PETA SEEING RED OVER NEW FILM MANOLETE
PETA Calls for Worldwide Action Against Producer’s Decision to Kill Live Bulls in New Film

London – Time has run out for the director and producer of the upcoming film Manolete, who now face worldwide protests from PETA activists over the film’s purported killing of live bulls. Set to begin shooting in a matter of weeks in Spain, the film – starring Adrian Brody and Penelope Cruz – is the story of Manolete, one of the most notorious bullfighters of all time. For months, PETA has been contacting director Menno Meyjes and producer Andres Vicente Gomez asking whether bulls would be used in the making of the film,as Spanish activist groups have reported, and urging – as an alternative – the use of CGI technology if they want the look of real bulls without causing animals abuse or death. Its pleas unanswered, PETA US sent a letter to both last Wednesday, warning, “We need a final answer from you no later than Friday, February 24th.We will take your silence on this issue to mean that you do, indeed, intend to kill or harm bulls in the making of Manolete.”

PETA has received no response from anyone associated with the film and has now e-mailed an action alert to tens of thousands of activists asking them to send urgent letters to Meyjes and Gomez and “urge them not to contribute to the horrific cruelty of bullfighting but to opt instead for CGI technology. … Please tell them that bullfights are cowardly affairs that have no place in a modern world.”

PETA gave kudos to Pierce Brosnan last year for his film The Matador, which used CGI and stock footage for its bullfighting sequences.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.