilda Swinton, in theaters alongside a digitally restored re-issue of Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. It will be available to stream on HBO Max starting on April 30.

Almodóvar won two Oscars for best foreign language film for All About My Mother and original screenplay for his 2002 title Talk to Her (Hable con Ella).

Cruz has starred in several of Almodovar’s films, including All About My Mother, I’m So Excited!, Volver, Broken Embraces, and Pain and Glory.

Hulu to Feature del Castillo’s “La Reina del Sur” & Other Telemundo & Sony TV Projects

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Kate del Castillo will soon be the reina of Hulu…

Hulu has beefed up its Spanish-language offerings with deals that secure programming from Sony Pictures Television and co-owner Comcast’s Telemundo, including the 44-year-old Mexican actress’ popular telenovela La Reina del Sur.

The company didn’t disclose financial terms, but says both pacts are “multi-year.”

The first time agreement with Telemundo will give Hulu five series from its library. They include past episodes of La Reina del Sur, Celia, and Bajo El Mismo Cielo, which are available now. On April 15 Hulu will add the complete catalogs of Tierra de Reyes and La Patrona.

Meanwhile, Sony has provided telenovelas and teleseries including Lady, La Vendendora de Rosas, Doña Barbara, comedy series Los Beltran, and crime dramas El Mariachi, Metastasis and En la Boca del Lobo.

Films in the agreement include El Mariachi and The Secret in Their Eyes. Hulu also will have nine films from director Pedro Almodóvar, including The Skin I Live In, Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother, Bad Education, Broken Embraces, Talk to Her and Law of Desire.

Hulu’s deepening its video on demand online library as it prepares to introduce a live streaming service.

Anaya Starring in Matias Bize’s Drama “La memoria del agua”

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

She may be one of Pedro Almodovar’s muses, but Elena Anaya is earning raves for her work with another Latino director.

The 40-year-old Spanish actress is starring in La memoria del agua, the latest film by Chilean director Matias Bize.

Anaya describes the film as “a dark and profound – but also marvelous – journey” addressing the experience of life and love.

Known for her work with Almodovar, Anaya praised Bize and talked about the details of filming the project, which will begin showing this week in Chile.

Anaya has acted in films like Lucia y el sexo, Van Helsing and Dead Fish, but she’s best known for starring in two of Almodovar’s most highly acclaimed works: Talk to Her and The Skin I Live In.

But Anaya is now showing off her dramatic talent opposite Chilean actor Benjamin Vicuña in La memoria del agua, the latest work by the director of The Life of Fish, which won the Goya and Buñuel awards.

Anaya plays Amanda, a young woman who, after her son’s death, experiences an emotional crisis that distances her from her partner, Javier (Vicuña).

After contacting her to propose the project, Bize traveled to Madrid to discuss the details of the story and the characters with her.

“We spent several days speaking about our experiences in life regarding the issues that we would later deal with in the film,” Anaya said. “We spoke about the script, the characters, what Matias wanted to say … Later, Benjamin joined the project and made an impression on us with his generosity in sharing his experiences.”

Vicuña’s 6-year-old daughter Blanca died in 2012 from a brain hemorrhage.

The actress also emphasized the respect that prevailed among the director, actors and crew.

Anaya said that “each viewer will feel something different” upon watching the film, “but … they will find a careful, meticulous, subtle work and perhaps will manage to make the trip along with the characters, the dark and profound – but also marvelous – journey.”

Almodóvar to Receive the WGA West’s Jean Renoir Award

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Pedro Almodóvar is the write man on top…

The 65-year-old Spanish filmmaker, who earned France’s Prix Lumiere in October for his lifetime of filmmaking achievements, will be feted as this year’s recipient of the Writers Guild of America West’s Jean Renoir Award, which celebrates an international writer who has advanced the literature of motion pictures and made outstanding contributions to the profession of screenwriting.

Almodóvar has written, directed, and produced more than 20 feature films over the last three decades and won the Original Screenplay Academy Award for 2002’s Talk To Her, for which he also received an Oscar nod for best director.

His other films include Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, Volver, Bad Education, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, High Heels, Kika, The Flower Of My Secret, Live Flesh and All About My Mother.

