67 Responses for "Agora photos"

1. Afrika May 11th, 2009 at 10:51 am 1

   Just rent Rome…the DVD.

2. Ryan Adams May 11th, 2009 at 10:56 am 2

   yeah, Rome… Alexandria… What’s the diff, right?

3. Afrika May 11th, 2009 at 10:59 am 3

   With the historical distortions/ inaccuracies which are rampant in Hollywood, these kind of movies always end up looking the same. It’s not my fault…blame it on Hollywood.

4. Ryan Adams May 11th, 2009 at 11:01 am 4

   Alejandro Amenábar isn’t a Hollywood director.

5. Afrika May 11th, 2009 at 11:10 am 5

   The movie is distributed by focus features…a division of Universal studios. It’s a big budget movie and of course, the studio will want to guarantee profit. They’ll make their crowd-pleasing edits, just like they always do…and expect an over the top dramatization of the love relationship between Hypatia and Davus.

   NEXT!!!

6. Ryan Adams May 11th, 2009 at 11:14 am 6

   Agora is only being distributed by Focus Features in the US (there are other distributors in other countries). The production companies are Spanish and Maltese:

   * Cinebiss
   * Himenóptero
   * Mod Producciones
   * Telecinco Cinema
   * Telecinco

   Focus Features doesn’t buy foreign films just so they can chop them up with “crowd-pleasing edits.”

7. Friedl May 11th, 2009 at 11:18 am 7

   Ryan 1, Africa 0.

8. Afrika May 11th, 2009 at 11:22 am 8

   Rrrrright…and Rachel Weisz is the to go actress for authentic spanish cinema…and let me guess, she’ll be speaking in authentic “Spain Spanish” too right? rrrright.

9. Ryan Adams May 11th, 2009 at 11:30 am 9

   I don’t think either Spanish or English were spoken in 4th Century Egypt. Actors have played nationalities other than their own, to brilliant effect, throughout film history.

   Next Afrika will be bitching that Shakespeare didn’t write Romeo and Juliet in Italian.

10. Bob Burns May 11th, 2009 at 11:31 am 10

    very tasteful, but… the buildings would have been painted. as would the statues as realistically as possible (flesh and hair colors, shading for musculature, etc). the bronzes would have been enameled.

11. Afrika May 11th, 2009 at 11:36 am 11

    Well Shakespeare is English…so logically, he wrote in English. Alejandro is Spanish so if his movie is “Spanish-centric”, 100 percent creatively controlled by Spain production companies and uncorrupted by the Hollywood poison as you claim, why is Rachel Weisz, of all people, at top billing? couldn’t these Spain production companies find a capable Spainish actress…and will Rachel weisz be speaking in Spanish? or will she have her voice dubbed like Andie Mcdowell in Tarzan?

12. Ryan Adams May 11th, 2009 at 11:40 am 12

    True enough, Bob. But to be fair, the friezes and columns are painted in these shots. Maybe not as garishly as they were originally.

    I think there was oil and real estate sheik from Dubai who bought a palatial Greek Revival estate in Beverly Hills complete with outdoor classical sculptures of nudegods and goddesses. The sheik had swarthy public hair painted on the marble. Sometimes taste trumps authenticity.

13. X-Men Origins: Alfredo May 11th, 2009 at 11:45 am 13

    Shut up Afrika

14. Afrika (a boring, haphazard mess) May 11th, 2009 at 11:47 am 14

    x-men Origins: Alfredo
    thank you for your valuable contributions to this discussion; much appreciated.

15. Ryan Adams May 11th, 2009 at 11:52 am 15

    It looks like the entire movie will have dialogue in English. That doesn’t make it a Hollywood production, and it doesn’t corrupt it.

    Where was your whining when Amenábar had Nicole Kidman speaking English in The Others? — a French/Spanish production. Don’t give me any excuses like “The Others was set in the UK,” because Kidman isn’t British. Maybe somebody dubbed her in “authentic England English.”

