Álex de la Iglesia
Encyclopedia
Alejandro "Álex" de la Iglesia Mendoza (born December 4, 1965) is a Spanish
film director, screenwriter, film producer and former comic book artist.
Most of De La Iglesia's films reached cult status due to their weird sense of humour.
, Spain
in 1965. He is a philosophy graduate from the University of Deusto
who ended up working in the comic book field at a young age. He had a brief stint in television before finding work as production designer on Pablo Berger's Mamá. This little seen short film focuses on a family forced to live in a basement after a nuclear war and features a little boy who wears a Batman
costume.
Enrique Urbizu
came calling for his production designer services in 1991 for Todo por la pasta (Anything for money), a Basque crime thriller which was nominated for 4 Goya Awards
, and won 1 (best supporting actress). A good film to get De La Iglesia noticed.
He then met José Guerricaechevarria and together they made the short film, Mirindas Asesinas (1991), in which a boring man, whose mind is gradually degenerating, is on the verge of becoming a psychotic killer. The two men became fast friends and have worked together ever since, with José writing the screenplays to every one of De La Iglesia's films.
In 1993 De La Iglesia received a big break when Spain's most famous director, Pedro Almodóvar
, produced his debut feature Accion mutante
(Mutant Action). This tale of a group of crippled and handicapped outcasts in the future taking arms against handsome oppressors, became an independent success globally. It also received two prizes at the Montreal Fantasia Festival
, and three Goya's.
The next step he took was El día de la Bestia
(The Day Of The Beast) (1995). It won 6 Goya's, the Best Director award amongst them. It also marked his first collaboration with producer Andrés Vicente Gómez.
Wanting to build on the success of The Day Of The Beast, Gómez hired Iglesia to direct Perdita Durango
based on novelist Barry Gifford
's 59 Degrees and Raining; The Story of Perdita Durango. Barry Gifford helped out on the script also. Isabella Rosselini played Perdita Durango in David Lynch
's Wild At Heart
, also based on a Gifford work.
The film was in English, but did not prove as great a success as hoped; for some it felt too post-Tarantino
. The film was also more nasty in its violence, and confronting (though with typically dark humour), resulting cuts and running times around the globe varying from 95 minutes in South Korea to 126 minutes in Spain. It was rumoured Bigas Luna
was originally offered the directors chair for the film.
Back in Spain, in 1999 de la Iglesia had success with Dying of Laughter a dark comedy about a Martin & Lewis style comic duo with no love for each other, nominated for 3 Goya's, winning 2. La Comunidad
(2000), a dark comedy/thriller set in an apartment block with a money scamble, got 15 Goya nominations, won 3. 800 Bullets (2002), a homage to spaghetti westerns, got 4 Goya nominations, 1 win. And Crimen ferpecto
(2004), a dark comedy thriller with a man aspiring to perfection, winning 6 Goya prizes as a result. All these films have the recipe of dark humour, selfish aspirational characters, and very sexy situations.
De la Iglesia himself also provided the voice of The Underminer in the Spanish language dubbing of The Incredibles
(2004).
In 2006 he directed an episode of the TV series Películas para no dormir (Films To Keep You Awake) titled The Baby's Room.
In 2008, de la Iglesa directed the science-fiction comedy TV series Plutón B.R.B. Nero.
He has directed Elijah Wood
and John Hurt
in The Oxford Murders
, which is his second movie in English, released in Spain in January 2008.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
film director, screenwriter, film producer and former comic book artist.
Most of De La Iglesia's films reached cult status due to their weird sense of humour.
Biography
Álex de la Iglesia was born in BilbaoBilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in 1965. He is a philosophy graduate from the University of Deusto
University of Deusto
The University of Deusto is a Spanish Jesuit University, with campuses in Bilbao and San Sebastián, Spain.-History:The University of Deusto first opened in 1886, having been founded because of the Basque Country's desire to have its own university and the Society of Jesus's wish to move its School...
who ended up working in the comic book field at a young age. He had a brief stint in television before finding work as production designer on Pablo Berger's Mamá. This little seen short film focuses on a family forced to live in a basement after a nuclear war and features a little boy who wears a Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
costume.
