Guillermo del Toro Presents The Orphanage

Synopsis

Laura spent the happiest years of her childhood growing up in an orphanage by the seaside, cared for by the staff and fellow orphans whom she loved as brothers and sisters. Now, thirty years later, she returns with her husband Carlos and Simon, their 7-year-old son, with a dream of restoring and reopening the long-abandoned orphanage as a home for disabled children.

The new home and mysterious surroundings awaken Simon’s imagination and the boy starts to spin a web of fantastic tales and not-so-innocent games... A troubling web that begins to disturb Laura, drawing her into the child’s strange universe which resonates with echoes of long-forgotten, deeply unsettling memories of her own childhood.

As the opening day draws near, tension builds within the family. Carlos remains sceptical, believing that Simon is making everything up in a desperate bid for attention. But Laura slowly becomes convinced that something long-hidden and terrible is lurking in the old house, something waiting to emerge and inflict appalling damage on her family.

About the production

Bringing The Orphanage to the screen as Bayona envisaged it doubled the original budget and shooting time. Then Guillermo del Toro appeared on the scene. "I met Guillermo fourteen years ago, when he came to present Cronos at the Fantasy Film Festival in Sitges. As soon as he found out about our project, he offered to co-produce the film. Everything got much simpler after that," states Bayona. Backed by It’s Alive! New Talent Lab, production company Rodar y Rodar gave the director free rein to work with his regular team for commercials and music videos. Shooting began on May 15 2006 in Llanes, Asturias.

The crew chose this location because of its great variety of spectacular natural settings: mysterious grottos, towering cliffs, long stretches of unspoiled coast, forests, mountains and even a village centre where they had to simulate a big Christmas snow storm in the middle of August. Llanes also provided the production team with its most important location: Partarríu Mansion, the house that serves as the old orphanage. "I wasn’t looking for a huge mansion, filled with interminable hallways, like in The Shining,” Bayona states. “I wanted something smaller and more minimal, but at the same time large enough to make the story credible. Partarríu Mansion had all these elements. It was a large colonial house dating back to the end of the 19th century, with a truly mysterious feel to it. Its dimensions are deceptive at first sight: the fact that each of its facades is different gives the impression that the house is constantly changing.”

However, the director’s plans, full of intricate camera movements, called for the interiors of the house to be completely reconstructed. Bayona: “My head was swimming from images of old horror movies like Jack Clayton’s The Innocents and Robert Wise’s The Haunting, so this had to be done in the classic way: in a studio. Our approach was very ambitious. Everything had to be prepared in great detail and with great precision, and you can only achieve that on a set."

To achieve this precision, the entire film was visualized in advance. Thousands of sketches, storyboards and conceptual designs were drawn up before the shoot. The whole set was reproduced in a three-dimensional graphic in which the DP could position the camera before going on set. After four weeks in Llanes, the team moved to Barcelona to finish the ten-week shoot.

Guillermo Del Toro On The Orphanage

For many years I have followed the work of J.A. Bayona, director of the shorts My Holidays and The Sponge Man, and an infinite number of delirious music videos I admire. His talent was crying out to direct a feature-length film, so producing The Orphanage was nothing more than a response to this need.

Having seen the film, I’m convinced the effort was worthwhile. During my long career in the film industry, I have received many, many screenplays, not least because of my longstanding interest in the work of new directors. And many directors have asked for my opinion and advice on their work. Alas, it is only very rarely that one comes across a great script.

A screenplay may show glimmers of talent, but it almost never cries out to be transformed into a film. However, when I read The Orphanage, I knew immediately that I was dealing with an exception. The screenplay by Sergio G. Sánchez was the best I had read in many years. Just a few pages in, I realised that this wasn’t simply another snazzy rehash of the stock elements of the genre: haunted houses, ghosts, parallel universes... This script possessed a truly rare depth.

The Orphanage is more than just a horror movie: its pacing is impeccable, its visuals extraordinary, it doesn’t rely on special effects to make the viewer squirm, and it offers a very personal interpretation of the classic locations and conventions of the genre.

The Orphanage also has unusual emotional depth for a film of this nature. Apart from being a truly disturbing account of supernatural phenomena, it is one of the best crafted, most beautiful stories about the profound pain caused by loss that I have seen. Bayona has not just created a story packed with mystery and suspense: he has also crafted a powerful melodrama by sculpting his characters, as well as the ties that bind them, with such care and precision.

Bayona has done full credit to Sánchez’s screenplay, whilst showing himself to be a master of audiovisual language with a unique personality. What’s more, he has managed to conjure truly memorable performances from his actors, particularly Belén Rueda who glows in a role overflowing with courage and insight. But perhaps most important of all, Bayona has obviously enjoyed his work as much as I have.