    Nobody is saying Agora is “Spanish-centric.” Just that it’s far from “Hollywood” as you tried to claim. Why does it piss you off that Alejandro Amenábar or anybody else dares to make an “international production”?

16. cca May 11th, 2009 at 12:07 pm 16

    Don’t feed the trolls… specially the Afrikan ones!!!

17. Afrika May 11th, 2009 at 12:08 pm 17

    Yes! it completely corrupts it. If the movie was 100 percent creatively controlled by the Spanish production companies, they will have no reason to make a full-length movie in English…or to cast Rachel Weisz. The casting and language choice makes it crystal clear; they are appealing to Hollywood.

    Will a movie made by Americans, produced by Americans, distributed by Americans and set in North Africa have dialogue in SPanish? child please.

    and thanks for cutting “Burn after reading is a boring, haphazard mess” to “boring, haphazard mess”. How mature of you. SMH.

18. Ryan Adams May 11th, 2009 at 12:11 pm 18

    thanks for cutting “Burn after reading is a boring, haphazard mess” to “boring, haphazard mess”.

    The long nicks you create are obnoxious and unfairly crowd out other readers on the “recent comments” sidebar.

    So I shortened what you wrote with a “crowd-pleasing edit.”

19. Ryan Adams May 11th, 2009 at 12:18 pm 19

    “If the movie was 100 percent creatively controlled by the Spanish production companies, they will have no reason to make a full-length movie in English…”

    The reason is financial. Not some sort of corrupt conspiracy to distort the story.

    Bertolucci made The Last Emperor in English. Lucino Visconti did the same with The Leopard. Two masterpieces.

20. Afrika May 11th, 2009 at 12:21 pm 20

    ryan adams, it’s no use attempting a healthy debate with you because you will either end up erasing my responses, marking my comments as spam or distorting my nicks so that they belittle me. Thus, YOU WIN. Happy now? whatever works for your ego I guess.

    and I’m out.

21. filmboymichael May 11th, 2009 at 12:30 pm 21

    Afrika, you lose because you make yourself look uneducated, misinformed and offensive. Ryan Adams has always shown to be well researched and knowledgeable about film and television.

    He also doesn’t alienate the people who post and contribute to awardsdaily. He clearly likes healthy debate and encourages that. You on the otherhand are outwardly offensive to everyone with a different opinion from your own. I don’t blame him for taking you down.

    Why don’t you take the hint that has been dropped (not too subtly) by many of us on here and take off. This is a site that celebrates an art form – and you want nothing more than to squander that celebration.

    It’s too late for you to take the high road, so why should we – take the hint and get lost.

22. Afrika May 11th, 2009 at 12:33 pm 22

    Hahaha. Filmboy, I knew you couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a jab at me.

    PLEASE, stick to DISCUSSING THE MOVIE

23. Tufas May 11th, 2009 at 12:33 pm 23

    Hmmmm I’m losing interest in this. Weird feeling it will bomb quality-wise; but love the genre, and love Rachel, so here’s hoping

    T.

24. filmboymichael May 11th, 2009 at 12:35 pm 24

    you should take your own advice – stick to tmz.com

25. filmboymichael May 11th, 2009 at 12:39 pm 25

    I love how Amenabar doesn’t pigeonhole himself – he’s clearly likes to challenge himself with the projects he takes on.

    This looks ambitious – love the casting….Oh yeah, and Afrika – you suggested we just stay home and watch Rome the series – if I recall correctly, the entire cast was british! Blasphemy!

26. Mike May 11th, 2009 at 12:57 pm 26

    WOW, looks beautiful. Amenabar is a great director, I have very high hopes for this.

27. iggy May 11th, 2009 at 12:57 pm 27

    Maybe this will help to settle if it’s a Hollywood movie or not. Or maybe not.

