Pedro Almodóvar Fans

Una Noche con Antonio Banderas

2008-06-19T21:23:08Z

if you happen to be in Los Angeles in the coming week, there's a tribute to Antonio Banderas being sponsored by the LA Film Fest. Info and ticket link below

Join actor and Festival co-chair Antonio Banderas in a special conversation that will take place in both Spanish and English.
Banderas' career spans stage and screen, from Spain to the United States, and he'll discuss his eclectic body of work.
Event link

Jonathan Ross For 1 Week Only--Pedro!

2008-06-13T12:02:51Z

i had no idea that this even existed! (and if this has been posted before, please let me know!) British TV Interviewer, Jonathan Ross, sat down with Pedro and four other 'hot' directors (the others being David Lynch, Aki Kaurismaki from Finland and Alejandro Jodorowsky who worked primarily in Mexico.) You Tube user PaulKuk,who posted these, states that IMDB only lists Lynch as the subject of Ross' interviews (which was the probably the case when he posted them last year and that seems to have been corrected). This was done about the time ¡Átame! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!) was released in 1990. You can find the other parts after the first one. ¡Disfruten!

part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5

:)

2008-06-04T21:03:31Z

"По рзелульаттам илссеовадний одонго анлигйсого унвиертисета, не иеемт занчнеия, в кокам пряокде рсапожолена бкувы в солве. Галвоне, чотбы преавя и пслоендяя бквуы блыи на мсете. Осатьлыне бкувы мгоут селдовтаь в плоонм бсепордяке, все-рвано ткест чтаитсея без побрелм. Пичрионй эгото ялвятеся то, что мы не чиатем кдаужю бкуву по отдльенотси, а все солво цликеом."

Pedro's Women

2008-04-27T15:52:04Z

I am composing a research study on good old Pedro, and am looking into his representation of women in film (seems kinda popular in this community...sorry!!) I’ve chosen my three favourite films of his; ‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’, ‘All About My Mother’ and ‘Volver’, as I feel these promote a wide range of female roles, and do not just encompass the stereotypical female dichotomy of ‘mother or whore’ as many Hollywood mainstream, or even many other Spanish films do.

As a big fan of Almodovar I have generated many of my own opinions concerning this topic, but what do you guys think? What are your favourite Pedro films? Have you noticed that Pedro embraces femininity and elevates the importance of women, or do you think it’s a negative that he places so much of an emphasis on their emotions, and portrays them as constantly struggling? And what about the transsexual characters – what do you think they stand for?

I’d love to hear any of your opinions as I think this is such a debatable theme in his films, and I’m sure you’ve got some extremely interesting things to say! thank youuuuu :)

All About My Mother icons.

2007-09-29T14:32:41Z

36 icons of my favourite Almodóvar film. Credit policy can be found in the userinfo. To sum up: credit's nice and handy, but I'm not Captain Tightpants about it.

TE AS ER

( This way to my iconjournal... )

Representation Of Women

2007-06-16T10:50:47Z

Hi everyone,

I’m new to this community, so I don’t know if this is allowed, but I need your help.

As part of my A2 Media course I have to put together a research project about Almodovar’s Representation Of Women

Any opinions or insights any of you have would be great.

For example:
Are there any common factors that link the women in his films?
Do you think his sexuality affects his depiction of women?
Anything else you thing would be useful for me.

Thanks

Almodovar joins thousands in war protest

2007-03-18T16:27:41Z

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070318/ap_en_mo/spain_iraq_protest;_ylt=AuZO_5E3T81t1ls2NHb.8WtxFb8C

Iconos

2007-01-25T21:58:02Z

[01 - 02] Hable con ella
[03 - 04] Kika
[05 - 14] La mala educación
[15 - 17] Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios
[18 - 19] Tacones lejanos
[20 - 23] Átame
[24 - 29] Todo sobre mi madre
[29 - 31] Volver

01.  02.  03.
04.  05.  06.
07.  08.  09.
10.  11.  12.
13.  14.  15.
16.  17.  18.
19.  20.  21.
22.  23.  24.
25.  26.  27.
28.  29.  30.
31.

* Credit is love {doctorenalaska}
* Don't hotlink

esO!!!! LO QUE ADORO!

