him. Cast Production García Bernal was required to display a convincing Castilian Spanish accent before being cast. The New York Times reporter Lynn Hirschberg stated that Bernal had a falling out with Almodovar over the film's content; Bernal denied that assertion. Bernal and Almodóvar had different ideas on the type of 'inner transvestite' in terms of Bernal's performance. According to Almodóvar, he worked on the screenplay for over 10 years. Release The film was theatrically released in Spain on 19 March 2004. It opened in the 57th Cannes Film Festival in May 2004, the first Spanish film to do so. Box office The film opened theatrically in the United States on 19 November 2004 in three venues, earning $147,370 in its opening weekend, ranking number 30 in the domestic box office. At the end of its North American theatrical run (its widest release being in 106 venues), the film had grossed $5,211,842 in the United States and Canada, and $35,062,088 overseas ($7,356,224 in its home country of Spain), making $40,273,930 worldwide. Critical reception The film received critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 88% of 146 reviews were positive, with an average rating of 7.60/10. The site's consensus states: "A layered, wonderfully-acted, and passionate drama." On Metacritic, the film has an 81 out of 100 rating, based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Ann Hornaday from The Washington Post wrote, "To watch Bad Education is to revel, along with Almodóvar, in the power of cinema to take us on journeys of breathtaking mystery and dimension and beauty." Marjorie Baumgarten from the Austin Chronicle wrote "With Bad Education, the great Almodóvar delivers the finest movie of his career." Peter Travers from Rolling Stone wrote "A rapturous masterwork." Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four writing "Pedro Almodovar's new movie is like an ingenious toy that is a joy to behold, until you take it apart to see what makes it work, and then it never works again. While you're watching it, you don't realize how confused you are, because it either makes sense from moment to moment or, when it doesn't, you're distracted by the sex. Life is like that." Accolades |- | rowspan = "6" align = "center" | 2005 | rowspan = "4" | 19th Goya Awards || colspan = "2" | Best Film || || rowspan = "4" | |- | Best Director