Countdown to world premiere of Netflix series Kaos filmed in Malaga

Francisco Griñán

Málaga

Friday, 23 August 2024, 13:35

It is one of the most eagerly awaited series of the year. Netflix is banking on this being a blockbusting hit for the start of the season. Behind the launch is a filming period of almost two years, dozens of locations in Spain and Italy, and a traumatic change of leading man when Hugh Grant was announced as the lead and then dropped out of the project to be hurriedly replaced by Hollywood star Jeff Goldblum of Jurassic Park fame. Not to mention a large budget that is reputed to add up to around 50 million euros.

This is the kind of project that falls into the category of mega-production. Malaga features heavily, both as production headquarters as well as the main stage for a large part of the filming of this thriller laced with black humour that takes from Greek mythology to update the eternal struggle between man and the gods. The result is called Kaos and the US streaming platform has already activated the countdown for its world premiere on 29 August.

A capricious, irascible and carefree Zeus is the protagonist of this storyline that, as seen in the first previews, fits like a glove to the comic and sophisticated vision of Goldblum who plays the central character after the sudden and unexplained departure of the actor of Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones's Diary. Goldblum, as Grant's successor to the throne of Olympus, was one of those who visited Malaga for filming. There are numerous scenes set in the provincial capital and across Malaga province too, each location representing different corners of Greece in this plot inspired by classical Greece but with a contemporary setting.

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The narcissism of Zeus and his fondness for monuments to the greater glory of his ego is one of the keys to this storyline that comes to a head in the boycott of his statues by a group of humans resisting their destiny to be at the mercy of gods who get a kick out of mistreating their subjects. "A Netflix series, a Netflix myth" is the promotional slogan of this international piece of fiction produced by the British company Sister (authors of the HBO hit Chernobyl) and created by Charlie Covell (The End of the F***ing World), whose first eight episodes are premiering simultaneously on the platform with the aim of reaching number one in viewing figures and thus guaranteeing a follow-up series.

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Prior to this production - now reputedly the most expensive series shot on Spanish soil - the record was held by another Netflix production, the first season of Warrior Nun, with a budget of around 15 million euros. This British-led production has surrounded itself with a large, distinguished cast that also includes Janet McTeer (Ozark), who plays the sister and wife of Zeus, David Thewlis (Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter saga) as the dark lord Hades, Nabhaan Rizwan (Station Eleven) as Zeus' rebellious son Dionysus and New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis (Fear the Walking Dead) as an enchanting Poseidon with his superyacht. Between them all they provoke such divine 'kaos' that a small group of mortals decide to stand up to them, namely Aurora Perrineau (Into the Dark), Killian Scott (Jack Taylor), Misia Butler (Kiss Me First) and Leila Farzad (The Marvels).

The filming of Kaos features numerous locations in Malaga city and the province that may go unnoticed due to the art department's fine-tuning and digital effects. These include traffic scenes shot in the Alameda de Colón, chases filmed in La Palmilla and Lagunillas, street sequences of Dionisio phoning from Calle Parras or the convertible car of the leader of the human rebels (Aurora Perrineau) on the Pablo Ruiz Picasso promenade. Also, before moving the centre of operations to Madrid for the second part of filming, the film crews also moved extensively around the province. For instance, they filmed under the rather unique canopied car park at El Ingenio shopping centre in Vélez-Málaga and shot a spectacular gladiator fight at an improvised coliseum in the centre of Torremolinos, one of the most striking scenes of the preview unveiled this week of this thriller tinged with black humour.

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Behind this proliferation of Malaga-based locations is one of the great producers of location services in Spain, Fresco Film, a Malaga-based company. They not only sourced locations but also directed some of the filming in Valencia, Madrid, Toledo, Cadiz, Almería and Seville, where the iconic setting of the Plaza de España was used for scenes set with numerous extras in which one of these sabotaged mythological statues is discovered.

The premiere of Kaos will be the first to involve Fresco Film after the announcement of the merger-acquisition of the Malaga-based production company with the Catalan group Mediapro (responsible for Woody Allen's films in Europe (Rifkin's Festival and Midnight in Paris) and the latest Spanish film by Antonio Banderas (Official Competition). Fresco Film, based in the Pedregalejo district of Malaga, really upped its game 10 years ago when it was tasked with sourcing locations for the filming in Spain of the HBO franchise Game of Thrones. Such good work was also fundamental in the subsequent development of tax incentives for filming projects in Spain. In recent years this legislation has allowed Spain to multiply its income from the filming of international movies and series.

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As Fresco's CEO Peter Welter confirmed to SUR only this week, the operations centre of Fresco Film, which already has offices in different parts of Spain and Portugal, will continue to be in Malaga, although together with Mediapro its possibilities are growing "beyond location services", with options to enter fully into co-production.

"We maintain our own identity within the new group, while at the same time opening up an interesting range of possibilities and the support of an exceptional company with incalculable resources," explained Fresco's chief operating officer, adding that the premiere of the box office production Kaos will once again give great visibility to the "quality" of Fresco's service, as well as showcasing the "innovative" locations for this thriller, filmed largely in Malaga. "Whenever we receive a commission we always see if we can bring it home and here a great job was done in the process of locations," he said. The result will be on your screens next week.