2007-01-16T23:00:15Z

Volver!!

2007-01-14T15:57:44Z

What a beautiful movie. My parents gave it to me as a christmas present and I loved it. I can't believe I didn't go to the cinema to see it. I recommend it to everybody. One of my favorite movies of Almodóvar!! Don´t miss it, it's amazing.

almodovar @ 2006-12-30T19:57:00

2006-12-30T18:16:14Z

¡Hola amigos!
Estoy segura que casi todos aqui han visto "La mala educación". ¡Quisiera preguntar sobre el actor Gael García Bernal que me gusta muchísimo! ¿Ha representado los papeles en otros películas de Almodóvar, no? ¿En cuáles?
Si alguien lo sabe, escribidme por favor :)

Almodovar and Cruz to work again in "El Piel Que Habito" (The Skin I Live In)

2006-12-06T00:37:25Z

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061205/film_nm/spain_dc

Hey Almodóvar people!

2006-11-22T16:55:49Z

Im Maia and just joined to this community as you can see ;) I hope it's ok. The first Almodóvar film I saw was La Mala Education and it was love at first sight, since then I've been a fan. It's nice to meet new people with same interests :)

almodovar @ 2006-10-27T07:49:00

2006-10-26T21:49:25Z

ACMI is running a Focus on Pedro Almodóvar from 17 - 21 November.

This is a chance to see eight of his films on the big screen.

almodovar @ 2006-10-03T02:43:00

2006-10-03T06:47:02Z

Hey my name is Jace. I have just recently joined this community in hopes of meeting other individuals who appreciate the masterful works of ALmodovar. Living in the US I feel that it is a shame how unfamiliar people are with ALmodovar's work, it's disappointing to think that Volver hasn't even been released in the states whilst it's been released throughout Europe as early as March. I was fortunate enough to watch Volver in Rome over the summer, and was not in the slightest disappointed.

almodovar @ 2006-09-23T19:51:00

2006-09-23T23:53:10Z

Hi !

I know 'Volver' comes out on Nov 3, but do any of you know if it'll be showing in Miami specifically? I don't know if it'll be a limited release... =/

a good sign

2006-09-22T06:27:06Z

Long time Pedro fan

2006-09-09T20:34:20Z

My name is James and I have been a big fan of Pedro Almodovar. In the 1980's my family was stationed at the Navy base and my father met Pedro during one of his films. My parents passed their love of Almodovar to my sister and I. I have watch a lot of Almodovar films while I was growing up including " High Heels" My favorite film has to be between Kika and Women on the verge. My favorite actress is Rossy de Palma. I recently got a chance to go see the Viva Pedro at the Music Box Theatre and enjoyed experiencing the rebirth of Almodovar's body of work on the screen once more. I do have a question, How do you pronounce his last name? I keep messing up. I know that I won't get a chance to see " Volver" because I live near Indianapolis.

almodovar @ 2006-08-11T12:49:00

2006-08-11T08:57:22Z

tonight i saw "un flor de mi secreto" of our lovely and undersood that the subject of "volver" already was there))))).When writer marisa paredes tells about her new book she notices one story....Volver.

NY Magazine weighs in...

2006-08-10T20:46:20Z

http://www.newyorkmag.com/movies/features/18859/index.html

Any Los Angeles LJers interested in seeing these?

2006-08-07T23:40:00Z

Sony Pictures Classics presents VIVA PEDRO, the theatrical re-release of eight of celebrated auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s greatest films.

VIVA PEDRO will open in New York and Los Angeles in August and expand throughout the United States this Fall. The theatrical re-release will introduce new audiences to Almodóvar and at the same time present the films to his many fans in the manner which they are meant to be seen and appreciated.

WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
(originally released in 1988 )

ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER
(originally released in 1999)

TALK TO HER
(originally released in 2002)

FLOWER OF MY SECRET
(originally released in Spain in 1995 and the United States in 1996)

LIVE FLESH
(originally released in Spain in 1996 and the United States in1997)

LAW OF DESIRE
(originally released in 1987)

MATADOR
(originally released in Spain in 1986 and the United States in 1988)

BAD EDUCATION
(originally released in 2004)

Brand new prints have been made of all eight films. Several of these titles have not been shown in theaters since their original release. All of the films have been withdrawn from the DVD marketplace to accommodate their theatrical re-release (while MATADOR and LAW OF DESIRE have never been released on DVD).