His most recent film was the 2013 comedy I’m So Excited, and he’s currently prepping his next film, Silencio.

“Almodóvar – the first name is almost unnecessary – is a genius, is a flower, is a guiding light: the last, best son of Buñuel and so much more than that,” said WGA West VP Howard Rodman in announcing the honor. “His screenplays, which he directs with passion and fine care, have taught us about the exteriors of his native land and the interiors of our own hearts.”

Almo will receive his special prize at the WGAW’s Awards ceremony on February 14.

Almodovar’s Next Project “Silencio” is “A Return to the Cinema of Women”

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Pedro Almodovar is ready for a little silencio…

The 65-year-old Spanish filmmaker, who earned France’s Prix Lumiere in October for his lifetime of filmmaking achievements, has told Financial Times that his next project will be a film called Silencio.

“It’s a return to the cinema of women,” he said of the film, “of great female protagonists, and it’s a hard-hitting drama, which excites me.”

Almodovar, whose last film was 2013’s I’m So Excited, revealed that the Silencio script has been completed, with the film set to begin shooting in April.

He said that the film is currently casting but that the parts don’t quite fit for the actors with whom he typically works.

“It’s called Silencio because that’s the principal element that drives the worst things that happen to the main female protagonist,” he continued.

Almodovar won the best foreign-language film Oscar for 1999’s All About My Mother and the original screenplay Oscar for 2002’s Talk to Her.

Almodovar Receives France’s Prix Lumiere for His Lifetime Filmmaking Achievements

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Pedro Almodóvar is beloved in France… And he has the prize to prove it!

The 65-year-old Spanish filmmaker has received the country’s Prix Lumiere for his lifetime filmmaking career.

Almodóvar was overcome by emotion during the tribute ceremony over the weekend, which was attended by members of the French film industry, as well as some of the actresses closest to him like Marisa Paredes, Rossy de Palma and Elena Anaya.

The ceremony ended with the 3,000 attendees packed into the Lyon Congress Center showing their devotion to the director, and at one point singing and dancing to “Resistire” by the Duo Dinamico.

Almodóvar closed the night’s moving festivities, which went on for more than two and a half hours, with a speech that, he said, he had prepared as if it were for a Nobel Prize and which he dedicated entirely to his mother.

Almodóvar, known for such films as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother and Talk to Her, said that his use of “explosive and saturated” colors is his act of revenge for the more than 30 years his mother spent in the “imposed” black of mourning.

Among the film icons who came to honor him were Isabella Rossellini, Paolo Sorrentino, Berenice Bejo and Keanu Reeves.

French actress Juliette Binoche presented him with the prize while shouting “Merci!” which recalled Penelope Cruz’s famous cry of “Peeeedro!” when she announced that the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film went to All About My Mother in 2000.

The prize offered by the Lumiere Institute has paid tribute every year since 2009 to an international film personality. Previous recipients include Clint Eastwood, Milos Forman, Gerard Depardieu, Ken Loach and Quentin Tarantino.

The next day, on Saturday, Almodovar announced that he has begun pre-production for his next film and that on Monday he will begin finding locations for the shoot, but specified it will take place “in various points around Spain’s geography, as well as in Madrid.”

“About the rest, the actors and other details, we’ll have time to talk about that in the coming months,” Almodovar said, after confessing that his visit to the Lumiere Festival has been a “delightful pause” in his new moviemaking project.

Cruz Among Spanish Entertainment Industry Representatives Denouncing Israel’s Incursion into Gaza

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Penelope Cruz is denouncing Israel’s incursion into Gaza.

The 40-year-old Oscar-winning actress is among dozens of Spanish film stars, directors, musicians and writers, including her husband Javier Bardem and director Pedro Almodovar who’ve published an open letter published on Tuesday, in which they described Israel’s actions as “genocide.”

The entertainment industry representatives also called on the European Union to “condemn the bombing by land, sea and air against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip.”

In the letter, they demanded a ceasefire by the Israeli military and urged Israel to “lift the blockade, which the Gaza Strip has suffered for more than a decade.”

