Alex de la Iglesia

Alejandro de la Iglesia Mendoza, known as Álex de la Iglesia (Bilbao, December 4, 1965), is a Spanish film director, producer and screenwriter. He was previously a cartoonist.

In June 2009, he was elected president of the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, a position he held until after the 2011 Goya Gala, held on February 13, 2011, after which he resigned, due to his disagreement with the Sinde Law.

Biography

Studies and beginnings

Graduated in Philosophy from the University of Deusto, he began drawing comics in the fanzines No, el fanzine maldito and Metacrilato, and in magazines such as Trokola, Burdinjaun and La Ría del Ocio. It was also at this time, between 1986 and 1989, when he founded one of the first role-playing clubs in Bilbao. from Spain, Los Pelotas.^{[citation required]}

His debut in the cinematographic medium was as artistic director in the short film Mamá (1988), by Pablo Berger and he performed the same task in the film Todo por la pasta (1991), by Enrique Urbizu. He had already collaborated with Enrique Urbizu and Joaquín Trincado, designing the poster for their first feature film, Your girlfriend is crazy (1988).

His first short film, Mirindas asesinas (1991), managed to attract the attention of Pedro Almodóvar, whose production company El Deseo collaborated on De la Iglesia's first feature film, Mutant Action (1993).

Day of the Beast

Then he premiered the film that would consecrate him as one of the most relevant directors of Spanish cinema: The Day of the Beast (1995) written together with Jorge Guerricaechevarría, a regular scriptwriter in most of his films. The film won six Goya awards, among which the award for best director stands out. This work made Santiago Segura one of the best-known actors in Spain and brought back the actress Terele Pávez, since then a regular face in his films.

Later works

Subsequently, the director has been alternating ambitious productions aimed at an international audience, and others more attached to the Spanish tradition, with touches of grotesque and black humor. Many veteran Spanish film actors have worked under him, from Carmen Maura to María Asquerino, as well as several Hollywood stars: Rosie Pérez, Elijah Wood, John Hurt or Salma Hayek.

He directed Javier Bardem, Rosie Pérez and James Gandolfini in Perdita Durango (1997), Santiago Segura and El Gran Wyoming in Muertos de risa (1999), a Carmen Maura, Manuel Tejada and Paca Gabaldón in The Community (2000), with Sancho Gracia, Ángel de Andrés López and Eusebio Poncela in 800 Bullets (2002), with Guillermo Toledo, Mónica Cervera and Kira Miró in Crimen ferpecto (2004), and Elijah Wood, Leonor Watling and John Hurt in The Oxford Murders (2007).

Sad trumpet ballad

His film Sad Trumpet Ballad (2010) was awarded two prizes at the 67th Venice Film Festival, for best screenplay and the Silver Lion for directing. In addition, it was nominated for fifteen Goya Awards in 2011, including Best Director, Best Film, and Best Original Screenplay. Of all of them he received the awards for the best makeup and the best special effects.

Box office hits

Alex of the Church in the 2019 Goya Awards.

In 2011 he premiered La chispa de la vida, with José Mota and Salma Hayek as protagonists and shot in Cartagena.

In 2013 he premiered The Witches of Zugarramurdi. Filming began in the fall of 2012 with an extensive cast that includes Carmen Maura, Macarena Gómez, Hugo Silva, Mario Casas, Carolina Bang, Terele Pávez or Pepón Nieto, and cameos by Santiago Segura or Carlos Areces. The film premiered in Spain on September 27, 2013, and achieved significant commercial success: it raised 14.6 million euros, having cost 6. It won eight Goya awards, including best supporting actress for the veteran Terele Pávez.

De la Iglesia later surprised with My Big Night (2015), an ensemble film in which Raphael participates in his comeback in the cinema 40 years later. He leads a long cast with Mario Casas, Pepón Nieto, Blanca Suárez, Carlos Areces, Luis Callejo, Carmen Machi, Jaime Ordóñez, Santiago Segura, Enrique Villén, Hugo Silva, Carolina Bang, Terele Pávez, Carmen Ruiz, Marta Guerras, Ana Polvorosa, Toni Acosta and Luis Fernández, among others. My big night was another box office success for his director: he managed to raise almost triple the four million euros it cost.