This banner year for Almodóvar will conclude with the nationwide release of his newest film VOLVER, opening in New York and Los Angeles on November 3rd and playing throughout America during the year end holiday season.

trailer

almodovar @ 2006-08-05T21:29:00

2006-08-06T01:31:13Z

Hi

I have a weird request to all Almodovar fans I'm looking for a nice big size pic of Pedro's profile in black and white would be best I want to make a stencil... Please all help is appreciated

:)

Penelope Cruz Guardian Interview

2006-08-05T22:11:11Z

http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,1836348,00.html

Seven years ago, Pedro Almodóvar told Penélope Cruz he had the perfect role for her. He was planning to write a film about a woman married to an abusive loser who molests their teenage daughter. Almodóvar told her that, even though she was in her mid-20s, she was made to play the daughter. He then put the project to one side. In between times he made a series of wonderful movies that established him as one of the world's great film-makers, while Cruz became the first Spanish actress to conquer Hollywood, made a series of disappointing films and had a famous relationship with Tom Cruise before appearing to settle down to life in Los Angeles with actor Matthew McConaughey.

Last year, Almodóvar got back in touch with Cruz to say he had the perfect role for her. He had finally written the screenplay about a woman married to an abusive loser who molests their daughter, and Cruz was made to play the mother. As so often with Almodóvar, she couldn't believe what he was proposing. After all, Cruz is only 32, and could easily pass as 22. And it does take some believing the first time you see Cruz on screen as Raimunda, the sexy, tough, mendacious, vulnerable, melodramatic mamma. But by the end of the film, Volver, she has given the performance of her life.
Cruz calls the part a coming-of-age gift, and says it is the first time she has been allowed to play a real woman. Which is appropriate because, she says, for the first time in her life she feels like a woman rather than a girl.

It's a long time since the camera has made love to its star with such abandon. Almodóvar tracks longingly down her cleavage as she does the washing-up, stalks her padded-out bottom as she struts through town, flirts with her lips as she talks. The film is a raging love letter to Cruz. Almodóvar, who is gay, sounds as if he's on the turn when describing Cruz. ("Those eyes, her neck, her shoulders, her breasts! Penélope has got one of the most spectacular cleavages in world cinema. Looking at her has been one of the great pleasures of the shoot," he writes lubriciously in his notes to Volver.)

We meet in Cannes, where Volver opened the festival to brilliant reviews but failed to win the Palme d'Or. It's a blindingly sunny day and Cruz is sitting with friends in the garden of a hotel, having a bite to eat. She wanders over, her understated elegance (jeans, flesh-coloured Dolce jacket) set off by Louis Vuitton superstar shades. When she takes off the glasses you realise how exceptionally beautiful she is. In a way, her face doesn't make sense. Her exaggerated features - huge brown eyes, great gash of mouth, long slope of nose - sit in a tiny head. She could be a cartoon character, and yet at the same time there is great delicacy to her beauty. She wears no make-up, and looks all the better for it.

She smiles when I mention Almodóvar's adoration, and says, yes, it is a love affair of sorts. "You don't have to have sex involved in a love story for it to be a love story. When I'm at the end of my life, thinking about the most important people in my life, people I have loved the most, Pedro will be one of the main people."

Volver means "return" in Spanish. There are several kinds of return for Almodóvar in Volver - the film is set in La Mancha, his home town. In the film, Raimunda's mother returns from the dead. But perhaps the most important homecoming is that of Cruz. It's six years since she and Almodóvar last made a film together. Over the past decade, Cruz has largely made Hollywood or US-backed movies providing exotic love interest - she is Nicolas Cage's Greek sweetheart in Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Tom Cruise's girlfriend in Vanilla Sky, and Johnny Depp's coke-addled lady friend in Blow. Almodóvar says she has become "stylised" in the US; he believes Volver shows "she has more force in plebeian characters than in very refined ones".

