“Yes, I am seen queer westerns, but in no western have two men made the bed!” 30 Minutes That Brings Pedro Almodóvar to Cannes, a queer western in which two “macho” Hollywood sex symbols, Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, exchange lustful, orgiastic gazes exchange kisses under jets of red wine, hugs in the bedroom. And it’s a triumph.
A round of applause huge, in the Debussy room, welcomes the director of La Mancha, who is in his own way a Spanish West, upon his arrival. And an even bigger, never-ending applause greets the director at the end of the screening, all standing, a mixture of amusement, emotion and affection for Pedro and his cinema. And this film is a mixture of melodrama, romantic story and “theatrical” western, with many interiors and few borderless lands, this film. More Douglas Sirk than John Ford, one might say John Ford feels too. Brokeback Mountain was there to tell us about two cowboys who are in love; there was “The Power of the Dog” by Jane Campion with its rough but gay loving cowboy. “But this is the first time you’ve seen two cowboys making the bed after hugging!” says Almodóvar.
“Why a short film? That’s the beauty of success: you have the choice. I didn’t want to do a series, I didn’t want to do a movie. “That’s exactly what I wanted to do!” he says happily and speaks a little Spanish and a little English. “I didn’t want to do a spaghetti western, I didn’t want to imitate Sergio Leone: I wanted to make.” a classic western, but which spoke of the desires of two cowboys. In the classic western, we never talk about desires between men. I made it.” And it’s as if he’s staged a gay love that lived along the wild paths, red shadows, and fiery middays of ancient American myth between John Wayne and Henry Fonda.
“I decided Ethan Hawke is a versatile actor who can be welcoming but also bossy. He has a look that can be cold and distant and hermetic and mysterious, and that’s what I wanted compared to Pedro Pascal, who in the film is the one with the most open feelings, the one who wasn’t ashamed of his desires .” Ethan Hawke, in Cannes opposite Almodóvar, agrees: “When I received an email where Pedro invited me to be a part of his film and he sent me the script, I thought: ‘But then I must have done something good in my life to deserve it!”. Working with Pedro means entrusting yourself to a director who takes care of every detail. All you have to do is act and do your best.”
“In my films “I used to do explicit sex scenes,” says Pedro. “But here I wanted to show pleasure in a different way.” A bit like in the film noir of the 50s. Here I am playing with the viewer’s imagination.” And when Hawke is asked what he thinks about being the object of desire of Pedro Pascal – currently the Hollywood sex symbol most loved by ladies and girls, but at the Croisette is absent – Ethan replies, “Well, it’s always nice to be wanted! It doesn’t seem to be a problem for me…” And the audience applauds. Then they also start to think of a sequel: situations come to my mind in spurts, everything that can happen after the last take. But no spoilers.