U.S. HISPANIC
Felipe Martínez showrunner of El Repatriado: With an original idea by Fernando Barbosa we address the issue of Mexican boxers living illegally in the US
Maribel Ramos-Weiner| 21 de octubre de 2022
El Repatriado de Star Original
Felipe Martínez, showrunner and co-director of El Repatriado (10×45´) for Disney+ said that the series is based on the original idea of Fernando Barbosa, SVP and general manager, Disney’s Media Distribution & Production, and it was developed by Héctor Valdes and his team. “He was concerned about this issue of Mexican boxers who live illegally in the US, who are returned to Mexico, being forced to a reality that is very alien to them, because they have been living in that country for a long time. The subject is addressed from a hopeful point of view, because they arrive in a country unknown to them, where they begin to reconnect and to discover how it relates with themselves,” he said.
Martínez highlighted the fact that the two directors and the photographer are migrants working on a film about migration. “It was very useful to have this look of recognition of Mexico from the view of a foreigner, which is what happens with the protagonist, who, despite being a Mexican, lived his entire life in the United States. Upon returning to Mexico, he rediscovers it and understands the power that this country has.”
He explained that, being a movie with boxing as its mainstay, for the final fight he took his time in watching all the important boxing movies to understand the keys behind their filming and what was in them that appealed to the public. “We analyzed them and saw the common denominator in all those films, we were able to replicate it, and I am very proud of the result,” said Martínez.
El Repatriado was the only series in Mexico that was filmed during the red light period -between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021-, thanks to a very strict security scheme. They had a large set, an abandoned factory with a lot of space where they built a backlot depicting a popular neighborhood in which they filmed many of the scenes. Martínez said that no one got infected.
The fight scenes took place at the Arena de México, which has a capacity of 3,600 people, so they had to fill a large part of the stadium digitally. It was also recorded in other smaller amphitheatres.
For the scenes that took place in Los Angeles but were done in Mexico, they did the filming differently, because each place has its own energy. “In the case of Los Angeles, the language was colder and squared so we use long lenses, fixed cameras, all very classic; while Mexico, which is very happy and with a lot of energy, we use wide angles, very close shots, very long shots, cameras that moved and a lot of color.”
The Mexican series from the Star Original Productions label premiered on September 21. It was produced by BTF Media, with a team of around one hundred people, shooting with two cameras and it took about 12 weeks of shooting.
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