?[Rec]? director Jaume Balagueró presents his latest film project ?Sleep Tight?

Terrassa (CNA) .- One of Catalonia’s most international film directors, Jaume Balagueró, is filming his latest movie entitled ‘Sleep Tight’, a thriller starring Luis Tosar and Marta Etura in the Audiovisual Park of Catalonia (Parc Audiovisual de Catalunya). After the ‘[Rec]’ terror saga, the filmmaker is dropping the subject of suspense but will continue to keep the spectator on the edge of their seat with an intense script written by Alberto Marin. ‘Sleep Tight’ is a Filmax production. While production will end in late July, the movie should be released early next year.
Jaume Balagueró is a Catalan film director from Lleida who is most widely known for his horror films. His first popular movie was ‘Darkness’ (2002), which was followed by ‘Fragile’ (2005), starring American actress Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal). He is internationally known for ‘[Rec] 1’ and ‘[Rec] 2’ and the sequels entitled ‘[REC] Genesis’ and ‘[REC] Apocalypse’ are currently being prepared.

The story of ‘Sleep Tight’ revolves around an unhappy porter who, in order to compensate for his pathetic lifestyle, inflicts sadness on people that live in the luxury building where he works in the Eixample district of Barcelona. The Catalan director is filming this new movie at the Audiovisual Park of Catalonia (Parc Audiovisual de Catalunya), a space he has already used in previous films. This platform for filmmaking, with several studios and facilities, is built within the old and massive building of the Torax Hospital in Terrassa, a hospital specialised in treating tuberculosis.

On this occasion, and after having been totally focused on the ‘[Rec]’ production for the past four years, Balagueró has created a new story “with real people far from bloody horror and supernatural effects”. "Sleep Tight has nothing to do with any movie I've done before”, Balagueró said. He believes his new film will unite suspense and tension to form a “thriller” with a more classical narrative. He acknowledges that at the moment, he does not “feel attracted” to 3D because he believes that “it is complicated enough to shoot in two dimensions” and believes that it should be used only if the story requires so.

For ‘Sleep Tight’, the Catalan filmmaker directs a text written by Alberto Marini, which was shot in English in New York, but a Spanish version has been finally adapted to be shot in Barcelona. The scenario is once again a flat in the Eixample, which Balagueró commented that this was “almost by chance”.

Marta Etura and Luis Tosar are the main actors in the movie. Tosar plays Cesar, the antagonist in the movie, while Etura plays Clara, a bright and happy person who becomes a victim of the obsessive porter's manipulation. The contrast between these two characters generates the film’s conflict, although the doorman does not get what he wants.

Marta Etura explained that this is the first time that she has acted in a suspense movie, but said it was something she had always wanted to do, as well as working with James Balagueró. Etura said that “it is a pleasure working with him because he is someone who is so passionate about his work. Despite this, he still has a very good sense of humour, which is essential when filming such a sordid movie”. Tosar mirrors her sentiments, believing that filming with Balagueró is ”great” because he knows how to discern between what works and what does not in a film.

Alberto San Juan, Iris Almeida, Pep Tosar and Amparo Fernandez are among the actors who complete the cast of ‘Sleep Tight’, a film produced by Julio Fernandez through Filmax. Balagueró plans to end filming on the 23rd of July and hopes the movie will be released in cinemas around the country in February or March of next year.