2007
Latest photo from the set of Guerrilla in San Pueblo de Buceite:
(Source: La Voz Digital )
August 30, 2007
You can read an interesting article
about the financial/business aspect of the Che project here .
August 28, 2007
The production company Dark Films will donate fifteen thousand Euro
(about $20,400.00 US) to the town council of San Pablo de Buceite.
Bernardo Medina, Delegate of Education and Culture of the town council
of San Pablo, and Félix Rosell, representative of the production company,
have agreed to collaborate to the VI Talleres por la Paz
(6 th Workshops for the peace) of San Pablo of Buceite which will be
celebrated until the end of July 2008. The fifteen thousand Euro will be
used to pay the passages of children and Cuban youths who will be
visiting the town next year, as well as for voting expenses in the
procedures that the town has begun in order to make the Cuban town of
Alquízar, in Havana Province, the twin city of San Pablo.
Felipe Gómez surrounded by a group of guerrill eros in the
Bolivian forest ("Michael forest") during the filming of Guerrilla .
(Source: SPB Noticias )
August 26, 2007
Benicio with Cristian Esquivel , the Peruvian actor who plays the role of
Mario Terán , the Bolivian soldier who was chosen to fire
the deadly shots at Che, just after filming the scene.
Benicio with Cristian Esquivel
Steven S oderbergh directs Cristian Esquivel before filming a scene.
(Source: ¿Cuál es tu cau-cau? blog )
August 26, 2007
Mexican actor Demián Bichir will play the role of
Fidel Castro in Guerrilla and The Argentine .
Demián Bichir
(Photo: View Images )
Demián Bichir as Fidel Castro
(Sources: Variety Film )
August 25, 2007
Tales From The Crypt - Season Six
is available on DVD.
Benicio is featured in the episode entitled The Bribe .
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
BUY IT
August 24, 2007
A reminder that the three episodes of The Charlie Rose Show
on which Benicio was a guest are available on DVD, namely:
(January 16, 2001)
BUY IT
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
* * *
A series of conversations with various actors,
including Benicio, about the Academy Awards
(March 23, 2001)
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
BUY IT
* * *
(December 19, 2003)
BUY IT
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
August 23, 2007
Yesterday Steven Soderbergh filmed scenes of Guerrilla in the
Ministry of Public Administrations, outside of the Supreme Court and
inside the Embassy of Italy in Madrid. And today, he allegedly filmed
s cenes with Benicio in El Escorial (Madrilenian mountain range) .
S teven S oderbergh filming in Madrid .
(Photo by: Víctor Inchausti )
August 23, 2007
The calm place Villa de París in Madrid, where the Supreme Court is
located, became for hours the seat of the government of La Paz,
the capital of Bolivia, at the end of the fifties. In the morning
old Mercedes models arrived. Soon, extras dressed as militaries,
journalists of that time - equipped with photo cameras with an
enormous flash - a nd tens of people with walkie-talkies arrived as well .
Steven Soderbergh is filming in Madrid scenes from Guerrilla .
In one of the scenes filmed yesterday, an agent of the CIA leaves
a car, watches the clock and enters the building with a suspicious
briefcase; in another scene , the military assures the reporters that
they will capture Che "alive or dead".
An extra and cars used for the filming.
(Photo by: Gorka Lejarcegi )
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge)
(Source: ElPais.com )
August 21, 2007
More photos from the set of Guerrilla in El Buitrón :
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge)
(Source: Zalamea blog )
August 21, 2007
Photos taken on the set of Guerrilla :
The costumes prepared for each one of the
actors of the cast.
María Bautista, María Medina and Macarena Martín working for the
leading catering company, Rafael, to provide food for the filming team.
The entrances and exits of the town, as well as many crossroads of
the highway, were adorned with these posters of colors, which indicated
the different locations where the filming took place.
Michael Forest is the zone of the former ground of Felipe Gómez,
where they have filmed in the grove and which today is the property of
Michael Bufill. Vías del tren (railroads) is the grade crossing near
Vivero Salinas, a location that in the end has not been used.
Caballo Blanco (White Horse) is a place very shaded by ten or twelve
olive trees. Route of Gaucín includes several locations near the
highway of L as Gallinas and C ortijo del Monje (estate of the Monk),
where Matt Damon filmed a short scene (for three hours he was playing
the role of a German priest) . It is also there that on Friday some
explosions of houses and tile roofs were done to recreate a fictive
bombing by the Bolivian army which targeted Che's guerrillas.
San Pablo is San Pablo de Buceite (in orange color).
Ambush Site, is the site of the ambush, that has been filmed in
E l Dorado, next to the Guadiaro river. And Río Cortijillo indicates
a location in the zone of Cortijillo, the f arm of the Diaz family
at the North exit of the town.
Los Galvez, the old town of El Corchado, has been transformed
for the filming of Guerrilla . The houses were painted to look like
Bolivian
houses
,
orchards and
corrals for animals
were created,
etc…
Preparing an orchard in the town of El Corchado
A corral for hens and pigs
Filming with the camera located in the center of the suspension bridge.
