Luis Ortega‘s “Kill the Jockey” gallops onscreen with a surreal drama of mob hit men, romance, and spiraling self-destruction.
The feature, which premiered at Venice and will screen at TIFF, is directed by Ortega from a script he co-wrote with Rodolfo Palacios and Fabián Casas. Nahuel Pérez Biscayart leads the film as a wayward jockey caught up in a mob-run racing syndicate while suffering from substance abuse. Oh, and he’s trying to outrun a killer.
The official synopsis reads: “Remo Manfredini (Biscayart) is a legendary jockey, but his self-destructive behaviour is beginning to outshine his talent and threaten his relationship with his girlfriend Abril (Úrsula Corberó). On the day of the most important race of his career that will clear him of his debts from his mobster boss Sirena (Daniel Giménez Cacho), he has a severe accident, disappears from the hospital and wanders the streets of Buenos Aires. Free from his identity, he starts to discover who he is truly meant to be. But Sirena wants him found, dead or alive.”
“Kill the Jockey” is executive produced by Benicio Del Toro, who recently wrote, directed, executive produced, and starred in his own thriller, “Reptile.” Isaac Lee, Ron Broitman, Federico Frágola, Phin Glynn, Delfina Montecchia, and Martín Fisner also executive produce “Kill the Jockey.”
The feature is produced by Ortega, Benjamín Domenech, Santiago Gallelli, Matías Roveda, Esteban Perroud, Axel Kuschevatzky, Cindy Teperman, Charlie Cohen, Paz Lázaro, and Nando Vila; co-producers include Julio Chavezmontes, Diego Suárez Chialvo, Pablo Cruz, Enrique López Lavigne, Katrin Pors, Eva Jakobsen, Mikkel Jersin, Lorena Villarreal, and Darian De La Fuente.
The film is associated produced by Guido Naya, Ezequiel Naya, Damián Moon, Matías Tamborenea, Alejandro Mares, Sebastián Hoffman, Alejandro Musich, Amalia Amoedo, Cabe Bossi, and Pol Bossi.
Writer/director Ortega said in a press statement that film is centered on “the battlefield” between personal and professional worlds.
“The more intense the inner world of the character, the more violent the clash with the outside,” Ortega said. “Seeking salvation, the jockey will change identity over and over, trying to achieve freedom with one or another. But all the identities are tormented.”
He added of casting the lead role, “I chose Nahuel Pérez Biscayart for the lead role because of his curious nature, and the fact that he feels comfortable with not knowing. We are accomplices regarding our own ignorance, that mystery that gives a fantastic gleam to everything. Jack London published ‘The Star Rover’ in 1915, in which the narrator is subjected to such intense physical tortures that he undergoes an anamnesis: the loss of forgetfulness. He can remember all his past lives. After the tortures, he is sentenced to death, but no one can strangle his immortality. That book, my own fatherhood, and a casual encounter with a drifter sparkled the main ideas for this.”
“Kill the Jockey” is looking for distribution with Protagonist Pictures handling sales. Read the IndieWire review here and check out the trailer below.
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