The Santa Bárbara Castle will be the setting for the next film by director Alejandro Amenábar. For this reason, the fortress will be closed to the public between May 8 and 16. “The Cautive” reflects the time of Miguel de Cervantes' captivity in Algiers. A production team is already working on assembling the sets necessary to set the film.
Filming is spread across different locations in the Valencian Community, starting with the Santa Pola castle. Amenábar also has the recently reopened facilities of Ciudad de la Luz, which has already hosted in this new stage the great production 'Venom 3', starring Tom Hardy.
Yesterday, tourists visiting the Santa Bárbara Castle photographed the false horseshoe arch typical of Muslim constructions that was being mounted on a scaffolding in the main courtyard of the Santa Bárbara Castle to adapt the space to the needs of the plot.
On Friday, May 17, the fortress is scheduled to open again to the public with its usual mid-season hours, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The last time the fortress closed its doors temporarily for filming was at the end of February and beginning of March of last year with the international production “Camino a Belén”, with Antonio Banderas in the cast.
According to sources from the city council, the castle has also served in the past as a setting for the films Tell Me Who I Am, The Silly Lady, Asterix and Obelix, and even Dracula vs. Frankenstein, by the legendary Jesús Franco, a production from 1972.
Regarding the new work by the author of Thesis, Mar Inside or The Others, the basic synopsis is barely known, according to which Miguel de Cervantes was captured by Berber pirates at the age of 28. He spent five years trapped in Algiers, during which he tried to escape in several occasions.
Regarding the cast of actors, Amenábar has Julio Peña (Berlín, Through my window), Alessandro Borghi (The eight mountains) and Fernando Tejero, very popular for series such as Here there is no one who lives or The one that is coming , which also has a long film career (The Unemployment Club, Five Square Meters, The Longest Penalty in the World, Football Days, among others)
