BUNKER: Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Florian Zeller’s Javier Bardem Starrer

Bunker Picked Up For Distribution

Sony Pictures Classics will be releasing Bunker, the latest film starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, which is directed by Florian Zeller.

Florian Zeller (The Father) has a new drama on the horizon, Bunker, which will be released by Sony Pictures Classics, the same studio which released Zeller’s The Father and Penélope Cruz’s 2021 Oscar-nominated (for Best Actress), Parallel Mothers. SPC plans to build an Oscar campaign around the upcoming prestige project which is set to feature a score by none other than Volker Bertelmann (Pressure and the upcoming Verity).

Bunker showcases the story of Javier Bardem’s tech-driven character who has been married to the one played by Cruz for 17 years. This pair is also married in real life. In the movie, tensions mount when Bardem (an architect) plans to build a safety bunker for a billionaire. Loyalty is going to be tested as moral uncertainties come into focus in what is bound to be a very heavy drama coming from acclaimed filmmaker Zeller.

The supporting cast is nothing to sneeze at either. Also in the sure-to-be Oscar bait film is Paul Dano (fresh off great work in The Wizard of the Kremlin), Stephen Graham and Patrick Schwarzenegger.

Cruz and Bardem were both nominated for lead performances for the year 2021. Bardem had, himself, been nominated for Being the Ricardos. At the Oscars ceremony, Bardem was humorously told by Chris Rock that if Cruz lost, he couldn’t win as a joke. This thought was shared right before Will Smith came up and slapped Rock for making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. It will be interesting to see what could happen if both Cruz and Bardem were nominated for Bunker and, it would be hysterical (though, unlikely) if Rock could present at the Oscars and repeat the famous joke as it served to happen right before that other joke that got Rock slapped.

Florian Zeller was criticized for his work on The Son even though it was well-received in certain places. With Bunker, Zeller needs to recapture the fame that he achieved with The Father. It seems that Zeller’s “sophomore” critical slump could be long behind him as Bunker is going to be a high-profile, provocative tale, for sure.

Sony Pictures Classics has a long-standing history of releasing prestige films that have garnered Oscar nominations for decades. Midnight in Paris was one of their most successful films to date, earning Woody Allen a win for Best Original Screenplay in addition to being a box-office hit. Cruz is currently a front-runner for Best Supporting Actress for The Invite and can receive nominations for both that film and Bunker. It’s going to be an interesting Academy Awards ceremony for sure, if both Bardem and Cruz can get nominated again.

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