What makes the story more interesting is that his latest film, Bad Education, is about clerical sexual abuse. This is after Spain refused to nominate his last film as an Academy Award contender (he won one anyway).
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister
Almodovar 'spread coup story'
Madrid, Spain - Spain's defeated Popular Party said it will sue Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodovar for repeating rumours that the party had prepared a coup attempt ahead of last weekend's elections.
Ignacio Calabuig, speaking for outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's party, said on Wednesday the complaint for "slander" would be filed with a Madrid court.
Aznar's party was swept from power in surprise outcome that followed last week's train bombings in Madrid that killed 201 people.
At a packed screening of his latest film, Bad Education, Almodovar told reporters he'd heard rumours that the Popular Party planned a take-over last Saturday, the eve of the elections it lost.
"If confirmed it would be horrendous," El Mundo newspaper quoted the double Oscar winner as saying, putting his comments on its front page.
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said Almodovar's comments were "ludicrous" and "didn't "merit respect".
The leader of the victorious Socialists, Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said he, too, heard rumours but gave them no credence.
In his defence, Almodovar said in a statement on Wednesday that "I just echoed a sea of rumours" but never suggested they were true.
Almodovar won Oscars for best foreign language movie in 2000 with All About My Mother and best screenplay with Talk to Her in 2003.