Pedro Almodóvar

Birthday: 25 September 1949, Calzada de Calatrava, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Birth Name: Pedro Almodóvar Caballero

Height: 177 cm

The most internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker since Luis Buñuel was born in a small town (Calzada de Calatrava) in the impoverished Spanish region of La Mancha. He arrived in Madrid in 1968, and survived by selling used items in the flea-market called El Rastro. Almodóvar couldn't study filmmaking because he didn't have the money to afford it. Besides, the filmmaking schools were closed in early 70s by Franco's government. Instead, he found a job in the Spanish phone company and saved his salary to buy a Super 8 camera. From 1972 to 1978, he devoted himself to make short films with the help of of his friends. The "premieres" of those early films were famous in the rapidly growing world of the Spanish counter-culture. In few years, Almodóvar became a star of "La Movida", the pop cultural movement of late 70s Madrid. His first feature film, Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (1980), was made in 16 mm and blown-up to 35 mm for public release. In 1987, he and his brother Agustín Almodóvar established their own production company: El Deseo, S. A. The "Almodóvar phenomenon" has reached all over the world, making his films very popular in many countries. Show less «

The characters in my films are assassins, rapists and so on, but I don't treat them as criminals, I ...Show more »

The characters in my films are assassins, rapists and so on, but I don't treat them as criminals, I talk about their humanity. Show less «

I like to think I'm original... [although] I have been compared to both good and bad directors.

I have been offered many projects in Hollywood, but I feel it's increasingly unlikely that I'll take...Show more »

I have been offered many projects in Hollywood, but I feel it's increasingly unlikely that I'll take them up. Because the way I work and the way they work over there are very different. I'm used to making up the story. I write it and direct it, or I adapt it if it's an adaptation, and so my filmmaking is very, very personal. I'm used to taking decisions and the criteria are my own. Of course, it's not a question of power - I do this in coordination with the entire team - but the ultimate criteria, the decision-making, is in my hands. And I feel that in Hollywood there are a whole number of people who take decisions prior to the director, and I feel that if I had to be listening to ten other people, all giving their opinion before I took a decision, it would lead to utter confusion. Show less «

[on Julieta (2016)] I was looking for pure drama, not melodrama. I wanted more restraint. Nobody sin...Show more »

[on Julieta (2016)] I was looking for pure drama, not melodrama. I wanted more restraint. Nobody sings, no one talks about cinema and there's no humour. I had to force myself there; sometimes during rehearsals the odd comic line would come up, which was a relief for the actors. But after the rehearsals, I decided, no humour. I thought it was the best way to tell such a painful story. Show less «

[on his experience in the Catholic boarding school he lived in as a young man and on which La mala e...Show more »

[on his experience in the Catholic boarding school he lived in as a young man and on which La mala educación (2004) is based] The education we received was about guilt, sin, punishment. Show less «

Cinema has become my life. I don't mean a parallel world, I mean my life itself. I sometimes have th...Show more »

Cinema has become my life. I don't mean a parallel world, I mean my life itself. I sometimes have the impression that the daily reality is simply there to provide material for my next film. Show less «

[on why it took ten years to finish the script for La mala educación (2004)] [It] deals with ...Show more »

[on why it took ten years to finish the script for La mala educación (2004)] [It] deals with my own biography . . . it took time to remove myself from it. Now it's not me. I changed the tone of the story, but the main situation is the same. Show less «

[on being asked if La piel que habito (2011) is a horror movie] I myself am reluctant to label it th...Show more »

[on being asked if La piel que habito (2011) is a horror movie] I myself am reluctant to label it that way. You have to be careful because to hardcore horror fans this will seem like a very strange movie, and I don't want to disappoint people. But in essence, yes, it is a horror film. There is a twenty minute sequence in the middle of the movie that definitely belongs to that genre - the revenge of a mad doctor that is so terrible that even though the film later segues into a melodrama and a thriller, that sequence remains in your mind and colors the rest of the film. Show less «

