01/03/2016 - On Monday 29 February, Fernando Trueba was in Budapest to begin the shoot for his new movie, which features the same cast and characters from the acclaimed The Girl of Your Dreams

The much heralded – and long-awaited (read more) – sequel to the 1998 hit The Girl of Your Dreams (the winner of seven Goya Awards, also garnering much popular acclaim), entitled La reina de España [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fernando Trueba
film profile] (lit. “The Queen of Spain”), is at last becoming a reality: since Monday this week, the crew helmed by Fernando Trueba has been filming a new tragicomedy in the Hungarian capital that revisits the same characters (played by the same actors) from the first instalment, who travelled to Nazi Germany to shoot a folkloric film.

And so Penélope Cruz is back playing the main character, but 18 years older: she steps back into the shoes of Macarena Granada, who, after her experiences in Berlin, travelled to Hollywood, where she became a star. We are immersed in the 1950s, as the diva returns to Spain to shoot a US blockbuster entitled La reina de España, where she will breathe life into Isabella I of Castile: in Madrid, not only will she meet up again with her old friends and colleagues from the troupe (Antonio Resines, Loles León, Jorge Sanz, Neus Asensi, Jesús Bonilla, Rosa María Sardá and Santiago Segura), but she will also have to contend with another dictatorial regime: that of Franco.

Featuring among the new cast members are Javier Cámara (recently a Goya winner for Truman [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Cesc Gay
film profile]: read the news), Carlos Areces, Ramón Barea, Guillermo Toledo, Alberto San Juan, Chino Darín (Ricardo Darín’s son), Ana Belén, Clive Revill (playing a director), Mexican filmmaker Arturo Ripstein, and American actors Mandy Patinkin – in the role of a screenwriter – and Cary Elwes – the Don Juan character – who already worked together on The Princess Bride.

Produced by Fernando Trueba PC and Atresmedia Cine, La reina de España – boasting a screenplay written by the director himself, a score by Poland’s Zbigniew Preisner and cinematography courtesy of José Luis Alcaine – is being shot throughout March in Budapest, and will then continue filming in Madrid until mid-May.

(Translated from Spanish)