
Alex
de la Iglesia
Film Director
From
Franco and the Spanish Secret Service to futuristic Italian robots,
Spanish film director Alex de la Iglesia sees comic potential in every
facet of life.
Alex de la Iglesia used to be a cartoonist. Which explains a lot. His
films are packed with striking colours and blackly funny sketches which
move with the jerky frenzy of a comic strip. In person he is friendly
and thoughtful but still carries a definite whiff of the mad inventor
in the bedroom which all cartoonists seem to possess. Endearingly scruffy
in baggy black sweatpants and shirt, he is also wearing those big floppy
brown-checked slippers that granddads love.
At 34, he is the new darling of Spanish cinema, taking over neatly from
his mentor Pedro Almodóvar. His hit movie, Muertos de risa, starring
El Gran Wyoming and Santiago Segura, raked near of 1,6 million EURO in
its first week, setting an instant Spanish record. It was the black
and bloody tale of comedy duo Nino and Bruno who are locked in mutual
hate and dependency and set on the path towards destruction. It has
the double seam of humour and nastiness that runs through all his films.
And some horrifically bad '70s clothes.
He is part of an increasingly healthy Spanish film industry growing
in recognition outside the country. "As far as film-making goes,
Spain is one of the most open countries precisely because we were under
a dictator for 40 years. We have finally lost the term españolada
[a derogatory name for the lightweight romances churned out in the '50s
and '60s] which we deserved at the time because we spent many years
in this country boring people to tears at the pictures. Now we have
a truly diverse cinema and it's fantastic."