    “Producir esta película en EE UU”, añade refiriéndose a Ágora (que se estrena en el Festival de Cannes en mayo y llega a España en otoño), “habría sido un infierno. Me habrían pedido que hubiera una historia de amor, que la protagonista no muriera…”.

    Y no se ha producido en EE UU, pero se ha rodado en inglés, pues se trata de una producción multinacional que se estrenará en todo el mundo, que llegará previsiblemente a todos los mercados.

    It’s an excerpt from an interview with Alejandro Amenábar, published a few days ago. Sorry it’s in Spanish .

    I’ll just translate Amenábar’s quoted words from the first paragraph above:

    “Producing this movie in the USA (…) would’ve been hell. I would’ve been asked to have a love story, that the lead wouldn’t die…”

    Source:
    http://www.elpais.com/articulo/portada/Alejandro/Grande/elpepusoceps/20090503elpepspor_6/Tes

28. Ryan Adams May 11th, 2009 at 1:04 pm 28

    Nice catch, by The Talented Mr Iggy!
    (wait, “I’m not talking about talent. I said genius. Gee-nee-us.”)

29. iggy May 11th, 2009 at 1:58 pm 29

    ha, Ryan.

    One of the things that caught my attention from the interview was precisely Amenábar explaining what the movie is not, so (cleverly) adding more mystery to a project surrounded by secrecy. It worked for me, I’m more interested now.

30. Alfredo - Often Imitated Never Duplicated May 11th, 2009 at 2:08 pm 30

    Now now kids…play nice!

    Seems like a pretty epic that will go no where. There I said. Wanna fight about it?

31. Christopher King May 11th, 2009 at 2:12 pm 31

    Now everyone be nice. We all know that Afrika wouldn’t be pleased because Beyonce wasn’t given the lead in the film. LOL.

32. Michael May 11th, 2009 at 2:49 pm 32

    Of course if Beyonce was in the Weisz role it would be acceptable and “fierce”. Bwahaha.

33. X-Men Origins: Alfredo May 11th, 2009 at 3:00 pm 33

    and not racist

34. Watermelons-wannabe May 11th, 2009 at 3:18 pm 34

    Another missed opportunity for Kate Winslet to have revealed her talents.

35. Manuel May 11th, 2009 at 4:26 pm 35

    Michael: ha ha ha ha ha

    I think this movie look interesting and the cinematography is gorgeous in the trailer!!!

36. screenguy May 11th, 2009 at 5:17 pm 36

    I saw the two stills with Amenábar in them before I watched the trailer, and I got this intriguing idea that it was going to be a deconstructionist epic, with the filmmaker as a modern character within the movie. Or, perhaps this century’s “Day for Night” or “The Stunt Man.” Then I woke up from my dream world and realized they were just production shots rather than stills. Obviously, I’ve had a really long day at work.

37. Afrika May 11th, 2009 at 6:55 pm 37

    I’m a stupid fucking idiot!!!!

38. Bellock May 11th, 2009 at 8:05 pm 38

    JFC, this Afrika is totally deranged.
    I feel compelled to enter the debate, since I posted those pics last week (thanx for the link BTW).

    OK, let me state this. Agora is a 100% Spanish movie. It is produced by Telecinco Cinema (Spain) and Mod Producciones (also Spain). BTW, Focus wont distribute this in the US. Focus picked “Agora”, but the deal excluded USA & Spain. Believe it or not, Agora does not have (and it is about time) a distributor neither in Spain, nor in the USA. Because Mod PC is trying to close a deal w/ a major for those two markets.

    But, the film was shown at the American Film Market and did not interest many majors, basically coz it is too european, although they are trying to sell it as if it was “Troy”.

    Sorry for my english, I am Spanish.

39. Ryan Adams May 11th, 2009 at 8:17 pm 39

    Thanks for the clarification, Bellock. As a resident of Spain, you clearly know a lot more about Agora’s production and distribution details than any outside observer who has to rely on IMDb’s sketchy info. (That would be me, and probably Afrika too.)

