FILM
PRODUCTION NEWS
9/25/05:
Filming begins with
locations in Madrid, Salamanca, Toledo and Cuenca province in
Spain.
4/06: Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe - "The film will be
ready at the end of July and, almost certainly, will be released this
year. From what I've heard there are very good impressions and the
people who have seen the first cut are very enthusiastic. For me, this
movie has been very special because of the opportunity to work with
Milos Forman and because, in spite of being an American production, it
has been tremendously human in its production. It will be unforgettable.
Plus, now that I am in Prague, I'm remembering Amadeus and I have
Forman's cinema very present in my mind. What I'm really hoping is that
Goya's Ghosts turns out to be a wonderful film."
LOCATION
PHOTOS
STELLAN'S
PERFORMANCE
"Skarsgard's honest face provides the perfect
canvas on which to draw his perplexity and bewilderment at the
ensuing confusion surrounding him." ...Natasha Hegde,
Inthenews.co.uk
"Skarsgård overcomes his unusual
casting and delivers a sensitive and charismatic performance that
holds the film together." ...Matthew Turner
"Bardem is probably the biggest star in Spain, and to persuade him
to play a fictional priest and let Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård
play Goya no doubt took some doing - including the pretense that
Lorenzo is the star of the film. Whatever it took, it was worth it,
because both actors are brilliant, and with the fiery Bardem as
Goya, it would have been a different picture." ...Mike
LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"Skarsgård
has a refreshing mischievousness about him, which one imagines Goya
possessing." ...Steffen Silvis, The Prague Post
"You never even believe that Stellan Skarsgård
as the incendiary artist Francisco de Goya, is Spanish. You go with
it, though, because Skarsgård
brings a cynical twinkle to the role of a subversive who is also a
worldly, connected man." ...Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment
Weekly
"Skarsgård
makes Goya into a man with a wonderful smile, an affable manner, and
the confidence of an artist who stands outside the rules." ...Roger
Ebert
"Skarsgård has always been an
acquired taste, the sort of actor about whom people will comment, 'Well,
he’s European…' But he’s really in his element here, and the film is
strongest when Skarsgård is at
work." ...Colin Boyd, Bigpictureradio.com
"While Skarsgård
is a gifted actor who typically has no trouble mining darkness, he
plays Goya as a genial, wide-eyed innocent - a confusing choice that
is strikingly at odds with the artist's work." ...Elizabeth
Weitzman, NY Daily News
"Goya, as Skarsgård so convincingly depicts him
here, does a whole lot better than Leni Riefenstahl in evincing his
artist's neutrality and cluelessness amidst so much evil and social
injustice." ...Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International
"Skarsgård plays a fine Goya, although the role
feels oddly underwritten in order to enforce his outsider ranking."
...Eric Kohn, NY Press
"The actors mostly flail as they inhabit
underwritten characters, Skarsgård
being one exception even though his Goya has so little to do."
...Pam Grady, Reel.com
"Skarsgård's role is
underwritten, but the canny Swede who's gained an international
reputation invests it with such a wealth of detail that he's a joy
to watch. Unfortunately, it only serves to remind us of the flaws in
the structure. We keep wanting to see him play a more active role
than the predictable 'artist as recorder.'" ...BBC
Collective