Cruz made her movie debut in Bigas Luna's mad-cow movie Jamón Jamón 14 years ago. It was a typically Spanish affair - surreal, dark, erotic, bonkers. She then worked with Almodóvar on Live Flesh and All About My Mother. Cruz was perfect for Almodóvar with her unlikely beauty and dazzling contradictions, segueing from Mother Teresa to voracious sexual predator, sometimes within the one scene. She could play restrained naturalism one second, then crazy melodrama the next - just what he needed for films that took the most unfeasible stories and somehow made them first believable then unbearably moving. In Live Flesh, she played a prostitute who goes into labour and gives birth on a bus. In All About My Mother, she is a nun who has been impregnated by a transvestite and is dying of Aids. When Almodóvar described the latter part to her, she thought it was ridiculous. "I said to him, 'I have no idea how I am going to make this believable'. And he said, 'You just have to trust me', and he was right."

As I talk to Cruz, I begin to realise why she can make these outrageous narratives work. She belongs to Almodóvar's world of ghosts, coincidence, superstition and sexual ambiguity. In fact, she says that is the appeal of working with Almodóvar. "I spent a lot of nights with my trailer full of transsexuals, and they told me stories about their life, how they had suffered a lot, trying to find their truth. Some were working as prostitutes, others had normal jobs. I got along with all of them."

When she talks of her childhood, she sounds like a character in a Gabriel García Márquez novel. As a little girl, she says, she used to go to bed and dream her destiny into existence. "My dreams felt almost too big... about being an artist... an actress or a dancer - I was dancing since I was four. It was my every night ritual, going to bed and dreaming about my future, and I feel that's how I created what I'm doing now. So now I'm dreaming about what I'll be doing when I'm 40 and 60 and 80." She won't say what those dreams conjure up, for fear of tempting fate.

Did she dream of success and being feted when she was a child? She looks appalled. "No, no, no, I dreamed about how I would feel doing these things." And how did she feel? "Free. Free, waking up every day and doing a job that I loved." She looks at my chewing gum on the table. "May I have one?... No, it wasn't about being famous. I just wanted my life to be about hard work and feeling creative every day."

Penélope Cruz was born in Madrid to working-class parents. Her mother was a hairdresser, her father a car mechanic. The family loved films and music. "In my house there was always opera playing as we cleaned the house on Sunday. We were all a little bit hippy. Naked. Cleaning the house listening to Bizet or Prokofiev."

Cleaning and singing opera, naked? Even Almodóvar wouldn't risk a family scene quite so outré. She grins, and blows a bubble. "I don't mean naked like that. I mean naked, very free. We were one of the first families to have a video machine, so my dad was always making movies at home, and we could rent movies. We didn't have much money, but the money we did have we put into things like that." The family watched European films - she reels off the great directors she grew up on, mainly Italian - Fellini, Rossellini, De Sica.

She remains extremely close to her family. Her mother complains that whenever she is in Madrid she finds an animal in the street and brings it home for them to look after. How many has she brought home? She pops another bubble. "Two cats and one dog, and then I have my other dog with me in LA." Her siblings have followed her into the arts. Sister Mónica, three years younger, is an actor and flamenco dancer. Her brother Eduardo is 21 and a musician. She tells me he has just released his first album, that he's written all the songs and played three instruments, and that it's brilliant in a punk-rocky way - and she heaves with pride.

It's eight years since Cruz first headed for America. She never moved over as such, always followed the work - in this case The Hi-Lo Country, a western made by British director Stephen Frears. But the offers kept coming, and she kept packing her bags. By then she was a huge star in Spain, and seemed to like the relative anonymity of America.

Frears was struck by her exuberance. "She was just a girl then, and in the evening she'd go to sing in the karaoke bar with the rest of the crew. Very touching really. When we were shooting I just sat there, gobsmacked."

At what?

"Well, her beauty. She does have that European thing, doesn't she? The first time I saw her she reminded me of the whole history of European cinema - you know, all those great actresses like Loren. And in Pedro's films you've seen her grow into a woman over the years."

Where does he think she has done her best work?

"Oh, that's easy," he says. "Spain. Immodestly, I also think she's very good in my film, The Hi-Lo Country. But that whole business of people acting in a language other than their own is very complicated. Language is so germane, and unless film deals with the issue actors often end up looking rather beached."

