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The songs of pop group phenomenon La Oreja de Van Gogh, which has just become the only Spanish band with a song in Spotify’s Billions Club, are heading for the big screen, set to be sung and power the emotional currents
of an ambitious romantic musical, “Puedes Contar Conmigo.”
Director of blockbuster “Palm Trees in the Snow,” Fernando González Molina is on board to helm the movie. Preeminent Spanish producers Beltrán Cortázar, Domingo Corral and Gonzalo Sálazar-Simpson are set to produce. La Oreja de Van Gogh will also serve as executive producer on the film, which bids fair to become one of the biggest upcoming titles from Spain.
“Seeing that our songs will gain a new life in cinema is a dream for us,” La Oreja de Van Gogh said in a statement. The movie project roles off its extensive 2026 comeback tour with Amaia Montero back as lead vocalist which staged over 100 concerts and sold more than 400,000 tickets to packed concerts across Spain, which confirmed the huge resilient across-generations fandom of the group. The group has over 50 Platinum and Gold Discs.
“We’re at a beautiful moment at our career, feeling the affection of many, many people and we believe ‘Puedes Contar Conmigo’ will be a marvellous celebration of what unites us with our audience,” the band added.
González Molina has had his biggest audience success with romantic dramas particularly 2010’s “Three Steps Above Heaven” (€9.9 million: $11.2 million), 2012’s I Want You” (€12.1 million: €13.6 million) and 2016’s “Palm Trees in the Snow,” a lush period piece which stood out for its scale, production values and spectacular visuals which grossed €17.1 million ($19.8 million) at the Spanish box office.
Little is known about the musical’s plot, currently being written by González Molina and screenwriter Miguel López Martínez, save that it is an original story, will use La Oreja’s lyrics and is in an advanced stage of development and writing.
The possibilities, however, are enormous given the longevity of La Oreja de Van Gogh – founded in 1996 – and its enormous repertoire. Also key is La Oreja d Van Gogh’s accessible style of broader audience pop-rock and surging choruses and above all the songs’ highly relatable emotions, whether nostalgia after break-up (“Los Rosas,” “La Playa”), fleeting fated love, (“Jueves”) and happiness at having lived a great romance (“El último vals”), to name just a few of the group’s greatest hits.
The Ambition of ‘Puedes Contar Conmigo’
Whatever the storyline line, the movie definitely looks set to be highly ambitious.
“We’ve always told stories through our music and knowing that these stories will inspire such a big visual and narrative universe fills us with illusion,” the band said.
“Translating the universe of the Oreja into an original story is a giant challenge for me,” González Molina added. “It’s also fulfilling a dream of updating big romantic musicals, which I have always loved, with the codes of contemporary cinema. With this film I’d love to make a cinema event that moves audiences like the songs of La Oreja de Van Gogh have done for decades.”
“Being part of such a genuine mix of talent such as La Oreja de Van Gogh and Fernando is authentic luck for us,” said the producers. “We feel we have the bases of what could be a great film: Our challenge is to support them to make this dream as large as possible,” they added.
A Pedigree Producer Package
That ambition knits with the C.V. of its producers. Cortázar, for instance, is the former CEO of Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo’s Suma Content where his credits include Los Javis’ seven-part 2023 series “La Mesías,” a first instance of their full-on creativity, each episode with different genre influences, knit by a pop sensibility and varying formats across multiple timelines, all of which anticipated “La Bola Negra.”
Founder of Lazona, Sálazar-Simpson is behind Goya Best Picture winner “No Rest for the Wicked,” and has produced two of the three highest-grossing Spanish films in Spain: 2014 comedy “Spanish Affair” (€56.2 million: $63.5 million) and Spanish Affair 2 (€36.1 million: $40.8 million).
“Puedes contar conmigo” also stands out as the first movie announced by Domingo Corral, the former Head of Fiction and Entertainment at Movistar Plus, behind “La Mesías,” “Querer” and “Riot Police” in series and “Sirât,” “La Bola Negra,” “The Beloved” and “Sundays” in films.
“As producers, we want to make a film that is different and unique and at the level of ambition which merit La Oreja de Van Gogh and their songs. Many are part of our emotional history across several generations and they have an enormous fan base in Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic,” said Corral, noting that one key reference is “La La Land.”
“We are fortunate to have Fernando in,” he added. “We are convinced that his vision and passion will deliver a great film full of unforgettable emotional moments.”
