EXCLUSIVE: Oscar winners and husband and wife cinema royalty Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) and Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) are set to reunite on screen in psychological thriller Bunker from Oscar-winning writer-director Florian Zeller (The Father).
FilmNation Entertainment will launch international sales on behalf of Blue Morning Pictures and MOD Producciones at the upcoming Cannes Market, with CAA Media Finance and WME Independent handling domestic rights.
In Bunker, when an architect accepts a morally ambiguous project — building a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire — his wife begins to question their marriage after 17 years together. The film is described as “a thriller that delves into the emotional and moral challenges a couple faces amid the tensions of the world around them, exploring the fears, doubts, and dilemmas that define our era”.
Zeller wrote the English-language project specifically for Cruz and Bardem who themselves have been married for close to 17 years.
Zeller said: “I wanted to tell the story of a marriage and was deeply compelled to work with a real-life couple. I immediately was drawn to the idea of working with Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, two of the most gifted actors working today, who also happen to be one of the most iconic couples. I wrote Bunker for them. This film will push the boundaries of narrative and emotional truth, blurring the lines between reality and fiction in a way that feels thrilling and deeply human.”
The iconic Spanish couple have starred opposite each other multiple times across more than three decades, including in films Jamón, Jamón, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Loving Pablo and Everybody Knows.
Blue Morning Pictures’ Federica Sainte-Rose is set to produce alongside Fernando Bovaira and Simon de Santiago of MOD Producciones. Alice Dawson will also serve as a producer on the film. Mariano Cohn, Gaston Duprat, Andres Duprat, Emanuel Nunez and Fernando Sokolowicz will executive-produce.
“What excites me most about working with Florian on Bunker is the bold new direction he’s taking as a filmmaker. This project marks a clear tonal shift — unsettling and cinematically daring, Bunker speaks to the glaring contradictions that exist in modern society,” said Sainte-Rose. “The exploration of fears of the future, from ecological threats to rising social inequality, makes this film both urgent and relevant.”
Zeller is repped by CAA. Cruz is repped by CAA, Untitled, and Kuranda. Bardem is repped by WME and Goodman Genow.
