ARCADIA MOTION PICTuRES ARIANE FILMS

SYNOPSIS
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
James Blackthorn is an old Gringo living quietly in the green tropical
valleys of Bolivia. He breeds horses and has a romantic friendship with a
native woman. He’s getting on in years and wants to die at home, in the
United States.
One of the things that I like most about Westerns is that it’s a truly
moral genre. The characters face life and death, and other very
important matters (freedom, commitment and loyalty, courage, treachery,
ownership and money, justice, friendship and even love) in very pure and
simple terms. The decisions they make are not only very dramatic, but set
examples. What more can you ask from a film? From any dramatic work?
It’s a genre that helps us look at our own life and find a way to face it.
His real name is Butch Cassidy, one of the last and most famous outlaws
from the far West. But the legend of his life has almost faded into oblivion as
everyone believes him long dead.
As he crosses the high plateau on his way home, James encounters another
rider, far younger and inexperienced. A Spanish mine engineer by the
name of Eduardo Apodaca who is fleeing after having robbed a mine.
Remembering his past and in need of money, Blackthorn decides to
accompany the young man on his frantic flight across Bolivia. During this
time the two men, although very different, will become friends amongst the
violence and the loneliness of the Bolivian desert.
But Blackthorn is not the only one with a secret... In no
man’s land and hounded by more and more armed men, both men will
have no choice but to reveal their true intentions and face reality, once
and for all.
Blackthorn encloses al these subjects in such a way that we realize how
contemporary they are, how important moral outlook is in the world we live
in nowadays, in the society we have built, that seems to have forgotten it or
considers it obsolete… By facing these matters from a modern point of view
(conscious of the fact that the legendary American outlaw will end up as just
another extra in Hollywood Westerns) the outlook is obviously nostalgic.
In my opinion, that ever present melancholy is the most attractive part of this
project and forces us to get intimately acquainted with our main hero: That
tired and lonely old man who, for an instant, recovers all his energy and dreams
due to someone who seems to reincarnate the past, his old friends and ideals,
but turns out to be an imposter (the young mine engineer who, what irony,
proceeds from the Old Continent).
A disguise that is an obvious metaphor of a future where moral is dangerously
hazy as personal interests take top priority.
Therefore, for me Blackthorn would not be a film made up by grandiose
images and “traditional aesthetic”, of slow camera movements and tall crane
shots; but of closer images, near to the characters, that allow us to see the
landscape through their eyes as they reveal the most intimate side of their
dramatic voyage: The deep seated feelings our main character feels for the land
that has sheltered him; his feelings about the past and how they are reawakened
by the appearance of his new comrade; his feelings towards the woman with
whom he spends his afternoons, although the passion of love is absent, affection,
respect and carnality are all present; his feelings toward a young man he has
never met but who could very well be his son, to whom he writes and directs
every last effort; how he feels about the small things that surround him, his clean
but simple home, his horses, what he chooses to take with him on this last trek,
where he chooses to sleep each night as they advance…
Let’s get as close as possible to the characters and their story, by
doing so, we will be capable of making a truly universal film.
Mateo Gil
CAST
CREW
James Blackthorn .................................................................... Sam Shepard
Eduardo Apocada ............................................................. Eduardo Noriega
Mackinley ................................................................................. Stephen Rea
Mateo Gil (DIRECTOR), a Spanish scriptwriter and director, started
with Alejandro Amenábar as a screenwriter on Tesis and Abre los
ojos. He also has directed some successful and award-winning short
films like Allanamiento de morada, Soñé que te mataba and
Antes del beso. His first full-length movie was Nobody Knows
Anybody (1999). He was the screenwriter of the Spanish hit The Sea
Inside, The Method and Agora.