Members of the film's team and guerrilla actors next to an old tractor
of Felipe Gómez, in Michael Forest. This tractor has caused more than
one headache. It was f irst planned to remove it by helicopter from this site
and take it to El Corchado, but it ended up being transferred
30 meters and has served as a prop for the filming . It was never taken
to the town of El Corchado. In the next few days it will be transferred to
Madrid, in particular to the forest of El Escorial.
Alejandro Ruiz, one of the extras, dressed as a Bolivian soldier.
In the background , David Luque , a Bolivian military man .
A group of guerrilla actors next to the old tractor of Felipe Gómez.
One of the most frequently used zones, although at first it seemed that
it was not going to be used much, has been the location Michael Forest
(the old mill of Felipe Gómez).
In the main entrance of the Hydroelectric Power station of El Corchado
there is a truck with props distributing armament to the guerrillas.
( All photos by: Bernardo Medina )
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge)
(Source: SPB Noticias )
August 20, 2007
Three new official stills from Things We Lost In The Fire :
(Source: CanMag )
August 20, 2007
Today is the last day of the filming of Guerrilla in San Pablo de Buceite.
(Source: SPB Noticias )
August 19, 2007
Rick Heinrichs will be the production designer for The Wolfman .
(Source: Kasra Farahani's resumé )
August 18, 2007
There was a celebration today in San Pablo de Buceite to celebrate
the end of the filming of Guerrilla . T he technical staff, the actors and
inhabitants of San Pablo went to the municipal swimming pool where
the celebration took place . It was a total success, where everyone had
the opportunity to exchange impressions, to dance, to sing, etc…
Bernardo Medina and Andrés Beffa of the Junta Municipal, Benicio, and
Tom, an excellent worker, all attended the celebration.
(P hoto by: Bernardo Medina )
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
(Source: SPB Noticias )
August 18, 2007
According to IMDB , Kasra Farahani will be the concept artist
for The Wolfman .
View Kasra Farahani's resumé
View Kasra Farahani's portfolio
August 17, 2007
According to IMDB , Things We Lost In The Fire will be
released on January 2, 2008 in Belgium.
August 15, 2007
According to Cineman , Things We Lost In The Fire will be released on
January 2, 2008 in the French-speaking part of Switzerland ( Romandy )
and on January 31, 2008 in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
August 15, 2007
Things We Lost In The Fire will be released in
Germany on January 31, 2008, according to IMDB .
August 12, 2007
Actor Gastón Pauls , who will play Ciro Bustos in Guerrilla
had this to say about Benicio in an interview on MDZ online :
" G uerrilla is a great project. I am very happy to be here
and to be working with Benicio. "
August 12, 2007
In an article by Eliván Martínez Mercado (El Nuevo Dia),
Puerto Rican actor Norman Santiago, gives the reader an insight
about Carlos "Tuma" Coello, the character he will play
in Guerrilla and The Argentine .
In order to better prepare for his character, Santiago slept outdoors ,
learned the techniques of guerrilla attack and washed the dirt off in a river .
He trained himself in June in Los Angeles, California.
Coello was the Cuban bodyguard who loaded books and diaries of
Che Guevara in the front, and revived with his interminable jokes
the moral of the guerrillas during the most difficult moments in Cuba,
and when the revolution internationalized, in the Congo and in Bolivia .
Last Sunday in Madrid, Norman Santiago met with 'Pombo' and 'Urbano' ,
two of the three men who survived the campaign of the Bolivian authorities,
that, with the support of the CIA, eliminated Che on October 9, 1967.
“ What I need to know to do the role of Tuma is that they tell me about his
gestures ”, Santiago says.
“ Tuma helped Che to look for the best place to camp, to hang the
hammock, to prepare coffee in the mountains, because el Che
was not very skilled in that aspect , in spite of being the mind of
the strategies of
the guerrilla. Tuma was his
provider
”, tells Santiago.
“
Carlos
Coello's
main
purpose
was to make everybody
happy.
When he was called to speak, he sang. When there was sadness,
he made people laugh . He was so important that when he was killed in
Bolivia on June 6, 1967, Che described that moment as the Black Day.
That marked the fall into pieces of his group ”, adds Santiago .
Carlos Coello was born on December 2, 1940, near the city of Manzanillo,
in today's Eastern province of Granma. " The soldiers of Fulgencio Batista's
government used to rob the farmers, to rape the women, and this
caused a lot of people to support the revolution. Tuma got tired of the
poverty and wanted to help his family. At the age of 15, he took a small
bundle with him and left without warning. He joined the guerrillas who
trained in Mexico ”, adds Santiago . On December 2, 1956,
the day on which he turned 16 years old, Coello returned to the Eastern
coast on board of the Granma, on which Fidel Castro and Che Guevara
sailed to begin the battle. T hree days later he was one of the few survivors
of the confrontation in the Eastern locality of Alegría de Pío, which
almost ended the guerrilla adventure.
Che regarded Carlos Coello like a son, and always reproached him for
not having learned to read and write, and for that reason he did not promote
him to a higher rank. “ Tuma said, that those who had to learn were
Che and Fidel, who were the leaders ; Coello was only interested to work
and to fight ”. Since Coello was not among the best gunners in the group,
Che never allowed him to go to the front. He ordered him to stay back with
him in the middle or ahead of his group, where he was generally protected.
