The gardens of La Marquesa, land in Gran Canaria where tropical vegetation abounds and where roosters and peacocks roam freely, were flooded in September 2022 with more than 200 technicians to film
Zorro
, the series that Amazon Prime Video premieres this Thursday, January 25 and will be broadcast by La 1 openly starting on Sunday the 28th. It is about reinventing the story of the popular hero in a new version that captures the cultural diversity of the historical moment that California was experiencing in 1830, but that time vindicates a current feminism, in line with the 21st century.
In a context in which television and cinema revisit classics such as
The Little Mermaid
with the black actress Halle Bailey, or the universe of
The Lord of the Rings
To offer more diverse versions, the creators of
Zorro
are part of this trend, as they told EL PAÍS on the sets of this adventure plot.
More information
Secuoya Studios seeks to become a reference for audiovisual production in Spanish with 'El Zorro'
The screenwriter and creator of the series, Carlos Portela (
Velvet
,
The Cable Girls
), started from this question: “What Zorro do we want to do in 2022?”
This masked hero comes from a literary and cinematic tradition that began in 1919, when the
American
pulp magazine
Argosy
published the first comic strip of the character created by Johnston McCulley.
Since then, numerous film and television adaptations have followed one another during the decades of the 20th century.
David Cotarelo, one of the producers, elaborates on why they wanted to break with the image that the protagonist has had until now: “Because of Banderas' film and the previous ones, we associate Zorro with a sly, flirtatious guy, with a point that now makes us It would be sexist.
“We wanted to escape from all that and use this icon to tell a story after Me Too, with other codes.”
Actors Miguel Bernardeau and Renata Notni are Diego de la Vega and Lolita Márquez in the series 'Zorro'.
The independence and strength of the female characters was one of the keys to take into account to modernize the story, explain Portela and Cotarelo.
Javier Quintas, director of the successful
La casa de papel
, also participates in the direction of
Zorro
, and admits that change to reflect the feminist values of our century: “They may still be a bit anachronistic, because the series takes place in 1830, but “They are empowered women whose action is essential to the plot.”
Renata Notni, the actress who plays Lolita Márquez, the romantic interest of Diego de la Vega (Zorro), adds that her character transcends even that description, and gets rid of ties with Diego to take on a role of her own: “Lolita She has changed, she knows what she wants and she doesn't wait for anyone to save her.
On the contrary, she takes a shotgun and defends herself, even blowing off Diego's hat if necessary to tell him: 'You don't defend me, nor do you choose me.
"I'll do it if I want."
indigenous activism
Another important figure is that of Nah Lin, an indigenous warrior who is going to fight for what she considers right and who, according to the creator of the series, “is on par with and even above Zorro and is a mirror in which "He sees himself reflected."
In this version, Zorro is an inherited title.
The first chapter begins when Diego de la Vega returns from his military training in Spain because he is informed of the death of his father, whose strange circumstances he will investigate.
Nah Lin is the sister of the former Zorro who died, and she feels she is the rightful heir to her title, but her spirits do not choose her, but Diego.
She is played by Dalia Xiuhcoatl, a Mexican actress and activist, who admires the script work: “The series moves away from stereotypes about indigenous people and shows very well that the justice of the white man is not always the justice of the oppressed.”
The new version of 'Zorro' gives more prominence to Native Americans.
Opening the universe of Zorro to the indigenous people, but also to the Chinese, Russians, and English who lived together in the tumultuous and multicultural California of the 19th century was another of Portela's priorities.
Miguel Bernardeau, a Spanish actor who plays this new Zorro, comments during a break in filming that he hired his sister's history teacher to better understand what was happening in California at that time: “It's a bustling time, very busy.” mix.
The culture shock is very interesting and is reflected in the script.”
Bernardeau agrees with the creators: his character also reflects a 21st century masculinity.
“He is a Zorro who cries, who makes mistakes and who starts the season very young, but ends up becoming an adult.”
The
Elite
actor , who has always been a fan of the masked hero — “I have dressed up as him in several carnivals” — explains that he flatly refused to do a Mexican accent for Diego: “I told them from the beginning that if they wanted a Mexican accent They caught a Mexican actor.
But it doesn't seem incoherent to me that Diego is Spanish."
He doesn't look like that to his co-stars either.
On the contrary, Notni believes that this is “an interesting proposal that refreshes history.”
Miguel Bernardeau plays Zorro in the new version of the masked hero.
All these changes that the new version brings also bring the character closer to a new generation that has not met the swordsman hero.
And for that, Quintas believes, we must adapt to the new way of consuming young people's content on platforms: "The challenge is to bring it closer to young people without losing sight of lifelong fans, as Marvel does very well." .
In fact, he is not the only one to mention the superhero giant.
Portela explains that he has been inspired by Marvel or DC series to write quick scripts and assures that the longest scene does not exceed three pages.
Cotarela extols the importance of the comic aesthetic in the series: “We wanted to adopt a slightly more mannerist aesthetic, play with the language of the comic, with the light, the colors... The actors adopt postures that recall the comic book style.” .
Also, as in Marvel, they have taken great care of the quality of the action.
The actors of Lolita Márquez, Nah Lin and Diego de la Vega say that they had to learn to ride a horse, train with weapons, master the whip and do stunts so risky that even Bernardeau's double broke his pelvis during one of they.
On those exceptionally rainy September days due to the scourge of Tropical Storm
Hermine
,
the gardens of La Marquesa and other locations in the Canary Islands were transformed into Los Angeles at the beginning of the 19th century.
“Quiet, fuck, quiet!
“Actors need concentration,” claims the assistant director while everyone prepares for the umpteenth take of the scene.
In the distance, a rooster crows, and we have to repeat it again.
You can follow EL PAÍS TELEVISIÓN on
or sign up here to receive
our weekly newsletter
.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Keep reading
I am already a subscriber
_