[on Carmen Maura] If you divide the stages of my career and labelled them with the names of the peop...Show more »

[on Carmen Maura] If you divide the stages of my career and labelled them with the names of the people I've worked with, there's definitely a stage in my filmmaking that would be called The Carmen Maura Years, and those films were all in the 80s - although I did work with her again on Volver (2006). At the time, I felt she was absolutely the best vehicle I could find to tell my stories. She was the actress who had the best intuition, to connect with what I wanted from her. She could be very funny and very dramatic at the same time, so it was the perfect combination for me. Our relationship was absolutely perfect. We had this total communion, this osmosis, that went on, and due, probably, to that very intense and very fruitful engagement, it generated a number of personal problems that led to us having to stop working together. We were a filmmaking couple, but we faced all the issues - all the personal issues - that a normal couple faces. In that same period, through the 1980s up to 1990, the actor who best understood me and was able to play my parts was Antonio Banderas. Together with Carmen Maura. Show less «

[2016 interview] In the Eighties, we were celebrating a new sense of freedom and absolute possibilit...Show more »

[2016 interview] In the Eighties, we were celebrating a new sense of freedom and absolute possibilities. But when my films from the Eighties are screened on television, friends tell me I'd have far more problems making them today than I had back then. I don't like nostalgia as a feeling but it's true that tolerance, beauty, freedom are what defined the Eighties and it's not what defines this decade in Spain. The films I made at that time, I had no trouble making, nobody got offended, yet they're quite provocative. I don't think Entre tinieblas (1983) could be made today - it would have had a very radical and violent response from the religious establishment. Show less «

In the last decade you can count the number of Hollywood dramas that have revolved around women. The...Show more »

In the last decade you can count the number of Hollywood dramas that have revolved around women. The studios have forgotten that women are fascinating. Show less «

All my movies have an autobiographical dimension, but that is indirectly, through the personages. In...Show more »

All my movies have an autobiographical dimension, but that is indirectly, through the personages. In fact, I am behind everything that happens and that is said, but I am never talking about myself in first person singular. Something in me--probably a dislike of cheap exhibitionism--stops me from approaching a project too autobiographically. Show less «

I'm a big fan of David Lean. I think David Lean is the only example of a filmmaker who made super-pr...Show more »

I'm a big fan of David Lean. I think David Lean is the only example of a filmmaker who made super-productions that were auteur super-productions. They're extremely personal. And I don't think anyone's making films like that, and I really miss a personality like David Lean's in Hollywood. Show less «

[on Penélope Cruz] For me she's not exactly a muse, the person who inspires. She doesn't inspire me...Show more »

[on Penélope Cruz] For me she's not exactly a muse, the person who inspires. She doesn't inspire me for stories but she inspired something very important which is confidence and that is very, very important work. But of course we can call her a muse in the sense that when I finish the first draft and I am thinking of the faces of the characters, I'm always looking for one that fits her or trying to adapt it for her, because I think there is a big chemistry between us. I think that when I work with Penelope now, I'm a better director, thanks to Penelope - and Penelope's probably a better actress thanks to me. Show less «

My first ambition was to be a writer. I have always been very interested in writing. But it seems to...Show more »

My first ambition was to be a writer. I have always been very interested in writing. But it seems to me that I have more capacity for telling a story with images. It seems I have more talent for filmmaking than for writing a novel, which is my dream. I have always found it easy to let my imagination go. You do not just need imagination for filmmaking, you also need a lot of passion. When I discovered filmmaking as a way of telling stories, I felt that I had found something that was in my nature. I am glad that I had this ambition to be a novelist because it has helped me in filmmaking. Show less «

Artists have inspired me and inspired my characters, it gives them something to live... art's functi...Show more »

Artists have inspired me and inspired my characters, it gives them something to live... art's function is to help you survive, help you live. Show less «

Cinema can fill in the empty spaces of your life and your loneliness.

