When Luger exploded onto the scene at Fantastic Fest, its tight, gritty energy felt both spontaneous and deeply personal. The Spanish thriller, co-written by Santiago Taboada and Bruno Martín, follows two small-time thugs caught in a violent spiral after a simple job goes disastrously wrong. But behind the chaos lies a story forged in friendship, late-night writing sessions, and sheer creative willpower.
Speaking with me, Taboada radiated the same grounded enthusiasm that defines his work. “Bruno and I met in 2018,” he recalled. “In 2021, he told me, ‘I want to do a movie and I want you to write it with me. I don’t know what will happen, we don’t have much money, but it will be done.’” That promise, made over drinks at a neighborhood bar, became the seed of Luger.
At first, the script was a different beast, more sprawling and more complicated. Over months of rewriting and “polishing,” as Taboada put it, the pair stripped the story down to its raw essence. The result is a taut, single-day narrative set entirely within an industrial park. “Limiting the space and time actually helped,” he explained. “When you have the whole world open, your mind can go in a thousand directions. Constraints force you to focus, and that focus made Luger work.”
Taboada spoke warmly of his collaboration with Martín, comparing it to a relationship. Their early disagreements over scenes and structure turned into trust and mutual learning. “He’s brilliant with dialogue,” Taboada said. “I’m more structured. We balanced each other. Now, when he suggests something I’m unsure about, I trust him, and vice versa.”
That trust extends beyond the writing room. The film’s emotional core, the brotherly bond between its leads Rafa and Toni, mirrors the real-life friendship between its writers. “There’s a lot of us in this movie,” Taboada said. “It’s about loyalty, second chances, and the people you might leave behind chasing your dreams.”
For Taboada, Luger’s debut on the international festival circuit marks more than just a professional milestone. “It’s my first feature, and to see it play at Fantastic Fest, Strasbourg, Sitges, it’s incredible,” he said, grinning. “I still have my day job, but I go back to work happy. Like in 8 Mile, you win the battle, and you go back to work smiling.”
And while Luger may be a story born from necessity, it’s clear that its creation has given Taboada something more lasting: momentum. “This movie proved that when you love what you do and you trust your team, anything is possible,” he said.
After speaking with Santiago, it’s easy to see why audiences connect with Luger. His gratitude is genuine, his perspective refreshingly humble. Conversations like this remind me why I love interviewing the creatives behind the camera, and Santiago Taboada is no exception.
Jessie Hobson