Think of the great double acts, and you’re likely to think of Ant and Dec, De Niro and Scorsese, Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
But over the years, another class double act has been quietly going about its business – Penelope Cruz and Pedro Almodovar.
The Spanish director and his muse last teamed to great effect in 2006’s Volver, for which Cruz was nominated for an Oscar. But that was their fourth collaboration in a run stretching back to 1997’s Live Flesh.
And now they’re going to reunite for Broken Embraces, a noir-esque thriller-cum-romance from Almodovar, which has been shooting in Madrid and the Canary Islands. And this can only be a good thing.
Described by Almodovar as an amour fou involving four characters (Cruz is joined by Blanca Portillo, Lluis Homar and Jose Luis Gomez), Broken Embraces will have a shadowy visual style developed by Almodovar after he developed an migraines-induced aversion to bright light.
The Sony Pictures Classic film is produced by Pedro’s brother, Agustin.