EVERYBODY KNOWS (2019) About The Director and Cast
Asghar Farhadi, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Ricardo Darin, and Eduard Fernandez
ASGHAR FARHADI (Director / Writer), PENELOPE CRUZ (Laura), JAVIER BARDEM (Paco), RICARDO DARIN (Alejandro), and EDUARD FERNANDEZ (Fernando)
ASGHAR FARHADI (Director / Writer) was born in 1972. He made his first short film at age 13 in a youth cinema club and had made five short films before going to the University of Tehran in 1991 to study theatre, a choice that would influence his filmmaking style significantly. He defended Harold Pinter's work and the function of silence and pause in Pinter's plays for his bachelor thesis. After he graduated, he continued his studies in stage direction at Tarbiat Modares University in 1996. There, he started writing radio plays and television series. After obtaining his master's degree in stage direction, he started writing and directing television series, "A Tale of City" ("Dastane yek sharh") being one of them.
In 2002, he wrote and directed his first feature film, Dancing in the Dust (Raghss dar ghobar). The film won the Best Actor award at the 25th Moscow International Film Festival and the Russian Society of Film Critics' Best Film award, as well as Best Screenplay and Best Director at the 48th Asian Pacific Film Festival. A year later, Asghar Farhadi made Beautiful City (Shahre Ziba), a social genre film, which was a rarity at the time. It describes the conflict between two families, one of a murderer sentenced to death, the other of his victim. The victim's family hold the fate of the 18-year-old murderer in their hands, having the power to revoke his death sentence. The film was released in France in 2012 and attracted attention in local and international festivals, winning several awards, including the Grand Prix at the Warsaw International Film Festival.
Farhadi's following film was Fireworks Wednesday (Chahar shanbe souri) in 2005, which shone an uncompromising light on the stressed lifestyle of a middle-class Iranian family through the eyes of the maid and illustrated the double life of a family in society. Two years later, Farhadi directed About Elly (Darbareye Elly), a film about a close group of young friends who go on vacation in the north of Iran. When one of them goes missing, it puts the group in a complicated situation and sets in motion an exciting drama. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and Fajr Film Festival in Tehran simultaneously. It won the Silver Bear for Best Director in Berlin and the Crystal Simorgh for Best Directing in Fajr. In 2009, About Elly was released in France and had over 100,000 admissions.
After the success of About Elly, Farhadi started to write A Separation (Jodaeiye nader az simin), which he shot in 2010. Once more, the film focuses on a middle-class couple, whose marriage is on the rocks, and who, despite having a child, decide to get divorced. A Separation premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, with the film taking the Golden Bear for Best Film, the Silver Bear for the ensemble of the actresses and the Silver Bear for the ensemble of the actors. This was only the beginning of a long list of over 70 awards internationally, including the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, the Cesar for Best Foreign Film, and finally, the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
A Separation was an international success, unprecedented by any Iranian film. In France alone, the film reached one million admissions, the most widely-viewed Iranian film in that country, and was released in 250 theatres. The film was released in December 2011 in the United States, becoming one of the most successful releases for a film in a foreign language. The same year, Farhadi was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. Other awards won by A Separation: Best Foreign Language Film at the Durban International Film Festival, Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay at the Asia Pacific Film Festival, Best Film at the Sydney Film Festival.
Farhadi and his family then moved to Paris so he could start work on the screenplay of The Past, a story that takes place outside of Iran. The main character, Ahmad, returns to Paris after a four-year absence to finalize the legal aspects of his divorce from Marie. Ahmad's presence in Marie's life after all this time creates a complicated situation for them, and forces them to dig into their common past. The Past was released in 2013 in France during the Cannes Film Festival and again it had around one million admissions. It won the Best Actress Award at Cannes Festival and was nominated for the Golden Globes and the Cesar.
Farhadi returned to Iran in 2015 to shoot The Salesman. The film was completed in 2016 and selected in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where Asghar Farhadi won Best Screenplay while Shahab Hosseini, the lead actor, took home Best Actor. The Salesman was released in France that fall as well as in Iran where it became Asghar Farhadi's biggest success. In February 2017, he won his second Oscar for Best Film in a Foreign Language.
