BUNKER

Director/screenwriter: Florian Zeller

Logline: Architect Miguel (Javier Bardem) lives with his wife Sofia (Penélope Cruz) in London, where his career as an architect has made him successful. Against Sofia’s wishes, he accepts a lucrative offer to build a tech billionaire’s survivalist bunker, a flashpoint that tests the couple’s long-term relationship.

Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Panelists: Florian Zeller, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem

First screening: Monday, September 14, Roy Thomson Hall

Key quotes: “Penelope Cruz is the greatest actress, Javier Baldam the greatest actor. That’s what I feel. I had no plan B, and if for some reason they’d turned that down, I think I wouldn’t have done the film. And so I wrote the script for them, and it was such an inspiration. And to be lucky enough to work with such extraordinary talent is something very special, of course. But at the same time, I was really excited about the idea of working with them together, because to have a real couple on screen gives also layers to everything. And it was a way to also to capture something about the burning authenticity of the truth.” – Florian Zeller

“There was no way we would say no to Florian. First of all, the idea of working with him; I’m a huge fan of Florian’s work in theater and in film. We actually met a few years ago about the possibility of working together. And then he came to us with these incredible and amazing characters. Javier and I have worked together before, I think seven times in our lives, but we’ve known each other for more than 30 years. So, it’s not something that we do very often. We really think about it before saying yes. And here we really had absolutely no reason to say no.” – Penélope Cruz

“I’ve always admired Florian’s writing and the plays and the movie that he did. And when we got the material, we met and it was a beautiful encounter. And then when we got the material, we both felt that we were being given the chance to do something together that it was of great quality, in a story that matters.” – Javier Bardem

Watch the video above.

The Deadline Studio at TIFF is hosted at Bisha Hotel and presented by Volvo, Columbia, Patrón and Schwarzkopf.