Almodóvar will not direct 'Manual for cleaning women', his film in English with Cate Blanchett

Pedro Almodóvar will not direct Manual for cleaning women, which was to be his first film in English, starring Cate Blanchett. As confirmed by El Deseo to this medium, the director has decided not to go ahead because he considers that he is not prepared to face a project of such magnitude in another language.

Pedro Almodóvar already has his "hired gunmen": Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke

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The feature film will continue despite the departure of the artist from La Mancha, who is already looking for a replacement. The film was announced in early 2022, although Almodóvar had already written the script for it a few years ago, adapting the novel of the same name by Lucía Berlin. Blanchett herself was the one who acquired the rights to the book through her production company, Dirty Films.

The publication is made up of 45 stories with which the author traveled from Texas to Oakland, passing through Mexico and Spain; following the day to day of women dedicated to a wide range of precarious jobs.

Manual for cleaning women was not going to be the director's first time shooting in the Anglo-Saxon language. Previously, he did so in the short film The Human Voice, directed by Tilda Swinton, which had its debut at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. He was also proposed to direct The Boy from the Newspaper and A Nun of Care in English, but both projects were rejected by the filmmaker who won two Oscars.

His western with Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, underway

Almodóvar's title that is still running is Extraña forma de vida, his new short film starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal. A western, shot in Almería, that follows "two hired gunmen" who meet again. Jason Fernández, José Condessa, George Steane, Pedro Casablanc, Manu Ríos and Sara Sálamo also participate in it.