Cast and Crew

Belén Rueda

Belén Rueda was always J.A. Bayona’s first choice to play Laura.

For the director: “I needed a very versatile actress. Belén can appear very vulnerable and at the same time she derives great strength from within which makes her powerful. She reminds me the heroines in James Cameron’s films. She is also a great mother, which was very helpful for us when preparing the character together”.

Playing Laura was a challenge for Belén Rueda. Not only was it her first lead film role, but the genre was an unexplored field for her. The actress remembers the way the story captivated her from the first moment: "There was nobody at home and I was really frightened while I was reading the script, but I couldn’t stop until I finished. The story is captivating and constantly surprises you. Every three or four scenes it disturbs you, it is puzzling and forces you to rethink the whole story until you reach an end without concessions". Rueda states: "My first impressions after reading a script are essential for me. When I finished The Orphanage I knew I had to make this film".

Belén Rueda gave herself entirely to the film, both physically and emotionally. "She lost more than eight kilos during the shoot and never minded not looking her best," declares Bayona, who is extremely satisfied with the work of the actress. This applies to both the director and the crew, as Bayona recalls: "The entire crew applauded spontaneously at the end of certain takes. It was very touching. Belén has a lot in common with the character of Laura. She was very brave to accept the role and I am eternally grateful".

BELÉN RUEDA
selected filmography
2007. SAVAGE GRACE - Tom Kallin (forthcoming)
2007. THE ORPHANAGE (EL ORFANATO) - J.A. Bayona
2004. THE SEA INSIDE (MAR ADENTRO) - Alejandro Amenábar

Geraldine Chaplin

Daughter of Charles Chaplin, Geraldine Chaplin was discovered by David Lean when she was dancing in Paris, what lead to her role in Doctor Zhivago. Since then, this outstanding actress has worked with the most important filmmakers: Robert Altman, Carlos Saura, Franco Zeffirelli, Richard Attenborough...

Geraldine Chaplin

recent filmography

2007. THE ORPHANAGE (EL ORFANATO) - J.A. Bayona
2004. THE SEA INSIDE (MAR ADENTRO) - Alejandro Amenábar
2007. THE TOTTENWACKERS - Ibón Cormenzana
2007. MIGUEL & WILLIAM - Inés Paris
2007. THERESA, THE BODY OF CHRIST - Ray Loriga
2005. MELISSA P. - Luca Guadagnino
2005. OCULTO - Antonio Hernandez
2005. HEIDI - Paul Marcus
2004. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY - Mary McGuckian
2002. TALK TO HER - Pedro Almodóvar
2002. THE CITY OF NO LIMITS - Antonio Hernández
GOYA AWARD BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
2001. JUST RUN! - Saura Medrano
1995. HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS - Jodie Foster
1996. JANE EYRE - Franco Zeffirelli
1994. WORDS UPON THE WINDOW PANE - Mary McGukian
1993. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE - Martin Scorsese
1992. CHAPLIN - Richard Attenborough
NOMINEE GOLDEN GLOBE BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Cast

LAURA - BELÉN RUEDA
CARLOS - FERNANDO CAYO
SIMÓN - ROGER PRÍNCEP
PILAR - MABEL RIBERA
BENIGNA - MONTSERRAT CARULLA
ENRIQUE - ANDRÉS GERTRUDIX
BALABÁN - EDGAR VIVAR
AURORA - GERALDINE CHAPLIN0

Crew

DIRECTOR - JUAN ANTONIO BAYONA
SCREENPLAY - SERGIO G. SÁNCHEZ
FIRST ASSISTANT-DIRECTOR - MENNA FITTÉ
PRODUCER - GUILLERMO DEL TORO
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS - RODAR Y RODAR MAR TARGARONA AND JOAQUÍN PADRÓ
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS - TELECINCO CINEMA ÁLVARO AUGUSTIN
DELEGATE PRODUCERS - BELÉN ATIENZA AND ELENA MANRIQUE
PRODUCTION MANAGER - SANDRA HERMIDA
MUSIC - FERNANDO VELÁZQUEZ
DP - ÓSCAR FAURA
EDIT - ELENA RUIZ
SOUND - XAVIER MAS
SOUND DESIGN - ORIOL TARRAGO
SOUND MIX - MARC ORTS
SFX MAKE UP - DDT
SFX - JORDI SANT AGUSTI (INFANIA)
ART DIRECTOR - JOSEP ROSELL
COSTUME - MARÍA REYES
MAKE UP - LOLA LÓPEZ
HAIR - ITZIAR ARRIETA