    We’ve been speculating, shooting off opinions based on our personal assumptions. You come armed with facts, and facts are the best ammunition.

40. jennybee May 11th, 2009 at 9:04 pm 40

    Funny, I didn’t think the Macarena was invented until the mid-90s. I should brush up on my ancient history.

41. SeattleMoviegoer May 12th, 2009 at 2:09 am 41

    back to Afrika’s comment…
    seeing a trailer like this makes one
    hope that it aspires to the heights
    that ROME reached. the HBO series
    really set an amazing standard.
    it put ALEXANDER, as a depiction
    of ancient times, to shame…
    and pretty much did the same to
    GLADIATOR, TROY and 300.
    i love tales of ancient civilizations.
    i hope Amenabar pulls off a miracle.

42. LoyalT May 12th, 2009 at 6:52 am 42

    Beacause english is a fucking universal language !!! Not only spoken in Hollywood!!!

43. Jesus Alonso May 12th, 2009 at 2:34 pm 43

    I still think this is the dark horse of 2009 for the win… Nobody counts on it, but it certainly has the talent, the story, the appeal…

44. Afrika May 12th, 2009 at 3:10 pm 44

    bellock

    could you please back up your claims with valid sources? thank you in advance. Also, will the movie be playing in SPain with Spanish subtitles? or will they have the voices dubbed? Thank you for answering this question…in advance.

45. Ryan Adams May 12th, 2009 at 3:13 pm 45

    Why don’t you back up your own random-ass claims with some valid sources, Afrika?

    Since there’s a time zone differential, I’ll be happy to assist Bellock.

    Bellock says:
    BTW, Focus wont distribute this in the US. Focus picked “Agora”, but the deal excluded USA & Spain.

    Variety says:
    Focus picks up ‘Agora’
    Deal excludes North America and Spain

46. Afrika May 12th, 2009 at 3:22 pm 46

    and is the movie playing in Spain with Spanish subtitles or is it going to be dubbed? thanks in advance.

47. Afrika May 12th, 2009 at 3:38 pm 47

    I guess we won’t be getting an answer to that one. My point exactly.

    100% Spanish movie in Spanish subtitles? LMAO!!

48. Ryan Adams May 12th, 2009 at 3:49 pm 48

    What the hell is wrong with you, Afrika, and your sudden insistence on segregated ethnic purity in all movies? You’re turning into AfriKKKa.

49. Afrika May 12th, 2009 at 3:59 pm 49

    ethnic purity? so being proud about where you are from is now called ethnic purity huh? I shouldn’t be surprised. There is a trend in Europe, Asia and Africa of thinking that movies with English dialogue are automatically better than movies with non-English dialogue. In France, for example, people rush to see cheesy American movies over French arthouse masterpieces. My point is great filmmakers like Amenabar have the opportunity to change that misconception by making great movies…in SPANISH….not ENGLISH…and casting SPANISH actresses…not the typical pale white woman.

    KKK? I guess anyone who challenges the status quo is now being labelled with something as outrageous as the KKK…and what baffles me is that people in America don’t seem to understand the magnitude of the KKK; they just carelessly fling the word around the place. Shame!

50. Ryan Adams May 12th, 2009 at 4:18 pm 50

    “filmmakers like Amenabar have the opportunity to change that misconception by making great movies…in SPANISH….not ENGLISH…and casting SPANISH actresses…not the typical pale white woman.”

    So you’re saying directors like Amenábar should be forbidden from making movies in English, or any language other than their native tongue, and hounded like traitors to their own countries if they dare associate with filmmakers and actors from outside their own borders. Contact with white women is especially repulsive to you.

    Any modern-day member of the KKK is a ridiculous clown ranting from atop his artificial high horse. Sounds a lot like you.

    “so being proud about where you are from is now called ethnic purity huh?”

    Who are you trying to say is not proud of where they’re from? Be specific, and “could you please back up your claim with valid sources.”