A few months after, Farhadi kicked off his following project for which he reunites on screen Penelope Cruz and Javier Barden. All shot in Spain and in Spanish, EVERYBODY KNOWS also stars the Argentinean actor Ricardo DarÃn. The film is selected as the 71st Cannes Film Festival's opening film while also being in competition. It's the third time that Asghar Farhadi competes for the Golden Palme. EVERYBODY KNOWS is also third film directed by Asghar Farhadi and produced by Alexandre Mallet-Guy and the sixth to be distributed by him. They first met in Berlin in 2009, where Alexandre Mallet-Guy had just discovered About Elly.
PENELOPE CRUZ (Laura) has proven herself to be one of the most versatile actresses by playing a variety of compelling characters, and becoming the first actress from Spain to be nominated for and win an Academy Award.
First introduced to American audiences in the Spanish films Jamon, Jamon and Belle Epoque, Cruz starred in her first English language film, Hi-Lo Country, in 1998 for director Stephen Frears opposite Woody Harrelson, Patricia Arquette, and Billy Crudup. In 1999, Cruz won the Best Actress award at the 13th Annual Goya Awards given by the Spanish Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for her role in Fernando Trueba's The Girl of Your Dreams.
Confirming her status as Spain's hottest international actress, Cruz landed a series of coveted roles. She appeared in Billy Bob Thornton's All the Pretty Horses, Fina Torres's Woman on Top, Alejandro Amenabar's Open Your Eyes, Maria Ripoll's Twice Upon a Yesterday, and Nick Hamm's Talk of Angels. Additionally, Cruz co-starred in Pedro Almovodar's Live Flesh and critically acclaimed All About My Mother, which was awarded the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
Next up for Cruz was New Line's Blow for director Ted Demme and Captain Corelli's Mandolin opposite Nicolas Cage. After that, she starred opposite Tom Cruise in the erotic thriller Vanilla Sky. She then tackled Masked & Anonymous, Fan Fan la Tulipe, which opened the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, and Don't Tempt Me. She received rave reviews for her eagerly awaited performance in Don't Move (Non ti Muovere) in which she was honored with a David Di Donatello Award (Italian Oscar) and European Film Award for Best Actress. To add to her already brilliant and diverse choice of film credits, she starred in films including Gothika; Head in the Clouds; Noel; and Chromophobia. Cruz also co-stared with Matthew McConaughey and William H. Macy as Dr. Eva Rojas in the action-packed film Sahara.
In 2006, Cruz starred in Volver, which again teamed her with director and dear friend Pedro Almodovar. Critically acclaimed for her role as Raimunda, she won the Best Actress awards at the European Film Awards, the Spanish Goya Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, and received both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. Cruz went on to star in Elegy opposite Sir Ben Kingsley and Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona opposite Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson. She an Oscar, a BAFTA, an NYFCC, and an NBR Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film.
In 2009, Cruz and Pedro Almodovar were back in action for the fourth time with Broken Embraces, for which she again received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Lena. Also in 2009, Cruz teamed up with director Rob Marshall and co-starred alongside Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day Lewis, and Marion Cotillard in the film version of the musical Nine. Her standout portrayal of Carla garnered SAG, Golden Globe, and Oscar nominations. Her third Oscar nomination made history as it marked only the third time in history that the winner of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress was nominated for Best Supporting Actress the following year.
In 2011, Cruz starred opposite Johnny Depp in the international blockbuster hit Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth installment of the movie series directed by Rob Marshall. That summer, she also filmed Woody Allen's To Rome with Love, which was released June 22, 2012. The Rome-set film also stars Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page. Cruz starred in Ridley Scott's 2013 thriller The Counselor alongside Cameron Diaz, Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, and Brad Pitt. She went on to star in Twice Born directed by Sergio Castellitto, with whom she previously starred in his critically acclaimed film Don't Move.