“ Tuma spoke with his gun and asked it: When I am going to use you?
The first time that the commander gave him authorization to fight , they fired
a shot that hit him in the stomach. He did not scream. He did not want
them to hear him and discover his position and that of his friends.
He was placed in ambush behind a tree, next to the Piray river in Bolivia ”,
adds Santiago. The companions of Carlos Coello did not have the time to
dig a hole to bury him in. They improvised a superficial tomb for him.
Days later dogs digged up the corpse. At that point, Coello had
learned to read and write, and Che had promoted him.
Santiago remembers that during his training in California, he met Benicio
for the first time. “ I've been waiting you ”, Benicio said to him.
“ When I finish ed mounting my place to encamp, he was still watching both
sides, it took him longer than the others, and I helped him to mount the
awning, to cut the rope to fix it on a tree. Benicio said to me playfully, that
he was taking advantage of me, because 'Tuma' was the one who helped
him; I said to him that he was helping him because 'Tuma' knew that
he was not very good in those skills ” .
Norman Santiago as Carlos "Tuma" Coello on the set of Guerrilla
(Source: Endi.com )
August 11, 2007
ERRATUM :
Please note that the photo of actor Yamil Adorno that was posted on
July 24, 2007 has been replaced as the photograph was not that of
Mr. Adorno. Below is a photo of the actor who will be playing the role of
Kike Escalona, a guerrillero who fought with el Che at Sierra Maestra,
in The Argentine . Sincerest apologies to Mr. Adorno.
Yamil Adorno
(Photo used with permission)
August 8, 2007
The village of El Corchado ( Villa Los Gálvez in the film ) has been
transformed partly for the scenes that will be filmed during the next days.
Houses are painted and aged in ocher tones, front sheds covered with
false roofing tiles, and concrete walls disappeared. Over a dozen of
S ampableños (people of San Pablo de Buceite) work as laborers,
preparing the places of filming, decoration, logistic, etc…
These areas are protected with safety measures that prevent the
passage to onlookers and journalists who try to pass. The houses for rent
in the village are all occupied by personnel of the Guerrilla . A lso occupied
are houses and hotels in Jimena and the hotel Almenara in Sotogrande,
where the actors, the director, assistants and other members of
the production are staying .
Tom, "head of the workers of San Pablo de Buceite", showing his
accreditation, with Curro Jarillo and Bernardo Sánchez, members
of the production company
Morena Films, on the set of
Guerrilla
.
(Source: SPB Noticias )
August 8, 2007
The filming of Guerrilla will return in September to Los Navalucillos .
Within a month, Steven Soderbergh will film more scenes of the film ;
therefore, there will be a second phase of filming in the Mounts of Toledo
that was not predicted . T he team is currently in Andalusia filming other
scenes, but on the 10 th or 11 th of next month, they will return to the region
to finish the scenes of the Bolivian village.
(Source: La Tribuna de Toledo )
August 8, 2007
The municipal sports facilities of San Pablo de Buceite
have
become
the camping bases of
the
production
of
Guerrilla
.
Photo source: SPB Noticias
(Source: YAHOO! España Noticias )
August 8, 2007
According to IMDB , The Wolfman will be released
on November 21, 2008 in Turkey.
August 7, 2007
As t
he filming of
Guerrilla
began yesterday in the locality
of
San Pablo de Buceite, the person in charge of the press for the film ,
Trinidad Solano , stated that the director and the entire team want to
work without anybody bothering them . Therefore, access to the filming
locations has been totally denied to the press . 50% of the film's warlike
scenes will be recreated in this area . This enclave has been chosen
specially by Steven Soderbergh to be transform ed into Villa Los Gálvez,
the site of the actual confrontations. The filming in San Pablo will take
place until the end of this month.
Photo of the Guerrilla set in El Corchado
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
(Source: Europasur.es )
August 7, 2007
IMDB has updated the release dates for Things We Lost In the Fire :
Spain
: September
26,
2007 (
San
Sebastián Film Festival
)
USA
: October
26,
2007
Spain
: November
30,
2007
France
: January
2,
2008
Mexico
: January
4,
2008
UK
: January
4,
2008
Denmark
: January
11,
2008
Netherlands
: January
31,
2008
Sweden
: February
8,
2008
Australia
: February
14,
2008
Argentina
: February
21,
2008
Norway
: February
22,
2008
Turkey
: February
29,
2008
August 7, 2007
Yesterday, San Pablo de Buceite was transformed into an authentic
Hollywood set for the filming of Guerrilla . The filming will last approximately
three weeks. Here are some photos of the set of Guerrilla :
(Photos: Óscar Chamorro)
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge)
(Source: LaVozDigital.es )
August 6, 2007
Benicio is featured in the documentary
Buy The Ticket Take The Ride which is about
writer Hunter S. Thompson. The DVD version of this
documentary is scheduled to come out on September 4, 2007.
You can pre-order it now at Amazon.com .
