One or two summers ago, at Pedro Almodóvar’s house, while Milena Smit’s sister and nephew swam in his pool, the young actress suddenly found herself sitting alone with the host.
In the middle of his soiree, the Spaniard had crept away from the other guests to tell Smit some exciting news. “He [said], ‘I have a character in my new film for you,’ ” Smit remembers. “He told me, ‘I wrote this character especially for you, inspired by you, your tone of voice, how you walk, [how you] breathe,’ ” she continues. “I was in shock. I said, ‘I’m in a dream!’ ”