Although he’s now directed two shorts in English, “The Human Voice” and “Strange Way of Life,” Pedro Almodóvar will finally be shooting his first full-length English-language feature this fall in NYC.
Almodóvar says this new film takes place in New York and is about three female friends. So, we’re probably going to be getting three American/British actresses.
Speaking to IndieWire’s Eric Kohn, Almodóvar kept mum about additional details, but did confirm the project:
I do have a script in English that’s almost finished. It is a movie much like I described. It has three characters, it’s a contemporary story, it takes place in New York. There’s a lot of dialogue in the story. The actors talk a lot. It is more difficult in a sense as a film but it’s more accessible for me as a director.
Pre-production on this new film started in March with shooting said to begin in October. What we do know about this project is that it’s definitely not, what was supposed to be his English feature-length debut, “A Manual for Cleaning Women.”
If you remember, Almodóvar dropped out of that Cate Blanchett starring project last fall. Maybe she could be in this one. Both have been very adamant in working together for well over a decade now. The failure of that project still bothers him:
Even now, it’s very painful for me to think about,” Almodóvar said. “I had discussed it with Cate the whole year. I had a lot of time to reflect on it. I was not afraid of the languages. I was afraid of the many locations, the many actresses. I was not sure about the time they would give me to rehearse.
Almodóvar has also mentioned how he’s ready to shoot another film in Spanish, after the New York one, titled "Bitter Christmas," about a woman abandoned by her partner during Christmas time. So, the 73-year-old filmmaker will likely be very busy in the next few years.
As mentioned, Almodóvar has a 30-minute short film titled “Strange Way of Life,” a Western starring Hawke and Pascal, that will premiere at Cannes tomorrow.
I can confirm that Joel Coen’s “Jack of Spades” is based on Frances Frederica Montrésor’s 1901 novel “The Alien: A Story of Middle Age.” It’s a ghost story. A gothic mystery.