Studies and early career With a degree in philosophy from the
University of Deusto, De la Iglesia began drawing comics in fanzines such as
No, el fanzine maldito and
Metacrilato, as well as in magazines such as
Trokola,
Burdinjaun and
La Ría del Ocio. De la Iglesia always acknowledges
Alex Raymond (creator of
Flash Gordon) and
Stan Lee (founder of
Marvel Comics and co-creator of
Spider-Man and
The Hulk) as his main inspiration as a comics artist. It was also around this time, between 1986 and 1989, when he founded in
Bilbao one of the first role-game clubs in Spain: Los Pelotas. In his debut in the film industry, De la Iglesia was art director in the short film
Mamá (1988), by
Pablo Berger, and again in
Enrique Urbizu’s feature
Todo por la pasta (
Anything for Bread (1991). De la Iglesia had already collaborated with Enrique Urbizu and Joaquín Trincado designing the poster for their first film,
Tu novia está loca (1988). Álex de la Iglesia’s first short film,
Mirindas asesinas (1991), got the attention of
Pedro Almodóvar, whose production company,
El Deseo, collaborated in De la Iglesia's first feature film,
Acción mutante (the sci-fi actioner) (1993).
El día de la Bestia De la Iglesia’s next movie would establish him as one of the most important directors of Spanish cinema:
El día de la Bestia (1995), written with
Jorge Guerricaechevarría, co-screenwriter in most of Álex de la Iglesia’s films since then. Released internationally as “
The day of the Beast”, the film won six
Goya awards, including the award for Best Director. This piece turned
Santiago Segura into one of Spain's best-known actors and brought back actress
Terele Pávez, her being a regular in his movies until her demise in 2017.
Maverick director Subsequently, De la Iglesia has been combining productions aimed at an international audience, with others closer to the Spanish cultural taste, but all displaying his sublimely witted, often dark, and sometimes even grotesque, sense of humor. Many veteran Spanish actors and actresses have worked under his direction, from
Carmen Maura to
María Asquerino, as well as several Hollywood stars like
Rosie Pérez,
Elijah Wood,
John Hurt or
Salma Hayek. He directed the performances of
Javier Bardem,
Rosie Pérez and
James Gandolfini in
Perdita Durango (1997);
Santiago Segura and
El Gran Wyoming in
Muertos de risa (“
Dying of Laughter”, 1999);
Carmen Maura, Manuel Tejada and Paca Gabaldón in
La comunidad (“Common Wealth”, 2000);
Sancho Gracia,
Ángel de Andrés López and
Eusebio Poncela in
800 balas (“
800 Bullets”, 2002);
Guillermo Toledo, Mónica Cervera and
Kira Miró in
Crimen ferpecto (“
Ferpect Crime”, 2004); and
Elijah Wood,
Leonor Watling and
John Hurt in
Los crímenes de Oxford (“
The Oxford Murders”, 2007).
Balada triste de trompeta His film,
Balada triste de trompeta (“
The Last Circus”, 2010) was awarded two prizes at the 67th
Venice International Film Festival, namely, an Osella for Best Screenplay and the
Silver Lion for Best Direction. It was also nominated for fifteen
Goya awards in 2011, including Best Director, Best Film And Best Original Screenplay. It got to receive the awards for Best Makeup and Best Special Effects.
The New York Times praised the movie on a raving piece when the film opened theatrically in the US. '
Box Office Hits: Las brujas de Zugarramurdi
and Perfectos desconocidos''''' In 2011, De la Iglesia released
La chispa de la vida (“
As Luck Would Have It”), starring
José Mota and
Salma Hayek, and shot in the coastal Spanish town of
Cartagena. 2013 was the year of
Las brujas de Zugarramurdi (“
Witching & Bitching”), one of Álex de la Iglesia’s most successful movies, praised by audience and critics. He began shooting it in the fall of 2012 with an extensive cast that included
Carmen Maura,
Macarena Gómez,
Hugo Silva,
Mario Casas,
Carolina Bang,
Terele Pávez and
Pepón Nieto, and some cameos by
Santiago Segura and
Carlos Areces. The film was released in Spain on September 27, 2013, and achieved relevant commercial success, grossing 14.6 million euros, with a total cost of 6M€. It was awarded eight Goyas, including Best Supporting Actress for the veteran actress,
Terele Pávez. De la Iglesia then surprised everyone with
Mi gran noche (“
My Big Night”, 2015), an ensemble film that marked Spanish singer superstar
Raphael’s comeback to cinema after 40years.
