Spain’s film & TV giant The Mediapro Studio is joining forces with Catalan pubcaster 3Cat and its online platform to co-produce “El Mal” (“Quiet”), a thriller series based on a true story, on a serial killer prowling the streets of locked-down Barcelona in March-April 2020.
Presented April 8 at MipTV, the eight-part series will topline two Goya Awards-winning actor David Verdaguer (“Jokes & Cigarettes,” “Summer 1993”) and double Goya nominee actress Ángela Cervantes (“La Maternal,” “Chavalas”).
The series is set to premiere initially on 3Cat while The Mediapro Studio Distribution owns the worldwide commercial rights.
Created and lead written by Lluís Alcarazo – creator of Oriol Paulo’s crime thriller “Night and Day” and doc feature “Special Case “Quiet” – tells the story of an investigation to uncover the identity of a serial killer who chooses their victims from among the most vulnerable members of the society: the homeless.
The plot unfolds at the end of April 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown. The authorities arrest a man accused of murdering several homeless people one after another on the streets of Barcelona.
The murders all share a common pattern in that they were all committed while the victims lay sleeping and were always committed with extreme brutality.
With this proposal, and in the context of a deserted and locked down city, Arcarazo develops the idea for “Quiet,” drawing on the double meaning of both the muted voices of the homeless and the silent but deadly virus infecting its victims.
Thesps Verdaguer and Cervantes play the team of homicide detectives in charge of the investigation, their closest circle of friends and family, and those forced to live on the streets of Barcelona for whom there is no hope of fleeing from evil of any kind.
Laura Fernández Espeso, Javier Méndez, Arcarazo and Bernat Elías are executive producers for The Mediapro Studio, while Oriol Sala-Patau and Conxa Orea executive produce for 3Cat.
Scripted fiction and documentary director Marta Pahissa – credited in productions such as Movistar Plus+’s “Rapa,” Netflix’s “Smiley” and RTVE-The Mediapro Studio’s “Ser o no ser,” among others – will direct the series, whose filming is scheduled to get underway in Barcelona in the coming weeks.
“With ‘Quiet’ we’re taking the thriller to another level. The series adopts a classic narrative style, indebted to some degree to the grand masters of contemporary cinema like David Fincher and Michael Mann, drawing influence from films such as ‘Seven,’ ‘Zodiac’ and ‘Collateral,’ or like ‘Mindhunter,’ providing a minutely detailed introduction into the investigation of similar crimes in the context of a less than dazzling Barcelona, albeit fascinating in its portrayal and photography,” said Javier Méndez, The Mediapro Studio head of cinema and co-head of television.
