‘Express’: Starzplay premieres in Spanish production with the scriptwriter and protagonist of ‘Vis a vis’
Escobar and Civantos agreed on ‘Vis a vis’ . Both fictions are joined by the concept of tribe and solidarity, its creator detailed this week during the telematic presentation of ‘Express’ . If the previous title was starred by a motley group of prey; in this one, the character of Maggie Civantos –now as a brunette– works with a mainly female and also diverse band. Among the line-up are Kiti Mánver from Malaga ( ‘The inconvenience’ ), Loreto Mauleón from Donostia ( ‘Homeland’ ) and Ana Marzoa from Buenos Aires(‘Vis a vis’).
Mánver (68) plays “a villain with surprises, a manipulator”; a character with which he lowered his over-acting, admitted the Antequera actress. It was very difficult for Marzoa (71) to act “without looking”, since she plays a woman whose blindness makes her develop her perception.
The filming has used a 2,600 square meter set in Madrid and has just finished after more than four months. The storm Filomena, at the beginning of 2021, received the Argentine Esteban Meloni -police and husband of the kidnapped protagonist- and the Mexican Bernardo Flores ; an international ‘casting’ for a series that aspires to a second season and be seen in Latin America and the United States through the Starzplay and Pantaya platforms respectively. From Mexico they will launch ‘Señorita 89’ , another eight-episode ‘thriller’ about beauty pageants in the eighties.
“Now we all see series from Norway , Israel , … Each country has a way of narrating , but the audience responds the same to authenticity, that the character is credible. A great story is a great story, ”explained executive producer Peter Tortorici (Starzplay Spain). For Iván Escobar , whose main concern was the “damn” tone, it is essential not to lose “personal gaze” and not get carried away by the law of the algorithm: ” It’s okay not to imitate American series . ‘Express’ has a Mediterranean air. Conflicts are universal.
The wound of ‘Express’
“In a time as dystopian as this we tell the story of a wound,” Escobar explained to the press. That ‘wound’ is the one that the protagonist of ‘Express’ has open after spending four hours in a trunk. “He remembered his daughters and the important things. Even her husband failed. The series does not talk about express kidnappings, or wanting to know who kidnapped her. We cared to tell the feeling of a society that lives in a hurry. We eat, we travel and we interact in an express way », promoted the scriptwriter.
Here they talk about forgiveness (in a marriage with daughters), the desire for survival and fear and how it takes its toll not to face it. But this drama has been approached from the comedy and the Spanish manners to give it a recognizable touch. This comedy will be handled by Vicente Romero (‘Malaka’, ‘Crematorio’ ), whose handicap was to make a seemingly harmless character credible, but a bad person, a psychopath: «He represents the banality of evil. He is horny, a funny man.
In ‘Express’, as in ‘Parot’ (Amazon) , the concept of justice is relative, Escobar warns. «I don’t know if the characters are good or bad. Barbara’s team doesn’t always do things right. She is an erratic character; he is constantly wrong ». ‘Express’: Starzplay premieres in Spanish production with the scriptwriter and protagonist of ‘Vis a vis’
