Argentine actor Ricardo Darin has joined the Spanish couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem in the hotly anticipated, currently untitled, movie to be directed by the acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi.
The two-time Oscar winner Farhadi will start shooting for his upcoming Spanish-language thriller in Spain from mid-August, Screen Daily reported.
Darin, 60, is set to play Cruz’s husband from Buenos Aires in the family drama and psychological thriller which will explore how the kidnapping of a young girl leads to the unraveling of family secrets.
The Argentinean actor has starred in the last three Argentine films nominated for Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category: ‘Wild Tales’ in 2014, ‘The Secret in their Eyes’ in 2009 (which won the Academy Award) and ‘Son of the Bride’ in 2001.
In 2011, Darin was awarded the Konex Foundation’s Diamond Award, one of the most prestigious awards in Argentina, for being the most important personality in entertainment in the last decade in the country.
Although it was announced that the Spanish brothers Pedro and Agustin Almodovar would be the producers of Farhadi’s film, they are no longer on board.
Estimated to Cost $13m
The project, estimated to cost $12-13 million, is now being made as a French-Spanish-Italian co-production with French producer Alexandre Mallet-Guy of Memento Films (producer of Farhadi’s ‘The Past’ and ‘The Salesman’) joined by Alvaro Longoria of Spanish company Morena Films and Andrea Occhipinti of Italian indie giant Lucky Red, which handled the release of ‘The Salesman’ in Italy.
It will also be made in co-production with France 3 Cinema and supported by Canal Plus and France Television.
The Iranian auteur has written the script. Memento Films International is handling sales. The team aims for the film to be ready in time for Cannes 2018. Memento, has distributed six of Farhadi’s seven films in France.
“After ‘The Past’ and ‘The Salesman’, this film is my third collaboration as producer with Asghar Farhadi and I am still amazed by the intensity and the subtlety of his work. We have a thrilling story, great locations and a five-stars cast with Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Ricardo Darin,” producer Mallet-Guy said.
“It is a psychological thriller with a dash of Agatha Christie in it. The script is a real page-turner,” he noted. The producer also said the project will weave in some moral themes as in Farhadi’s previous films.
Farhadi had initially planned to shoot the Spanish film in October 2015 but as he felt “nostalgic” for Iran, he came back to his hometown Tehran to shoot ‘The Salesman’ instead which eventually won the Oscar for the best foreign language film in Academy Awards 2017.
Now Farhadi has assembled an impressive crew for what is expected to be his most commercial film to date, including composer Alberto Iglesias (who has made the music for ‘The Constant Gardener’), director of photography Jose Luis Alcaine (who has the award-winning film ‘Talk to Her’ in his resume), production designer Clara Notari (who collaborated in ‘Wild Tales’) and costume designer Sonia Grande (who had ‘The Lost City of Z’ last year on screen).
Calling it an “ambitious project”, Mallet-Guy added, “It is Farhadi’s most commercial film to date and I am looking forward to bring it to the largest audience possible.”
Although Farhadi does not speak Spanish, he has proven with his French-language ‘The Past’ that he could pull off making a film in a language foreign to him. ‘The Past’, made in France, competed at Cannes, earned its star Berenice Bejo the award for best actress and went on to nab a Golden Globe nomination.
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