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There are shootings that turn out to be a nightmare due to the misalignments in their expensive production, others due to the complexity of their special effects and, some, many, due to confrontations between their interpreters. None of this was needed on Tuset Street , where Sara Montiel used herself to face the entire team.

It was 1968, a decade after La violetera had been premiered in style and successfully . During that time, Sara had shot almost a dozen films, but she needed a product that would connect her with the incipient modernity. On the other hand, Jorge Grau, a Catalan director with four feature films behind him, had developed an argument that he himself called "the confrontation between the two Barcelonas", without imagining then that the confrontation would transcend beyond its synopsis.

His idea of ​​combining the Gauche Divine , so typical of the upper class, with the more popular side of the Parallel shows, immediately captivated the Suevia Films production company, which was interested in the project, but not before imposing two demands: the Always revered Rafael Azcona had to write the script, and the well-mythologized Sara Montiel would act as the protagonist. Grau argued that the archetype that La Montiel represented was far removed from the vicetiple of El Molino that he had outlined. On the part of the producer, the decision was firm and they assured that Sara was a guarantee of success.

IN THE COUNTRY HOUSE

Jorge Grau, ready to compromise, went to meet Sara, in the apartment that the star had at that time in Madrid's Plaza de España. The artist was half an hour late for her appointment , according to her because she came from playing sports at the Casa de Campo and reciting Antonio Machado.

To show that at 40 he was still in top shape, he did not hesitate to stand in front of the director. He put his hands to the ground, raised his legs upright, and the tunic he wore lowered, revealing his undergarments without hesitation. Grau assumed that that talkative Sara could be the protagonist of the film, even if she had to modify the role of chorus for that of main star, in search of greater credibility.

Already in pre-production came the first encounter. The director wanted to supervise the costumes that Sara would wear in the film, and after giving the go-ahead, he only pointed out that the triangle-shaped necklines could widen her figure. "Are you calling me fat?" Montiel replied with liveliness , to immediately take off the kimono she was wearing and show herself half-naked with her breasts exposed, leaving an indelible memory in the director. From then on the problems began to occur.

The entire technical team was made up of members and filmmakers of the so-called Barcelona School, whose concepts were far from that of the protagonist of El Último Cuplé , whom they even treated with a certain disdain. Sara immediately sensed that she was not among admirers and if war arose she was willing to win it. So it was.

ATTEMPTED EVICTION

If Jorge Grau used a body double for an inconsequential general shot, Sara claimed that it was an offense. If he made a close-up of Teresa Gimpera or Emma Cohen, secondary in the film, Sara pointed out that the director wanted to favor them against her. Small brushstrokes that exploded when they were preparing to shoot one of the sequences in Bocaccio , the legendary Barcelona venue. After doing the lights test, Sara refused to shoot, claiming that the camera was wrongly positioned and demanding another type of shot. The director appealed to his position and told Montiel that if he bragged so much about being a professional, he should at least obey.

An argument broke out in the midst of the entire team and the assistant director wanted to evacuate the staff so that they would not witness such a spectacle. " That they stay, that they listen to everything. Also, since I am the one who pays them, because I have the right to be obeyed," was the response of the actress, who assumed a financial part of all that and crossed out the director Jorge Grau of being an inexperienced kid . The filming was paralyzed for several days, something that Sara attributed to the hepatitis suffered by one of the protagonists. The explanation had some truth, without being all true. And Sara won.

The work plan was resumed, finishing what Montiel did not intervene in, while she was knocking down each of the pieces, as if it were a chess game. She managed to change the camera operator three times, and the still photo operator twice. Nothing was enough if the La Mancha diva did not look splendid. Finally, and pressuring the producers, he managed to get the director fired , quickly looking for a replacement to finish what was still to be shot.

Sara, so given to dwelling on her stories and adventures, went far above this entire chapter when she published her memoirs , Living is a pleasure, without going into details and ensuring that without really knowing why, Jorge Grau disappeared from the shoot and never again he saw it again. The director, on the other hand, described the experience as a real hell.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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