London, May 7 (IANS): Filmmaker Pedro Almodovar has shunned his muse Penelope Cruz for his foray into horror because he couldn't envision the Spanish beauty in the project.

The director has cast Antonio Banderas in his provisionally titled "The Skin I Live In", which will be adapted from Thierry Jonquet's 1999 novel "Tarantula", about a vengeful cosmetic surgeon, but has given Cruz a miss, reports contactmusic.com.

"(It) will be close to a horror film, which was something I really wanted to do as I had never made one, but I will not respect any rules of the genre," he said.

Almodovar admits he has been struggling with the script, but he won't turn to his favourite leading lady Cruz this time around.

"If I can finally shoot it, it's because I have been able to solve the huge problems I had with the adaptation. I am stubborn and I could not abandon this story... The more I developed the story, the less I saw her (Cruz) in the role. But it's not important at all. I see her again in many more roles," he said.

Almodovar has worked with the brunette in films including 2006's "Volver" and last year's critically-acclaimed "Broken Embraces".