madrid, 1987
a film by David Trueba
World Dramatic Competition
Press & Industry screening:
Friday, January, 20 at 9:00 p.m. – Holiday Village Cinema 1, Park City
Public screenings:
Friday, January, 20 at 2:30 p.m. – Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January, 21 at noon – Screening Room, Sundance Resort
Sunday, January, 22 at 9:00 a.m. – Temple Theatre, Park City
Tuesday, January, 24 at 6:00 p.m. – Tower Theatre, SLC
Friday, January, 27 at 5:30 p.m. – Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
Saturday, January, 28 at 11:30 a.m. – Holiday Village Cinema 1, Park City
*Film stills, poster and digital press kit are available on http://press.sundance.org/press or
https://www.image.net/
Press Agent – U.S.:
Laurent Boye
Jazo P.R.
Tel: +1 (310) 220-7239
International Sales:
Mar Abadín, Head of Sales
6 Sales
Tel: +34 916 361 054
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.jazopr.com
www.6sales.es
madrid, 1987
Synopsis
On a hot summer day in a vacant Madrid during a period of social and political
transition in Spain, Miguel, a feared and respected journalist, sets up a meeting in a
café with Ángela, a young journalism student. He takes her to a friend's studio. His
intentions are clearly sexual; hers are less clear. Chance events force them
together for more time than they would have chosen, locked in a bathroom, naked,
without the possibility of escape. Removed from the outside world, the pair, who
represent polarized generations, are pitted in an unevenly matched duel involving
age, intellect, ambition and experience. The political and social context of the
period provides the background to the power shifts that continually take place
between them over twenty-four hours.
Summer 1987
“After six years in government, Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez’s sideburns began
to whiten and the corduroy of his pants weathered. Settled in power with a secondterm majority government, in sight of the fact that socialism would not touch the
nerve of any banker, any bishop nor any businessman, those who had stowed
money away under the snowy Swiss mountains lost their fear of the Reds, began to
relax, returned home with their stash and, from that moment, an obsession with the
acquisition of money and power took hold.
Spain was still shaken by the ETA attack on the Hipercor supermarket, which
caused 21 deaths and dozens of injuries, but the most popular folk song could be
heard playing in the saint’s day celebrations. Caught between disenchantment and
the obsession with money and power, Spain changed character in the summer of
1987.”
(Passage by Manuel Vicent, El País, August 14, 2011)
madrid, 1987
Cast
Miguel
José Sacristán
Ángela
María Valverde
Luis
Ramon Fontserè
Voice Outside
Alberto Ferreiro
Cafe Waiter
Eduardo Antuña
Autograph Seeker
Bárbara de Lemus
madrid, 1987
Crew
Director
David Trueba
Producer
Jessica Huppert Berman
Screenwriter
David Trueba
Director of Photography
Leonor Rodríguez
Production and Costume Designer
Laura Renau
Hairdressers and Make-up Artists
José Carlos González
Shai Bercovich
Assistant Director
Ignacio Gabasa
Sound Recordist
Álvaro Silva
Editor
Marta Velasco
Sound Editor
Eduardo G. Castro
Sound Mixer
Nacho Royo-Villanova
Music
Irene Tremblay
madrid, 1987
David Trueba Interview
How did the “Madrid, 1987” project arise?
Generally, ideas don’t arrive on a specific day like the postman bringing you a
package. There is something in my upbringing, in my life, that propels this film.
When all is said and done, like María Valverde’s character in the film, I was also a
first-year journalism student in ’87 and I felt great debt and admiration towards the
generation of journalists who were the stars of the publications in those days. Back
then, admiration took on a more sophisticated form than it does now. It wasn’t the
norm to ask for an autograph or shout someone’s name on the street, it was rather
an almost reverential respect. At the same time, there was a certain frustration
upon seeing the cynicism, lies, and a certain social comfort that set in once
democracy was established. The transition to democracy, with all its animated
fighting, its liberating fever, left the country at the feet of bankers and businessmen,
obsessed with money and power, a culture of the most superficial type of success.
It’s in those days that ratings, grosses, sales, for example, are imposed above other
barometers. This uneasiness fostered the idea behind this film, which is as always,
more the idea of two characters than of plot. By chance, when I was preparing the
project, I accepted an offer from El País to write a daily column because I wanted to
know that aspect of Sacristán’s character, get close to his routine, understand him
better. That well-remembered line of Renoir’s, the one about how all characters
must have their reasons, is something I like even more today than the first time I
read it. I think it is the only motivation that should guide the writing of characters.