In 2016, Cruz starred in Zoolander 2, the long-awaited sequel to the 2001 comedy directed by and starring Ben Stiller, as well as Louis Leterrier's The Brothers Grimsby, alongside Sacha Baron Cohen, Ian McShane, Rebel Wilson, and Isla Fisher. She went on to produce and star in Ma Ma, directed by acclaimed Spanish director Julio Medem. The film premiered at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival and was released in May 2016. Fernando Trueba's The Queen of Spain was released in November 2016 and earned Cruz her 9th Spanish Goya Award nomination.
This past year, she appeared in 20th Century Fox's Murder on the Orient Express, based on the 1934 Agatha Christie novel, with a strong ensemble cast including Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley, Michael Pena, Judi Dench, and Josh Gad, as well as Kenneth Branagh who also directed. She also starred in Loving Pablo opposite Peter Sarsgaard and Javier Bardem. Written and directed by Fernando Leon de Aranoa, the film follows a journalist who strikes up a romantic relationship with notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar. The film premiered at the 2017 Venice, Toronto and San Sebastian Film Festivals.
This past January, she made her U.S. television debut as Donatella Versace, the sister of murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace, in FX's "American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace," the third installment in the Emmy-winning anthology series from Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson, and Brad Simpson. In March, she was presented with the Honorary Cesar Award for her collective work in film from France's Academy of Arts and Techniques of Cinema during the 43nd Cesar Awards ceremony in Paris.
Her latest film, Asghar Farhadi's Spanish-language psychological thriller Everybody Knows, premiered as the Opening Night of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Next up, Cruz will appear in 355, a large-scale espionage film directed by Simon Kinberg with an all-star international spy cast including Jessica Chastain, Marion Cotillard, Fan Bingbing, and Lupita Nyong'o.
JAVIER BARDEM (Paco), Spain's most internationally acclaimed actor, has captivated audiences worldwide with his diverse performances. Bardem stars opposite his wife, Penelope Cruz, in Asghar Farhadi's Everybody Knows, which opened the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Also in 2018, Bardem and Cruz starred in Fernando Leon de Aranoa's biopic, Loving Pablo, which tells the true story of a dramatic love affair between notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar and Colombian journalist Virginia Vallejo. In 2019, Bardem can be seen in Amazon's four-part mini-series, Cortes, directed by Steven Spielberg.
Bardem recently starred in Darren Aronofsky's mother! opposite Jennifer Lawrence as well as the fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean blockbuster franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. In 2012, Bardem took audiences by storm in one of the most touted installments of the James Bond franchise, Skyfall, as the villain, Raoul Silva, opposite Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench, Naomie Harris, and Berenice Marlohe. He received critical acclaim for his role, in addition to being nominated in the supporting actor category for both a Critics Choice Movie Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. The same year, Bardem co-produced and starred in Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony, a film documenting how the colonization of the Western Sahara has left nearly 200,000 people living in refugee camps.
Bardem was awarded the Best Actor prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival for his performance in Alejandro G. Inarritu's Biutiful, a role which also earned him his third Academy Award nomination. In October 2011, Bardem and his co-producer Alvaro Longoria, the film's director, addressed the United Nations General Assembly's decolonization committee, urging the delegates to end human rights abuses in the region. The film premiered at the 62nd annual Berlin International Film Festival and has been acquired by Canal Plus in Bardem's native Spain, and was released by GoDigital via iTunes in the U.S.
In 2008, Bardem received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his chilling portrayal of sociopath Anton Chigurh in Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country for Old Men. The performance garnered a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA, and countless other film critic awards and nominations. Bardem won the Best Actor Award at the 2004 Venice Film Festival for his performance in Alejandro Amenabar's film The Sea Inside, making him the second actor ever to win the award twice. He also won a Goya Award and received a Golden Globe nomination for this role. Bardem has won the Goya Award; Spain's equivalent of the Oscar, five times and has received a total of eight nominations.
In 2000, Bardem received his first Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of the Cuban poet and dissident Reinaldo Arenas in Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls. He was named Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, received Best Actor honors from the National Society of Film Critics, the Independent Spirit Awards, the National Board of Review, and received a Golden Globe nomination for this role.
