Fresh Chapter in Netflix’s Adventure

How many times have we fallen in love with characters we’ve met through paper? How many times did we dream of putting a face on that intrepid lead character or that hilarious sidekick? Spanish authors Elísabet Benavent, Javier Castillo and Lucía-Asué Mbomío will get to do just that as they prepare to adapt their acclaimed novels for Netflix. The three highly anticipated adaptations were announced today along with plans to expand our production hub in Tres Cantos (Madrid). To celebrate this news – and World Book Day! – we gathered all three writers to talk about bringing their novels to screen for Netflix.

What’s the most exciting part of bringing your story to the screen?

Elísabet Benavent: Seeing how the story you once imagined staring at your computer alone, becomes a reality that you can practically touch is truly amazing. It’s like getting the chance to materialize a dream. 

Javier Castillo: It is clearly bringing my most special character, Miren Triggs, to life and allowing people to see her strength built on an all-too-real fragility. It is finally giving a face to someone who has lived inside me for so long. Suddenly everyone will be able to look at her properly and ask, as I asked myself every single day, what’s behind those eyes.

Lucía-Asué Mbomío Rubio: Knowing that many people who escape the typical stereotypes will identify with the main character´search -Sandra´s search- and with claiming their place on the path that separates the two worlds. I love to think that, in some way, people who read my book will feel more accompanied, less lonely. 

Elísabet, because of your stories, you’ve often been described as “the voice of a generation”. How do you think viewers will relate to the adaptation of Un cuento perfecto? 

Elísabet Benavent: I think that Un cuento perfecto talks about something that we can all relate to: the fear of not being able to meet expectations and the adventure in finding, in the midst of the urge to please everyone, what really makes us happy. It’s the main characters of this novel that make this project different from my previous ones. 

Javier, La chica de nieve has been a literary revolution: How do you feel about bringing this story to life and knowing that people all over the world will enjoy it on Netflix?

Javier Castillo: Overwhelmed and, above all, grateful to Netflix for believing in this book and to my readers for being the engine of every good news. All the things that are happening to my novels are amazing and this is a huge leap towards making people from all cultures dive into my stories, my books and a new type of mystery that can thrill people universally.

Lucía, Hija del camino is your debut novel. What’s the message and how do you think Netflix will help you bring it to people’s homes? 

Lucía-Asué Mbomío Rubio: With my novel I wanted to talk about the search for one’s own identity. In this case, through a young girl from Madrid whose mother is white and father is Black. In this 21st century marked by hybrid, liquid and fluid identities, trying to find a place in the world, even if is not necessarily a physical place, is quite common and I wanted to talk about it. However, my novel is not only about that search. It also explains how the frontiers crossed by our fathers and/or mothers somehow also cross those of us who have been born here, because they tend to “foreignize” us. Here we’re from ´over there´ and ´over there´ we’re from here. I wanted to talk about feeling homesick for places we’ve never been to but have idealised, how race is a construction and how being a woman always comes with extra difficulties.

Netflix will be of great help by making universal stories that are left untold or have been written but only reached a few because most people feel it’s got nothing to do with them. It will also contribute by making Black people, African or African descendants, star for the first time in a Spanish fiction series showing true diversity instead of stereotypical characters.

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Talia M.

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