Cruz soon lost her anonymity in America when she got together with Tom Cruise on Vanilla Sky, the confusing remake of the already confusing Spanish film, Open Your Eyes. It seemed too good a story to be true. Spain's most famous actress and Hollywood's most famous actor were an item. They looked a little like each other, and what's more they shared the same surname. If the relationship hadn't been for real some marketing guru would have had to invent it. And, of course, there were those who suggested as much - that Cruz was raising her profile in America, and Cruise was bolstering his image as an irresistible Hollywood hunk. I'm very curious about him - is he as weird as he seems, with the Scientology and the he-man act? On the other hand, Cruz is known for guarding her privacy. That, she's said, is how she holds on to herself and her sanity.

I begin circumspectly. Is she still with Matthew McConaughey?

"Yeah. I don't wanna talk about my private life."

Is he as lovely as he looks?

"Amazing person. Great, great person. Very, very good company. But I'm just not going to talk about it."

"Matthew seems so much nicer than Tom?"

She gives me a look and blows a contemptuous little bubble before letting fly: "I am friends with all the people I have been with, I am very good friends with the people who have meant something in my life, and I am so protective to the people who have been good to me, so I'm like a lion with that, and Tom is a very good man, and I am close to his whole family, his children. I love his children, and his mum, and all of his family, and he's a great man. The people who have been good to me, they are untouchable, I am very loyal to the people who have meant something to me and have been good to me, very, very loyal. And I don't like..." She finally runs out of breath.

Cruz is fearsome when she gets going, so different from the easy, giggly, hippy-dippy girl she can be. "Nobody with common sense talks about their private life. It's easy to say, 'OK, I give you a little bit,' and then you feel horrible with yourself. And I've been working hard since I was 16 and I've never talked about my private life, and I'm not going to change it now." She makes a disapproving kissing sound with her lips.

That's a good noise, I say.

"That's a very Spanish thing."

How would she describe her character? She relaxes. "She's a lion, too."

No, not your character in Volver, your own character.

"I would use similar words to describe myself - strong, vulnerable, stubborn, hopeful and, how d'you say it when somebody worries too much?"

Neurotic?

"No, not neurotic. A worrier. I could find any reason to worry about something right now."

Little things or big?

"Both. Sometimes I wake up at 7am to pee and in those two minutes I'm already trying to find out why we're here and what we don't know, and what I'm going to do in terms of having children, and I'm like, 'No, shut up, think about it later, go back to sleep.' "

Cruz would like children, lots of them. She says that it would be too risky just having one or two because she'd worry so much for them, it would make their lives a misery, so best spread the worry.

Is she aware of the biological clock ticking? "No, because I've just turned 32, and I still have a few years to do it, and when I do it I want to do it really well. I want it to be my best project in life."

The thing I like about Cruz is her capacity to surprise - as an actor, and in the flesh. On children, for example. "I would love to have my own," she says, "but I don't think I'd feel fully completed as a woman until I can also adopt."

Cruz recently bought a house in Los Angeles. Does she consider LA to be home now? "Madrid and LA. My main home is Madrid, but I also live in LA. It's a more normal life than in the beginning. At first, I would go to pick up the phone but there was nobody to call because everybody I knew was thousands of kilometres away." That sounds lonely? "Yes, of course, but I don't want to complain about it because it made me strong and it taught me a lot of things. It taught me how to be with myself, with no fear. I've been creating a normal life there, taking my rituals from Spain. Even now that I have a house there, I always know when I'm going to come back home to Europe and that's the way to protect myself."

Had she always wanted to work in America? "I don't know, because it hadn't happened before to an actress from my country; that she worked there with continuity. So I didn't have a reference. I thought it was almost impossible. But then I got a movie, and then I did a casting and got another movie. All my movies were castings." Her parents had always told her it was good to strive, to exceed expectations.

Was it a political household? "It was very free. We were raised Catholic, but it was free religiously, too. Since I was a little girl I felt, in terms of politics, I was more going to the left."

How does she identify with the left? "Well, I like a lot of things about our president now."

Bush? She opens her mouth in horror, and her already huge pupils appear to dilate. "No. Our president. In Spain. Who's my president? Zapatero ... If I talk about our government, I talk about my country. I am a Spanish resident."