His other notable film credits include Ridley Scott's The Counselor, Terrence Malick's To the Wonder; Eat, Pray, Love, opposite Julia Roberts; Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, for which he was again nominated for a Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award; John Malkovich's directorial debut The Dancer Upstairs; Fernando Leon de Aranoa's Mondays in the Sun, which was named best film at the San Sebastian Film Festival; Michael Mann's Collateral; Mike Newell's Love in the Time of Cholera; and Milos Forman's Goya's Ghosts, opposite Natalie Portman.
RICARDO DARIN (Alejandro) is a Buenos Aires-born actor, screenwriter and film director widely considered to be one of the best and most prolific actors of Argentine cinema. He's delivered acclaimed performances in films including 2000's Nine Queens, 2004's Luna de avellaneda, 2005's The Aura and 2007's La senal, which also marked his feature directorial debut. In 2009, he starred in The Secret in Their Eyes, the Academy Award-winner for Best Foreign-Language Film, and in 2015, he received the Goya Award for Best Actor for the film, Truman.
After making his stage debut alongside his parents Ricardo Darin Sr. and Renee Roxana at the age of 10, Darin began working in television with producer Alberto Migre on such series as Alta Comedia and Estacion Retiro. He became known as one of the galancitos, charming young actors who brought popular TV series to the stage, appearing in such productions as "He nacido en la ribera," "La rabona" and "Los exitos del amor." In 1987, Darin starred in the television series Estrellita mia, with Andrea Del Boca, and two years later, in Rebelde, with Grecia Colmenares. He made the leap to comedy in the early 1990s, enjoying tremendous success co-starring in the 1993 remake of the 1970s TV show Mi cunado, alongside Luis Brandoni.
As he built his screen career, Darin continued to perform in theatrical productions such as "La extrana pareja," a Spanish adaptation of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple," "Taxi," "Sugar," "Rumores," "Algo en comun" and "Art." He debuted as theater director in 1990, with the production "Pajaros in the nait," starring Adrian Suar, Diego Torres and Leonardo Sbaraglia.
Darin's early films were made largely for young audiences, but in the 1980s, he began to move toward the more mature complex roles for which he would become best known with titles such as El desquite (1983), La rosales (1984) and Revancha de un amigo (1987). Darin's first real critical acclaim came for his performance in the 1990s with Perdido por perdido (1993), directed by then-newcomer Alberto Lecchi. Subsequently, the actor appeared in Eduardo Mignogna's 1998 drama El faro and starred in Juan Jose Campanella's 1999 romantic comedy El mismo amor, la misma lluvia, in which he played a writer who falls for a waitress.
It was Darin's masterful portrayal of a con artist in the midst of Argentina's financial crisis in 2000's Nine Queens, however, that fully cemented his reputation as a singularly gifted cinematic talent. He then reteamed with El faro filmmaker Eduardo Mignona for the crime drama La fuga (2001). The same year, he starred in in El Hijo de la Novia, which earned an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film. His string of magnificent performances continued in titles such as 2004's Luna de avellaneda, 2005's The Aura, 2006's The Education of Fairies and 2007's La senal, the latter of which also marked his feature directorial debut. The following year, he starred in another winning romantic comedy, Lovely Loneliness.
In 2009, Darin's unforgettable performance as a man haunted by his past helped director Campanella's mesmerizing drama The Secret in Their Eyes win the Academy Award for best foreign-language film. The same year, he starred in The Dancer and The Thief, which was followed by 2010's Carancho, 2011's Chinese Take-out, and 2012's White Elephant and A Gun in Each Hand. In 2013's Thesis on a Homicide, Darin starred as a professor who believes one of his students has committed a murder.
Among his most recent films credits are 2013's 7th Floor and Violet, as well as 2014's Wild Tales and 2015's Truman, for which he earned a Goya Award. Additionally, Darin starred in 2016's Koblic, 2017's Black Snow and The Summit. The winner of 5 Silver Condor Awards from the Argentine Film Critics Association, Darin in 2011 received the Konex Foundation's Diamond Award, one of Argentina's most prestigious honors, for being the country's most important entertainment personality in the last decade.