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
August 5, 2007
Two photos of Benicio on the set of Guerrilla :
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge)
(Source: Zalamea blog )
August 4, 2007
The production team of Guerrilla has arrive d in San Pablo de Buceite .
Filming is scheduled to begin on Monday. The town of El Corchado will
be turned into an Andean town in which the entire team will remain for
approximately twenty days. The details are few as access to the sites
has not been allowed to media. Sources of the locality assured yesterday
that Soderberg and actor Matt Damon were already in the area .
Yesterday some workers worked on a farmhouse
in San Pablo where some scenes will be filmed
(Photo: Andrés Carrasco)
(Source: SUR.es )
August 4, 2007
Puerto Rican actor Anibal O. Lleras will play the role of
Colonel Marcelo Martínez Hernández in The Argentine .
Anibal O. Lleras
August 4, 2007
Spanish actress Elvira Mínguez will play the role of Celia Sánchez
in The Argentine .
Elvira Mínguez
August 4, 2007
Matt Damon and Benicio arrived yesterday in Sotogrande .
B oth actors initiate today the filming of some scenes of Guerrilla .
Sources near the production confirmed that last week images have been
taken of the landscapes, mainly in streets of San Pablo de Buceite,
which will serve as resources for the film . Also, s ince last Monday,
the transfer of material to the area of Jimena de la Frontera has
taken place (several heavy trucks arrived yesterday), but the filming
of the scenes with Benicio and Matt Damon will begin today. It is
predicted that this filming will last until next Monday. Benicio and
Matt Damon will then take three days of f in the province of Cádiz.
August 3, 2007
The Argentine opened its production offices in Puerto Rico last month.
Filming in Puerto Rico will begin in September around the
mountains in the rainforest area and will last six weeks.
(Source: Puerto Rico Film Commission )
August 3, 2007
The team of Guerrilla arrives today in the province of El Corchado
(San Pablo de Buceite, Jimena de la Frontera) to begin filming on Monday .
Steven Soderbergh will film half of the warlike scenes in the next three
weeks . This enclave of the Los Alcornocales Park has been chosen by
the film director to be transformed into Villa Los Gálvez, scene of the
confrontations that Che and his guerrillas had with regular Bolivians,
shortly before he was captured and executed. The filming will start
on Monday and will last until the end of the month. El Corchado
will serve to recreate 50% of the warlike scenes of the film.
(Source: lavozdigital.es )
August 2, 2007
Benicio will be on the cover of the
October 2007 issue of Esquire magazine.
(Source: El Vocero )
August 2, 2007
According to El Vocero , expectations towards
Things We Lost in the Fire are so high that the
New York Film Festival (to be held from September 28 th to October 14 th )
considers this project for its opening or its closing , which spaces
are usually reserved for the best films of every year.
(Source: El Vocero )
August 2, 2007
Once the filming of Guerrilla and The Argentine wraps up, Benicio will
travel to London, where in January of 2008 the filming of The Wolfman
will begin . British actor Anthony Hopkins will play Benicio's father ,
“Sir John Talbot” , in The Wolfman .
(Source: El Vocero )
August 1, 2007
During a meeting with the neighbors of El Buitrón , the members of
Morena Films informed them about the modifications that have been
carried out in the planning and scheduling of the filming of Guerrilla .
Felix Rosell, Location Director, Jesús García, Culture Technician of
the City council of Zalamea and Kevin, member of the production and
the person in charge for the work done for the characterization , arrived
in the village and inquired about the last-minute inconvenients and
about the postponement of the filming of the sequences that are planned
to be recorded in El Buitrón. The main points that were discussed
during the meeting were the modifications made to some of the houses
as they will have to remain as such throughout the month of August.
The neighbors have not complain ed , in spite of the continuous works
that have been done for weeks ; they are pleased by the event that is
happening as demonstrated today in the streets of the village.
Conversations between the neighbors were overheard in reference
to the particular procession that will take place on August 19 th
in the streets of the village. The Festival will be different from the
others because of the morphology of the houses. What has surprised
the inhabitants of El Buitrón more to this day is the amount of visits
that the village is getting because of the film. The village has turned
into a tourist attraction for the summer.
(Source: Zalamea blog )
August 1, 2007
The filming in El Buitrón is postponed . Because of problems with a
secondary actor of Guerrilla , the filming in El Buitrón, planned for
tomorrow Thursday, is postponed until the filming in the mountain range
of Cádiz is finished, at the end of August. The news arrived this morning,
when one of the actors of the production had communicated that he
would not participate in the film. He is a secondary actor of relevant
presence, who would have portrayed the French journalist who
accompanied Che to Bolivia. The reasons have not been released for
which the French actor has denied his participation in the film but
according to the producer, they have searched for another actor who will
play the role of the journalist in the filming in El Buitrón. The time urges
and the works in the village are already finished except for some small
adjustments. It has been communicated t o the neighbors that the works
made on the houses and in the streets will not be modified until the
predicted scenes are filmed; possibly in three weeks from now, once
the filming in Cádiz is finished, when Steven Soderbergh and his entire
team are transferred to El Buitrón to wrap up the filming scheduled for
Andalusia. The process of filming in the other two locations will follow its
normal course; as much as in Traslasierra as in Cádiz there will not be
any kind of modification . In the encampment village, it is planned to film
this weekend the scenes where Che Guevara, once betrayed in El Buitrón,
recruits for his cause guerrillas arranged to fight under his orders. In the
Gaditana mountain range, concretely in San Pablo de Buceite (Cádiz),
it is planned to film the scenes of nature, where Che trains his soldiers of
the guerrilla in an encampment hidden by the frondosidad. One hundred
and twelve people will participate, of which almost half hundred are actors.
