Photos: Adriel Perdomo
"Silence, are we going to shoot? Action!". These are magic words to paralyze a part of Lanzarote. Only the wind is noticeable, turning the mobiles designed by César Manrique, as if wanting to highlight his role in a film that was conceived between gusts of wind and migraines. Right there, in the roundabout where the artist from Lanzarote died, a vermillion Opel Corsa keeps the secrets of the script of "Broken Embraces", Pedro Almodóvar's latest work. At the wheel, Lluís Homar. Next to him, Penélope Cruz. Both perform a scene that is repeated several times.
The director from La Mancha guides the actors: "Serene, enjoying yourselves?", while his hands gesticulate and appease the moment. A tense, silent moment, in which the entire filming team, extras and onlookers hold their breath with their pupils focused on what is happening inside the vehicle.
"Cut!". And the hubbub returns to the Tahíche roundabout. Traffic opens, spotlights are adjusted, the reflector, cables, equipment, flashes are moved... And above all the movements, fast, omnipresent, is Pedro Almodóvar, eager to supervise everything. The director does not want to speak to the media, he is focused on his film, but he smiles and his smile denotes a satisfaction that brings good vibes to a second day of filming.
"Well, he's a bit more handsome than on TV," exclaims a group of middle-aged women. They have come from Valencia to spend a week in Lanzarote, and when they were heading to the César Manrique Foundation, they came across one of the most well-known and award-winning Spanish directors. "We hardly even saw Manrique's house, we ran to see Pedro," they explained excitedly. Among them, a German asked cluelessly what was happening in the famous roundabout. And a little further on, amid laughter and fuss, the students from the Hospitality School awaited the sacred moment when Penélope Cruz descended from the Opel Corsa. And finally, she came down, accompanied by a wave of lenses that were directed at her in the distance. A little closer, Pedro himself portrayed her with Lluis Homar.
The morning filming session lasted almost three hours. This same afternoon, the more than forty people who make up the team of "Broken Embraces" will move to El Golfo, the place that inspired Almodóvar nine years ago. When taking a snapshot of the black beach, the director discovered a couple embracing. An embrace from which a script has emerged that is gradually taking shape and color. "In a stealthy way, without me realizing it, the photo of Playa de El Golfo, with the couple embracing, fused and hidden in the sand, has become a decisive element of the script," explains Almodóvar in his blog. "And Lanzarote in one of the most important settings, where the characters of Penélope Cruz and Lluis Homar hide and live a passionate love story, with great peninsular threats."
In addition to this beach, in the coming days the landscapes of Famara, the Mirador del Río, Órzola or La Geria, will become natural settings for the seventeenth film by the director from La Mancha.
THE LANZAROTE PENELOPE
She had heard many times that "you look a bit like Penélope Cruz", but she never imagined that she would become her double overnight. Edurne Duque is 25 years old and lives in Lanzarote, specifically in Tahíche. Last April 25, she attended the casting of "Broken Embraces" with the illusion of participating as an extra. But when they called her, they did not propose her to be just another extra, but to embody Penélope's light double during the two weeks of filming.
"It is a great experience, and it gives me the opportunity to know everything from the inside," explained Edurne Duque this Tuesday just after meeting, for the first time, the real Penélope Cruz and the director from La Mancha. "I haven't spoken to them yet, they have just introduced them to me," she said with a smile.
ACN Press