What about Bush? "I have always been against war. But I was particularly upset by the Iraq war. Every day you see 60 more dead, 80 more. You know when we were saying you create your future by imagining the future? When I dream about what the world will be like in a couple of centuries, it's always terrifying. We are getting to a point where war could mean something else - something even more horrific than what it meant before. I mean, I am a person with a lot of hope, but trying to picture this world even one century from now, that is really scary."

I ask her if she takes comfort from religion. "I don't call myself one thing. I like to study many religions." Has she ever been attracted to Scientology, like Tom Cruise? "I have read a lot of books about it, and some of those things I have studied have helped me with things in my life. I would feel bad with myself if I didn't say that I was grateful to it because of what I've learned about it. A lot of my friends have been helped by their programme - they have got the most successful anti-drug programme in the world and they deserve a lot of credit for it." The Scientologists' detoxification programme, personally developed by founder L Ron Hubbard, has been criticised for its lack of scientific basis.

How does it work? "They have places everywhere. It is amazing because it is about helping the person find the reasons why they started in the beginning instead of creating guilt. So they have helped a lot of people I care about."

Do you have to be a Scientologist to do their courses? "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So many of these things are misunderstood. You can be from any religion. I have done some courses, and I didn't have to leave anything else or call myself one thing. A lot of Buddhist monks go there and do courses. I wish more people knew about that."

Mostly Cruz is too maverick to fit neatly into Hollywood, despite her considerable success in America, and despite the relationships with celebrity A-listers. She has, almost wilfully, refused to lose her accent, which means that she always has to play outsiders. She's said that it would have been easy to talk "American", but she has never wanted to.

For all that, in the past few years it looked as if Hollywood was likely to become her first home. But it seems less so now. When we talk, she reminds me repeatedly that her roots are in Spain. A few days after we meet, she and McConaughey announce they have split up - the time apart had taken its toll, they say.

Cruz likes to think of herself as an actor who works in four languages - Spanish, Italian, French and English - rather than a Hollywood actor. When she talks about the work of which she's most proud, she invariably mentions her Spanish work - though there's no denying she is best known for her Hollywood movies, simply because more people see them.

I tell her I much prefer her European work. Initially she demurs: it's been a privilege working on any number of American movies ... Well maybe, I say, but you are so much better in Volver than in anything I have seen you do in America. She bursts out laughing. "It is Volver," she says, "not Vulva." And she gets the giggles. "I agree with you, this is the most demanding character and I want challenges like this. But I don't compare Pedro with anybody else, he's unique, and he writes character for 80-year-old women. Who else does that?"

Almodóvar has reclaimed Penélope Cruz. He talks about her in terms of Anna Magnani and Sophia Loren. In Volver he includes a clip of Magnani and has Cruz dress in the type of straight skirts and cardigans Loren used to wear, just to drive the comparison home. He is making a statement - here is a new screen goddess, a new muse, he is saying, and she's not Hollywood's, she's Europe's, she's Spain's and she's mine.

For Penélope Cruz it's crunch time. She says she will continue to divide her time between America and Europe. But you sense she feels the need to choose where she really wants to be - in Hollywood and risk churning out lucrative mediocrities or in Europe with the chance of establishing herself as the queen of quality cinema. Fortunately for us, it is beginning to look as if home is where her heart is. "I always told Pedro he was my priority," she says, "and right now we are already talking about our next movie together."

Vi hace unos días VOLVER.

2006-07-24T13:35:01Z

Es un impacto directo, como siempre. Bueno, como soy una admiradora…:-) Lo que quiero decir es que Almodóvar no hace ni un gesto de más, casi no utilice ardides comerciales (tanto como lo hace el director del Código da Vinci ) y parece que sólo tiene gran placer en el proceso del trabajo .

nueva!

2006-06-18T16:22:12Z

hola! just joined this community...i can't lie and say i'm one of those people whose seen all of "pedro's work", but i've seen a few, and i'm never disappointed. i think his camera work, story settings, etc, are always fantastic. i love directors who convey the stories and emotions through the set as well as the actors. anyway, i've been studying in southern spain for about 5 months now, and recently saw "volver". it was impresionante. great great movie.