Among them there will be Bolivian, Cuban and Mexican immigrants
who settled down in Andalusia, emphasizing on Bolivians
settled down in the Field of Gibraltar.
Getting the village ready:
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge)
(Source: Zalamea blog )
Soderbergh transforms Cádiz into the Bolivian forest to film Guerrilla .
This Thursday the filming team will move on to Huelva, in particular to
the village of El Buitrón, in Zalamea la Real, and from the
4 th to the 21 st of August it will settle in San Pablo de Buceite,
a gaditano village dependent to the City council of Jimena de la Frontera.
(Source: europasur.es )
July 29, 2007
This coming Thursday, Steven Soderbergh will begin
filming Guerrilla in the village of El Buitrón, in
Zalamea L a Real (Huelva). Soderbergh 's idea , according to
sources of the production, is to recreate a Bolivian village
near the mining river basin of Huelva, about 80 kilometers
away from the capital, where they want to recreate the
landscape of the film. The production team has selected
locations in Zalamea L a Real like “Piedras Blancas”,
“El Alto de los Barreros”, “La Rivera del Manzano”,
“La Fuente de la Picota” and the areas of the village of
Marigenta, where they have found “leafy and humid zones
that would be the sufficiently dense thing to hide a group
of guerrilla rebels”.
(Source: Yahoo Noticias )
July 28, 2007
Nine Bolivian actors and Bolivian casting director Rodrigo Bellott will take
part in Guerrilla and The Argentine . The actors are Cristian Mercado
( who will p lay Inti Peredo ), Antonio Peredo ( Coco ),
Daniel “Jovero” Larrazábal ( Ñato ), Jorge Arturo Lora ( Chapaco ),
Ariel Muñoz ( Camba ), Diego Ortiz ( Willy Cuba ) ,
Roberto Guilhon ( Freddy Maimura ), Daniel Aguirre Camacho ( Aniceto ),
and Luis Bredow ( Honorato Rojas ) . Also, hundreds of Bolivian resident
extras have been chosen to appear in the films. Both films will be
made 100% in Spanish and quechua . Bellott is also the person in charge
of training the Spanish and international actors who portray Bolivians,
so that they all reach the greater veracity and reality in the accents.
“It is the first time in history that ten Bolivians work in a project of this
size, and this is great news for Bolivia, not only because it dismisses
the notion that the we Bolivians are not at the level of the great actors
and directors, but because it also opens a door for the future in films
of world-wide distribution”, assured Bellott.
Trivia:
|
The script, written by Peter Buchman, is based on an original version of Benjamín A. Van der Veen |
|
|
Antonio Peredo, an actor of Bolivian theater and cinema, is the real nephew of the character he portrays ( El Coco ) |
|
|
Bellott found the relatives of the real Honorato Rojas, on a soccer field in Madrid and now they will portray small roles in the film |
|
|
Antxon Gómez , the well-known art director of Pedro Almodóvar, has reconstructed the famous calamine house and the small school, as well as various retorts of La Higuera, Vallegrande and Muyupampa |
|
|
The Bolivian actors arrived in Madrid on July 16 , 2007 to train along with Benicio in guerrilla tactics and the handling of arms. The 44 guerrillas trained every day from 8 :00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon, under the instruction of four marines and military ex-combatants of the United States |
|
|
Rodrigo Bellott has been three years in this project and during months in Madrid where he has interviewed hundreds of extras and actors for the films. For the North American and Puerto Rican cast , Patricia Alonso (PR) and Mary Vernieu (USA) ha ve been in charge. In Spain, Bellott worked together with Eva Leira and Yolanda Serrano , to find a Spanish cast, which consists of more than 50 actors |
|
|
Franka Potente , will play Tania |
|
|
The film's chronological sequence wheel turns from back to ahead, thus maintaining the regressive continuity of the guerrillas from his death to his arrival in Ñancahuazú |
|
|
All the actors have been put under an intense nutritional regime of several months, to lose weight and to look like the guerrillas when they were captured . For example, Jorge Arturo Lora lost approximately 10 Kilos in a month, thanks a regime provided by X Pound and a physical training in the Body Company in S anta Cruz |
|
|
The filming began on the past Wednesday in the Castilian locality of Los Navalucillos, a municipality of 2,500 inhabitants dedicated to agriculture and the cattle ranch and located in the natural region of La Jara, 76 kilometers away from Toledo. In particular where they film at the moment is in “El Chorro”, a place located in the National Park of Cabañero. This Park bears similarities with the environment of Vallegrande . “ According to comments from the director, this landscape is practically equal to the one of Bolivia, except for some type of vegetation ”, says the mayor of Los Navalucillos, José Luis Pérez-Olivares. Only the experienced audience members will be able to distinguish the disks, birches and holly characteristic of Los Navalucillos from the vegetation of Vallegrande. Five hundred extras from around the areas of Los Navalucillos will work as guerrillas and others as Bolivian soldiers |
(Source: Agencia Boliviana de Informacion )
July 27, 2007
In an interview with Escenario, a ctor Norman Santiago shared his
experiences of participating in a “field training” for Guerrilla and
The Argentine , which took place at the end of the month of June, in which
a great part of the cast of both films was trained by members of the
American Armed Forces in military techniques to contribute more realism
to the scenes in which the battles in the Sierra Maestra and the Bolivian
forest are recreated. “ They quartered us in a forest six hours away from
Los Angeles. There we learned how to build a camp, how to surviv e in
an atmosphere where none of the comforts of the modern world even exist ,
and the handling of arms. It was a physical training, and losing at least
ten pounds had been requested to all members of the cast, in order to
represent faithfully the physi que of a guerrill ero ”, explained
Norman Santiago. “ During the camping we were together with Benicio,
and had long conversations about the life of Che, and the close
relationship that he had with each one of his companions in fight . It was
like some sort of retirement, during which we at the same time laughed
and cried ”, continues Santiago.
