Star Plus ‘Santa Evita,’ by Salma Hayek, previewed at CF&E

Executive produced by Salma Hayek Pinault and directed by Rodrigo Garcia (“Nine Lives”), in its second scene, “Santa Evita” from Star Plus Productions, Dr. Pedro Aro arrives at Eva Perón’s home to embalm her body.

Several directors were sending his arrival in short transitional shots. However, García uses the Eight – to catch the rain on the fateful July 26, 1952 (shot from above wet black umbrellas filling the screen), glimpse the poverty of the crowd lining the road and framing the first close-up hints of Perón’s reverence in death with the crowds keeping vigil outside the gates Home, candles on hand.

Previewed in Conecta Fiction, the first episode of “Santa Evita” is an adult audience classic fare from Latin American Disney, and heiress to the 2018 films “Selena’s Secret” and 2019’s “Monzón”

A passion project for Mariana Pérez at The Walt Disney Company in Latin America that took 10 years to make, Santa Evita is carefully designed, timed, socialized, varied and directed in the setting of the shots and meticulously crafted.

It’s also a “real life fantasy” — a phrase coined by TWDCLA’s Leonardo Arrangebel, executive producer on the series with Perez. Here IP is the most famous politician in Latin America, Eva Perón, a perfect combination of brilliance, strength, charisma and attention to the laboring classes of Argentina, who passed away at the age of 33.

The seven-part series also carries a contemporary gender agenda, chronicling the true-to-life story stranger than fiction of how Eva Perón, even in death, was used, abused, and embalmed by her husband, President Juan Perón, to immunize his slide. Clinging to power, she was then deposed by the Argentine military regime that overthrew Perón in 1955. Its members desired to get her character, discredit, and fear her in equal measure.

Starring Natalia Oreiro (“Yossi, the Unfortunate Spy”) as Eva Perón and Dario Grandinette (“Talk to Her”) as her husband, Santa Evita is produced by Argentina in association with Non Stop Studios. Written by Marcella Gerti and Pamela Rementaria, based on the bestselling book of the same title by Thomas Eloy Martinez, and co-directed by Argentine Alejandro Masi. diverse I spoke with Maci before the series’ exclusive preview at Conecta Fiction on June 22, which proved the TV co-production forum to be the most attractive. The series will debut on Star Plus on July 26.

How did you deal with the character of Eva Perón, given her importance even nowadays, especially in Argentina?

Her character is shrouded in legend, which makes her untouchable and resonant. First, we had to defuse these associations, shattering the myths. Thomas Eloy Martinez investigated this period but then wrote a novel, which was our rule. So we did a lot of research on the period and the political process.

How did “Santa Evita” meet?

It has been a Fox-Disney project, in development for many years. Mariana Perez knit it, which wasn’t easy. It was a very complex project, both to narrate and to produce. We are dealing with five different timeframes: 1945, when the story really begins; 1952, when Eva Peron was embalmed; her youth in the twenties and thirties; And 1971, when journalist Mariano Vazquez, a kind of alter-ego for Martinez, tries to find out what happened to her body, she begins receiving death threats.

The story is part of Argentina’s history. How did you shape it for an international audience on Star Plus?

We didn’t try to flood the story with local details. It targets any audience interested in a story that is, yes, connected to the history of Argentina but also speaks to the dynamics of power and emotion, making it universal. We’ve delved into these issues in terms of narrative.

What do you like about the offer?

The only thing that really catches the eye is the erotica evoked by Eva Peron, which is very contemporary. Rodrigo Garcia wanted to highlight this.

This is a woman who has been corruptly taken over by countless men, all of them military. This is now part of our contemporary conversation, which Martinez was not expecting in a novel written in 1995. But the series opens up to this interpretation.

Why do you think Santa Evita can work today?

The novel is about power, possessions and poverty. Eva Perón was of humble origins but reached the heights of strength and died prematurely, all within seven years. In 1944, she was a completely unknown actress. By 1947 she was visiting Spain at the invitation of Franco and a legend in Buenos Aires. By 1951, she had developed terminal cancer. It all happened quickly. It is an extraordinary story that deserves to be told – with the caveat that it is based on a novel. Some elements are fictional, Martinez thought of.