Raphael heads a huge cast that included
Mario Casas,
Pepón Nieto,
Blanca Suárez,
Carlos Areces,
Luis Callejo,
Carmen Machi, Jaime Ordóñez,
Santiago Segura,
Enrique Villén,
Hugo Silva,
Carolina Bang,
Terele Pávez,
Carmen Ruiz, Marta Guerras,
Ana Polvorosa,
Toni Acosta and Luis Fernández, among many others.
Mi gran noche was another box-office success for its director, grossing almost three times the four million euros it cost. In 2017, Álex de la Iglesia released two films:
El Bar, with several of his already regular actors (
Blanca Suárez,
Mario Casas,
Carmen Machi,
Pepón Nieto,
Terele Pávez), and the remake of the Italian film
Perfetti sconosciuti, titled in Spanish
Perfectos desconocidos (“
Perfect Stragers” internationally), with another impressive cast including
Belén Rueda and
Eduardo Noriega.
Perfectos desconocidos was the director's biggest box-office return to date, with almost 20 million euros grossed.
The rise of Pokeepsie Films In 2009, producer
Carolina Bang and Álex de la Iglesia established the production powerhouse Pokeepsie Films. Created to nurture a new generation of bold, daring and innovative filmmakers, Pokeepsie films have produced an impressive slate of successful features, such as Paper House’s director
Koldo Serra’s 7
0 Bin Ladens (“
70 Big Ones”),
Eduardo Casanova’s multi-awarded
Pieles (“
Skins”) and
La Pietà (released theatrically on January 13th, 2022), Esteban Roel and Juanfer Andrés’
Musarañas (“
Shrew’s nest”), starred by the outstanding
Macarena Gómez, Alex de la Iglesia’s
El bar, Ignacio Tatay’s
The Chalk Line (nº2 non-English language film in
Netflix for 2 weeks in October 2022),
Jaume Balagueró’s
Venus, and recently HBO’s massive hit
30 monedas (“
30 coins”), seasons 1 and 2. In February 2021, Álex de la Iglesia announced the shooting of a new film under his direction, produced by
Mediaset España, together with his production company. The film is called
El cuarto pasajero (“
Four’s a crowd”) and stars
Blanca Suárez,
Ernesto Alterio,
Alberto San Juan and
Rubén Cortada. With “
Four’s a crowd” as international title,
El cuarto pasajero was released in Spain in October 2022, with excellent box-office returns
The Fear Collection In the recent years, Pokeepsie films expanded their activities with ambitious projects such as The Fear Collection, a partnership with
Sony Pictures and
Amazon Prime to produce a series of horror feature films co-produced by Pokeepsie Films. The movies will be directed by some notable Spanish filmmakers such as Jaume Balagueró,
Paula Ortiz, and Álex de la Iglesia himself, among many others. The first film of
The Fear Collection is
Venicephrenia, directed by De la Iglesia.
Venicephrenia had its world-premiere at the
Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia and was released in Spring 2022. The second feature of this collection is
Venus, directed by prestigious Catalan helmer
Jaume Balagueró.
Venus had its world premiere at
Toronto International Film Festival. Starring
Ester Expósito, it was released theatrically on Dec. the 2nd. 2022
Television Álex de la Iglesia has directed sketches for TV shows such as
El peor programa de la semana with El Gran Wyoming (
TVE) and
Inocente, Inocente (regional television), as well as the series
Plutón B.R.B. Nero (2008) for La 2 (TVE). This one is a parody of science fiction series starring
Antonio Gil,
Carolina Bang and
Carlos Areces, among others. At the
Venice International Film Festival of 2020, he presented his series
30 monedas (“
30 Coins”), which premiered on
HBO Spain on November 29 of that same year. The series tells the ordeal of Father Vergara, an exorcist, boxer and ex-convict exiled in a parish of a remote village in Spain. In December 2021,
HBO announced
30 monedas was the most viewed show in Spain. == Presidency of the Film Academy ==