In 2017, Álex de la Iglesia premiered two films: the comedy El Bar, with several of his usual actors (Blanca Suárez, Mario Casas, Carmen Machi, Pepón Nieto, Terele Pávez) and the remake of the Italian film Perfetti sconosciuti, titled in Spanish Perfectos desconocidos, which includes actors such as Belén Rueda and Eduardo Noriega among its cast. This latest film has been the director's biggest box office success so far, with almost 20 million euros collected.

Fear Collection and the rise of Pokeepsie Films

In 2020, it announced that it had partnered with Sony Pictures and Amazon Prime to make The Fear Collection, an anthology of horror films produced by Pokeepsie Films. The films will also be directed by other notable Spanish filmmakers such as Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Jaume Balagueró, Paula Ortiz, Fernando Navarro or Carlos Therón, among others. The first film in this feature film series is called Venicephrenia.

In February 2021, he announced the shooting of a new film under his direction and with the production of Mediaset España, together with his production company. The film is entitled The Fourth Passenger and stars Blanca Suárez, Ernesto Alterio, Alberto San Juan and Rubén Cortada.

Television

Álex de la Iglesia has directed sketches for television shows, such as The worst program of the week on El Gran Wyoming (TVE) and Inocente, inocente (regional television channels), as well as the series Plutón B.R.B. Nero (2008) for La 2. This series is a parody of science fiction series starring Antonio Gil, Carolina Bang and Carlos Areces, among others.

At the 2020 Venice Film Festival, he presents his series 30 coins, which will premiere on HBO Spain on November 29, 2020. The series tells of the tragedy of Father Vergara, an exorcist, boxer, and exiled ex-convict in a parish in a remote town in Spain.

Presidency of the Film Academy

Álex de la Iglesia was elected president of the Film Academy on June 21, 2009 after presenting himself as the only candidate —along with Icíar Bollaín and Emilio A. Pina— to replace Ángeles González-Sinde after his appointment as Minister of Culture. His intentions as the visible head of the national industry aspired to "gather in the Academy all the artists who left Spain or are far from the institution." With this reference he pointed to Pedro Almodóvar and his brother, Agustín Almodóvar who left in 2005 the association for disagreeing with the voting system. And, also, José Luis Garci who left her in 1999 due to the controversy over buying votes for his film El abuelo. The Bilbao filmmaker also expressed his commitment to the fight against piracy and copyright. In his words, he wanted to "defend the people who make a living from the movies."

On February 14, 2010, De la Iglesia gave the speech as president of the Film Academy at the Goya gala. He recalled that laws need to be created "that protect the coexistence of all industrial sectors, and that also includes the cinema". For this reason, the president of the Academy participated in the debate on the second final provision of the Sustainable Economy Law (known as Sinde-Wert Law) after being rejected in the Congress of Deputies on December 21, 2010. This text raises the possibility of closing internet pages that violate copyright after the intervention of a Commission of Intellectual Property, and not of a judge or magistrate. Álex de la Iglesia sought an agreement from all the agents to reach a solution to this impasse.

Thus, on December 30, 2010, he met with Internet users (lawyers such as David Bravo and David Maeztu, representatives of the Pirate Party, and users that De la Iglesia had met on Twitter) and Pedro Pérez, the president of FAPAE (producers). After this, the Bilbao filmmaker proposes to Bravo that he help him rewrite the norm, but he refuses because he has always positioned himself against it.

Then, he turns to Maeztu, who considers it "aberrational", but since he is convinced that the Law will continue, he decides to collaborate to minimize the damage to users. De la Iglesia accepts the new text, just like Pedro Pérez, which is why they send the proposal to the politicians. On Monday, January 24, 2011, an amendment was approved by the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), the Popular Party (PP) and Convergence i Unió (CiU) to approve the text. This retouching in the text does not include any of the ideas provided by the president of the Academy, which is why he accuses the two parties of not talking. As he argued on his Twitter account: «We have tried, and there has been no response. Zero. They have agreed to a law that does not suit ANYONE. For this reason, Álex de la Iglesia announced on January 25, 2011 that he was leaving the presidency of the Film Academy after the Goya Awards ceremony on February 13.

On April 10, 2011, he left his position as president of the film academy after an election between filmmaker Bigas Luna and producer Enrique González Macho, the latter being the winner.

