‘Living Is Easy’ Director David Trueba’s ‘Jokes & Cigarettes,’ About a Sad Comic Genius, Pounced on by Film Factory (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comJohn Hopewell Chief International Correspondent ROME — Film Factory Ent. – a sales agent on “Wild Tales,” “The Clan,” “Close Your Eyes” and “The Kings of the World” – has boarded “Jokes & Cigarettes” (“Saben Aquell”), the latest movie from Spain’s David Trueba which is fast-emerging as one of Spain’s late year Goya Award contenders after a San Sebastian sneak-peek and the bow of a trailer.
Trueba, also a novelist, journalist and documentarian, has directed four fiction films and four documentaries since “Living is Easy With Eyes Closed,” which swept seven Goyas in 2014 including picture, director, original screenplay, actor (Fernando Cámara and actress (Natalia de Molina).
Released in Spain on Nov. 1 by Warner Bros. Pictures, “Jokes & Cigarettes” marks his biggest feature in terms of industry support since “Living,” being backed by Movistar Plus+, HBO Max, TV3 and ICEC.
Produced by Edmón Roch’s Ikiru Films (“The Communion Girl”), Atresmedia Cine (“Mummies”) and La Terraza Films, the true facts-based “Jokes & Cigarettes” stars David Verdaguer (“Summer 1993”) as an icon and a paradox: Barcelona’s Eugenio, a comedian who told jokes with a deadpan delivery, grave voice and genius at comic timing, always introduced by the phrase “Saben aquel que diu.” He did so perched on a high stool, dressed all in black, wearing glazed glasses, a high balls glass of vodka and orange on a table to one side, enveloped by plumes of smoke from a Ducados black tobacco cigarette in hand.
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