Witching & Bitching
Short description
A botched jewellery heist in Madrid sends a group of thieves on the run toward the French border. Among them are José, a divorced father who has brought along his young son Sergio, his accomplice Tony, and a taxi driver taken along against his will. Their escape route runs through the small Navarran village of Zugarramurdi, where the locals prove far more dangerous than the police pursuing them: the place is home to a coven of witches with their own plans for the newcomers.
Álex de la Iglesia directed the film, the eighth of the thirteen features listed for him and the one that followed The Last Circus. He wrote the screenplay with Jorge Guerricaechevarría, and Enrique Cerezo produced. The cast includes Hugo Silva as José, Gabriel Ángel Delgado as Sergio, Mario Casas as Tony, Carmen Maura as Graciana Barrenetxea, Javier Botet as Luismi and Carolina Bang as Eva. The village shares its name with a real Navarran setting associated with a seventeenth-century witchcraft trial, though the film is a comedy-horror rather than a historical account.
Made for a budget of roughly 8 million dollars, the film returned about 7 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.4 from over sixteen thousand votes, and on TMDB the score is likewise 6.4, from several hundred votes. A critics' rating of 6.7 from thirty reviews places professional assessments somewhat above the general audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film contains references to British serial killer Myra Hindley, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mary, Queen of Scots, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
- The scene of the first robbery was filmed in Puerta del Sol. According to director and screenwriter Álex de la Iglesia, the shoot proved to be extremely difficult because the density of the buildings made it impossible to set up a filming site. Closing the streets for filming was also out of the question. Therefore, the film was shot using hidden cameras. The small shop where gold was exchanged for cash and which was robbed was an actual shop with the same storefront shown in the movie.
- Behind the witch giving the toast, a statue of Pazuzu can be seen. This is a reference to the demon from William Friedkin's horror film 'The Exorcist' (1973).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
