Principal photography began on 23-F – the latest feature by Sud Express director Chema de la Peña. Produced by the production company Lazona (Concursante), the film will be the first cinematographic reinterpretation of the coup d´état that took place in Madrid February 23rd 1981.
Paco Tous (Alatriste) will play famous Lieutenant Coronel Antonio Tejero, the mastermind behind the event, Juan Diego (Lope) will play General Armada and the quite busy Fernando Cayo (The Orphanage and Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In) will play Spain’s King Juan Carlos I.
The film will be the chronological re-telling of the seventeen hours of the vent that marked history. The film will premiere in Spain February 23rd 2011, coinciding with the 30º anniversary of such historical moment.
From Wiki: 23-F is the name given to an attempted coup d’état in Spain that began on 23 February 1981 and ended on the following day. It is also known as El Tejerazo from the name of its most visible figure, Antonio Tejero, who led the failed coup’s most notable event: the bursting into the Spanish Congress of Deputies of a group of 200 armed officers of the Guardia Civil during the process of electing Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo to be the country’s new Prime Minister. King Juan Carlos I gave a nationally televised address denouncing the coup and urging the maintenance of law and the continuance of the democratically elected government. The coup soon collapsed. After holding the Parliament and cabinet hostage for 18 hours the hostage-takers surrendered the next morning without having harmed anyone.