The letter also said: “Gaza is living through horror these days, besieged and attacked by land, sea and air. Palestinians’ homes are being destroyed, they are being denied water, electricity [and] free movement to their hospitals, schools and fields while the international community does nothing.”

Others who signed the letter include directors Montxo Armendariz and Benito Zambrano, actors Lola Herrera, Eduardo Noriega and Rosa Maria Sarda, as well as musicians Amaral and Nacho Campillo.

The entertainers blamed the new round of violence in the Middle East on the occupation of Palestinian land by Israel, which, the letter said, “continues to advance into and invade the Palestinian territories instead of returning to the 1967 borders.”  Almost 1,100 Palestinians and 56 Israelis have died since the Israeli military began its bombardments of Gaza three weeks ago, according to latest reports.  Bardem, who won the Oscar for supporting actor in 2008 for his role in No Country for Old Men, is a known political activist who frequently expounds on controversial issues.

Cruz won an Oscar in the best supporting actress category in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona in 2009.

The couple is good friends with Almodovar who has won two Oscars – one for best foreign language film for All About My Mother(2000) and one for best original screenplay for Talk To Her (2002).

Almodóvar to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at the European Film Awards

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Pedro Almodóvar is being honored for his film achievements…

The European Film Academy will honor the 63-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning filmmaker with its lifetime achievement award, the European Achievement in World Cinema prize, at the European Film Awards in Berlin this December.

Almodóvar has been among the most acclaimed, and successful, European directors since his 1988 melodrama Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown won the best young film honor at the inaugural European Film Awards and went on to arthouse success worldwide.

He has won five more European Film honors, as well as five BAFTAs, four French Cesar awards and two Oscars.

Almodóvar’s Oscar wins came in the best foreign language film category for All About My Mother (1999) and in the best screenplay category for Talk to Her (2002).

“I am very thankful for this award. From its creation, the European Film Academy has been very generous with me and my closest collaborators,” Almodóvar said in a statement. “I share with them the joy of this award.”

Almodóvar will be honored at the 26th European Film Awards in Berlin on December 7.

Grandinetti Nominated for International Emmy Award…

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Darío Grandinetti may soon pick up his first-ever Emmy award…

The 53-year-old Argentine actor has received an International Emmy nomination for his acting work on the Argentine series Televisión x la Inclusión, which is produced by ON TV Llorente and Villarruel Contenidos.

Grandinetti, who starred in Pedro Almodóvar’s Academy Award-winning film Talk to Her, has been nominated in the Best Performance by an Actor category for playing a nationalistic taxi driver in the chapter entitled “Suelo argentino.”

He’s up against Singapore’s Arthur Acuña, the United Kingdom’s Jason Isaacs, Norway’s Stein Winge and China’s Zhu Yawen for the International Emmy.

Meanwhile, Grandinetti’s Televisión x la Inclusión co-star Cristina Banegas has received a nod in the Best Performance by an Actress category.

The 66-year-old Argentine actress is being recognized for her work as the mother of a child with Down Syndrome in the chapter entitled “Sin cobertura.”

Winners will be announced at the 40th International Emmy Awards Gala, on November 19, in New York City.

Here’s a look at all the Latin American nominees:

Arts Programming

All My Life – Cartola
TV Globo / Rede Globo
Brazil

Best Performance by an Actor

Darío Grandinetti in Televisión por la Inclusión
ON TV Contenidos
Argentina

Best Performance by an Actress

Cristina Banegas in Televisión x la Inclusión
ON TV Contenidos
Argentina

Comedy

The Invisible Woman
TV Globo / Rede Globo
Brazil

Documentary

Hitler’s Escape
Anima Films / The History Channel Latin America
Argentina

Drama Series

The Social Leader
Artear / Pol-ka
Argentina

Non-Scripted Entertainment

El Hormiguero
7yaccion / Antena 3
Spain

Planeta Extremo
TV Globo
Brazil

Telenovela

The Illusionist
TV Globo / Rede Globo
Brazil

TV Movie/Mini-Series

The Good Men
TV Globo / Rede Globo / Casa de Cinema de POA
Brazil

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

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