For Carlos Bardasano, producer of Los Ricos También Lloran, it was a challenge to work with the most recognized, emblematic, and famous title of entertainment in Spanish. The novel premiered this Monday the 21st at 9:30pm on Las Estrellas.
One of the largest budgets they have managed —which allowed them to sign two writers such as Esther Feldman and Rosa Salazar, in addition, to cast high-end talent, use extraordinary locations, and have an excellent production design —, granted them an outcome with which he feels very satisfied. “Now we just need to see the acceptance of the audience.” Since W Studios have evolved and grown thanks to all the productions they have developed, they were able to face this work with more tuned processes, he assured.
For Bardasano the key lies in the work that was done on the story by Feldman and Salazar, who are often team leaders and worked together for the first time.
Leaving untouched the essence of the original story, but making it current and believable, was the central mandate. They included new universes, plots, and characters in order to achieve this.
Many of the conflicts that originally took place in the mansion, in the new version happen in the company. The father, Don Alberto, is divorced and remarried (which did not happen in the original story). In addition, the death of the protagonist’s brother in his childhood was added to the plot, which gives meaning to the motivations and conflicts created with Elena (mother of the protagonist and first wife of Don Alberto) and to the reasons for her divorce. And also new issues and situations develop by adding Don Alberto’s new wife and his son.
“All of this adds a great air of upgrading the story to the new times,” said Bardasano.
The original 170-chapter story was reduced to 60 chapters. The filming will take between 22 or 23 weeks. “It’s a long recording, very different from a novel, that will include all the work we do on cinematography, optics, and film shoots, it has a different rhythm,” said Bardasano.
The production design is probably one of the most beautiful that he has had done, under the lead of Álex Martínez. “We have to remember that the story develops through several eras, all the attention to detail gave us a number of diverse worlds, very colorful and authentic. What I like the most is the authenticity with a very modern look. The motivations of the characters are also well-founded,” said Bardasano, who affirms that it is very different to please the current audience, which is more educated and attentive to details, than the one that existed when the original story took place. “It’s a story for 2022.”