10/02/2021 - The Juan José Millás novel is being turned into a psychological thriller by the Spanish filmmaker; the cast includes Leonor Watling, Paco León and Álex Brendemühl

Actors Paco León, Álex Brendemühl, Leonor Watling and María Romanillos, and (sitting) director Félix Viscarret and author Juan José Millás during the shoot for From the Shadows

The director behind half of the episodes of the series Patria [+see also:
series review
series profile] (read the review), Félix Viscarret (Navarre, 1975), currently finds himself in his home town of Pamplona, engrossed (as he has been for the last few weeks) in making the film From the Shadows [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Félix Viscarret
film profile], a big-screen adaptation of the novel of the same name written by Juan José Millás. Leonor Watling, Paco León, Álex Brendemühl, Juan Diego Botto, María Romanillos, Marcos Ruiz and Susana Abaitua will topline the feature.

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With a screenplay penned by the director together with David Muñoz (La estrategia del pequinés [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), the film revolves around Damián, who, in order to run away from his boss when he fires him after many long years of service in his company, hides in an old wardrobe that gets delivered to a middle-class house, inhabited by Lucía, Fede and their teenage daughter, María. Damián realises that staying in the wardrobe gives him the opportunity to lead the life that he has always yearned for. He thus becomes the family’s guardian angel, doing the housework in their absence, but he starts to lose his grip on reality, and Lucía, who is on antidepressants, believes that the closet harbours the ghost of her late brother.

For director Viscarret, “Although it has unsettling elements akin to mystery or suspense, deep down, the story takes a look at the dreams and obsessions rooted in the very depths of our human condition: the desire to disappear, wanting to be someone else, to love whatever is forbidden, to desire someone precisely because they are beyond reach…”

Mariela Besuievsky remarked: “I had the good fortune to produce The Winds of Lent [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a movie that Viscarret directed in 2016 and which was based on the novels of Leonardo Padura. As a director, Félix always finds poetry in the most mundane, everyday things, as if he were leading us into a magical place. In From the Shadows, Millás’ tale finds its perfect match in this filmmaker, who demonstrates visual and narrative prowess. For me, it’s a challenge to be able to go ahead with a project of this type and to get the most out of the incredible talents that we have assembled for this movie.”

Besides this, Antonio Méndez Esparza (Life and Nothing More [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antonio Méndez Esparza
film profile]) is also working on adapting another novel by Millás – whose work was already brought to the big screen in That Was Loneliness, a 2002 feature directed by Sergio Renán and starring Charo López. Indeed, Méndez Esparza’s project Que nadie duerma [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antonio Méndez Esparza
film profile] (lit. “No One Must Sleep”) stars Malena Alterio and is being produced by Aquí y Allí Films, with Clara Roquet collaborating on the screenplay.

From the Shadows is a production by Spanish outfits Tornasol and Desde la Sombra Árbol AIE, in conjunction with Belgium’s Entre Chien et Loup. It boasts the involvement of RTVE and Movistar Plus+. It will be distributed by Universal Pictures International Spain, and its sales have been entrusted to Latido Films.

(Translated from Spanish)