Alex de la Iglesia Begins Chile Shoot on 'The Misunderstanding' Next Week

Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia starts shooting "The Misunderstanding" ("El Malentendido") in Chile next week — his first time filming in the country — with a four-week plan covering Santiago mansions, including the former U.S. embassy, and battlefield trenches outside the city.

The project took shape at the Santiago Film Festival (Sanfic) a year ago, where de la Iglesia ("The Bar," "30 Coins") met Chilean producer Pablo Díaz of Rio Estudios ("Hidden Island," "Berko") through Sanfic Industria head Gabriela Sandoval. Around the same time, while developing a film in Argentina, he cast Benjamín Vicuña ("Envious"), who also stars in his upcoming Netflix comedy "Felicidades."

"In a way, Sanfic set everything in motion and made all of this possible. I also spent time scouting locations back then to get a sense of how the film could be made here. And now, we're shooting next week," de la Iglesia told Variety.

What is the film about?

Described as an absurdist comedy, it mixes the Marx Brothers' farcical humor with the existential anguish of a war film. The titular misunderstanding concerns an incident between two fictitious countries, Lithovenia and Stalovakia, which have sat on the brink of war for years. Tensions erupt at the United Nations Assembly when Field Marshal Stroheim storms out after taking offence: the remark "You look magnificent, strong" has been misconstrued as "You're fat."

Díaz — currently editing his own directorial debut, political thriller "Box 205" ("Habitación 205") — said: "When I first read Alex's script, my immediate thought was that we could recreate all the battle scenes here in Chile. We have the right landscapes to offer excellent locations for the trenches, barracks and everything involved in the battle sequences. But when Alex came for a location scout in June or July, he also fell in love with downtown Santiago."

What does the cast bring?

Vicuña plays a hapless Minister of Foreign Affairs. "Getting a film made is a small but extraordinary miracle, isn't it? Bringing together the right people, securing the resources — all the pieces have to fall into place," he said, adding: "Perhaps there is a real need to talk about war today. It's a film that will resonate with audiences and challenge them to reflect."

The rest of the cast includes María Barranco ("Harikiri, I Miss You"), Mona Martínez ("Terminator: Dark Fate"), Hugo Silva ("The Body"), Fernando Tejero ("The Captive"), Oscar Casas ("Idols") and Miguel Rellán ("Spanish Shame").

Why war, and why now?

At the Sanfic press conference, de la Iglesia — whose Pokeepsie Films produces alongside Rio Estudios — framed the film as a response to the present moment: "The story reflects something we are all experiencing today: a sense of chaos, bewilderment and absurdity in the world around us. It feels as though the world is being run by madmen, terrible people — or perhaps they're simply incompetent. Or are they monsters? Who are these people?"

His answer: "I've chosen to portray them, in part, as deeply stupid. I think there is an enormous amount of incompetence, as there is in every aspect of life, but here its consequences are magnified because the stakes are so enormous."

He also reflected on his changing relationship to reality. "As you grow older, reality seems to increasingly resemble what goes on inside your head," he said, before adding: "My profession allows me to build a parallel world through which I can make sense of reality. But now, with the world in its current state, that has become increasingly difficult, because reality itself has turned into my parallel world."

The film is backed by Spanish broadcaster RTVE, streamer Movistar+ and Beta Entertainment — a tripartite Spanish-Chilean financing base that should carry the comedy toward an international release once the Santiago and battlefield shoots wrap.