The beauty of the Costa del Sol has not gone unnoticed by the filmmaking industry, which has chosen its beaches and towns to be the setting for big productions on countless occasions.
Carol Reed, Antonio Banderas and Stieg Larsson
One of the great filmmakers who chose the Costa del Sol as the backdrop for his films is Carol Reed. The director of critically acclaimed films such as The Third Man moved to the capital of the Costa del Sol in 1963 to shoot the film El precio de la muerte. One of the scenes takes places on the Alameda Principal, in the centre of Malaga. One of the many curiosities of the film is that the filmmaker brought in donkeys and put them on the streets in honour of the donkey-taxi of Mijas.
The Paseo Marítimo Pablo Ruíz Picasso in Málaga, was the backdrop of the final sequence of the Swedish film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In this adaptation of the Stieg Larsson novel, the seafront promenade in Málaga passed for the Cayman Islands.
Antonio Banderas, the most internationally recognised malagueño (Malaga native) also chose his home town to shoot his second film, Summer Rain (El camino de los ingleses). The film meanders through the emblematic streets in the historic centre of Málaga, such as Calle Granada or the Plaza de la Merced, and picturesque places such as the El Pimpi Bodega Bar.
But it's not only in the capital of the Costa del Sol that cinema is thriving. Natural landscapes such as El Chorro and monuments like the Antequera bullring are some of the backdrops of the film The Bridge of San Luis Rey (many scenes of which were shot in Plaza del Obispo in the capital), starring Robert de Niro and Geraldine Chaplin. Many scenes were also shot in the Plaza del Obispo in Málaga.
The first German film after World War II
Málaga was the setting for the first German film shot in Spain after World War II. It was Cuba Cabana, shot in 1952 and starring Zarah Leander, a famous European film actress at the time.
Furthermore, Malaga is the title of an English film which was also shot on the Costa del Sol. This film, known in the United States as Fire Over Africa, was directed by Richard Sale and featured Maureen O'Hara, who was nicknamed in her day "the queen of Technicolor".
In addition to films, the music and marketing industries have also chosen Málaga and other Costa del Sol landscapes as settings. Advertisements for brands such as Cruzcampo and music videos by The Chemical Brothers, Madonna, Jamiroquai and Raffaella Carrà have also been shot on the Costa del Sol.
The Costa del Sol is not only chosen as a tourist destination. Its spectacular natural beauty spots and its picturesque towns make it a preferred destination for filmmakersfrom around the world.
