Academy Award-winning writer and director Pedro Almodóvar’s upcoming Western short film titled Strange Way of Life (Extraña Forma de Vida in the original Spanish) has set its stars in Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke. Almodóvar, the most well-known Spanish filmmaker of current times, is set to begin filming the Western sometime in late August.
The director’s English language filmmaking repertoire began in 2020 with the short film The Human Voice ,which starred Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton. After shooting Strange Way of Life, Almodóvar will have his English-speaking feature debut with A Manual for Cleaning Women based on Lucia Berlin’s The New York Times bestseller. The movie is planned for next year and will star Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett.
In Strange Way of Life, Hawke and Pascal will portray a duo of middle-aged gunslingers, Jake and Silva. According to Variety, the short film begins with Silva riding across the desert to visit Sheriff Jake in Bitter Creek. A little over two decades prior, the men had worked together as hired gunslingers. Silva’s intention in going to Bitter Creek is to have a pleasant reunion with his old friend. However, Jake has another secret reason that hasn’t got to do with reliving the memories from when they were work partners. Reportedly, Almodóvar has kept the rest of the plot under wraps.
The title of the film is inspired by a song by the most iconic Portuguese fado singer to have ever lived, Amália Rodrigues. “Estranha Forma de Vida”, as it is called in Portuguese, is a song that expresses feelings of anxiety, melancholy, the uniquely Portuguese term “saudade”, and the difficulty of curbing one’s heart’s desires.
Strange Way of Life will be shot in the Tabernas desert region of Almería, Spain, the same region where the 1966 Spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was shot. The movie will be co-produced by Almodóvar and his brother Agustín’s production company El Deseo and the luxury French fashion brand Saint Laurent, which will also be responsible for the costume design. Almodóvar’s production company is also currently building a ranch close to the capital city of Madrid to shoot additional scenes.
Starring alongside Hawke and Pascal are young Spanish actors Jason Fernández, George Steane, and Manu Ríos, and Portuguese actor José Condessa. Pedro Casablanc and Sara Salámo will also be starring in the project.
There is no release date for Strange Way of Life as of yet.