Much more so than judgment or the path towards an established thesis. And, not
only in movies, it should serve as a guide for relating to others and with what is
happening around the world. We’d create fewer reactionaries, fewer prejudices.
What were the principal difficulties in getting such a unique, literally naked, hermetic
project off the ground?
With a script like this, it was a dare to think of raising financing. So, instead of
facing the frustration that comes from rejection, I considered it more of a reason to
proceed. I had to make this film, even though now is not the moment to make a
period film without lavish sets, a film with lengthy dialogues that doesn’t belong to a
popular genre nor have adrenaline-fueled action, a character-driven film about
people who have intellectual and cultural interests. I couldn’t complain that
television networks (a primary source of film financing in Spain) were not interested
in this project, it was rather the contrary. If they had been interested, I would have
thought I had done something wrong, that I had exaggerated the inherent curiosity
in the nudity, or that I was going to use this or other elements as artificial
attractions. So the film won in purity, in precision and rigor. Like the shoot itself,
which was a concentrated effort.
What was it like to work with two actors so different, from generations so distant,
with surely opposing techniques?
That’s what is marvelous about the work. The script provides guidelines, gives you
the characters. Casting José Sacristán was not complicated. He’s an actor who
also lends the character iconic relevance. He was one of the most brilliant faces of
the period of transition to democracy in Spain. That served to transport those
characters that are somewhat rhetorical, intellectual, but also alive and real. María
Valverde belongs to a generation that no longer admires like we did, from a state of
paralysis. They don’t have inferiority complexes and they situate themselves in
their work as actors without references or fears alongside more veteran
professionals. In addition, she has a smile that’s a bit childlike and she knows how
to mine gold each day. Sacristán surprised me with his unaffectedness, his
devotion, the ease with which he came onboard a project so particular, his lack of
impositions, and his willingness to play, to try, even to follow the orders of a director
whose experience does not exceed one percent of his in this profession. And he
made us laugh every day with his joking manner, with his anecdotes that are a
living encyclopedia of cinema. María never brought the beautiful cover girl to the
set, but rather the committed actress with a hunger for risk. Both of them are the
film, it had to be this way. It was necessary to erase the rest, from the director to
the set, from script to plot, to leave them alone in front of the spectator. Hopefully
it’s been accomplished.
What response do you expect from the audience to a film so situated in a particular
time and place beginning with the title, so personal?
There aren’t any roles in the relationship with the audience other than for you to
turn in what you have and for them to decide. One must not pursue nor fear the
audience, one must accept its decision to see or not see a film, but only later, when
your work has already been completed to your liking. It appealed to me to propose
a period film that even from its title tells you that a memorable event is not going to
take place, a date to remember, a 23 F or a 9-11, as the calendar signals today for
future historians. No, I wanted a period piece, but not like those recreations that
seek to obtain the hairstyle, the décor, the objects and the clothes of a time past,
but that don’t portray the personality of those days. It’s tiring to watch period films
where, to give an example, all the women are feminists and forward-thinking, where
the protagonists’ values are those that anyone today could espouse without
embarrassment. Where does this leave the portrayal of ways of thinking that were
not like our own? That people could be brilliant, one-and-only, but possess a
personality from their own particular time? I wanted to do period, but without
cosmetics: from there the bathroom, from there the nudity. I wanted the manner of
behavior, with ambitions and defeats, fears and merits, to be what reveals the
characters, rather than having their environment do this. I find it interesting to refer
to a historical period in order to analyze its influence on the present. That’s how I
confronted “Soldados de Salamina” and that’s what guided me on “Madrid, 1987”.
In reality the film speaks of what we are today, it ends up proposing a tomorrow for
María’s character, the tomorrow of back then, which is now today, with all the
problems, the confusion, the deficiencies we drag around, twenty-five years later.
Well, this sounds a bit grandiloquent. I just wanted to make a film, of course.
About age and desire. Nothing more, nothing less.
madrid, 1987
José Sacristán Interview
¿How did this project arrive in your hands and what were your first reactions or
sensations?
David Trueba sent me a cinematographic script; it was this very special project.
I must confess that I love so-called “literary” films provided that they are written by
writers such as Trueba: the construction of characters, the relationships, the
dialogues, the silences, the use of time and rhythm…As a writer, Trueba’s point-ofview was precise, magnificent. I was very happy that he had thought of me for an
adventure like this.
¿What were you conditioned to working in a closed space for so long, in those
conditions?
The size of the crew was inversely proportional to its enthusiasm and good work.
I had never made a film with such few people. Nevertheless, neither the film nor I
ever felt like anyone or anything was missing. More so, putting budget concerns
aside, it was a shame that we shot the film in such little time.
