Official Competition, the comedy feature reuniting Spanish stars Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz, has temporarily suspended its Spain shoot due to concerns over the coronavirus.
Producer The Mediapro Studio issued a statement citing “the implementation of safety measures and responsibility towards our filming crew.”
Mediapro also confirmed to Deadline that two further of its productions – the Amazon series El Internado: Las Cumbres (The Boarding School: The Summit) and the Movistar series Paradiso – have both suspended production in Spain.
Official Competition started filming several weeks ago around Spanish capital Madrid and had scheduled to continue through to mid-April.
Spain is currently the Euro nation second-worst affected by Covid-19, with 3,148 confirmed cases and 87 deaths.
Mediapro added that it hopes to “reconvene as soon as possible”, once it is possible to guarantee safety of production crews.
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Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat are directing the feature, in which Cruz will play renowned filmmaker Lola Cuevas, who is recruited by a billionaire entrepreneur who impulsively decides to create an iconic movie. Banderas will star as Hollywood heartthrob Félix Rivero, and joining them is Argentinian actor Oscar Martínez (Wild Tales), who plays radical theater actor Iván Torres. Protagonist Pictures is handling world rights. CAA Media Finance and Paradigm are representing US rights.