In addition, the international cast of both films got to know each other.
A lso taking part in both films are Cuban actors Aaron Vega and
Otello Renzoli, Chilean actor Santiago Cabrera ,
Bolivian actor Christian Mercado , as well as the boricua living in
Los Angeles, Armando Riesco, who became known for his performance
in the film World Trade Center .
(Source: El Vocero )
July 27, 2007
Photos of the set of Guerrillas :
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge)
(Source: Noticias of Toledo )
July 26, 2007
The filming of Guerrilla began yesterday in the heat of the park of
Cabañeros . A team of more than 200 people works to recreate the last
hours of Che Guevara. Che has been hiding since yesterday in
Los Navalucillo s . But it is possible to find him by following the signs
marked "Set" which are installed about 20 kilometers away from his
hiding place . O nly lucky people - the extras and the rest of the
personnel - will have access to the filming site because, as the producer
stated, the site is "guarded".
P eople who work on costumes and props for the film.
(Source: La Tribuna de Talavera)
July 26, 2007
Things We Lost In The Fire 's official website is now functional.
You can visit the website by clicking on the banner below.
July 25, 2007
Steven Soderbergh starts filming Guerrilla today in Toledo.
Encinares of Los Navalucillos will become the Bolivian
forest where Che was shot dead.
Valley Del Chorro, Los Navalucillos
(Source: El Comercio Digital )
July 24, 2007
Puerto Rican actors Yamil Adorno and Jorge Luis Berrios
will play guerrilleros in The Argentine .
Yamil Adorno
(Photo used with permission)
Jorge Luis Berrios
July 23, 2007
Puerto Rican actor Edgardo Rodríguez will play the role of
René Martínez Tamayo ( k nown as Arturo ) in Guerrilla .
The actor already had his first encounter with Benicio in Toledo, to begin
the training which is required for the guerrilla scenes, which they will
make together. “ Knowing that I am going to be with Benicio is very
exciting ... They told me that I will have a rigorous training, like in the
army, which includes how to use a firearm. My character enters the army
at age 17, following his brother, José Martínez. He joins the revolution
and he gets to know Che, and he follows him to Bolivia, where he also
dies ”, said Rodríguez. Edgardo will film until September in
localities of Madrid, Toledo and Cádiz.
Edgardo Rodríguez
(Source: Endi.com )
July 21, 2007
Puerto Rican / Cuban actor Armando Riesco will play
the role of Dariel Alarcón Ramírez (known as Benigno)
in The Argentine and Guerrilla .
Armando Riesco
July 21, 2007
Look at the first photos taken in Las Navalucillos on the set of Guerrilla .
July 20, 2007
José Caro will play the role of guerrillero Sinecio Torres in
The Argentine and Guerrilla .
José Caro
(Source: El Vocero )
July 19, 2007
Colombian actress Catalina Sandino Moreno
has been added to the cast of The Argentine and Guerrilla .
Catalina Sandino Moreno
Spanish actor Óscar Jaenada 's participation
in The Argentine and Guerrilla has also been confirmed.
Óscar Jaenada
(Source: Variety )
July 18, 2007
Yesterday Steven Soderbergh made everything ready
for the filming of Guerrilla in San Pablo de Buceite . The director
arrived yesterday at noon in San Pablo de Buceite, coming from
Madrid. He was accompanied by 28 people from the production
team: decoration, director of production design, sound, image, etc…
Among them were Pilar Revuelta , Pedro Lazaga, son of the director
of the same name, husband of Rosario Flores, and First Assistant
of Direction , and the person in charge of the election of the town
as a filming location. The first place they visited is the town of
El Corchado ( which is going to be Villa Los Gálvez, Bolivia) . There
is about a dozen of places for the filming. The electrical power station
will be used as a location to recreate rooms of interrogation and torture.
