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“La Bola Negra” has been taking the world by storm, with a star-making turn from first-time actor Guitarricadelafuente in the queer Spanish epic from directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (known as Los Javis).
The trio attended the Miami Film Festival, where Guitarricadelafuente was presented with the Virtuoso Award, while Los Javis received the Visionary Director Award.
The director duo and star also participated in a Q&A on Nov. 4 with Variety co-president and co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh. Variety moderated this conversation in partnership with Miami Film Festival, as Los Javis and Guitarricadelafuente reflected on making “La Bola Negra.”
“La Bola Negra” was the first time Guitarricadelafuente — primarily a musician whose latest album, “Spanish Leather,” debuted in 2025 — had acted. “To enter a world created by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo and to be welcomed into their way of telling stories was a gift from heaven,” he said.
The film premiered at Cannes in May to a 20-minute standing ovation. Los Javis recalled fighting over the volume as the film screened before seeing the audience begin to cry. “It felt like a moment of peace because we are very used to push,” Ambrossi said. “And suddenly it felt like we were not pushing at all.”
“La Bola Negra” is inspired in part by a play by Spanish writer Alberto Conejero centered around the relationship between Rafael (Miguel Bernardeau) and Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente). The playwright co-wrote the screenplay with Los Javis.
Ambrossi described their approach as not wanting to create a queer film for a niche audience. “I want to do an LGBTQ+ movie for everyone and to be the gayest, biggest war movie ever,” he said. He joked that the film is like “the gay ‘Titanic.’”
Calvo recalled when Ambrossi told him the best moment is when “you’re not in love with what you are writing, but you want to challenge yourself and do it better.”
The duo wrote with two whiteboards to draft the film. One focused on the progression of the characters, while the other mapped out the audience’s experience, which Ambrossi said was key to developing the film’s woven structure.
The pair discussed the film “The Hours,” based on Michael Cunningham’s novel, which stars Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep as three women connected by Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway.” Calvo saw the film as an inspiration but also as a warning of things the pair did not want to repeat.
Los Javis approached Guitarricadelafuente with only the “essence of the character” of Sebastián. “There was something very magic with it because I was finishing an album at that time, a music album,” the musican said. “And there was some synchronicity with the story that they wanted to tell with what I was experiencing in my songwriting.”
Calvo recalled making tortilla de patatas (Spanish omelette) for the musician at their house while discussing the role. Ambrossi said he didn’t know the film would work until Guitarricadelafuente signed on. “I knew it in my heart because I needed his face to write the movie, because it’s the kind of face of the kind of spirit that is so clean and so without dust,” he said.
There was no audition, and Calvo described the collective nature of developing the role for Guitarricadelafuente. “Nos nutrimos,” he said. “We nourish from his art.”
“As directors, we like to find in every person where is the truth around there,” Calvo said. He recalled finding the “truthful exhaustion” that Guitarricadelafuente had. During one Friday night shoot, he asked the star to give him a song. Listening to Gabo Ferro’s “Volver a volver” gave the emotional energy Guitarricadelafuente needed to finish the scene.
The screen test with Miguel Bernardeau, who plays Rafael opposite Guitarricadelafuente’s Sebastián, was critical. “I think it was very important for us to live that journey together and to build that in our own skins,” the musician said of building their relationship alongside that of their characters.
On finding the loneliness and sadness of Sebastián, Guitarricadelafuente said, “There was something beautiful about just losing control and living that you just erased those boundaries completely.”
When the time came to shoot Penélope Cruz’s scene-stealing appearance as Nené Romero, “Guitarrica had gone to war and back,” Calvo said. “It was beautiful how she helped you to be a better actor, but you also made her family, like, ‘Welcome to my set.’”
Sometimes the director duo would rehearse with their actors, but other times they knew the scene needed to unfold however it would. “Making the space yours sometimes is more important than making the lines perfect,” Calvo said. The two used friends and families to find organic moments. “That moment of truth, that to me is cinema,” Ambrossi said.
Los Javis have served as judges on “Drag Race,” a place that often encourages cattiness. But that isn’t how they operate.
“I think being mean on set, it’s contrary to result,” Calvo said. “So if you’re selfish enough, you would be nice to people in order to get the best out of everyone. I never understood the shouting, angry director because you get nothing out of scared people. You get everything out of free, happy, motivated people in your team.”
If the pair doesn’t agree, it’s the actor who wins, Calvo said. Having two directors makes their sets better, Ambrossi added, because “it’s a place where you know that leadership is going to be flexible, and it’s going to be full of dialogue and horizontal communication, and everyone feels a part of the dialogue.”
“La Bola Negra” has generated a lot of Oscar buzz, with Guitarricadelafuente being floated for his acting and songwriting for his original song “La Nieve.”
“I feel so grateful for this to happen, and this all felt for me, a prolongation of what I was doing in music, and I just wish this can stay like this forever,” the musician said. “It’s not going to be possible, but I think it was so special, and it was a very special gift from you guys.”
Celebrities like Sofia Coppola, Anne Hathaway and Madonna have spoken about their appreciation for the film, which is one of the highest-grossing films in Spanish history and adds to an impressive lineup of queer films recognized with awards buzz and box-office success this year.
“Art is where it’s needed, and I think the creators, we felt that our voices were needed, and we needed to talk about that because we are not going anywhere,” Ambrossi said.
“Artists are connected to the momentum,” Calvo added. “The topics are in the air, and the need to talk about it is a response to reality and an urge that comes from looking around, sadly. And I think it’s that. It’s a response to reality.”
And do Los Javis know what they’re doing next? “We do,” Ambrossi said.
