Rodar Sees ‘Mirage’ as English-Lingo Debut (EXCLUSIVE)
“The Orphanage” producer Rodar y Rodar is teaming with Atresmedia, the film arm of top Spanish broadcaster Atresmedia group, to produce $20 million sci-fi thriller “Mirage,” Rodar’s English-language debut.
Oriol Paulo, (pictured) who helmed Rodar’s early-year hit El cuerpo (“The Body”), has written a second-draft screenplay and is on board to direct.
A typical character-driven psychological thriller, a mix that has won Spanish genre movies admirers and buyers around the world, “Mirage” turns on a mother battling to find her lost son. It is set in parallel worlds of 1980, 2000 and 2014, said Rodar producer Joaquin Padro.
“’Mirage’ is based on a terrifying premise,” Paulo said. “What if one life had to be lost in order to save another?”
A more detailed plot is under wraps.
Movie is set in a middle-class small U.S. town, he added. Rodar aims to shoot exteriors in North America, interiors in Spain, where costs are considerably lower. “Mirage” is out to top actors. “Mirage” would crew up in Spain where, after films such as “Buried” and “The Impossible,” top tech talent is held in high regard.
Padro is in Cannes to discuss ”Mirage” financing with studios and mini-majors, he said. Rodar co-produced “Julia’s Eyes,” another psychological thriller, with United Pictures Intl.
On a second Rodar flagship movie, Peter Safran’s the Safran Co. has boarded the English-language remake of “The Body” and will produce with Rodar and Atresmedia Cine. Paulo would again direct, after shooting “Mirage.”
Santi Amodeo, who has just filmed “Who Killed Bambi?” for Rodar, has written and is set to helm the English-language “Me, My Wife and My Dead Wife,” in which a retired widower gets a second chance in life.
“Shooting in English, we can broaden our markets, accessing actors who can place out film around the world,” he said. “Also, the economic situation in Spain is so bad that we can’t make films just for Spain.”
Related stories
Village Roadshow Invests In Irresistible Films
Foresight CEO Mark Damon Looks Back at Cannes
7 Ways Cannes Has Changed: Fest Vet Gordon Steel Remembers
Get more from Variety.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
