Technical data
- Title: IGUANA
- Year: 1998
- Production: Arco Films e Iguana Enterprises.
- Country: Italy, Spain, Sweden y USA.
- Direction: Monte Hellman.
- Cast: Everett McHill, Michael Bradford, Fabio Testi, Jack Taulor y Michael Madsen.
Description and synopsis
This multinational film (Swiss financing, Italian production, Spanish origin and a very American artistic team) is based on the adaptation of a novel by Canary Islander Alberto Vázquez Figueroa. One of the best-selling authors in Spanish in recent decades, Vázquez Figueroa has a close relationship with Lanzarote, having lived and having filmed other projects on the island (the film Red Gold and the television series Océano).
In this case, Vázquez Figueroa tells the story of a sailor named Oberlus whose face is partially deformed by a congenital disease that gives him a certain resemblance to a lizard, hence his nickname ‘Iguana’. To escape society’s lack of understanding, the protagonist takes refuge in a cave, but his project of a solitary life ends up attracting the attention of many people.
With a plot that revolves around the sea and caves, it is only natural that the landscape of Lanzarote is the protagonist of numerous scenes. In Iguana , the large volcanic hollows of the island appear, such as the Cueva de los Verdes and the Cueva de las Palomas, together with the usual coastal areas seen in films shot in Lanzarote in recent decades (El Golfo, Papagayo beach, etc.). Interesting highlights are the scenes shot in Los Hervideros, an area in the south of the island with small, rugged cliffs created by the eruptions of the 18th century, against which the sea crashes with huge force. On days of usual swell, Los Hervideros produces a very cinematographic mixture of colours between the volcanic black, the blue of the sea and the white foam produced by the waves – so much so that a series of micro viewpoints have been created from where visitors can observe the spectacle.
Another element that stands out in Iguana is its cast of actors, including a young Michael Madsen, the American actor who a few years later would play a starring role in Reservoir Dogs, the debut film by the director Quentin Tarantino, who later made him one of his favourite actors. Iguana also features two striking American supporting actors with somewhat exotic careers, but with great films to their credit. One is Everett McHill, an actor cast in well-known action films, who also stood out in his collaborations with the prestigious director David Lynch (Dune, Twin Peaks and The Straight Story). The other is Jack Taylor, an actor who settled in Spain in the 1970s and featured in a lot of B movies, but also productions by great international directors that were shot in Spain, such as Conan the Barbarian (John Milius, 1982), The Ninth Gate ( Roman Polanski, 1999) and Goya’s Ghosts (Milos Forman, 2006).
