Biography for
Pedro Almodóvar

photos

board

add

contact

details

Date of Birth

Birth Name

Mini Biography

The most internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker since Luis Buñuel was born in a small town (Calzada de Calatrava) in the impoverished Spanish region of La Mancha. He arrived in Madrid in 1968, and survived by selling used items in the flea-market called El Rastro. Almodóvar couldn't study filmmaking because he didn't have the money to afford it. Besides, the filmmaking schools were closed in early 70s by Franco's government. Instead, he found a job in the Spanish phone company and saved his salary to buy a Super 8 camera. From 1972 to 1978, he devoted himself to make short films with the help of of his friends. The "premieres" of those early films were famous in the rapidly growing world of the Spanish counter-culture. In few years, Almodóvar became a star of "La Movida", the pop cultural movement of late 70s Madrid. His first feature film, Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (1980), was made in 16 mm and blown-up to 35 mm for public release. In 1987, he and his brother Agustín Almodóvar established their own production company: El Deseo, S. A. The "Almodóvar phenomenon" has reached all over the world, making his films very popular in many countries.

Trade Mark

Often uses symbolism and metaphorical techniques to portray circular storylines.

His films often portrays strong female characters and transsexuals.

Trivia

Mother Francisca Caballero and brother Agustín Almodóvar often appear in cameo roles in his movies.

Lead singer of the infamous music duo "Almodóvar & McNamara", a legendary bizarre project that personified the image of "la movida madrileña" during the early 1980s in Madrid. He appears in that role in his own film Laberinto de pasiones (1982) (a.k.a. "Labyrinth of Passion") wearing women's clothes and lots of black makeup.

Attended a Catholic boarding school in the 1960s where some of his fellow students were abused by priests. He asserts that he himself wasn't abused.

He spent 10 years writing the script for Mala educación, La (2004) (a.k.a. "Bad Education"), during which time he made such acclaimed films such as Todo sobre mi madre (1999) (a.k.a. "All About my Mother") and Hable con ella (2002) (a.k.a. "Talk to Her"). The script is based upon a short story he wrote as an adolescent, which was based upon his experience at a Catholic boarding school.

1992: Member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

Celebrity chef Rachael Ray is a big fan of his and named a chicken dish after him.

Personal Quotes

All my movies have an autobiographical dimension, but that is indirectly, through the personages. In fact, I am behind everything that happens and that is said, but I am never talking about myself in first person singular. Something in me--probably a dislike of cheap exhibitionism--stops me from approaching a project too autobiographically.

Already when I was very young, I was a fabulador. I loved to give my own version of stories that everybody already knew. When I got out of a movie with my sisters, I retold them the whole story. In general they liked my version better than the one they had seen.

Cinema has become my life. I don't mean a parallel world, I mean my life itself. I sometimes have the impression that the daily reality is simply there to provide material for my next film.

[on his experience in the Catholic boarding school he lived in as a young man and on which Mala educación, La (2004) is based] The education we received was about guilt, sin, punishment.

[on why it took ten years to finish the script for Mala educación, La (2004)] [It] deals with my own biography . . . it took time to remove myself from it. Now it's not me. I changed the tone of the story, but the main situation is the same.

I do remember having extreme physical fear of the priests. One of the things we had to do was kiss the priest's hand, which I found revolting. The notorious abuser, who eventually had to leave, had this harem of about 20 boys.

I don't get involved with my actors. I don't get so involved with the films . . . If I lived like my characters, I would have been dead before I made 16 films.

Cinema can fill in the empty spaces of your life and your loneliness.

The characters in my films are assassins, rapists and so on, but I don't treat them as criminals, I talk about their humanity.

My first ambition was to be a writer. I have always been very interested in writing. But it seems to me that I have more capacity for telling a story with images. It seems I have more talent for filmmaking than for writing a novel, which is my dream. I have always found it easy to let my imagination go. You do not just need imagination for filmmaking, you also need a lot of passion. When I discovered filmmaking as a way of telling stories, I felt that I had found something that was in my nature. I am glad that I had this ambition to be a novelist because it has helped me in filmmaking.

In the last decade you can count the number of Hollywood dramas that have revolved around women. The studios have forgotten that women are fascinating.

	You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.
	With our Resume service you can add photos and build a complete resume to help you achieve the best possible presentation on the IMDb. Click here to add your resume and/or your photos to IMDb.

Browse biographies section by name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z