Agustín Almodóvar: «Pedro and I need that special encouragement to undertake a new project like «Parallel Mothers»

We interviewed, on Valencia City Radio, the film producer Agustín Almodóvar, producer of the film "Madres Paralelas" which has accumulated 8 nominations for the Goya Awards, which will take place in Valencia on February 12, in sections such as best film, best director of Pedro Almodóvar, best leading actress, with Penélope Cruz, best supporting actress with Aitana Sánchez Gijón and Milena Smit, best cinematography with José Luis Alcaine, best artistic direction with Antxón Gómez and best sound.

Agustín Almodóvar pointed out that Madres Paralelas, «like all the films we make, are very important because «El Deseo» was born so that Pedro could make the cinema he wants to make with the utmost independence. He corresponds a lot with the mentality as a filmmaker that is always looking for that risk and that necessary stimulus after 40 years of profession. He has mixed a political theme with a sentimental one in this movie. Pedro has managed to make it a very important film for everyone and it is being very well received throughout the international market and is going to be seen in more than 60 countries. We need that encouragement to undertake a new project because we have been in this profession for many years.

Regarding the public's response to this film, he acknowledged that "in countries like France or Italy it has equaled or exceeded the box office in Spain." And he commented that in our country «the pandemic has greatly affected audiovisual and cinema consumption habits and the drop is around 50% over our previous film «Pain and glory», but it is in relation to the rest of the sector» . Even so, he made a "very positive" balance of this film.

A film where women are once again protagonists. «Pedro alternates and now we return to the female universe, which is very varied, where women run the show. A universe that Pedro loves dramatically because he always says that women are more varied in terms than men, we tend to be more boring in our expressiveness. Pedro once again shows a very varied feminine universe, also represented by great actresses, who represent three generations such as Aitana Sánchez Gijón, Penélope Cruz and the young Milena Smit, who has been a real discovery, a wonderful girl. With a good script and with these great actresses, Pedro has achieved something very special which is «Parallel Mothers».

Regarding Penélope Cruz, he acknowledged that «she is already part of the family, it is already the seventh film they have made together, she is someone like a family member with whom you share criteria, taste, many things and also a successful past. Then the film, the way Penelope works, which is a very visceral way, that's why she goes so far because what she does, she really does, has been a painful film, because of what Penelope has to express in it, but also very willing for what Pedro demands of her. It must be said that he is very demanding with the actors, he always seeks the extraordinary, excellence, and he is not satisfied with just giving him technique, but that you have to go deeper and express and Penelope has given him one hundred percent in that, with a great effort and with the parallel suffering that he has carried with the character. And it has been very joyful to see him, Pedro always says that what he likes most about his profession is being the first to see the performance, but he sees it and so do those of us who are by his side, so we have really enjoyed the festival that Pedro and Penélope have given us. The making of the film itself has already been an immense joy.

Agustín Almodóvar also highly praised the great discovery of this film that is the actress from Elche, Milena Smit: «It has been a revelation, it has the freshness of those who start, it is a new face, a new way of speaking, also very contemporary . Milena is a girl in her 20s who lives the life that twenty-somethings live and I think it has been quite a find and discovery, the girls who do the castings discovered her and it was wonderful to find this freshness and this richness of registers in someone who He has worked so little. Although that of working little now is over because she is already up to the top of projects. But she has been a great discovery and we always like that when we are looking for new faces and you really find one who at the same time has great acting skills, it is wonderful and we wish her a great career. Then as a person she is a charm, she adapts very well to the working conditions. She is also a very good companion, she made very good friends with Penelope from the beginning and that the complicity that her characters later develop in the film was also outside the shooting and that is also provincial. It doesn't always have to happen that the characters match. Milena is a wonderful person, an actress and she is going to have an incredible future.

The film is shot in a hospital room and in the midst of a pandemic. In this regard, Agustín Almodóvar acknowledged that «I am looking forward to stories that speak of this time, as a spectator and as a producer. A time that is being very traumatic due to the pandemic. Especially for young people, but also for all age ranges. I have been young in the 80s and I was very active and I am very sensitive to everything that adolescents and young people are leaving behind and all of that has to be translated into stories that I hope will begin to reach us in scripts, although the mask does not It is very cinematographic because it makes us lose all the expressiveness of the face, but the stories that may be behind the confinement, of nursing homes, of hospital workers, there are great stories that can reach us producers. That in terms of scripts, but another consequence is the habits of film consumption that gives me the feeling that it is not going to recover in the short term.

He also reflected on how complicated it has been to work in a pandemic in all professions. «We have to come back, with all the precautions in the world because it is no joke. I spent it asymptomatic but you have to take it very seriously and we have done it in the cinema. There is already a new team on the set, which is the risk prevention team that when we shoot we submit to it and it has a cost that is not insignificant. But you have to do it, the good thing is, with all these precautions and respect for the disease, to come back proactively, with work, ideas and self-improvement.

Agustín Almodóvar also looked back to find the best memories of his long career. «We have had many joys, but I would like to highlight when Pedro was made Doctor Honoris Causa at Harvard, it was in June two years ago. And it was wonderful to see him rise with his dedication, with those brilliant students from all over the world, in that academic world so sophisticated and so scientific that Pedro was there, who has made such an independent career and following his artistic pulse, for me it was a moment of happiness maximum and I say it with all the simplicity in the world. I say this as an accomplice of Pedro during all these years, seeing him there at that summit of world knowledge and receiving that award, is something that goes beyond prizes, money, it is the consideration of a place of wisdom. We have had awards around the world, but Pedro, after all that, every time he faces a film he does it with the same fears and insecurities as when we started, and all of that makes Pedro a totally valid artist. It is not believed that he is at the top and that everything he does is already great, but that he has to humbly start each time and put on his overalls again and take risks. We have lived great days, but we do not live in the past, we have our feet on the ground and we live in the present, every day we get up and every day is a new day and every project is a new project and we must always be looking to the future and I feel very lucky to be by his side.

How could it be otherwise, he also spoke about the Goya Gala that will take place in Valencia on February 12. A city and a land that they know very well and to which they love to return: «One of the things that makes me excited about Valencia is how well they always treat us. I recently went to Paterna, to the area of ​​the caves and there is already a sign that says that we shot «Pain and glory» there, they treated us very well. With "Bad Education" we were also filming in the capital of Valencia, in the Casa de las Rocas, we have some memories in Valencia associated with the wonderful filming. Returning is very pleasant for us and every time we go it is a luxury. We are very grateful for how you Valencians treat us».

Finally, Agustín Almodóvar gave some advice to those who start in the cinema: «I would tell them to be very persevering. These are very complicated times, when Pedro and I started they were too, but now they are very complicated in a way because there is a false sense of strength, there is a lot of demand for audiovisual content on the Internet platforms and that gives us a certain image of prosperity, but for producers who want to do like us, which is to develop their own stories and do it freely, these are very complicated times because the new agents that generate that prosperity are also very powerful and demanding. It is not easy to start now with what you want to do, but to start with commissions. What I would recommend is that they have perseverance, not give up. Working is good, sometimes you have to do things that don't satisfy you one hundred percent, but you have to try to find that independence and those contents with which you identify more. Now it's easier to start, but it's harder to be independent. One must never give up trying to find that independence where one sees oneself reflected in the things he does».

You can listen to the full interview, conducted by Abel Martí and Gerard Sánchez, on Valencia City radio at this link.