J.A. Bayona & Studiocanal Team On Spanish-Argentinian Horror ‘Crazy Old Lady’ With Carmen Maura & Daniel Hendler, Filming Underway In Buenos Aires

EXCLUSIVE: Coming off two-time Oscar nominee and Netflix hit Society Of The Snow, J.A. Bayona is producing and presenting psychological horror Crazy Old Lady (Vieja Loca), which will star Goya, Cesar and Cannes best actress winner Carmen Maura (Volver) and Berlinale Silver Bear winner Daniel Hendler (Lost Embrace).

Bayona is producing the Spanish-language psychological horror-thriller with Studiocanal, Peliculas La Trini, Primo Content, Bambu Producciones and La Union De Los Rios.

The project is written and directed by Martín Mauregui (Carancho), who is directing his first solo feature after a successful career as a screenwriter working with directors such as Pablo Trapero, Santiago Mitre and most recently as dialogue writer on Bayona’s Society Of The Snow.

Currently filming in Buenos Aires, the Spanish-Argentinian coproduction “focuses on Pedro, a man who receives a desperate message from an ex-girlfriend asking him to look after her senile mother, Alicia. What seems like a simple mission soon becomes his worst nightmare. Pedro needs to escape; but Alicia won’t let him…”

Studiocanal will launch world sales later this year.

Producers are Bayona and regular producing partner Belen Atienza (The Impossible), Gabriela Cárcova Krichmar for Primo Content, Ramón Campos for Bambu and Agustina Llambi Campbell for La Unión de los Ríos (Argentina, 1985).

Nicolás Pérez Veiga and Alfredo Pérez Veiga are executive producers. Ron Halpern and Leeana Lancashire oversee for Studiocanal.

J.A. Bayona said today: “Martín Mauregui’s script hooked me from the very beginning. He masterfully uses the genre to immerse the audience in the perverse delirium of a woman with a past as dark as certain recent events in her country’s history. As a producer, this project is also fulfilling my lifetime dream of working with the incredible Carmen Maura who plays the role of Alicia.”

True story survival thriller Society Of The Snow won best picture and director for Bayona at this year’s Goya Awards. The movie took home 12 prizes in total and is among Netflix’s best foreign language performers ever, scoring 51 million views in its first 11 days on the service.