email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

PRODUCTION / FUNDING Spain

Luis Tosar to topline the series Salvador, helmed by Daniel Calparsoro

by 

- Claudia Salas, Leonor Watling and Candela Arestegui also perform in this drama about the dangers of radical ideologies, created by Aitor Gabilondo for Netflix

Luis Tosar to topline the series Salvador, helmed by Daniel Calparsoro
Luis Tosar in Salvador (© Jaime Olmedo)

Salvador (lit. “Saviour”), the new Netflix series created by Aitor Gabilondo (Patria [+see also:
series review
series profile
]
, Muted), produced by Alea Media and starring Luis Tosar (winner of the Goya Award for Mondays in the Sun [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Cell 211 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniel Monzón
film profile
]
and Take My Eyes [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, and who appeared in the recent release Golpes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) and Claudia Salas (who has performed in series of the likes of Rage [+see also:
series review
trailer
series profile
]
and Elite), recently wrapped its shoot in various locations in Madrid. It’s now in post-production and will be released worldwide next year. Daniel Calparsoro (who was in competition at Venice in 1997 with Blinded, and has more recently released All the Names of God [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, El correo, Bank Under Siege [+see also:
trailer
series profile
]
and this year’s Mikaela [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniel Calparsoro
film profile
]
), a veteran director of action movies and an expert in dramatic tension, is sitting in the director’s chair.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Joining the lead duo are actors of the calibre of Leonor Watling (Talk to Her [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, seen recently in the series La vida breve and Entrepreneurs), Fariba Sheikhan (La Unidad [+see also:
trailer
series profile
]
), Patricia Vico (Sky High [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniel Calparsoro
film profile
]
), César Mateo (Sky High, the series The Longest Night), Candela Arestegui (The Rite of Spring [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fernando Franco and Koldo Z…
film profile
]
), Alejandro CasasecaMarcos MariniRichard Holmes, Lucas Ares, Guillermo Lasheras and Andrés Gertrúdix (a Goya nominee for Dying [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fernando Franco
film profile
]
, glimpsed in this year’s She Walks in Darkness [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), among others.

The fiction series tells the story of a father who finds out that his daughter belongs to a neo-Nazi group, which he must edge closer to in order to try to rescue her and comprehend what led her to that point. During a violent, pre-planned confrontation between radical football fans from two opposing clubs, ambulance driver Salvador Aguirre (played by Luis Tosar) saves his daughter Milena (Candela Arestegui), who has been injured and is a member of the ultras group, which champions racist, violent and homophobic values that run totally counter to those he has always tried to instil in her.

Aitor Gabilondo is also serving as executive producer of the eight episodes and has penned the screenplay together with Joan Barbero (Wrong Side of the Tracks) and Anna Casado (Muted), with Tommie Ferreras (Bank Under Siege, All the Names of God) on board as DoP and Ricardo Rocca (Bank Under Siege) in charge of stunt coordination.

“We are presenting Salvador in a sociocultural context in which many extremist discourses that we thought we’d moved on from are being revived. Luis Tosar embodies the uncertainty surrounding the motives that lead many young people to feel an attraction towards extreme-right groups when he is faced with his own daughter’s aimlessness, and he wonders what has happened and what he can do about it,” states Gabilondo. “This series broaches hot topics such as immigration, extremism, delinquency and the lack of a future. For me, it also fulfils a long-standing desire to work with Daniel Calparsoro, whom I’ve known since his short film WC (from 1992) and whose gaze, straddling brutality and compassion, suits the story of Salvador to a T. And the icing on the cake of this dream come true is that nothing beats being able to work with Luis Tosar, the most compelling, sorrowful powerhouse of Spanish film,” sums up the series’ creator.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from Spanish)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy