Penélope Cruz eyed for lead role in upcoming D.B. Cooper movie filming in Murcia

The Region of Murcia, once again, is set to become a hub of audiovisual production with a major film shooting taking place. The filming for The Man Who Stole the Sky, a new production for which famed actress Penélope Cruz is being considered for the lead role, will be one of the large-scale productions being carried out in the region before June 30, 2027.

Nearly €20 millon in investments for this Alicante-based studio

The film is being produced by Good Films Studios Spain, a company in which the Ministry for Digital Transformation will invest €19.8 million in order to establish an independent film production studio to carry out large-scale international projects. Good Films Studios Spain is currently located in Alicante, at Ciudad de la Luz Studios.

The infamous unsolved story of D.B. Cooper, a notorious American criminal

The Man Who Stole the Sky will be directed by Catherine Morshead, known for her work on No Offence, Downton Abbey, and Playing the Field, and Luke Garrett will write the screenplay. As of now, the production company has said that the film will have “Spanish talent” participating, and the company’s CEO, Juan Carlos Gonzálvez, specifically mentioned the name of famous Alcobendas-born actress, Penélope Cruz.

The film centres around an infamous unsolved crime in American history, the 1971 hijacking of a Boeing 727 airplane by notorious unidentified man D.B. Cooper. Cooper received a $200,000 ransom (roughly equivalent to $1.64 million, or €1.42 million today), and parachuted from the aircraft.

Upcoming projects: A summer filled with filmings and casting calls

Another example of a major audiovisual production taking place in Murcia is The People of the Book, a feature film based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller by Geraldine Brooks. This period piece will be filmed in the Costa Calida city of Cartagena this year, from July 13 to July 17. A casting call for this film has already been issued in the Region of Murcia, as well as in several locations in Alicante.

Murcia, a film shooting hotspot for audiovisual production companies

Murcia is increasingly the region of choice for production companies looking to film the next big box office hit. Streaming services like Netflix and Movistar Plus+ have repeatedly chosen the region’s idyllic coastline and beautiful inland areas to film series and miniseries, and shootings for feature length films in Spain are also experiencing a boom.

Good Films Studios recently announced plans to shoot some 20 films over the next decade at its Ciudad de la Luz studios in Alicante. Another pending project is called American Paradise.