    You do realize Amenábar is Chilean-Spanish, right? And Rachel Weisz is Austrian-Hungarian. Though why the fuck that should factor into what movies they chose to make escapes me. Maybe you’re implying Amenábar’s father betrayed his own heritage by marrying a “pale skin” Spanish woman?

51. Alison Flynn May 12th, 2009 at 4:35 pm 51

    In France, for example, people rush to see cheesy American movies over French arthouse masterpieces.

    Really? That’s very surprising to me.

52. Afrika May 12th, 2009 at 5:21 pm 52

    No one is saying that Amenabar shouldn’t make English movies. However, if your movie is not based on English speaking characters why have the dialogue in English? Directors of his calibre, of non-English descent, have the potential to change the misconception about foreign films and foreign actors. If they make a lot of brilliant foreign films…NOT IN ENGLISH…and with foreign actors, people will start to change their mentality about the effectiveness of foreign films.
    I have no issue with white women, I am just sick of seeing them being exalted as the standard of beauty for women of the world. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so don’t shove pale faces at me and force me to consider them the best things God ever created. No! I am also sick of seeing them headline EVERY prominent Hollywood project regardless of the race of the characters in that project. I guess Cleopatra was a white woman and Hypatia in this movie is being portrayed by a caucasian. There are many examples but you know them already, don’t you?
    You want facts? well, I’ll give you facts. Japan Today, an online version of the newspaper equally noticed the trend of English speaking countries avoiding foreign films while in Japan, people flock to see English speaking films. They even featured this irony on their “Have your say” page.
    http://www.japantoday.com/category/have-your-say/view/why-do-moviegoers-in-english-speaking-countries-tend-to-shy-away-from-movies-with-subtitles

    Satisfied? now over to you. Start backing your claims with valid FUCKING sources

    P.S
    FYI, being a pale skin person of hispanic descent is not the same as being CAUCASIAN. Also, being Austrian-Hungarian does not make you Greek…and why is it that race should not matter only when it comes to movies and casting? in the real world, a pale skin woman for Chile will be looked at as strictly Hispanic. In movies, however, when a white woman is chosen to play a person of color, people say “oh! race should not matter bla bla bla” bullshit!

53. Ryan Adams May 12th, 2009 at 5:41 pm 53

    good god, is that the best proof you could come up with? A pseudo-headline in an open internet forum with no story attached? No facts to back up the fabricated issue:

    “Why do moviegoers in English-speaking countries tend to avoid foreign movies with subtitles, while in Japan, for example, it’s just the opposite?“

    And that’s the totality of the article. Just a question pulled out of somebody’s ass. Even the very first reader to reply to the question asks this:

    Is the actual question actually true or just the opinion of the person who posted the question? I think it is just an opinion that is not based on fact. I’ve seen quite a few films in English that were subtitled not dubbed.

    However, if your movie is not based on English speaking characters why have the dialogue in English?

    We went down this road a few days ago. So in Afrika’s warped universe, movies like Amadeus, Dangerous Liaisons, Schindler’s List, The Pianist, and thousands of others set in worldwide locations are worthless travesties. Shakespeare is wasting our time with Romeo and Juliet because he has those stupid English words coming out of the mouths of Italian characters.

54. Afrika May 12th, 2009 at 5:52 pm 54

    Question pulled out from somebody’s ass? hahaha. Well, if you looked closely, it was posted under “Have your say”. If you are familiar with foreign media outlets, only hotly discussed and prominent issues are placed under the “Have your say” section. Do you visit BBCworld’s site? you would know if you did.

    Since that doesn’t satisfy you, let me provide you with another link. This is from the Superior Council of French language in Quebec. Their studies showed that French speaking teens generally prefer English speaking products and respond better to the English speaking media, including movies, adverts etc
    http://www.cslf.gouv.qc.ca/Publications/PubK101/K101ch4.html

    satisfied? now, start producing your own valid sources. Thank you in advance.

