The first official trailer for Strange Way Of Life, the latest short from Spanish maverick Pedro Almodóvar has dropped, featuring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke.
The Western, shot in southern Spain, is Almodóvar’s second English-language production after The Human Voice, starring Tilda Swinton in 2020.
The short will debut Out-of-Competition at this year’s Cannes film festival, which runs May 16-27. The screening of Strange Way of Life will be followed by a conversation with Almodóvar and his filmmaking team. The pic had been widely expected to play at Cannes after the director told singer-songwriter Dua Lipa that he expected it to premiere at the festival in an interview for her At Your Service podcast in January.
The synopsis provided by Almodóvar and posted by the festival reads: “A man rides a horse across the desert that separates him from Bitter Creek. He comes to visit Sheriff Jake. Twenty-five years earlier, both the sheriff and Silva, the rancher who rides out to meet him, worked together as hired gunmen. Silva visits him with the excuse of reuniting with his friend from his youth, and they do indeed celebrate their meeting, but the next morning Sheriff Jake tells him that the reason for his trip is not to go down the memory lane of their old friendship.”
“I must say no more so as not to give away all the surprises of the script,” adds the director. “The strange way of life referred in the title alludes to the famous fado by Amalia Rodrigues, whose lyrics suggest that there is no stranger existence than the one that is lived by turning your back on your own desires.”
The film is produced by Agustín Almodóvar with Esther García as executive producer and Bárbara Peiró, Diego Pajuelo, and Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello as associate producers.
Further cast members alongside Hawke and Pascal include Pedro Casablanc, Manu Ríos, George Steane, José Condessa, Jason Fernández, Sara Sálamo, Ohiana Cueto, and Daniela Medina. The music is composed by Alberto Iglesias.
Check out the full trailer above.