Recurring collaborators

Álex de la Iglesia's films often feature actors and actresses he has worked with before. The most prominent is Santiago Segura, who was offered his first role in a feature film, but the appearances of Terele Pávez, Álex Angulo, Mario Casas or Carlos Areces are also frequent. Antonio de la Torre, Enrique Villén or Manuel Tallafé are equally common in his films, although on many occasions with secondary roles. Jorge Guerricaechevarría has been his co-writer in almost all of his works. Some of these actors have also been actors in films that he has produced but not directed, or cases like Macarena Gómez, who has been more common in his work as a producer than as a director.

Actor	Murdered mirindas (1990)	Mutual action (1993)	The Day of the Beast (1995)	Perdita Durango (1997)	Laughing dead (1999)	The community (2000)	800 bullets (2002)	Crime ferspect (2004)	The child's room (2006)	The Oxford Crimes (2008)	Pluto BRB Nero (2008)	Sad tile of trumpet (2010)	The spark of life (2011)	The witches of Zugarramurdi (2013)	Words with Gods (2014)	My big night (2015)	The bar (2017)	Perfect strangers (2017)	Once in life (2018)	30 coins (2020)
Álex Angulo	N	N	N		N
Saturnino García	N	N	N
Ramón Barea	N	N			N	N	N		N
Santiago Segura		N	N	N	N							N	N	N
Juan Viadas		N				N	N	N			N	N								N
Ion Gabella		N			N	N
Terele Pávez			N			N	N		N		N	N		N		N	N
Enrique Villén			N			N		N			N	N		N		N
Antonio de la Torre Martín			N		N	N			N			N	N
Manuel Tallafé			N		N	N	N	N	N		N	N	N	N		N			N	N
José Alias			N		N			N			N									N
Otilia Laiz			N		N	N					N
Eduardo Gómez					N	N	N	N
Maria Asquerino					N	N			N
Sancho Gracia					N	N	N		N		N	N
Carmen Maura						N	N							N
Eduardo Antuña						N	N				N
Enrique Martínez							N	N	N		N					N				N
Carolo Ruiz							N	N	N		N	N				N			N
Grace Olayo							N	N	N		N	N
Isidro Montalvo								N	N		N	N
Carlos Areces											N	N		N		N
Carolina Bang											N	N	N	N		N
Mariano Venancio											N				N					N
Javier Botet											N	N	N	N
Joaquin Climent												N	N				N
Mario Casas														N		N	N
Secun de la Rosa														N			N		N	N
Pepón Nieto														N	N	N		N		N
Jaime Ordóñez														N		N	N			N
Carmen Machi																N	N			N

Filmography

Funds

Year	Title	Accredited as			Notes
		Director	Guionist	Producer	Collection
1993	Mutual action	Yes.	Yes.	-	2 500 000 USD
1995	The Day of the Beast	Yes.	Yes.	-	4 500 000 USD
1997	Perdita Durango	Yes.	Yes.	-	4 200 000 USD
1999	Laughing dead	Yes.	Yes.	-	6 300 000 USD
2000	The community	Yes.	Yes.	-	7 000 USD
2002	800 bullets	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	2 000 USD
2004	Crime ferspect	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	4 200 000 USD
2008	The Oxford Crimes	Yes.	Yes.	-	8 400 000 USD
2010	Sad tile of trumpet	Yes.	Yes.	-	2 300 000 USD
2011	The spark of life	Yes.	-	-	850 000 USD
2013	The witches of Zugarramurdi	Yes.	Yes.	-	8 136 000 USD
2014	Messi	Yes.	-	-	13 000 USD
	Musarañas	-	-	Yes.	1 153 000 USD
2015	My big night	Yes.	Yes.	-	2 500 000 USD
	The Heroes of Evil	-	-	Yes.	9 000 USD
2017	Pieces	-	-	Yes.	83 000 USD
	The bar	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	3 663 000 USD
	Errementari	-	-	Yes.	150 000 USD
	Perfect strangers	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	31 000 USD
2018	In the stars	-	-	Yes.	18 000 USD
	70 binladens	-	-	Yes.	155 000 USD
2022	Venicefrenia	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	308 298 USD
2022	The fourth passenger	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	4 340 000
2023	Holy Tradition	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.

Books

In 1997 he published the novel Clowns in the washing machine. In 2014 she published her second novel Remind me to hate you.

Awards

National Film Prize

Goya Awards

Medals of the Film Writers Circle

Platinum Awards

Sitges Film Festival

Venice International Film Festival

Nocturna Madrid International Fantastic Film Festival

Pavez Awards - Festival Nacional de Cortometrajes Talavera de la Reina