In what remains the biggest event in the Spanish film industry in 2024, last January, pay TV Movistar Plus+, behind premium series such as “A Good Life” and “The Plague”, called on the local press to reveal its biggest move strategy in recent years.
Movistar Plus executives Domingo Corral and Guillermo Farré were joined by five of the best, most successful and relatively young filmmakers in Spain at the time: Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Alberto Rodríguez, Iciar Bolláin, Oliver Laxe and Ana Rujas. Together they hatched plans to make occasional auteur films supported for commercial release in Spanish cinemas by the promotional muscle of Movistar Plus+.
Six months later, Rodríguez, director of the Goya Award-winning “Marshland” and the 1580 Sevillian thriller “The Plague,” is spotted on set by Selection on the southern coast of Spain, on a ship near Huelva, home to large, smoke-belching refineries and beautiful natural parks.
This setting gives “Los Tigres” a much larger canvas. However, Rodríguez says the film is a private twist after deep dives into Spanish history, catching the nation at moments of change, like “Jail 77,” a real-life prison escape film that became the most-watched film in the world. Movistar Plus+ in 2023, surpassing Hollywood blockbusters.
“Los Tigres” stars Antonio de la Torre (“The Countless Trench,” “The Realm,” “Group 7”) as Antonio, an industrial diver who maintains underwater pipelines that connect massive oil tankers to Huelva’s onshore refineries.
Dressed as underwater astronauts, Antonio and his sister Estrella (Barbara Lennie, “Magical Woman,” “The Realm”) face loneliness and great danger on the job as Antonio begins to feel that his time is past, that he is just another diver in the planet’s enormous oceans. Pressured to reconnect with his sister and adapt to a life on land, Antonio’s life is upended when he and Estrella discover a stash of cocaine inside the hull of a ship docked in the essential port of Huelva.
Written with Rodríguez’s longtime co-writer Rafael Cobos (“The Plague”), “Los Tigres” is produced by Movistar Plus+ and co-produced by Kowalski Movies and Feelgood Media in Spain, along with France’s Le Pacte. The Walt Disney Company handles Spanish theatrical distribution; the film production unit holds worldwide rights.
“It’s a character-driven feature, although Rodríguez’s tales probably fold many different layers collectively,” said Guillermo Farré, head of film at Movistar Plus+. “I feel his true intention is to recreate social reality, along with its complexities, such as the dangerous and difficult working circumstances of corporate diving.
The photographs were taken at the Huelva-CEPSA petrochemical plant and at the industrial port facilities of Huelva, in the marshy area of the Odiel river, protected by Unesco, and at the Ciudad de la Luz film studios, in Alicante. From July 5, production involved oil tankers and tugboats, ships and divers for underwater scenes in the open sea.
“The distinctive aspect of Movistar Film Originals is their insight into authors, taking care of them and aiming to make one of the best possible choices,” defined Kowalski Movies producer Koldo Zuazua. “The work that we all do collectively is really constructive, and we are all on the same page in terms of creativity and intentions.”
Selection spoke with Rodríguez on set:
What is at the heart of “Los Tigres”?
It’s a “big-hearted” film with a mystery mechanism, like “Jail 77”, focusing on the relationships between the characters, inside and outside the central environment.
How did you plan the change in the film’s narrative and theme?
We had finished some films that revisited Spain’s more recent historical past. However, we needed to be happy and free from the burden of the historical past. Our goal was an open feature. We talked about this when we finished “Jail” – making a private film. When everything is alleged and concluded, what haunts us the most are feelings. We prioritize our characters above all else.
Nature seems to be the key within the film. How did you approach it?
It’s like the place where we’re sitting. You have the petrochemical space there, and this is Saltes Island, an islet within the Huelva River trade and a pure paradise. There are two margins: Man and nature.
“Los Tigres” appears to be part of a push by Movistar Plus+ to push occasional author films. How does this affect you?
Now we have achieved incredible stability with a lot of freedom, which is indeed necessary. They are betting on auteur films, which may be what sets them apart from other platforms. This film may simply have become formulaic, but it is certainly far from that, given that it is not a thriller. Its characters carry more weight than the rest of the context.
How has working underwater affected your actors’ trajectories?
Each of them needed to exercise and gather loads. The headgear alone can weigh up to 15 kilos. Physically, it is difficult for them. But Antonio de la Torre likes it a lot. He has been diving around the island to organize himself. Barbara Lennie likes it too, because she loves these physical adjustments.
Los Tigres
Julio Vergne Credit Score