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Spain Archives - ShowBizCafe.com

Spain Archives - ShowBizCafe.com

Jack Rico

By

2016/01/29 at 6:30pm

This Is The Hot New Hispanic Girl Band You Need To Know About!

01.29.2016 | By |

Hinds is a four girl rock band from Spain who love to sing Bob Dylan songs in English. Carlotta Cosials, Ana Perrote, Ade Martin and Amber Grimbergen were formed in 2011 already having an album and two singles under their belt. They began strumming and singing Dylan tunes at the beach never really taking serious the idea of creating a band. Now after an album and two singles under their belt, they’re making a serious name for themselves and are currently touring in Europe and coming to the US in March. Read More

Mack Chico

By

2012/06/12 at 12:00am

Penélope Cruz, Almodóvar reteam in ‘Standby Lovers’!

06.12.2012 | By |

Penélope Cruz, Almodóvar reteam in 'Standby Lovers'!

Penélope Cruz is back with Pedro Almodóvar to star in the Spanish film “Standby Lovers.” No word yet on who’ll she be playing, but what we do know is that film is a comedy about an affair on an airplane. Sounds funny already!

She’ll be joining a very good cast of Spanish actors: Lola Duenas (“Volver”), Cecilia Roth (“All About My Mother”), Paz Vega (“Talk To Her”) and Javier Camara (“Talk To Her”) plus newcomers, Carlos Areces, Raul Arevalo and Jose Maria Yazpik.

After she films “Standby Lovers” later this summer, she’ll officially join Ridley Scott’s “The Counselor”, a very awaited film with an elite cast composed of: Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz and Cruz’s husband Javier Bardem. No official word yet on her role, but she might be playing the part of Laura, the counselor’s fiancé. This film will mark the second time she works with her Bardem after the very lauded Vicky Cristina Barcelona from Woody Allen. She won her first Oscar Award for her performance with him. She was hilarious in the movie.

“The Counselor” is written by Cormac McCarthy and centers on the titular character who tries to make some quick money through a drug deal, with things going terribly wrong in the process.

Jack Rico

By

2011/01/29 at 12:00am

Biutiful (Movie Review)

01.29.2011 | By |

En lo que se puede describir como un sueño realizado, los dos más grandes titanes del cine hispanoparlante, el actor español y ganador del Oscar, Javier Bardem, y el director mexicano y nominado al Oscar, Alejandro González Iñárritu, se unen por primera vez para traernos ‘Biutiful’, una cruda y trágica cinta que arrolla los sentidos. Read More

Mack Chico

By

2009/04/28 at 12:00am

Jim Jarmusch’s explores Spain in ‘The Limits of Control’

04.28.2009 | By |

Jim Jarmusch's explores Spain in 'The Limits of Control'

Woody Allen isn’t the only American filmmaker to have set up shop in Spain recently.

Jim Jarmusch surveys the striking architecture in “The Limits of Control,” an existential travelogue of a crime thriller (minus the thrills) taking its inspiration from, among other things, a William S. Burroughs essay , a Rimbaud poem and vintage crime films , particularly John Boorman ‘s 1967 classic ” Point Blank .”

Unfortunately, the whole seldom adds up to the sum of its illustrious parts, and Jarmusch’s trademark deadpan quirks seem to have gotten lost in the translation.

The resulting riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma won’t do anything to broaden the filmmaker’s loyal fan base when Focus Features releases the film Friday (May 1); as it is, many of his loyal followers will be left feeling as alienated as his central character.

That would be Isaach De Bankole’s Lone Man, an intensely focused, almost robotic man on a mission of some sort who is dispatched to various Spanish locations, where he meets up with a succession of oddball individuals who inevitably exchange little matchboxes with him.

They include a number of familiar Jarmusch faces — John Hurt (Guitar), Youki Kudoh (Molecules), Tilda Swinton (Blonde) and a Dick Cheney -channeling Bill Murray (American) — and new arrivals Gael Garcia Bernal (Mexican) and Paz de la Huerta (Nude), who definitely lives up to her character’s name.

But while the always effective De Bankole remains a captivating presence, and masterful Christopher Doyle’s cinematography is undeniably arresting, Jarmusch’s meandering musings on language as a control mechanism, as filtered through the impressionistic lens of an Antonioni or Jacques Rivette , fail to make any kind of lasting impression.

Mack Chico

By

2008/10/08 at 12:00am

Woody Allen heads to Spain to perform

10.8.2008 | By |

Woody Allen heads to Spain to perform

Holidaymakers heading to Murcia over the festive season might cross paths with a movie star.

According to the Costa Blanca Leader, the actor, writer and director Woody Allen will be arriving in the region to perform with his jazz band on December 31st.

Allen plays clarinet in the group, which performs weekly in Manhattan, New York.

The star will not be the first famous face to enjoy the charms of La Manga, however.

La Manga Club has welcomed various big names over the years to its Celebrity Golf Classic.

Lawrence Dallaglio, Robert Powell and Zinzan Brooke are just some of the celebrities that have taken part in the charity golf tournament.

But one need not be a celebrity to enjoy golf holidays to La Manga Club.

There are plenty of opportunities for golfers of all ages and abilities to enjoy the world-class facilities, whether it be lessons at the academy or taking part in a game with friends.