Later they visited a grove next to the Río Guadiaro. Soderbergh came
to give the approval to the new places, and to complete everything for
the filming, which will begin in the early days of the month of August,
and for which the casting of extras is already scheduled for
today at the House of Culture of San Pablo at 10:00 a.m.
(Source: SPB Noticias )
July 17, 2007
Jordi Mollà has joined the Che project. He will have a small part
as one of the militaries who tend a fatal ambush to Che in Bolivia.
(Source: El Pais )
July 16, 2007
Following Benicio's July 2 nd Esquire photo shoot,
the magazine is still looking for its logo which was thrown
in the river by Benicio.
Esquire .com posted the following cryptic item on July 12 th :
“Missing: Esquire Logo. Several days ago, in a burst of enthusiasm
during a photo shoot, Benicio del Toro tossed our logo into the
Los Angeles River in downtown L.A. It was last seen floating toward
the Pacific Ocean at about 8 knots. Sentimental value. Possible reward.”
David Curcurito, design director of Esquire , said in a phone
interview that on July 2 nd he was indeed overseeing a photo shoot
along the river, and that he had brought along a 5-foot-long
three-dimensional logo. The prop cost $1,200 and had been shipped
to Los Angeles from New York.
“I had thrown the logo to Benicio, and he was twirling it around,
like it was a gun,” Mr. Curcurito recalled. “And then I said,
‘O.K., chuck it in the water.’ ”
Mr. Curcurito said the photos turned out “fantastic,” but that his
thoughts at the moment ran more toward, “We just lost our logo.”
An official from the Army Corps of Engineers who was observing
the crew forbade them to wade in after it, Mr. Curcurito said.
Jenny Price, a freelance environmental writer who gives tours of
the Los Angeles River, noted that the river’s bed is paved with
concrete and the water flow is a mere stream in some sections during
dry seasons. The area where Esquire was shooting is befouled by
sewer runoff and garbage, Ms. Price said, but prohibiting someone
from jumping in briefly is “ridiculous.”
Jesse Nemeth, whose company in Brooklyn, Kaboom Design,
produced the logo, said that if he had known it faced potential nautical
duty, “I probably would have made it out of foam, and it would have
been sealed with a polyurethane.” It is actually Masonite, which he said
is “really just a dense cardboard, so it will get saturated with water
and fall apart.”
Still, Mr. Curcurito held out hope that the logo had made it down
the 30 miles of the river to the Pacific. “I’m hoping that it ends up in
the Bering Sea,” he said. “And that someday I’ll be watching
the ‘Deadliest Catch’ on the Discovery Channel and they haul up
a crab trap and there’s the Esquire logo.”
Photo by Greg Williams
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
(Source: The New York Times )
July 14, 2007
Guerrilla's artistic team has made the first sketches of
the streets of El Buitrón. The d rawings made of pencil and charcoal
serve as a guide for the director to get an idea of the place where
he is going to film. Within a couple of weeks, the workers will begin
to transfer the ideas from paper to the streets and houses of El Buitrón.
As we can see on the drawing, the houses will have South American
characteristics such as porches with stakes nailed to the ground and
covers to give shade at the entrance of the houses. The lampposts will
be taken off the streets, and the electrical wiring will be covered so that
it does not appear in the filming. In order to carry out the works, the
producer has made contact with the City Council of Zalamea la Real
to have a list of workers in the use d stock market. In the next hours
these people will be called upon to add themselves to the group of
workers who will work on the village. An important task will be to
prepare the houses which were recently built so that they are not
off key with the look of the houses needed for the filming.
P apier-mâché, paper and paint will be used for the occasion.
The filming in El Buitrón will begin on August 2 nd , when
Steven Soderbergh and Benicio will arrive in town .
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
(Source: Zalamea blog )
July 13, 2007
The casting of extras for the film Guerrilla will take place on
Wednesday, July 18 th at 10:00 a.m.
at the House of Culture Tierno Enrique Galván in San Pablo de Buceite .
Those interested in auditioning as extras have to consider the following:
|
|
Have South American features |
|
|
20 days of filming have been scheduled |
|
|
Hired extras will be paid 60€ daily, plus food and displacements |
More information at the Oficina Junta Municipal of San Pablo:
956642385 - 956642205
(Source: SPB Noticias )
July 11, 2007
Benicio wears custom contact lenses for the filming of Guerrilla .
(Source: Customcontacts.com )
July 11, 2007
To the question " What was it like working with
Steven Soderbergh and Benicio del Toro? ", Oscar Isaac
(Che's translator in New York)
responded the following:
"
It was exhilarating. It's crazy; I don't think
I'd ever heard the
word ' action. ' All of a sudden, Benicio would start moving and
I would just follow Benicio, follow Benicio. There would be
cameras everywhere and sometimes we'd run into them.
I mean, it was chaotic, but it was amazing because it was
so natural. We didn't feel like we were acting for the camera.
We were just kind of living and I learned a lot ... from
Benicio and Steven. "
July 11, 2007
Director Steven Soderbergh is planning to shoot
The Argentine and Guerrilla using prototype Red One 4K
digital-cinematography cameras.
