Penelope Cruz has joined the cast of Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s upcoming feature La Bola Negra (The Black Ball) taking inspiration from an unfinished play by Federico García Lorca.
Calvo and Ambrossi, who are known jointly as Los Javis and made waves with genre-bending thriller La Mesias, unveiled fresh casting details at an event in Cannes on Monday.
Goodfellas’ Eva Diederix was also in attendance to announce the company had boarded sales on the title, which is an original Movistar Plus+ film in collaboration with Suma Content Films and co-produced with Le Pacte.
Further cast announcements included singer-song writer Guitarricadelafuente, who will make his big screen debut; Miguel Bernardeau (Querer, Elite), Carlos González (Mariliendre, Veneno), Cannes Best Actress winner Lola Dueñas (Volver), who also won the Feroz, Forqué, and Platino Awards for her performance in La Mesías.
The duo’s breakout film La Mesías premiered at the San Sebastián Festival, screened at Sundance, and won numerous awards
La Bola Negra is inspired by the surviving materials of the eponymous unfinished play by Federico García Lorca and the theatrical work La piedra oscura by Alberto Conejero, recipient of the National Prize for Dramatic Literature and five Max Awards.
It will tell the interconnected stories of three men across three different eras. Three lives intimately bound by sexuality and desire, pain and legacy; inspired by one of Lorca’s last, unfinished works.
Filming for La Bola Negra will begin in August and will take place in various locations across Spain and Europe.
Many of the key crew members from La Mesías will return for La Bola Negra: Gris Jordana as director of photography, Roger Bellés as production designer, Ana López Cobos as costume designer, Eva Leira and Yolanda Serrano as casting directors, Rodrigo Madrigal as sound supervisor, Pablo Morillas as head of hair styling, Mariló Osuna as makeup artist, and Belén Martí Lluch as choreographer.
Alberto Gutiérrez will oversee editing, while Raül Refree will compose the film’s score. Mariano Piñeiro will serve as production manager.
“We are incredibly proud to be coproducing La Bola Negra directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi and produced by Movistar Plus+ and Suma Content Films. We have been totally convinced by Las Mesías and we were very excited when we received the script for La Bola Negra. Immediately we have decided to commit as we were mesmerized by its inventiveness, intelligence, and emotion,” said Le Pacte.
The Paris-based film company is in Cannes this year as the co-producer and French distributor Fuori by Mario Martone in the Official Selection.
Goodfellas which is also out in force with five films in Official Selection: Nouvelle Vague by Richard Linklater, Young Mothers by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Fuori by Mario Martone, Renoir by Chie Hayakawa and Saeed Roustaee’s Woman and Child.
“We were absolutely blown away by La bola Negra,” the company said in a statement.
“It’s bold, cinematic, emotionally powerful and visually striking, the kind of film that grabs you in the guts from the first scene. Following the success of La Mesías, this film confirms Ambrossi’s and Calvo’s place among the most essential voices in European cinema today and we couldn’t be more excited to be part of this adventure with Movistar Plus+ and Le Pacte”.
La Bola Negra will also be the first film produced by Suma Content Films. The production company founded by Ambrossi and Calvo, Suma Content, is launching a dedicated film division, Suma Content Films, starting with this project after successfully completing the shoot of Mi querida señorita. Meanwhile, El desencanto, the debut of Ana Rujas directing, remains in development.
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