Yana ............................................................................................................ Magaly Solier
Young James ............................................................................ Nicolak Coster-Waldau
Sundance .............................................................................................. Padraic Delaney
Etta ............................................................................................ Dominique McElligott
Sam Shepard
Eduardo Noriega
Stephen Rea
The Assassination of Jesse James
by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
The Notebook (2004)
All the Pretty Horses (2000)
For the Good of Others (2010)
Transsiberian (2008)
Captain Alatriste (2006)
Nobody Knows Anybody (1999)
Open Your Eyes (1997)
Thesis (1996)
The Reaping (2007)
V for Vendetta (2005)
River Queen (2005)
Control (2004)
Scriptwriter ...................................................................... Miguel Barros
Executive producers .................................................. Ibon Cormenzana
Andrés Santana
Director of photography ............................................... J.A. Ruiz Anchía
Production manager .................................................... Andrés Santana
Artistic director ................................................. Juan Pedro De Gaspar
Sound ..................................................................... Daniel Fontrodona
Sound designer .............................................................. Fabiola Ordoyo
Editor ................................................................................ David Gallart
Special effects .................................................................... Reyes Abades
Wardrobe ............................................................................. Clara Bilbao
Makeup .................................................................................. Ana López
Hairdressing ........................................................................ Belén López
Produced by Arcadia Motion Pictures and Ariane Mararía with the
collaboration of TVE – Televisión Española and Sogecable.
ARCADIA MOTION PICTURES
ARCADIA MOTION PICTURES was created by Ibon Cormenzana in 2005
with the goal of producing high-quality audiovisual projects combining young talent
and international potential. In 2006, AMP produced “The Birthday” directed
by Eugenio Mira. This film was awarded with numerous prizes at fantasy film
festivals around the world. In 2007 AMP produced “The Totenwackers”, a
children’s adventure film co-produced with Buenavista & Future Films directed by
Ibon Cormenzana and sold to more than twenty countries.
In 2008 ARCADIA MOTION PICTURES partner’s created Arcadia Capital
with the objective of promoting private investment in audiovisual productions
taking advantage of Spanish tax deductions. In 2009 ARCADIA MOTION
PICTURES produced, using private investment sourced by Arcadia Capital,
three feature films which included “14 days with Victor”, Roman
Parrado’s opera prima starring Margo Stilley, Fernando Tielve and
Joe Dixon; “¿Are you there?” a Spanish romantic comedy directed by
Roberto Santiago; and “Jackboots on Whitehall” directed by the
McHerny Brothers.
Current projects for 2010-2011 include “Blackthorn”, a modern western directed
by Mateo Gil starring Sam Shepard and Eduardo Noriega (currently
filming), Pablo Berger’s new project entitled “Snowhite” with Maribel Verdú
and original music composed by Alberto Iglesias, and “Into the storm” to be
directed by Alex & David Pastor.
ARIANE FILMS
AIETE-ARIANE FILMS was founded in 1999 as the successor to,
and partner of Aiete Films S.A., a production company created
in Guipúzcoa in 1983 by film director Imanol Uribe, Javier
Aguirresarobe, José Ángel Rebolledo and Gonzalo Ferández
Berridi. It is currently directed by Andrés Ignacio Quintana.
In 1983, AIETE FILMS produced its first movie, “Michael’s Death”
(La muerte de Mikel), directed by Imanol Uribe. His extensive film
credits include works such as “The Dumbfounded King” (El rey
pasmado), which won eight Goyas, “Días contados”, ”Plenilunio”
and the internationally acclaimed “Carol’s Journey” (El viaje de
Carol).
AIETE-ARIANE has also produced Montxo Armendáriz’s “Secrets
of the Heart” (Secretos del Corazón), which earned four Goyas, and
Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón’s “Visionaries” (Visionarios), amongst
other films.
TECHNICAL
Genre: Western - Adventure
Shooting format: HD 1:1,85.
Running Time: 100 min aprox
Sound: DOLBY DIGITAL
Shooting locations: Bolivia
Shooting dates: April – June 2010
Budget: 4,8M€
Theatrical release: FEBRUARY 2011