Despite already having two pictures on deck, Pedro Almodovar is continuing to load his plate with additional projects. The director is already slated to start filming Los Abrazos Rotos in May, with his long-delayed tale of revenge, La Piel Que Habito still on hold, but that hasn’t stopped him from optioning the rights to the memoirs of poet Marcos Ana, who was jailed for 23 years by the regime of Francisco Franco.
Almodovar announced his intention to make a picture based on the memoirs in a tribute to the poet in Sunday’s edition of the Spanish newspaper El Pais. He plans to direct the project himself, which means it may be some time before the picture actually gets made.
According to Variety, the plan is for Almodovar to write a screenplay over the next year, allowing time for the director to catch up on some of his other projects before shooting begins.
The movie will look at the life of Marcos Ana, and the effect his 23 year prison sentence had on his life as a whole. The story would be told over the course of one night, with flashbacks providing insight into other events in Ana’s life. Almodovar called it, ”the story of Marcos Ana’s first love, and a prostitute who refused to charge him, because nights like that are priceless.” Having spent so much of his life in prison, Ana is self-described as a 42-year-old boy, who finds love in a cabaret.
