CANNES, France (AP) 鈥 鈥淧edro! Pedro!鈥 shouted the Cannes crowd before Pedro Almod贸var unveiled his latest film, 鈥淪trange Way of Life,鈥 a 31-minute Western starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke as cowboys and former lovers.
There's nothing quite like the fervor that greets a new film from Almod贸var, one of the world鈥檚 most beloved filmmakers. But that may have been doubly so for 鈥淪trange Way of Life鈥 even though it鈥檚 a quarter the length of his usual output. So frenzied was the scene that
When Almod贸var introduced his all-male cast on stage at the film's Cannes Film Festival premiere, some in the audience had to cool themselves. John C. Reilly, president of this year's Un Certain regard jury, kindly reached across the aisle with his hat to fan one excited moviegoer.
鈥淚 was not sure that I鈥檇 make a Western in my life but at least I made a short,鈥 Almod贸var said smiling the next day in an interview on a hotel terrace overlooking the Croisette.
The 73-year-old Spanish auteur has been edging closer to working in English. He's done it now in two shorts 鈥 , and 鈥淪trange Way of Life," sponsored by Saint Laurent 鈥 and is preparing to make his first English-language feature after abandoning 鈥淎 Manual for Cleaning Women,鈥 a film he had prepared to make with Cate Blanchett.
鈥淪trange Way of Life鈥 again suggests Almod贸var works just as effortlessly in English as he does in Spanish. Pascal (who had to miss the film's premiere) and Hawke play a pair of former gunslingers who meet up 25 years years after a torrid affair. They briefly rekindle their love for another, but one's stubborn insistence that a life together is an impossibility leads to a violent climax.
Almod贸var, a deeply knowledgeable film buff who has consciously worked in melodrama, noir and screwball genres before, discovered his love of Westerns in his early 20s. He lists John Sturges, Henry Hathaway, Anthony Mann and Howard Hawks among his favorites. 鈥淛ohn Ford is unlimited,鈥 he says.
But the genre goes even deeper than that for Almod贸var. He remembers his father trying to teach him as a boy how to ride a horse. ("And I was so afraid that he couldn鈥檛," he says.)
鈥淭he Western was born at the beginning of the century with cinema. What Hollywood did was create the American epic and also stylize their reality,鈥 says Almod贸var, speaking alongside Hawke. 鈥淏ut their reality was very dusty and very ugly. It was not glamorous. They created a style which was completely American and also a completely male genre. I thought that if there were that many men, some of them could desire each other.鈥
Almod贸var has come closer before. In the early 鈥90s, he sought the rights to adapt Tom Spanbauer鈥檚 鈥淭he Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon,鈥 but says a Western with gay cowboys and Native Americans was a tough sell. Almod贸var also turned down 鈥淏rokeback Mountain,鈥 which Ang Lee made in 2005. He wanted to make a more full-fledged Western, with gunfights. Just with holsters slung over the bed post.
鈥淔or me, 鈥楤rokeback Mountain,鈥 they have the hats, the iconography of the Western. But they were sheepherders. They were not cowboys. They were not hired killers鈥 says Almod贸var. 鈥淭he past of (my characters), for me, they were part of a gang like 鈥楾he Wild Bunch鈥 of Sam Peckinpah. And they have an affair.鈥
鈥淪trange Way of Life,鈥 which Sony Pictures Classics will release later this year, was shot on some hallowed Western ground, in Almeria, Spain, where Sergio Leone made some of his classic spaghetti Westerns.
鈥淵ou feel yourself a part of the legend of cinema history,鈥 says Hawke. 鈥淭o be in Spain, with Pedro, making an American Western, it was very meta.鈥
And it's delightful to see Almod贸var at work in a new genre, yet just as at home, filling the frame with pops of color (Pascal's character wears a lime green jacket) and flourishes of emotion. To him, much of Hollywood history can be reexamined through a queer lens with a little imagination.
鈥淭here is some vast territory to explore because they didn鈥檛 explore it before," says Almod贸var. "I sometimes make an exercise 鈥 it鈥檚 not an obsession 鈥攚here I change the sexuality of the main character. It could be that and be the same movie in noirs and thrillers.鈥
The 1949 James Cagney gangster film 鈥淲hite Heat," for instance, Almod贸var says, would be just the same if Edmund O'Brien's undercover inmate was gay.
But whatever the genre, 鈥淪trange Way of Life鈥 extends yet another vibrant chapter in Almod贸var's filmography, now in its fifth decade, following the (2019) and the 2021 鈥淧arallel Lives.鈥
鈥淓very movie is an adventure and this is part of the addiction,鈥 Almod贸var says. 鈥淭he uncertainty is the word that defines it. Even though I鈥檝e made 22 movies and two shorts, I don't feel like I know I how to do this. Because every movie is different.鈥
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This story first moved on May 19, 2023, and was updated on May 23, 2023 to correct the titles of 鈥淎 Manual for Cleaning Women鈥 and 鈥淪trange Way of Life鈥 in one location.
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