In addition to EVERYBODY KNOWS, he can next be seen in An Unexpected Love,
which will open the San Sebastian Film Festival, and Terra, written and
directed by Walter Salles.
RICARDO DARIN (Alejandro) is a Buenos Aires-born actor, screenwriter and film director widely considered to be one of the best and most prolific actors of Argentine cinema. He's delivered acclaimed performances in films including 2000's Nine Queens, 2004's Luna de avellaneda, 2005's The Aura and 2007's La senal, which also marked his feature directorial debut. In 2009, he starred in The Secret in Their Eyes, the Academy Award-winner for Best Foreign-Language Film, and in 2015, he received the Goya Award for Best Actor for the film, Truman.
After making his stage debut alongside his parents Ricardo Darin Sr. and Renee Roxana at the age of 10, Darin began working in television with producer Alberto Migre on such series as Alta Comedia and Estacion Retiro. He became known as one of the galancitos, charming young actors who brought popular TV series to the stage, appearing in such productions as "He nacido en la ribera," "La rabona" and "Los exitos del amor." In 1987, Darin starred in the television series Estrellita mia, with Andrea Del Boca, and two years later, in Rebelde, with Grecia Colmenares. He made the leap to comedy in the early 1990s, enjoying tremendous success co-starring in the 1993 remake of the 1970s TV show Mi cunado, alongside Luis Brandoni.
As he built his screen career, Darin continued to perform in theatrical productions such as "La extrana pareja," a Spanish adaptation of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple," "Taxi," "Sugar," "Rumores," "Algo en comun" and "Art." He debuted as theater director in 1990, with the production "Pajaros in the nait," starring Adrian Suar, Diego Torres and Leonardo Sbaraglia.
Darin's early films were made largely for young audiences, but in the 1980s, he began to move toward the more mature complex roles for which he would become best known with titles such as El desquite (1983), La rosales (1984) and Revancha de un amigo (1987). Darin's first real critical acclaim came for his performance in the 1990s with Perdido por perdido (1993), directed by then-newcomer Alberto Lecchi. Subsequently, the actor appeared in Eduardo Mignogna's 1998 drama El faro and starred in Juan Jose Campanella's 1999 romantic comedy El mismo amor, la misma lluvia, in which he played a writer who falls for a waitress.
It was Darin's masterful portrayal of a con artist in the midst of Argentina's financial crisis in 2000's Nine Queens, however, that fully cemented his reputation as a singularly gifted cinematic talent. He then reteamed with El faro filmmaker Eduardo Mignona for the crime drama La fuga (2001). The same year, he starred in in El Hijo de la Novia, which earned an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film. His string of magnificent performances continued in titles such as 2004's Luna de avellaneda, 2005's The Aura, 2006's The Education of Fairies and 2007's La senal, the latter of which also marked his feature directorial debut. The following year, he starred in another winning romantic comedy, Lovely Loneliness.
In 2009, Darin's unforgettable performance as a man haunted by his past helped director Campanella's mesmerizing drama The Secret in Their Eyes win the Academy Award for best foreign-language film. The same year, he starred in The Dancer and The Thief, which was followed by 2010's Carancho, 2011's Chinese Take-out, and 2012's White Elephant and A Gun in Each Hand. In 2013's Thesis on a Homicide, Darin starred as a professor who believes one of his students has committed a murder.
Among his most recent films credits are 2013's 7th Floor and Violet, as well as 2014's Wild Tales and 2015's Truman, for which he earned a Goya Award. Additionally, Darin starred in 2016's Koblic, 2017's Black Snow and The Summit. The winner of 5 Silver Condor Awards from the Argentine Film Critics Association, Darin in 2011 received the Konex Foundation's Diamond Award, one of Argentina's most prestigious honors, for being the country's most important entertainment personality in the last decade.
In addition to EVERYBODY KNOWS, he can next be seen in An Unexpected Love, which will open the San Sebastian Film Festival, and Terra, written and directed by Walter Salles.