About 15 months ago, Red said that it was developing the
Red One camera with 4K capabilities at a price of $17,500
for the basic camera. According to Red, Soderbergh has been
testing the cameras in the Los Angeles area, and plans call
for the features to be shot in 4K using the Redcode Raw system .
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter )
July 9, 2007
In an interview by Clarín , Argentinean actor Gastón Pauls says that
h e was summoned by director Steven Soderbergh to participate in
Guerrilla. On July 27 th , Pauls will travel to Spain to play the character
of Ciro Bustos , an Argentinean who was accused of betraying Che .
Actor Gastón Pauls
July 8, 2007
Urban Latino talks about Benicio in its July 2007 issue (No. 76).
July 7, 2007
In an article in El Vocero , i t is mentioned that actors
Néstor Rodulfo , Kahlil Méndez, Norman Santiago ,
Aarón Vega and Jorge Rodriguez reunited yesterday in the
office of casting director Patricia Alonso to complete documents
before it is time to leave on the 16 th of July for the beginning
of the filming in Spain . The filming of the scenes for Guerrilla ,
which will be filmed on locations in Oviedo, Madrid and
Toledo , will last for more than two months, which scenes
narrate the life of Che Guevara, from his speech at the
United Nations to his death in Bolivia. Some of the actors,
like Kahlil Méndez and Aarón Vega, agreed and liked that
“ the auditions were meticulous with the criteria of resemblance
and the capacity of interpretation that each character requires ”.
On the other hand, Cuban actor Aarón Vega, who plays the
character of José María Martínez Tamayo (known as Ricardo ) ,
explained that “ in the official group of Che there were
like 15 guerrillas who protected him in each one of the steps
that their teacher took. This group will be part of the plots of
both films , Guerrilla and The Argentine . We are just coming back
from California, where we were in a preparatory phase, which
was like a spiritual retirement on the way to the beginning of the
filming. They went to the property of 'Sal si puedes',
in Monterrey , where we had to sleep in huts and outdoors,
where they physically trained us ”.
Actor Norman Santiago indicated that “ it is called on us to go
on the 16 th of July because we are going to begin with tests prior
to the beginning of the filming, which will take a little more than
two months ”.
A ctor Kahlil Méndez, who plays the character of
Leonardo Tamayo Núñez (known as Urbano), explained that
“ my character is the only one who survived the slaughter by
the Bolivian Army where Che died, and who at the moment
is still alive. In fact, he was the tough one among the guerrillas.
W e kn o w that he will go to the filming ”.
Actor Néstor Rodulfo, who plays the character of
Manuel Hernández Osorio (known as Miguel), indicated that
“ when they invited me to audition, I did it with certain doubts
at first, because in Hollywood films when they look for the work
of a Latino actor it is almost always for playing a role of three lines
and nothing more. Nevertheless, in this case the offer is for the
two films and a development that will be until the end of the plot ”.
Vega emphasized that this is one of the most daring films made
in the United States in the last 20 years. “ It is daring first because
it is a film about the life of Che Guevara, second because
it will be made in black and white, and third that it will
be in Spanish. All these elements turn it into an important
project within the cinema ”.
A ctor Jorge “Fish” Rodriguez, who plays the character of
Alejandro Oñate Cañete ( better known as Cantinflas ) , explained
that his character will be part of the cast in The Argentine , which
will begin filming in Puerto Rico in September. “ The character of
Cantinflas is one of those who helped Che to load the weapons.
He was like a ' chamaquito ' , a clumsy guerrilla ” .
The five bearded men posing with their own banner :
From l
eft
to r
ight
:
Néstor Rodulfo, Norman Santiago,
Jorge "Fish" Rodríguez, Kahlil Méndez and Aarón Vega
(
Photo: Ingrid Torres
)
July 7, 2007
According to El Vocero , Puerto Rican actor
Néstor Rodulfo has been selected to play the character of
Manuel Hernández Osorio (known as Miguel), one of the
guerrillas allied to Che.
Actor Néstor Rodulfo
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
July 7, 2007
According to El Vocero , Puerto Rican actor Norman Santiago
will play Che's right hand man Carlos Coello (who was also known
by the nickname of "Tuma") during his campaigns
in the Congo and Bolivia.
Actor Norman Santiago
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge)
July 5, 2007
Alberto Iglesias will be in charge of the musical score for
both The Argentine and Guerrilla . These two projects will have
Alberto Iglesias working intensely for the rest of this year.
(Source: Score Magacine.com )
July 4, 2007
Gustavo Santaolalla has been working on the music
for the upcoming film Things We Lost In The Fire along with
Johan Söderqvist .
(Source: Página/12 )
Gustavo Santaolalla and Benicio
Archive Photo
( Tas Steiner PR )
July 2, 2007
Benicio poses for a photo shoot for men's Esquire magazine
in the L.A. river bed.
(
Photos: Grosby
Group
)
(Click on thumbnails to
enlarge)
Benicio seemed to be having fun at the shoot especially when
he spontaneously threw an Esquire sign into the river.
July 2, 2007
Roberto Sanmartín joins the cast of Guerrilla .
He will play the assassin of Che.
(Source: Colpisa )