Vigalondo shoots unusual love story with extraterrestrial twist
On Monday July 12, one of Spain’s most promising directors, Cantabrian Nacho Vigalondo, began shooting on his second feature, Extraterrestre (“Extraterrestrial”), three years after his debut work, Timecrimes [+see also:
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film profile] (see news), which has since acquired cult status. Incidentally, the director has revealed that the US version (see news) is in deadlock due to the difficult situation at MGM, which has also had to suspend the new Bond instalment (see news).
Produced by Arsénico and Sayaka, Extraterrestre will be shot over four weeks in Madrid and Cantabria. Scripted by Vigalondo, the film centres on a young man (Julián Villagrán) and a young woman (Michelle Jenner).
After a Saturday that has slipped through their fingers, they wake up in the same bed without knowing each other at all, without remembering what may have happened the previous night and without really knowing how to face the rest of the day. Added to this problem are the consequences of a global extraterrestrial invasion.
Born in 1977, Vigalondo is one of the most iconoclastic new voices in Spanish cinema, with work that combines science fiction, comedy, references to classic film and a directorial approach that doesn’t turn its back on audiences. This is reminiscent of the approach adopted by his friend, former fellow student and, like him, Best Short Film Oscar nominee Borja Cobeaga, who, coincidentally, is also currently shooting his second feature, No Controles (see news).
Vigalondo’s Extraterrestre will, however, be a small film, with few actors and locations and a budget of under €1m. This is while we await his third, as-yet-untitled feature, which he is developing with Enrique López Lavigne and Belén Atienza’s Apaches Entertainment (see news).
The production company specialises in “making ambitious, high-quality European films from Spain that are competitive on an international market", according to The Orphanage [+see also:
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(Translated from Spanish)
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