Almodovar gets 'Education'
Project previously shelved due to lead casting problem
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Produced by El Deseo, the Madrid-based production shingle of Almodovar and brother Agustin Almodovar, "Education" will start pre-production this month, and begin lensing in April in Madrid and a rural part of Valencia in eastern Spain.
Key cast has yet to be announced.
Set in three time periods, "Education" follows the lives of two boys from church school in Spain in the 1960s to adulthood.
Almodovar had wanted to shoot "Education" in early 2001 (Daily Variety, Dec. 22, 2000) but shelved the pic in favor of "Hable con ella" (Talk to Her) when he had problems casting one of the two male leads.
Almodovar is confident that he can surmount the casting problems and has rewritten the screenplay to concentrate on the friends' adulthood, focusing more on the consequences than the experience of a Catholic education.
"Like all of Pedro's films, 'La mala educacion' will have autobiographical touches but can't really be described as autobiographical," Agustin Almodovar commented.
After "Education," it's highly probable that the helmer will shoot his long-simmering adaptation of French novel "Tarantula" in the second half of 2004. Pedro Almodovar has an advanced version of the screenplay and Antonio Banderas is keen to topline, reuniting with the director who launched his international career.
"Talk" swept the 15th European Film Awards in December, picking up film, director and screenwriter honors for Almodovar. Co-star Javier Camara took the people's choice actor nod. Pic failed to secure Spain's bid for the foreign-lingo Oscar, however, losing out to Fernando Leon's unemployment drama "Los lunes al sol" (Mondays in the Sun).
