In addition, we offer the first images and we talk with its director, Paco Cabezas, about the challenges that the adaptation of Carmen Mola’s novel has meant, which will reach television through AtresPlayer PREMIIUM.
This morning paco heads has spent three cans of blood in a scene from ‘The Gypsy Bride’, series that will premiere AtresPlayer PREMIUM. We find him in Lavapiés, on a break from filming, but the truculence of this story about a woman tortured and murdered on the eve of her wedding does not keep him up at night. In fact, he just took a micronap in a chair taking advantage of the winter sun: “It’s something I learned from reading Sidney Lumet’s book, ‘The Way Movies Are Made.’ lyrics”.
Round trip
Self-taught, hyperactive, enthusiastic and obsessive with each of his projects (“I’m a bit like ‘Rain Man'”, he says), the Sevillian director and screenwriter admits that he is very good at killing characters: “In real life I haven’t killed a fly, but in fiction I have already surpassed serial killers and I am almost at the level of Hitler…”
Produced by ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS), with the participation of Atresmedia Televisión and in collaboration with Diagonal TV (Banijay Iberia), ‘La novia gitana’ is, paradoxically, her first major project in the Spanish television industry. And it is that Paco Cabezas’s has been a round trip professional journey reminiscent of some elite athletes: “As a result of being known for my work as a director on series like ‘Penny Dreadful’ and ‘American Gods’, they began to offer me many series in Spain, but none convinced me. With this project it was different because it seemed to me that I had to It reminded me of ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, which is a film that marked me as a child, and also the book delved into topics that have always interested me, and I already dealt with it in my film ‘Goodbye’, such as the street crime, the world of the gypsies, relations between social classes, Lorca’s tragedy, but here with a plot that allowed me to go much further in everything related to violence and religious symbolism”.
Further away
When asked about Carmen Mola (the trio formed by Jorge Díaz, Agustín Martínez and Antonio Mercero) he says that it is “people with a lot of talent, but they have a more literary than cinematographic vision and it was clear to me that the writing was going to be in the hands of José Rodríguez –author of the script for ‘Adiós’ and one of his creative accomplices–. Those who have read the novels will to especially enjoy the series because we’ve added a lot of things to it that were only in seed form.”
bare eyes
Leading the cast, playing inspector Elena Blanco, is Nerea Barros, an actress who initially didn’t fit in because of her age. “We did a very extensive casting and when Nerea appeared I knew it was her. We may have gone against the reader’s expectations, but Nerea has something very strong and very Galician about her. For me her face, her gestures and her dark circles convey everything She is Elena Blanco.” A peculiar character, marked by loss, who in addition to solving impossible cases, has grappa for breakfast, sings karaoke and sleeps with strangers. Paco Cabezas warned the actress not to expect to look pretty. “We have followed the example of ‘Mare of Easttown’ and no character is wearing makeup.” Among the supporting cast we also find some of his regulars such as Vicente Romero “(My Truth Meter”), Mona Martínez and Darío Grandinetti.
gypsy actors
The director has put special effort into the search for authenticity and one of his demands has been that all the characters who play gypsies really are. “There is not a single extra or extra who is not a gypsy if the character is. For me this was very important to give a seal of quality and respect to the story”. Wrapped in a halo of aesthetic chiaroscuro, with echoes of Villeneuve and David Fincher, the person responsible for creating that gloomy light for Madrid de los Austrias and Madrid on the outskirts has been Andreu Rubiralta, director of photography on series like ‘Veneno’ and ‘ Plague’. “We are shooting in panoramic”adds Heads, “with very wide general shots and a camera on the shoulder in the shorter shots. It’s going to have a very powerful aesthetic finish.” Cabezas believes that ‘The Gypsy Bride’ is his best work to date and acknowledges that he is looking forward to continuing with the second novel, ‘The Purple Network’. “During the last few years I have focused so much on the American world, that turning around and focusing on a street and poor neighborhood in Madrid is a bit like seeing your culture for the first time. With this series I wanted to return to my roots , fill everything with flamenco, which seemed to me as something so old when I was young, and do it with respect. At first I thought it was going to be just a diversion, but I’m amazed at the residue and the weight that the material is acquiring”.
The series, which will premiere in 2022 and whose cast completes Darío Grandinetti (Miguel Vistas), Ignacio Montes (Zárate), Mona Martínez (Mariajo), Lucía Martín Abello (Chesca), Vicente Romero (Orduño), Francesc Garrido (Buendía), Ginés García Millán (Rentero), Mónica Estarreado (Sonia) , Moreno Borja (Moses), Lola Casamayor (Ascension), Miguel Angel Solá (Salvador), Carlos Cabra (El Capi), Zaira Romero (Susana Macaya), Daniel Ibáñez (Caracas), Miguel Hermoso (Masegosa), Cecilia Gómez (Cintia), Emilio Palacios (Raúl), Oscar de la Fuente (Jaúregui) and Manel Sans (Lusson)among others, consists of 8 episodes of 50 minutes which were recorded for four months in different locations in Madrid Centro, Alcalá de Henares and Segovia.
first poster
AtresPlayer PREMIUM has also already released the first official posters of the series, which give us an idea of the tone. Looking forward to seeing it!
Source: Fotogramas
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
