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Actress Penelope Cruz was on ‘Charlie Rose’ last night, where she discussed her latest movie Broken Embraces.  Cruz is very genuine in this interview. I find Charlie Rose’s approach to celebrities very relaxing for the celebrity and very insightful for the viewer. 

Here is what Cruz told Rose about the influence of Oscar winning director Pedro Almodovar:

“I was fascinated with him as an artist and with him as a person because of what he represented in our country.  The first thing I remember was in the ‘80’s, and I was watching movies that I was not old enough to watch.  But I was really fascinated by his way of seeing the world.

And the time that I saw Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down I was 13.  And I always tell this story, but it’s true, that that was the day when I took a walk by myself after I watched the movie and I decided to look for an agent and try to become an actress so that I could one day meet him and work with him.” 

If you missed last night’s interview with Penelope Cruz, catch it again tonight on BLOOMBERG TELEVISION at 8PM and 10PM ET, or listen to the interview simulcast on Bloomberg Radio.  Bloomberg Radio is broadcast on 1130AM in the New York Metropolitan area and is available on XM and Sirius.

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Here is the domestic trailer for Broken Embraces, starring Penelope Cruz and directed by Pedro Almodovar.  I love the vivid colors and dramatic looks of Cruz as she takes on personas in the trailer.  I am not familiar with Almodovar’s work but it looks surreal. But I am compelled to watch the trailer over and over again. It’s quite striking. Don’t you think?

I don’t think the trailer sets the movie right, so I have included the story line below.  The movie opens November 20, 2009.

A man writes, lives and loves in darkness. Fourteen years before, he was in a brutal car crash on the island of Lanzarote. In the accident, he not only lost his sight, he also lost Lena, the love of his life. 

This man uses two names: Harry Caine, a playful pseudonym with which he signs his literary works, stories and scripts, and Mateo Blanco, his real name, with which he lives and signs the film he directs. After the accident, Mateo Blanco reduces himself to his pseudonym, Harry Caine. If he can’t direct films he can only survive with the idea that Mateo Blanco died on Lanzarote with his beloved Lena.  

In the present day, Harry Caine lives thanks to the scripts he writes and to the help he gets from his faithful former production manager, Judit García, and from Diego, her son, his secretary, typist and guide. 

Since he decided to live and tell stories, Harry is an active, attractive blind man who has developed all his other senses in order to enjoy life, on a basis of irony and self-induced amnesia. He has erased from his biography any trace of his first identity, Mateo Blanco.

One night Diego has an accident and Harry takes care of him (his mother, Judit, is out of Madrid and they decide not to tell her anything so as not to alarm her). During the first nights of his convalescence, Diego asks him about the time when he answered to the name of Mateo Blanco, after a moment of astonishment Harry can’t refuse and he tells Diego what happened fourteen years before with the idea of entertaining him, just as a father tells his little child a story so that he’ll fall asleep.

The story of Mateo, Lena, Judit and Ernesto Martel is a story of “amour fou”, dominated by fatality, jealously, the abuse of power, treachery and a guilt complex. A moving and terrible story, the most expressive image of which is the photo of two lovers embracing, torn into a thousand pieces.

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Penelope Cruz is reported to be in early negotiations to reteam with Italian director Sergio Castellitto for Venuto al Mondo (Into the World).

Based on a novel by Castellitto’s wife, Margaret Mazzantini, the film will be set in Sarajevo and follow a single mother.

Shooting is most likely set to begin next year.

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The winner is Mike (16) — congratulations.

In this humorous love story, the vibrant Spanish city of Barcelona becomes a place of passion – following two young American women who are seduced by a local artist. The unusual circumstance, however, is instantly complicated when his fiery ex-wife makes her way back into his life and interferes with his new relationships.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is another cinematic gem from Oscar winning writer and director, Woody Allen. The film highlights Golden Globe nominated performances from Oscar winner Javier Bardem, (No Country For Old Men), Oscar nominee Penelope Cruz (Volver) and Rebecca Hall (The Prestige). The fantastic cast is also rounded out by co-stars Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation), a four-time Golden Globe nominee, and Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson (Pieces of April).

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On behalf of Screenhead and The Weinstein Company and Genius Products, we are excited to announce the DVD release of the 2009 Golden Globe nominated film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona – on shelves January 27, 2009.

We have a two prize giveaway! The DVD and a special Vicky Cristina Barcelona pocket Spanish-English Dictionary. 

Post your name and Screenhead will pick the winner Friday, January 31, 2009.   

In this humorous love story, the vibrant Spanish city of Barcelona becomes a place of passion – following two young American women who are seduced by a local artist. The unusual circumstance, however, is instantly complicated when his fiery ex-wife makes her way back into his life and interferes with his new relationships.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is another cinematic gem from Oscar winning writer and director, Woody Allen. The film highlights Golden Globe nominated performances from Oscar winner Javier Bardem, (No Country For Old Men), Oscar nominee Penelope Cruz (Volver) and Rebecca Hall (The Prestige). The fantastic cast is also rounded out by co-stars Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation), a four-time Golden Globe nominee, and Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson (Pieces of April).

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Apparently, Sony Picture Classics persuade Pedro Almodovar to Broken Embraces, the director’s latest alliance with actress Penelope Cruz that he also scripted. 

The film also stars Almodovar friends Lluis Homar and Blanca Portillo.  The film has been reported several times to be shot in the style of 1950s American film noir. Almodovar is filming on location in Madrid and the Canary Islands.

The story engages four people in a love story and “touches on many genres,” including thriller, according to Variety.

The film will be the 10th Almodovar film from Sony’s specialty arm. Filmmaker calls the film movie “the most novel-like story I have written to date” and says its shadowy look was partly inspired by a series of migraines that rendered him ultra-sensitive to bright lights.

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An indepth and under the skin interview by Charlie Rose had with Dennis Hopper, Penelope Cruz and Director Isabel Coixet from Elegy.  Rose discusses the perfection of the film and gives audiences a preview of Elegy.

Elegy had an amazing opening weekend this past weekend. It opened on 6 screens grossing $102,000 with a $17,000 average per screen! 

Charlie Rose interview with Elegy cast.

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Penelope Cruz and Ben Kingsley play off each other so real in this film. This movie will not be a blockbuster, but it’s a great movie to appreciate two actors who work well together.

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Check out this trailer of “Elegy.” Ben Kingsely and Penelope Cruz are dynamite. “Passionate relationship between a celebrated college professor and a young woman whose beauty both ravishes and destabilizes him. As their intimate connection transforms them-more than either could imagine-a charged sexual contest evolves into an indelible love story.”

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