In its continued bid to invest in Spanish film production, Sony Pictures International Productions has pacted with Enrique López Lavigne’s Apache Films to co-produce “Adios” by Spanish writer-director Paco Cabezas, who marks his return to Spain with the crime drama.
Cabezas has been building a notable international portfolio that includes “American Gods,” “Penny Dreadful,” “The Alienist,” “Fear the Walking Dead,” and “Neon Flesh.”
“Returning to Seville, the South, to the streets where I grew up, to shoot this film is a dream come true,” Cabezas said. “I’ve learned much from my work in Hollywood; each series, from “Penny Dreadful” to “American Gods,” has helped me grow as a director.”
“And I was dying to find a powerful story, moving, action-packed, made not only for a Spanish audience, but with an international [appeal], to be told in my land,” he added.
Mario Casas, who starred in Cabezas’ “Neon Flesh,” leads a cast that includes two-time Goya winner Natalia de Molina (“Quién te cantará”), Goya nominee Ruth Díaz (“Tarde para la ira”), and two-time Goya nominee Carlos Bardem (“Celda 211”).
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Casas plays a prisoner who secures permission to attend his young daughter’s first communion. Her accidental death during a shootout in the slum lifts the lid on a drug-trafficking and police-corruption scheme. It’s up to the policewoman covering the case to stop the father from seeking revenge.
“What attracts me the most about working with Paco, a Spanish director [seasoned] on the international markets’ new fiction landscape and in Hollywood, are the mechanisms to translate a moving story such as ‘Adiós’ to a global audience that demands a narrative that combines the intimate with the sense of spectacle,” Lavigne said.
In a joint statement, Laine Kline, head of Sony Pictures International Productions, and Iván Losada, managing director of Sony Pictures Entertainment Iberia, said: “Sometimes the smallest places hold great stories that connect with audiences around the world. Both Paco and Enrique represent a unique and global vision of the stories.”
Among its previous productions in Spain, Sony co-produced Agustin Diaz Yanes’ conquistador epic “Oro” with Atresmedia Cine and Apache Films, as well as Maria Ripoll’s rom-com “Don’t Blame Karma for Being a Jerk.”
“Adios” is co-produced by Olmo Figueredo and Manuel H. Martin’s La Claqueta PC in collaboration with Televisión Española, Movistar+, ICAA, and the Junta de Andalucía.
Principal photography will take place in Seville for eight weeks with a target release in Spain of late 2019.