An anticipated return. The City of Light has welcomed back renowned director and screenwriter Juan Antonio Bayona, who, twelve years after filming the iconic movie The Impossible, returned this summer to the Alicante studios to shoot a major advertising production for a well-known automotive brand.
The Innovation, Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Nuria Montes noted that with this shoot, alongside Venom and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, the City of Light has surpassed our best expectations. She also emphasized that Ciudad de la Luz has nearly within a year become one of the most in-demand film infrastructures for the international industry.
Bayona and his team previously shot in 2012 in the Ciudad de la Luz water tank many of the aquatic scenes that recreated the devastating 2004 tsunami that struck Thailand. The film boasted an international cast featuring Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, and Tom Holland, and it helped introduce the water tank to the world as a premier location for aquatic shoots.
To reproduce the surges of the wave, the production used an innovative wave-generating system capable of moving up to 13 million liters of water within the underwater pool, enabling detailed filming of each water movement and every character. Building on that successful experience and being well-versed in Ciudad de la Luz’s possibilities, Bayona, known for The Snow Society, again chose the water tank for his latest project, There Is No Second, the new Cupra car ad released this week.
The advertisement blends multiple styles, ranging from animation and CGI to original footage evoking cinema and sport, drawing parallels with the vehicle’s design. The water sequences filmed in the Alicante tank stand out for their epic and evocative character, helping to underscore the message of the campaign. This blockbuster was conceived by the creative agency Rosàs, with production by Roma and with director Juan Antonio Bayona, who has served as a brand ambassador for the car maker since last December.
[citation: Bayona, 2024; City of Light, 2024; Cupra Campaign, 2024]