What was your relationship like with María Valverde, someone so distant
generationally? Did it at all replicate the confrontation that is portrayed in the film?
If not confrontation, there was curious evidence of the generational distance:
towards the end of the shoot, Maria gave me three stupid films, the titles of which I
can’t even remember, that she loved and I returned the gesture with “Sunset Blvd.”,
“A Place in the Sun” and, I think, “Picnic”. Take note! I’d force myself to watch
those other films once more just for the opportunity to work again with such a good
actress and such a good person.
What stands out for you in the finished film, in what it presents the spectator?
If before I referred to the precision of his point-of-view as a writer, Trueba, as a
director, employed the camera, always glued to his eye, with the same precision to
suggest to the spectator how to see us, how to follow us, how to interest the
spectator in what these characters, “like ships that pass in the night”, say to each
other. When I saw the film, I discovered the ease with which Trueba had gone
from words to shots, magnificently. The chronicle of a period told in the course of
just a few hours, without the commonly used elements. Never has a film with such
a small cast, such a small crew, such few sets, so little wardrobe, told so much
about the Spain of 1987.
madrid, 1987
María Valverde Interview
How did you become involved in a project like this? What was it that attracted you
to the film and to your character in particular?
I got the script directly from David. It was a short script, full of dialogue, a period
piece and very, very special. Full of curiosity, I didn’t hesitate to read it. I was
drawn in from the first moment. While I travelled through these characters’
conversation, I wanted to see it onscreen. I felt so many emotions reading it, that I
wanted to make that film, I had this clear. I felt it in my gut. And my gut is always
right.
David made me fall in love with “Madrid, 1987”. And it became a great challenge
that I wanted to face. It made me fearful, very fearful, and I liked this and it scared
me at the same time. In fact, a few days before the shoot started, I was about to
drop out of the project. I was scared of exposing myself so much, but the people
around me supported me by reminding me of the thrill I had felt upon reading the
script.
How did you face a shoot so particular, where the nudity was absolute both
internally as well as externally?
It was a challenge in all senses. And David was the most important piece. He had it
all in his head, but the important thing was to get to work. Everything makes sense
in this film. The nudity is justified by the story. And I’m in favor of it when there is a
why if it’s important and reasonable. It gave me a feeling of vertigo. That’s for
sure.
Did this signify additional problems?
It wasn’t easy having to be naked while you had to speak and to listen. Many times
I didn’t know where to put myself. But the crew was very close, careful, very
involved and thanks to the relaxed, joking atmosphere on the set, I felt comfortable
and I would forget I was naked.
You were born in Madrid in 1987, to what extent does the film portray something
you didn’t know? Did it teach you things?
A bunch of things. I have the opportunity in each film or job I do to discover things I
didn’t know.
What do you think will be the reaction of an audience of your generation?
I don’t know what the audience’s reaction will be. And even less the audience of my
generation. I just want them to enjoy it.
What was it like for you working together with José Sacristán, an actor who has
made almost two hundred films, that just his experience in the profession is double
your age?
It was marvelous working with him. The first time his voice resounded through the
set, I was paralyzed, it was impressive. Despite his experience, he is a great
example of unpretentiousness and this fascinates me. Everything was easy,
everything was positive. I felt very comfortable and I had the luck to learn every
day by his side. A luxury.
madrid, 1987
David Trueba – Director and Screenwriter - Biography
David Trueba was born in Madrid in September 1969. The youngest of eight
siblings, he studied journalism and began working in journalism, radio and
television. His first screenwriting credit was on Emilio Martínez-Lázaro’s “Amo tu
cama rica” (1992). He subsequently studied film in the American Film Institute in
Los Angeles and, upon returning to Spain, further established himself as a
screenwriter, once again under the direction of Emilio Martínez-Lázaro, on “Los
peores años de nuestra vida”, one of the big hits of 1994, and in television where
he co-directed the program “El peor programa de la semana” (1993-94) together
with El Gran Wyoming.
His work as a screenwriter continues on films such as “Two Much” (1995, Fernando
Trueba), “Perdita Durango” (1997, Álex de la Iglesia), “La niña de tus ojos” (1998,
Fernando Trueba), “Vengo” (2000, Tony Gatlif) and Carles Bosch’s documentary
“Balseros” (2002), which he also co-produced and which is the only Spanish
documentary to date to have been nominated for an Oscar.
