Catalan film director J.A. Bayona to make science fiction movie with Warner

Barcelona (ACN).– After conquering the world of Spanish cinema with his movie “The Orphanage” and entering the worldwide market with “The Impossible”, Juan Antonio Bayona is to work on a project with Eric Roth, script writer of “Forrest Gump”, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” or “Munich” among others. Roth was nominated for the Oscars for each one of these movies mentioned and came out top with “Forrest Gump”. Following the Spanish Film Academy awards ceremony in Madrid, Bayona defined the project he’s working on as a “very big one”. “Roth describes the film as a project halfway between ‘2001: A Space Odissey’ and the ‘Star Wars’ franchise”, he said.

This announcement comes after the unveiling of the winners of the Spanish movie awards, the Goyas. “The Impossible” won five awards, including Best Director, which went to Bayona. The success of the movie and its boost to the Spanish box office and cinema were highlighted during a ceremony that strongly criticised cuts in the field of culture.

“The Impossible”, whose plot is based on a true story, is centered on the Tsunami that devastated Asia in 2004 from the viewpoint of a surviving Spanish family, played by Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. The movie broke all box office records in Spain. It soon became the biggest box-office movie of all time in the whole of Spain, bringing €26 million in income, as well as receiving positive reviews all round the world.

The launch of a young director

37 year-old Bayona was born in the city of Barcelona, and even though he directed several commercials, short films and video clips before entering the film industry, it was not until his first movie, “The Orphanage”, in 2007, when he became one of Spain’s best-known directors.   

The project that Bayona has announced he will undertake will be only his third movie. Since his very first film, “The Orphanage”, Bayona brought admiration from the Hollywood industry, which is now offering him the opportunity of making the final leap from Spanish cinema into Hollywood.  

A Goya to end up in the bottom of the sea

Bayona gave his Goya award for Best Director to María Belón, the woman that inspired the film “The Impossible”. After the Goya Awards’ ceremony, he announced that they will throw the award into the sea, as a tribute for the 236,000 victims of the tsunami.