In the 1980s, a visit to the Museo del Prado art museum in Madrid while publicising his film Amadeus (set in Vienna and filmed in much more authentic Prague) gave writer-director Milos Forman an idea to do a movie about the painter Francisco Goya, but it was 20 years before he was able to return to Madrid to make the idea of the film a reality.
Goya’s Ghosts stars Natalie Portman, who was cast for the part because Forman noticed her likeness to the girl in Goya’s painting ‘Milkmaid of Bordeaux’, and Javier Bardem, who looks really Spanish.
The XIII century castle of Viñuelas was built by King Sancho IV, although the present one is much more recent. It was used for the scene where Goya paints the Queen and for the King’s hunting episode.