    I am not living in any warped universe…you are. My position is simple and logical. It has been proven that people respond better to English speaking films…regardless of how shitty it is. They live under the notion that as long as it is English, it is better than movies made in their own countries. Hence, it is up to these A-list directors who are not of English descent to prove that misconception wrong by making more movies in their native languages instead of English. Simple as a,b,c. What part don’t you understand? it’s not rocket science.

    and I’m done. My FINAL word on this issue. Case closed.

55. JR May 12th, 2009 at 5:53 pm 55

    Afrika, I really don’t understand you at all. You really continue to amaze me. Please listen to some Cat Stevens or something.

56. Afrika May 12th, 2009 at 5:54 pm 56

    Don’t worry JR, the feeling is mutual

    Bye!

57. Ryan Adams May 12th, 2009 at 5:55 pm 57

    Funny, I thought Afrika liked The Reader. That movie set in Germany, populated entirely with German characters, written by a German novelist. With all that despicable English dialogue spewing out of their mouths like Linda Blair vomiting in The Exorcist.

58. JR May 12th, 2009 at 6:26 pm 58

    Good point Ryan. I guess Afrika really likes Kate Winslet.

    As for Agora, I’ll be looking out for it.

59. Bellock May 12th, 2009 at 7:45 pm 59

    Wow this debate is still on… OK. So, Africa, FYI Spanish people is white, many of us caucasian, a little tanned because of the sun, but white, anyway.

    To answer your questions: yes the movie will be dubbed in the majority of the country. It is all about money. I hate dubbed movies, but the majority of the country is used to see/watch films dubbed.

    But you can’t make a film in a non english language and expect to sell it all over the world. This movie has cost €50M, that’s a lot of money even in USA, so imagine for the Spanish Industry.

    iT would be crazy to film this movie in Spanish. Nobody in the USA will be seeing it, and that’s a huge market. Amenábar’s The Others made almost $100M in the USA box office, and again, this is ALL ABOUT MONEY. IT IS AN INDUSTRY.

    STOP w/ your crazy cultural references.

    BTW, I posted a trailer for Isabel Coixet’s Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (premiering at Cannes). YES. another spanish film, not shoot in spanish, but in different languages.

60. Jesus Alonso May 13th, 2009 at 4:24 am 60

    re: Afrika…

    seriously, are you real? Do you even know anything about Spain? Lol. Some quick facts:

    Spain is BOTH an European 98% of territory and African 2% country, in Spain the following languages (official and non official) are spoken: Spanish, Catalonian, Valenciá, Aranes, Basque, Galizian, Bable, Aragones, Cherja, Arab… and also we have huge comunities that speak English, French, Portuguese, German, Finnish, Dutch, etc. From time to time a Spanish director makes a movie in English with International stars (Two Much, The Others) to appeal to foreign b.o. and Amenabar is one of them. Or, like Isabel Coixet, shoot in english ’cause she likes to set some of her movies abroad (My Life Without Me, The Secret Life of Words, Things I never Told You and now Maps of the Sounds of Tokyo). So, Agora is a spanish movie, and everyone here is OK with Rachel Weisz starring in it and being shot in english.

61. iggy May 13th, 2009 at 6:50 am 61

    Other Spaniards have already answered the questions specifically related to Spain, so before this turns into a fully Spanish board, I’ll try to give my opinion on the other issue, that Europeans die to see movies in English.

    As a European I’m not eager to go to see any English speaking movie just because it’s in English. no matter how shitty it is. I’m all for good movies, regardless of their language, if that means I’ll have to read subtitles because I can’t speak a single word of Swedish, so be it. It’s not that we go nuts for any Hollywood movie, it’s rather the other way around. Thanks to international distribution unknown and mysterious ways to work, we’re fed with whatever Hollywood produces. Just an example, Hannah Montana which is far from being the phenomenon it is in America, gets a wide release in Spain while Let the Right One In gets a limited release mostly restricted to art houses in big cities. Why? Partly because of this distribution tricky thing.

