Cannes Confirms Selection Of Pedro Almodóvar’s Ethan Hawke-Starrer ‘Strange Way Of Life’

The Cannes Film Festival said that Pedro Almodóvar’s short film Strange Way of Life will world premiere at its upcoming 76th edition, running May 16-27.

The Western shot in southern Spain stars Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal and is the filmmaker’s second English-language experience, after The Human Voice in 2020.

The film had been widely expected to play at Cannes after the director told singer-songwriter Dua Lipa that he expected it to premiere the festival in an interview for her At Your Service podcast in January.

The confirmation of the film’s selection comes as Cannes delegate general Thierry Frémaux and his team tie up the 2023 Official Selection ahead of the traditional lineup announcement Thursday morning in Paris.

Other titles already confirmed by the festival include the Johnny Depp-starring opening film Jeanne du Barry by Maïwenn, Martin Scorsese’s The Killers of the Flower Moon and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Deadline also understands Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City will touch down on the Croisette, though this has not been confirmed by the festival.

There is also strong buzz around Todd Haynes’ May December, Nanni Moretti’s Il Sol dell’Avvenire, Ken Loach’s The Old Oak and Woody Allen’s 50th film, the French-language drama Coup de Chance. Read the Deadline Cannes prediction lists here and here.

The screening of Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life will be followed by a conversation with the director and the filmmaking team.

The work revolves around a reunion between a sheriff and a rancher who knew one another in a previous life.

The synopsis provided by Almodóvar and posted by the festival reads: “A man rides a horse across the desert that separates him from Bitter Creek. He comes to visit Sheriff Jake. Twenty-five years earlier, both the sheriff and Silva, the rancher who rides out to meet him, worked together as hired gunmen. Silva visits him with the excuse of reuniting with his friend from his youth, and they do indeed celebrate their meeting, but the next morning Sheriff Jake tells him that the reason for his trip is not to go down the memory lane of their old friendship.”

“I must say no more so as not to give away all the surprises of the script,” adds the director. “The strange way of life referred in the title alludes to the famous fado by Amalia Rodrigues, whose lyrics suggest that there is no stranger existence than the one that is lived by turning your back on your own desires.”

The film is produced by Agustín Almodóvar with Esther García as executive producer and Bárbara Peiró, Diego Pajuelo and Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello as associate producers.

Further cast members alongside Hawke and Pascal include Pedro Casablanc, Manu Ríos, George Steane, José Condessa, Jason Fernández, Sara Sálamo, Ohiana Cueto and Daniela Medina.

The music is composed by Alberto Iglesias.

Almodóvar has a long relationship with Cannes. In 1999, he won the Best Director award for All About My Mother. He returned in 2004 with Bad Education, which made history as the first Spanish film to open the festival.

The director won Best Screenplay in 2006 for Palme d’Or contender Volver.

He was president of the jury in 2017, with his jury feting Ruben Östlund’s The Square with the Palme d’Or.

Almodóvar was last at the festival in 2019 with his personal drama Pain and Glory, for which Antonio Banderas won Best Actor from the jury chaired by Alejandro González Iñárritu.