One of the biggest Spanish buzz-makers of the year, "Official Competition" has come back from the halt it was brought to by the impacts of coronavirus. The production has resumed, but the minds of contributors are still filled with doubts.
International Spanish production is facing the risks of a second stoppage due to a variety of pandemic-related and economic issues.
A large swath of the entertainment industry has been badly impacted by the virus. Some of the projects have emerged out of it, while others still struggle to reorient their strategies to meet the coronavirus measures and finish the shoot without having any hiccups.
Penelope Cruz’s "Official Competition" belongs to the later defined category. The shoot for the project had been going on for only 8 days in March when it was announced that there would nationwide shutdown in Spain due to the coronavirus. Unfortunately, as the production has been resumed, there are fears of second coronavirus lurking in the country due to the rising daily number of new COVID cases in Spain.
However, the resumption of work on the sets of the much-awaited movie has given fans a sigh of relief.
The film features an international cast including Argentine heavyweight Oscar Martínez, a former San Sebastian, Venice, and Argentine Academy best actor award-winner, plus two Argentina-based directors, Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn.
The project helmer Duprat has shed light on how the pandemic has helped the project get more thoughts and be better. During an interaction with media, speaking of what to expect from Official Competition, Duprat said:
“Within all the negatives of interrupting a shoot, there was something positive: We had an unusually large amount of time to study the already-shot material, and to put under a microscope the screenplay for what is left to film. The material we already have is wonderful: Penélope, Antonio, and Oscar are extraordinary. The scenes have what we wanted, an uncomfortable mix of tension and sarcasm in an aesthetic framework of great conceptual strength.”
Going at the current pace, the production of the movie may be finished by the first quarter of next year. But for fans who are waiting for Penelope Cruz’s next big work, the release date may go back towards the end of 2022. Hoping is the production won’t be pushed back now, but the situations may take a turn at any moment until a safe vaccine is produced and widely available.