Mack Chico

By

2008/09/09 at 12:00am

Bardem calls the Spanish ‘a bunch of stupid people’

09.9.2008 | By |

Bardem calls the Spanish 'a bunch of stupid people'

Oscar winner Javier Bardem sat down recently with The New York Times for this exlusive interview touching upon fame, the Oscar and how he feels about his country.

At the Oscars last February, you won Best Supporting Actor for your portrayal of the ultimate bad guy, Anton Chigurh, in ‘‘No Country for Old Men,’’ directed by the Coen brothers. Now you are starring as the ultimate ladies’ man in Woody Allen’s ‘‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona.’’ Which is the more difficult role to play?

This is the first time in 20 years that I’m playing a leading man in a romantic comedy. It was a conscious decision: in my early career I waited for more complex roles to come, knowing that they might not ever come. The complexity of Chigurh was a kind of dream — the Coen brothers are my favorite directors of all time. On that movie, I was the only foreigner. And Chigurh really comes out of nowhere, which helped with the character, but it was a little isolating. In ‘‘Vicky Cristina,’’ I’m with these three beauties. I was afraid no one in the audience would believe they’d ever be with me. I was in the makeup trailer saying, ‘‘You better work a miracle.’’

How deeply do you imagine your characters before you play them?

I want to understand everything about that mind. With Chigurh, I saw him as a man with a mission that was beyond his control. Someone chose his fate for him. I thought of him as a man who never had sex. He doesn’t like human fluids, even his own. [Pauses] I don’t want to get into too many details, but I even imagined how Chigurh would masturbate. For the Woody Allen movie, I don’t have to imagine such things because the character is very sexual, but for Chigurh, it was important to think about how he relates to other people, even sexually. So, I think he will masturbate once per month in the dark and with a pillow. Very clean.

You grew up in Madrid, loving American as well as Spanish films.

That’s true: I don’t believe in God, but I believe in Al Pacino. The other day I was watching ‘‘Dog Day Afternoon’’ again, and I see a man who is so true, so interesting and I understand more about the world from his performance. And you go, ‘‘C’mon, it’s only acting.’’ Well, wouldn’t you say that a good book or a good painting allows you to see the world in a different way? When I see a great performance, I feel more alive.

Did you always feel this drawn to movies?

I started my career early. When I was 6, my mother, who is a well-known actress in Spain, cast me in a movie for television. It was a little moment where a guy puts a gun to my head and I have to laugh, but when I laugh, I’m also supposed to cry. I liked it immediately. When I was 13, I did theater for two months. Actually, I think my very first time onstage was when I was an altar boy. You have your moment there — it’s just Christ and you. [Laughs] As a kid, I felt happy onstage, but beforehand I would think, What am I doing here? I should be in the playground with my friends. I’m the same today: we actors are lazy. I like to take a year off between films. Some actors need to work for the money, but money is not a priority for me. I don’t have the need for a lot of cars or houses. Since I am a tomato in the market, I have a price. They have to pay the price, but money is not my biggest priority.

In Spain, they often are judgmental about their actors finding success in America. After you won the Oscar, how were you treated back home?

The Spanish are tough. They criticize my work and say I sold out. You want to say, ‘‘Stop it — you’re a bunch of stupid people.’’ But you are never going to be liked by everybody. After the Oscars, I came back to Madrid, where I live. I wanted to get back to the real world. After something like the awards, you’ve changed a little bit, but everyone around you has changed tremendously. You have to bring them back — you have to show that you are the same stupid, limited guy and not this kind of golden boy.

Are you receiving lots of scripts where you would play a villain?

No more bad boys. But I don’t see Chigurh as evil. You don’t have to like the characters you play, but you have to understand them and you must always defend them. Every actor wants to get to a point where you allow yourself to be taken by somebody else. That is the pleasure of it.

In ‘‘Vicky Cristina,’’ you have scenes with Penélope Cruz in Spanish. Does Woody Allen speak Spanish?

He told us what he wanted us to say and then we improvised, and after a while he’d say, ‘‘Cut.’’ We’d say, ‘‘Do you like it?’’ And he’d say, ‘‘I don’t know. I guess so.’’ It would be as if I was acting in Chinese — how would I know if I was good or not?

How has fame changed your life?

Mostly, it’s the same. I put on a hat and dark glasses and I can walk anywhere. But there are still questions which invade your privacy. I don’t really know why people need to know personal details about other people’s lives. It’s out of control. For a lot of people, the press is now the enemy.

Chigurh represented a departure for you — you famously told the Coens that you would happily take the part even though you hate violence, had never fired a gun and were uncomfortable speaking English.

And I don’t drive a car! They weren’t concerned. When you act, you learn things. Before ‘‘No Country,’’ I had never held a gun and now I can drive a car. When I was doing Chigurh, my English became so good that I was dreaming in English. Actors don’t learn because they want to know — we learn because we have to learn. I wish I would play a cook, so I could learn to make something worth eating.

You play a painter in ‘‘Vicky Cristina.’’ Did you have to learn to paint?

No, from the ages of 19 to 23, I studied painting. Initially, I worked as an extra in movies to get money to keep painting. Now I paint very secretly. Before playing this part, I asked Julian Schnabel [who directed Bardem in ‘‘Before Night Falls’’] if he feels fear when he faces a blank canvas. He said, ‘‘Fear of what?’’ [Laughs] That was the character!

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