NachoVigalondo Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The last time I saw my awesome amigo Nacho Vigalondo, it was at a Sundance party during which he was A) very thrilled to have his film play the festival, B) mega-elated that writer/producer Steven Zaillian would be involved in the English-language remake of his film (Timecrimes), and C) seriously drunk and hanging out with an overworked karaoke machine. When I pressed him for additional details, he said something to the effect of "I don't know yet, but .... Steve SALE-IAN, man! He wrote Bobby Fischer and Gangs of New York, man..." To which I responded, "Yeah, dude. Damn good writer. Plus Schindler's List, A Civil Action, American Gangster, and the awesome Falcon and the Snowman!"

The drunken Spaniard's eyes went absolutely wide: "Steve SALE-IAN is remaking my movieeeee!" He was like a little kid on Christmas morning, I swear. It was an awesomely sweet thing to see. But since we weren't really sure about Mr. Zaillian's specific attachment to the remake, this fresh news is also pretty exciting. Wouldn't it be cool if the Timecrimes remake had a Steve Zaillian screenplay and a director named ... David Cronenberg?? (I've seen Timecrimes more than once, and I think Mr. Cronenberg would be a perrrrrrrrfect fit for this time-travel / serial killer material.)

The United Artists re-do is still in the very early stages, so we could see a lot of personnel changes before the American version of Timecrimes hits the scene -- but given how positive the reaction has been among festival audiences, flick-buyers, and remake makers, we might just see it a little sooner than later. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the original film, which is a favorite among the Magnolia gang, and should be getting a release some time later this year.

Gracias: Shock and Blogdecine

When the new year hit, and the strike continued, the interim agreements started to get made. Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner's United Artists made one with the WGA, and now The Hollywood Reporter has listed the first deal to be signed since that agreement was reached. UA has picked up the remake rights to the Spanish film Los Cronocrimenes. Scribe Steven Zaillian, who won an Oscar for his work on Schindler's List, is set to produce the feature, although sources say that he probably won't be writing it -- just overseeing, and possibly preparing the outline.

Now, the film, which translates into Timecrimes, was written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, and THR describes it as "a jigsaw-style thriller about a man who accidentally travels back in time one hour and finds himself facing multiple dangers, including his own doppelganger." You'd think that between old-school challenges like dinos and samurai, and the butterfly effect, bigger jumps would be riskier, but I guess that's not the case! If the flick doesn't sound familiar, that's because it's all sorts of new. Cronocrimenes is scheduled to play at Sundance, and will get North American distribution by Magnolia.

A few months back I was fortunate enough to meet up with a powerfully friendly Spaniard called Nacho Vigalondo. He was attending the Fantastic Fest in Austin, and he was there with his first feature film, the very well-received Timecrimes. How well-received? Strong enough that the Sundance programmers took note and snatched the flick for one of their Park City at Midnight slots! (Plus Jette liked it!) So we figured we'd grab a quick chat with Nacho before he becomes the next big Spanish sensation. Here's what the award-winning filmmaker (and passionate horror geek) had to say on the eve of Sundance 2008:

Cinematical: OK, let's start off with the biggie: What's it feel like to get nominated for an Academy Award?

NV: I used to say that that wasn't a dream come true, because I never even dreamed about going to the Oscars! If you check my short films, or if you read my scripts, you'll think I'm not the kind of director that you attach to the Oscars. Having said that, being an Oscar nominee was one of the most incredible and amusing things that has ever happened to me. And it gave me the possibility to shoot a feature film.

Cinematical: Timecrimes was your first feature after a series of well-received short films. What made you switch to long-form storytelling for this particular movie?

NV: The script. I fell in love with the idea. When the Oscar thing happened, and I started thinking of myself as a feature filmmaker, I decided to shoot the impossible film, the movie you couldn't shoot in other conditions. If Timecrimes is not a common film in the US, just imagine Spain, where we don't even have a genre films market.

Cinematical: Timecrimes had its world premiere at the aptly-named Fantastic Fest in Austin last September. Since then you've screened at Sitges in Spain and several other international film festivals. What's the general reaction been so far?

NV: The movie seems to be working. We won another prize in Trieste, Italy: The "Golden Asteroid" in a science fiction festival. I love to see how the people react to the little comedy elements. And the silence of the last quarter-hour, more into suspense and horror ... What I'm most grateful about is that people keep talking about the movie after watching it, discussing what has happened on screen.