Enrique Urbizu
Enrique Urbizu
Enrique Urbizu is a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He is a native of Bilbao.-Filmography:* Tu novia está loca * Todo por la pasta * Como ser infeliz y disfrutarlo * Cachito...
came calling for his production designer services in 1991 for Todo por la pasta (Anything for money), a Basque crime thriller which was nominated for 4 Goya Awards
Goya Awards
The Goya Awards, known in Spanish as los Premios Goya, are Spain's main national film awards, considered by many in Spain, and internationally, to be the Spanish equivalent of the American Academy Awards....
, and won 1 (best supporting actress). A good film to get De La Iglesia noticed.
He then met José Guerricaechevarria and together they made the short film, Mirindas Asesinas (1991), in which a boring man, whose mind is gradually degenerating, is on the verge of becoming a psychotic killer. The two men became fast friends and have worked together ever since, with José writing the screenplays to every one of De La Iglesia's films.
In 1993 De La Iglesia received a big break when Spain's most famous director, Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...
, produced his debut feature Accion mutante
Acción mutante
Acción mutante is a 1993 Spanish science fiction black comedy film directed by Álex de la Iglesia.-Plot:A future post-apocalyptic world is ruled by the good-looking people. A terrorist group of disabled people, who see themselves as mutants, take arms against their oppressors. They plan to rid the...
(Mutant Action). This tale of a group of crippled and handicapped outcasts in the future taking arms against handsome oppressors, became an independent success globally. It also received two prizes at the Montreal Fantasia Festival
Fantasia Festival
Fantasia International Film Festival is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996...
, and three Goya's.
The next step he took was El día de la Bestia
El día de la bestia
The Day of the Beast is a 1995 Spanish black comedy film directed by Álex de la Iglesia and featuring Santiago Segura and Álex Angulo.- Plot :...
(The Day Of The Beast) (1995). It won 6 Goya's, the Best Director award amongst them. It also marked his first collaboration with producer Andrés Vicente Gómez.
Wanting to build on the success of The Day Of The Beast, Gómez hired Iglesia to direct Perdita Durango
Perdita Durango
Perdita Durango, released as Dance with the Devil in the US, is a film directed by Alex de la Iglesia as a cross between the crime and horror genres. The film is based on Barry Gifford's novel 59° and Raining: The Story of Perdita Durango...
based on novelist Barry Gifford
Barry Gifford
Barry Gifford is an American author, poet, and screenwriter known for his distinctive mix of American landscapes and film noir- and Beat Generation-influenced literary madness....
's 59 Degrees and Raining; The Story of Perdita Durango. Barry Gifford helped out on the script also. Isabella Rosselini played Perdita Durango in David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
's Wild At Heart
Wild at Heart (film)
Wild at Heart is a 1990 American film written and directed by David Lynch, and based on Barry Gifford's 1989 novel Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula. Both the book and the film revolve around Sailor Ripley and Lula Pace Fortune , a young couple from Cape Fear, North Carolina who go on...
, also based on a Gifford work.
The film was in English, but did not prove as great a success as hoped; for some it felt too post-Tarantino
Tarantino
Tarantino is an Italian word meaning "originating from Taranto", the town in Apulia, south Italy. So it is used i.e. for gentilic of Taranto and for the Tarantino language.- People with the last name Tarantino :...
. The film was also more nasty in its violence, and confronting (though with typically dark humour), resulting cuts and running times around the globe varying from 95 minutes in South Korea to 126 minutes in Spain. It was rumoured Bigas Luna
Bigas Luna
Juan José Bigas Luna is a Spanish film director. He began his professional career in the design world, creating the Estudio Gris with Carlos Riart in 1969. In his earlier exhibitions, at the beginning of the sixties, he showed a great interest in conceptual art and the emerging visual technologies...
was originally offered the directors chair for the film.
Back in Spain, in 1999 de la Iglesia had success with Dying of Laughter a dark comedy about a Martin & Lewis style comic duo with no love for each other, nominated for 3 Goya's, winning 2. La Comunidad
La comunidad (film)
La comunidad is a 2000 Spanish black comedy film directed by Álex de la Iglesia.-Plot:Carmen Maura plays a real estate agent who discovers a fortune in the apartment of a dead man...
(2000), a dark comedy/thriller set in an apartment block with a money scamble, got 15 Goya nominations, won 3. 800 Bullets (2002), a homage to spaghetti westerns, got 4 Goya nominations, 1 win. And Crimen ferpecto
Crimen Ferpecto
Crimen Ferpecto is a 2004 Spanish black comedy film directed by Álex de la Iglesia.-Plot:Rafael is a women's clothing clerk at a large Madrid department store, Yeyo's. His department is filled with beautiful, comely young women whom Rafael routinely seduces...
