The Fantastic World of Juan Orol (Spanish: El fantástico mundo de Juan Orol) is a 2012 Mexican black-and-white biographical comedy-drama film directed by Sebastián del Amo (in his directorial debut) and written by Del Amo & Raúl Fernández Espinosa. Starring Roberto Sosa. It was named on the shortlist for Mexico's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards, but it was not selected.
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Premise
The film is based on the life of Juan Orol, a man of Galician origin who, after various adventures, arrives in Mexico to become a creator in different film genres, including gangster films and rumberas films, some being successes at the box office despite very negative reviews. He has been called the great involuntary Surrealist.
Cast
The actors participating in this film are:
Roberto Sosa as Juan Orol
Gabriela de la Garza as Mary Esquivel
Fernanda Romero as Dinora
Jesús Ochoa as General Cruz
Ximena Rubio as Rosa Carmina
Juan Manuel Bernal as Kodak salesman
Alfonso Borbolla as Quirico Michelena
Alberto Estrella as Emilio 'El indio' Fernández
Julio Bracho as Policeman
Roberto Wohlmuth as Don Gabriel
Karin Burnett as María Antonieta Pons
Ariadna Perez Mijares as Ninón Sevilla
Mauricio Galaz as Arnoldo Orol
Juan Carlos Bonet as Orol's friend
Rodrigo Cachero as Memo Alcaine
Rodrigo Corea as Usher
Roger Cudney as Don Guillermo
Sebastián del Amo as Firing Squad Leader
Jean Duverger as Black Baseball Player
Claudia Silki as Hippie
Yolanda 'Tongolele' Montes as Herself
Release
The Fantastic World of Juan Orol had its world premiere on March 5, 2012, at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, then participated at the end of June of the same year at the Guanajuato International Film Festival as part of the official selection. It had its commercial premiere on September 14, 2012, in Mexican theaters.