    Let’s say a movie theatre owner wants to have Wolverine in his theatres, so he will have to make a deal with Fox and Fox will probably say: ok, you get Wolverine if you also get this whole pack of movies that should probably get straight to DVD, but as long as we have the power…. It sounds a bit mafia-like procedure, but you get my point.

    It’s precisely countries like France (you named a really bad example for your point) and to a lesser degree Spain, that facing situations like that one, protect their own cinema creating “quota policies”, so that it doesn’t get completely wiped out of the scene by the power of big distribution companies.

    You know, I realize sometimes Europeans are seen by Americans as awkward people, but I don’t think we’re so weird as to have some kind of fetish for the English language. At least not in the A Fish Called Wanda sort of way , though that’d probably make multiplexes a lot more fun.

62. Afrika May 13th, 2009 at 11:41 am 62

    Ok! I know I said I was done commenting on this issue but let me just address the debacle with The Reader. Yes! I loved The Reader and I loved every second of it. It was an A-MA-ZING movie which, I dare to say it, should have won best picture.

    With that said, Stephen Daldry is NOT German. Thus, it will harder for him to tackle a movie with German dialogue. Also, not being German deprives him of the much needed expertise in German style of story telling.

    If The Reader was directed by a German director, I would have expected him to have the dialogue in German not English.

    If you guys actually READ what I wrote, I said that prominent directors WHO DON’T HAVE ENGLISH AS THEIR FIRST LANGUAGE (striking out The Reader because its director is ENGLISH) should make more good movies in their native languages to kill the misconception that the best movies are movies with English dialogue.

    Damn! it feels like I am talking to kindergarten students. whoa!
    Ok! I’m OFFICIALLY DONE. We probably won’t change our opinions on this issue so let’s just MOVE ON.

63. iggy May 13th, 2009 at 1:13 pm 63

    “If you guys actually READ what I wrote, I said that prominent directors WHO DON’T HAVE ENGLISH AS THEIR FIRST LANGUAGE (striking out The Reader because its director is ENGLISH) should make more good movies in their native languages to kill the misconception that the best movies are movies with English dialogue”

    But the thing is that in most cases they actually keep making movies in their own languages (though, I’m not sure exactly whom we’re referring to). For instance, Amenábar’s follow-up to The Others was Mar adentro (The Sea Inside), a movie fully in Spanish and Foreign Language Film Academy Award winner. Or Guillermo del Toro who had a regular Hollywood career “went back home” and made El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth)

    My point is one thing doesn’t exclude the other, making international English spoken films doesn’t exclude making movies in your native language, at least not in most cases. But you can see it the other way, if you want, maybe making international projects (if hits at the BO) helps them to get financing for other projects.

64. Jesus Alonso May 13th, 2009 at 1:44 pm 64

    http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41068

    Rachel Weisz says a couple of things about Agora, the most interesting one, the budget: 80 million dollars. I think that’s about 3 times the most expensive spanish movie ever done before! Amenabar sure is ambitious, but that’s no surprise. Weisz is going to have quite a year: Brothers Bloom (already panned by your closest critic), The Lovely Bones and Agora. Don’t count out Oscar #2 for her. Or Oscar #3 for Hillary or Meryl. Lol.

65. dela May 13th, 2009 at 1:54 pm 65

    Since the movie is not in its original language, English vs. Spanish debate is rather irrelevant. English makes it more accessible and gives it a better chance at box office.

66. X-Men Origins: Alfredo May 13th, 2009 at 2:22 pm 66

    The problema Afrika is that you always star an argument with a black/white view of things. That’s why you always loose.

    Hey, the language should be latin then!

67. Afrika May 27th, 2009 at 1:44 pm 67

    jesus

    80 million? I hope Amenobar has a trust fund set up because this movie is already riding the tracks into FLOPS-ville.