(2004), a dark comedy thriller with a man aspiring to perfection, winning 6 Goya prizes as a result. All these films have the recipe of dark humour, selfish aspirational characters, and very sexy situations.
De la Iglesia himself also provided the voice of The Underminer in the Spanish language dubbing of The Incredibles
The Incredibles
The Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated action-comedy superhero film about a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant of The Simpsons, and was produced by Pixar and distributed by...
(2004).
In 2006 he directed an episode of the TV series Películas para no dormir (Films To Keep You Awake) titled The Baby's Room.
In 2008, de la Iglesa directed the science-fiction comedy TV series Plutón B.R.B. Nero.
He has directed Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood
Elijah Jordan Wood is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II , then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's...
and John Hurt
John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
in The Oxford Murders
The Oxford Murders (film)
The Oxford Murders is a 2008 film directed by Álex de la Iglesia. This thriller film is adapted from the novel of the same name by the Argentine mathematician and writer Guillermo Martínez. The film stars Elijah Wood, John Hurt and the Spanish actress Leonor Watling.-Plot:It is 1993...
, which is his second movie in English, released in Spain in January 2008.
Filmography
- Acción mutanteAcción mutanteAcción mutante is a 1993 Spanish science fiction black comedy film directed by Álex de la Iglesia.-Plot:A future post-apocalyptic world is ruled by the good-looking people. A terrorist group of disabled people, who see themselves as mutants, take arms against their oppressors. They plan to rid the...
('Mutant Action', 1993) - El día de la BestiaEl día de la bestiaThe Day of the Beast is a 1995 Spanish black comedy film directed by Álex de la Iglesia and featuring Santiago Segura and Álex Angulo.- Plot :...
('The Day of the Beast', 1995) - Perdita DurangoPerdita DurangoPerdita Durango, released as Dance with the Devil in the US, is a film directed by Alex de la Iglesia as a cross between the crime and horror genres. The film is based on Barry Gifford's novel 59° and Raining: The Story of Perdita Durango...
('Dance with the Devil', 1997) - Muertos de risa ('Dying of Laughter ', 1999)
- La comunidadLa comunidad (film)La comunidad is a 2000 Spanish black comedy film directed by Álex de la Iglesia.-Plot:Carmen Maura plays a real estate agent who discovers a fortune in the apartment of a dead man...
('Common Wealth', 2000) - 800 balas800 Balas800 Bullets is a 2002 Spanish film directed by Álex de la Iglesia. The film is about the Westerns made in Almería, Spain and the Spaghetti Western in general. The characters are old stuntmen.-Plot:...
('800 Bullets', 2002) - Crimen ferpectoCrimen FerpectoCrimen Ferpecto is a 2004 Spanish black comedy film directed by Álex de la Iglesia.-Plot:Rafael is a women's clothing clerk at a large Madrid department store, Yeyo's. His department is filled with beautiful, comely young women whom Rafael routinely seduces...
('Ferpect Crime', 2004) - La habitación del niño ('The Baby's Room', 2006)
- The Oxford MurdersThe Oxford Murders (film)The Oxford Murders is a 2008 film directed by Álex de la Iglesia. This thriller film is adapted from the novel of the same name by the Argentine mathematician and writer Guillermo Martínez. The film stars Elijah Wood, John Hurt and the Spanish actress Leonor Watling.-Plot:It is 1993...
(2008) - Balada Triste de TrompetaThe Last CircusThe Last Circus is a 2010 Spanish film by Director Álex de la Iglesia. It premiered at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.-Plot:In 1937, a "Happy" clown is forcibly recruited to serve in the Spanish Civil War, where he massacres an entire platoon with a machete still in costume.In 1973, near the end of...
('The Last Circus', 2010) - The Yellow Mark (TBA)
- Think About Disney (TBA)
Acting
- Los Increíbles (The IncrediblesThe IncrediblesThe Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated action-comedy superhero film about a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant of The Simpsons, and was produced by Pixar and distributed by...
Spanish version, voice) - Spanish MovieSpanish MovieSpanish Movie is a 2009 Spanish parody film directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera and written by Paco Cabezas.The production makes spoofs of several successful Spanish horror/drama films in the box like Los Otros, El Orfanato, The Sea Inside, Alatriste, El laberinto del fauno, Abre los ojos, Los lunes al...
(2009)