In 1996 he began his career as a film director with the “La buena vida”, presented
in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. In 2000 he directed his second film “Obra
maestra” and in 2003, “Soldados de Salamina”, an adaptation of Javier Carcas’s
novel, which was presented in Un Certain Regard at Cannes. In 2006 he directed
“Bienvenido a casa”, winner of the Best Director prize in the Malaga Film Festival,
and the film-conversation about Fernando Fernán-Gómez, “La silla de Fernando”.
In 2010 he directed the Canal + television series “¿Qué fue de Jorge Sanz?”. His
latest film as a writer and director is “Madrid, 1987” (2011).
Alongside his film work, he has had a literary career. He has published three
novels (Anagrama publishing), which have been translated in more than ten
languages: “Abierto toda la noche” (1995), “Cuatro amigos” (1999) and “Saber
Perder” (2008), which earned him the National Critics Prize for Best Novel and was
a finalist for the prestigious Prix Médicis in its French translation.
madrid, 1987
José Sacristán - Actor - Biography
José Sacristán is one of the most important stage and screen actors in Spain.
Since his film debut in “La familia y uno más” (1965, Fernando Palacios), he has
starred in films as distinguished as “Roma” (2004, Adolfo Aristarain), “Un lugar en el
mundo” (1992, Adolfo Aristarain), “Epílogo” (1984, Gonzalo Suarez), “La
vaquilla” (1985, Luis García Berlanga), “La colmena” (1992, Mario Camus), “Solos
en la madrugada” (1978, Jose Luis Garci), “Operación Ogro” (1979, Gillo
Pontecorvo), “El viaje a ninguna parte” (1986, Fernando Fernán Gómez), and “Un
hombre llamado Flor de otoño” (1978, Pedro Olea), for which he received the Best
Actor prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival. He has also directed three films,
“Soldados de plomo” (1983), “Cara de acelga” (1986) and “Yo me bajo en la
próxima, ¿y usted?” (1992) and starred in such successful plays as “Las guerras de
nuestros antepasados”, “La muerte de un viajante”, “Una jornada particular”, “El
hombre de La Mancha” and “Cristales rotos”.
María Valverde - Actress - Biography
María Valverde’s career began brilliantly in 2002 when Manuel Martín Cuenca cast
her as the adolescent lead of “La flaqueza del bolchevique”, from among more than
3.000 girls. It premiered in the San Sebastián Film Festival and led to María
receiving, among other prizes, the Goya for Best New Actress in 2004.
Since then, characters such as “Melissa P.” (2005, Luca Guadagnino), Lucrecia
Borgia of “Los Borgia” (2006, Antonio Hernández) or the prostitute in the play
“Llueve en Barcelona” (2009) established her reputation. Works such as “La mujer
del anarquista” (2008, Peter Sher and Marie Noëlle), “Ladrones” (2007, Jaime
Marqués), “Cracks” (2008, Jordan Scott), “El rey de la montaña” (2007, Gonzalo
López Gallego), “Fuera del cuerpo” ” (2004, Vicente Peñarrocha), “Vorvik”, (2004,
José Antonio Vitoria) and the popular “Tres metros sobre el cielo” (2010, Fernando
González Molina) stand out in her filmography.
madrid, 1987
Jessica Huppert Berman - Producer - Biography
Jessica Huppert Berman graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Modern
Culture and Media. She works in the development and production of “The Perez
Family” (1995, Mira Nair), “The Addiction” (1995, Abel Ferrara), “The Talented Mr.
Ripley” (1999, Anthony Minghella), “Finding Forrester” (2000, Gus Van Sant) and
“Monsoon Wedding” (Mira Nair, 2001) among others.
She first works with the Spanish director Fernando Trueba on “Two Much” (1995)
and goes on to line produce several of his films, including “La niña de tus
ojos” (1998), the Latin jazz documentary “Calle 54” (2000) and “El embrujo de
Shanghai” (2002). In 2009 she produces his film “El baile de la Victoria”, which is
chosen as the Spanish entry for the foreign language Oscar©.
She is currently David Trueba’s producing partner in the company Buenavida
Producciones. With him, she has produced “Soldados de Salamina” (2003), which
was presented in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and was chosen as the Spanish
entry for the foreign language Oscar©; “Bienvenido a casa” (2006); the Canal +
television series “¿Qué fue de Jorge Sanz?” (2010); the Doctors Without Borders
documentary “Positive Generation” (2011) and “Madrid, 1987” (2011).
madrid, 1987
Details
Production Company
Buenavida Producciones
Year of Production
2011
Nationality
Spain
Language
Spanish
with English subtitles
Duration
104 minutes
Aspect Ratio
1:1,85
Color