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A film by Pedro Almodvar

THE SKIN I LIVE IN

Official Selection:

2011 Cannes Film Festival2011 Toronto International Film Festival2011 New York Film Festival

www.theskiniliveinmovie.com

117 min | Language: Spanish | Rated R | Release Date (NY/LA): 10/14/2011

East Coast PublicityHook Publicity Jessica Uzzan

Mary Ann Hult jessica@hookpublicity.commaryann@hookpublicity.com

917-653-6122 tel

West Coast PublicityBlock KorenbrotMax Buschman

Alexandra Glazer Melody Korenbrot

110 S. Fairfax Ave, #310Los Angeles, CA 90036

323-634-7001 tel323-634-7030 fax

DistributorSony Pictures Classics

Carmelo PirroneLindsay Macik

550 Madison AveNew York, NY 10022

212-833-8833 tel212-833-8844 fax

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THE SKIN I LIVE IN

CAST

Antonio Banderas Robert LedgardElena Anaya VeraMarisa Paredes MariliaJan Cornet VicenteRoberto lamo ZecaEduard Fernndez FulgencioBlanca Surez NormaSusi Snchez Vicentes motherBrbara Lennie CristinaFernando Cayo Doctor

and Jos Luis Gmez President of the Biotechnology Institute

CREW

Director Pedro AlmodvarScreenplay Pedro Almodvar, with the collaboration of Agustn

Almodvar and based on Mygale by Thierry Jonquet,ditions Gallimard

Producers Agustn Almodvar & Esther GarcaComposer Alberto IglesiasEditor Jos SalcedoCinematographer Jos Luis AlcaineArt Director Antxon GmezAssociate Producer Brbara PeirDirector of Production Toni NovellaSound Ivn MarnSound Editor Pelayo GutirrezMixer Marc OrtsMake-up Karmele SolerHair Manolo Carretero

Wardrobe Paco Delgado, with the collaboration of Jean-Paul Gaultier

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LONG SYNOPSIS

Ever since his wife was burned in a car crash, Dr. Robert Ledgard, an eminent plasticsurgeon, has been interested in creating a new skin with which he could have saved her.After twelve years, he manages to cultivate in his own laboratory, a skin that is sensitiveto caresses, but a real shield against all the aggressions, both external and internal, towhich our largest organ is submitted. To obtain it, he has used the possibilities providedby cellular therapy.

In addition to years of study and experimentation, Robert needed a human guinea pig,an accomplice and no scruples. Scruples were never a problem, they werent part of hischaracter. Marilia, the woman who looked after him from the day he was born, is hismost faithful accomplice. And as for the human guinea pig

Over the course of each year, dozens of young people of both sexes disappear from theirhomes, in many cases of their own will. One of those young people will end up sharingthe splendid mansion, El Cigarral, with Robert and Marilia, and will be doing sounwillingly.

SHORT SYNOPSIS

Ever since his wife was burned in a car crash, Dr. Robert Ledgard, an eminent plasticsurgeon, has been interested in creating a new skin with which he could have saved her.After twelve years, he manages to cultivate a skin that is a real shield against every

assault.In addition to years of study and experimentation, Robert needed three more things: noscruples, an accomplice and a human guinea pig. Scruples were never a problem.Marilia, the woman who looked after him from the day he was born, is his most faithfulaccomplice. And as for the human guinea pig

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which the three residents of El Cigarral have been living. Paradoxically, given thecustoms of Carnival, this is the moment when the characters remove their masks and thefinal tragedy casts its black shadow without any of them being able to do anything toprevent it.

A story of these characteristics made me think of Luis Buuel, Alfred Hitchcock, all of Fritz Langs films (from the gothic to thenoir ). I also thought of the pop aesthetic of Hammer horror, or the more psychedelic, kitsch style of the Italiangiallo (DarioArgento, Mario Bava, Umberto Lenzi or Lucio Fulci) and of course the lyricism of Georges Franju in Eyes Without a Face . After evaluating all these references, I realizedthat none of them fitted with what I needed forThe Skin I Live In . For some months Ithought seriously about making a silent film, in black and white, with captions whichshowed descriptions and dialogue. And paying tribute to Fritz Lang and Murnau. Afterdoubting for months, I decided to go my own way and let myself be carried along byintuition, after all, its what Ive always done, without the shadow of the maestros of thegenre (among other reasons because I dont know to what genre this film belongs) andrenouncing my own cinematic memory. I only knew that I had to impose an austerenarrative, free of visual rhetoric and not at all gory, even though a lot of blood has beenspilled in the ellipses that we dont see. It isnt the first time Ive started from thispremise before shooting, but I think thatThe Skin I Live In is the film where I have gotclosest to it.

Ive been accompanied on this journey by Jos Luis Alcaine, the director of photography, to whom I didnt explain what I wanted but rather what I didnt want, andhe knew how to give the photography the density, the glow and the darkness that suitedit best. The musician Alberto Iglesias, the only artist I know without an ego, tireless,versatile, patient, capable of looking in one direction and then looking in the oppositedirection if I wasnt satisfied, always subject to the dictates of the story and my way of feeling it. And actors who were generous and precise, despite the obvious discomfort of some of their scenes. Ill name them all: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, MarisaParedes, Jan Cornet, Roberto lamo, Blanca Surez, Eduard Fernndez, Susi Snchez,Brbara Lennie and Jos Luis Gmez.