Here are first look images of Pedro Almodovar’s “The Room Next Door,” starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton — they can be seen below this article.
The film will indeed have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, it could also very well show up at Telluride and NYFF. Why didn’t Almodovar just wait it out for Cannes? The answer is actually quite simple. The filmmaker had previously mentioned how he wants a Palme d’Or and Directing Oscar and this being his first English feature, he’s probably aiming to win over the Academy come next year.
“The Room Next Door” follows the story of Martha, a flawed mother working as a war reporter, and Ingrid, her spiteful daughter who is an auto-fictional novelist. While the mother and daughter are separated by a serious misunderstanding, another woman is the keeper of their pain and bitterness.”
The film is said to portray how “death, friendship and sexual pleasure can fight life’s horrors" according to its filmmaker. Almodóvar only wrapped shooting “The Room Next Door” in May, but hurried it up to premiere at Venice. Will the gamble pay off?
The film, set in New York City, will be the filmmaker’s first full-length English-language film. He’d previously directed two shorts in English, “The Human Voice” and “Strange Way of Life.” Almodóvar has stated that they were just warm-ups to get him accustomed to directing English-speaking actors. I sure hope they were warmups because I didn’t find these shorts to be that impressive.
Sony Pictures Classics is in charge of U.S. distribution. Warner Bros. has just hopped on-board international rights with key international territories having been mapped out, including the U.K, Spain, Italy, Germany and Latin America. Expect an October/November release in the U.S.
Almodóvar has had a storied filmmaking career since his 1980 debut “Pepi, Luci, Bom.” His most notable works include “Talk to Her,” “The Skin I Live In,” “Pain and Glory,” “Broken Embraces,” and “Women on the Verge of A Nervous Breakdown.”