[on Los abrazos rotos (2009)] I believe it is the most complex script I've ever written and during t...Show more »

[on Los abrazos rotos (2009)] I believe it is the most complex script I've ever written and during the writing of this film and also during the shoot, I did find myself in a different place. The way of making the film, the way of telling the story, the actors' tone and the way of editing was, you could say, a departure from some of my previous films. The film is much more balanced between the female characters and the male characters. This is also something new for me. I do feel that this film is a true declaration of love for cinema. I could almost say that cinema perfects all the irregularities, or the imperfections, of life. Show less «

[2016 interview] Reality always filters through into my films, even when I try to reject it. It find...Show more »

[2016 interview] Reality always filters through into my films, even when I try to reject it. It finds a crack to seep in through. The climate of the last four years in Spain has been of enormous unhappiness and even though I haven't personally suffered from the harshness of the economic situation, I'm surrounded by people who have. I don't think Julieta (2016) is a metaphor for Spain today but it's no accident that my 80s films were much happier. Show less «

[on El sur (1983)] 96 minutes of emotions so intense that you're left breathless. I cry every time I...Show more »

[on El sur (1983)] 96 minutes of emotions so intense that you're left breathless. I cry every time I watch it. Show less «

[on Luis Buñuel] We have the same roots, we belong to the same family and I really recognise myself...Show more »

[on Luis Buñuel] We have the same roots, we belong to the same family and I really recognise myself in his films. For me, he is a real master. Show less «

My school and the cinema were only a few buildings apart on the same street. The bad education I rec...Show more »

My school and the cinema were only a few buildings apart on the same street. The bad education I received at school was rectified when I went to the cinema. My religion became the cinema. Of course one could create one's own belief system, and anything that helps or supports you in life can be seen as covering the function of religion. In that sense you could consider cinema my religion, because it is one of my major stimuli that I have for living. Cinema has that aspect of devotion to saints and idolatry as well. In that sense it is entirely religious. Show less «

[on Penélope Cruz] Penélope was born to be an actress. She is someone who is extremely emotional, ...Show more »

[on Penélope Cruz] Penélope was born to be an actress. She is someone who is extremely emotional, and if she was not an actress it could be a problem for her. It's luck she has chosen a profession that allows her to express something that would be too much for a normal person. Otherwise she would suffer a lot. And even now maybe she suffers too much. Show less «

I can get a lot of pleasure from a screening of Pink Flamingos (1972) by John Waters, and at the sam...Show more »

I can get a lot of pleasure from a screening of Pink Flamingos (1972) by John Waters, and at the same time a Bergman movie, like Ansikte mot ansikte (1976) or Persona (1966). When I was a child, I remember very well that I saw a film by Michelangelo Antonioni. I was at school at the time, about 11 or 12, and I was deeply interested. But at the same time I saw silly pop movies that I liked too, because I was a child. I always combined these two tastes in my life. Show less «

I don't get involved with my actors. I don't get so involved with the films . . . If I lived like my...Show more »

I don't get involved with my actors. I don't get so involved with the films . . . If I lived like my characters, I would have been dead before I made 16 films. Show less «

Already when I was very young, I was a fabulador. I loved to give my own version of stories that eve...Show more »

Already when I was very young, I was a fabulador. I loved to give my own version of stories that everybody already knew. When I got out of a movie with my sisters, I retold them the whole story. In general they liked my version better than the one they had seen. Show less «

I do remember having extreme physical fear of the priests. One of the things we had to do was kiss t...Show more »

I do remember having extreme physical fear of the priests. One of the things we had to do was kiss the priest's hand, which I found revolting. The notorious abuser, who eventually had to leave, had this harem of about 20 boys. Show less «

No one played the male characters I wrote in the 1980s better than Antonio Banderas. But in La piel ...Show more »

No one played the male characters I wrote in the 1980s better than Antonio Banderas. But in La piel que habito (2011), I didn't want to repeat what we had done before. I wanted to drain Antonio's face of all expression and emotion, which is difficult for an actor to do. But his disposition was exactly the same as it used to be, and he gave me the confidence to push forward. It was a great reunion. Show less «

Pedro Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar's FILMOGRAPHY

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