The series of Red Queen is now available on Prime Video, and with it, the dream of a man from Madrid who has wanted to dedicate himself to telling stories since he was 13 years old. Juan Gómez-Jurado surely he had already achieved several goals being a best-seller with the saga starring Antonia Scott and Jon Gutiérrez, but without a doubt it has gone up one more step by completing its first audiovisual adaptation.
What he created with the saga that already makes up his first literary universe has reached millions of readers, although now any possibility increases exponentially with the premiere of his… Series? Miniseries? Start of something big? Well, it is precisely these doubts that we want answered in WECB.
The future of Red Queen The viewers will dictate it, although he is very clear that whatever happens it has been a friendly, intense project with a dedication that any writer would want for the transfer of his novels to the small screen. Perhaps some principles that mark the beginning of a Universe of series on Prime Video? We’ll see what he tells us.
Question: After confirming that Red Queen would be adapted on Prime Video, a video of yours was published as a gag in which you were going to a job interview with Amazon to be showrunner. What did this end up with?
Answer: Ask to Jeff Bezoswho is right here with us (series). We have a collaboration agreement for the development of original series and films. It is an agreement that has been maintained since the announcement. We did it with a gag, but in real life we publish a press release because we also know how to be serious. And we’ve been developing things together for a long time. As always in life, and as it is audiovisual, some things will continue forward and others will not, but for now I can’t tell you anything more.
Q: Because it continues, right?
A: In fact the agreement has been renewed. So we made a press release, right? What we have not announced is the announcement of the renewal, but we renewed it in April of last year. I mean, keep going. I am the only one in all of Europe that has been renewed. So I’m very happy.
Q: Does that mean there are Black Wolf? Although it can’t be said officially…
A: Look how incisive, and what an eagle! (Series) I didn’t see that coming, I swear, no, I didn’t see that coming. That means we are working on many projects. And that obviously Black Wolf It is something that is on the way, in the future, and we will see if it happens or not. It is also very important that people’s reaction to Red Queen be very, very big.
It is very important that people’s reaction to ‘Red Queen’ is very, very great.
Q: In the event that this commitment to adapt the second book, or even the third, were to happen: Would it be Red Queen — Season 2 either Black Wolfas happens with the adaptations of Carmen Mola for Atresplayer?
A: Damn, well, it’s an exceptional question… that I’m not going to answer. (laughs)
Q: How long has filming taken in total, and how much of that time have you been present?
A: The filming took 6 months, and then 7 months of post-production, very long. 500 people involved. And I have been present a lot, unfortunately, more than Alexandra (Prime Video PR) He would like it, the poor thing has to put up with me.
Q: How was the first contact with it finished?
A: There was no shock when I saw the finished series, because as I have seen it grow… I mean, I have seen it when it was simply Red Queen — Episode 1by Amaya Muruzábal. Know? It is from that moment, since that piece of paper was a reality until today, we have all been working together. And there is one very beautiful thing. I recommend to all people who are going to start an audiovisual production that they keep the writer as far away as possible. It’s a very, very important thing, because all writers do is bother. Both María José, Adriana, and Amaya, from Prime Video, made the least advisable and riskiest decision, which was for me to be at the heart of the production and I have to thank them for my part, for having committed a foolish thing.
Q: Have you been… very annoying? Things have come to me.
A: No, no, because the other way around. As extemporaneous as it may seem, I’m super shy. Although those at Amazon are laughing inside right now. I am very reluctant to bother people. I am very respectful of other people’s time. That’s my internal thing. And then well, well, when it was our turn to be there, we were there, but I called Vicky only once in all the 6 months of filming, from hey the times we met because I visited, and the times she didn’t see me because she was behind of the screen, but I only called once on the phone. What and then she comes home for dinner, huh? I mean, I adore her madly, she comes to my house for dinner.
Juan Gómez Jurado with his ‘Red Queen’ at the Madrid Book Fair. / Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Q: When you wrote the book, did you think about the adaptation?
A: I just can’t help but imagine an adaptation. We’ll see. Before knowing what an adaptation was, we couldn’t imagine an adaptation because my way of thinking is to tell a movie in my head because unfortunately I am a child of our time and I am so contaminated, it is an ugly word, but it is like that; as influenced by audiovisuals as everyone else, so I tell myself a movie in my head, and in my head that was… well, very easy. You say, well, since I think in images and since my novels are very full of images, it will make it very, very easy for you to transfer it to the audiovisual. That was the first meeting. And they told me no, that the other way around, it was much more difficult. And that was when I started to learn that what was an adaptation was something else.
Q: In this process, in that movie that you were putting together in your head… Did you go out at any point? Viewers who know you best will recognize you making a cameo in the series.
A: No, that is, no. No, but it is very common, on the other hand. I mean, all writers want to appear at a moment’s notice because we love cinema a lot, we love audiovisuals a lot. I say cinema knowingly: this series is pure cinema, it is a film in 6 hours, in 350 minutes. I wanted to say a phrase, or get on the bus. That’s all I wanted. My first proposal was that I bump into Vicky at the bar and we say sorry. A little bit like Peter Jackson, they all come out and you never see them, right? But they insisted, because they are foolish.
Q: Almodóvar said that Pedro Pascal could not promote strange way of life for their commitments to Gladiator 2. Seeing the year of success that Vicky and Hovik have had, aren’t you afraid that tomorrow the agenda for the hypothetical continuations of the series will not be possible?
A: No, because I already saw that for them as a friend and as a co-worker, and when I spoke with them it was said, “you have no roof.” And I am convinced that Victoria Luengo is the best actress in Spain. She is already there. It’s very clear to me. Plus, I’ve said it 1000 times. There is no limit to the number of Goyas she can win in 20 years, that is, because she has a reputation for excellence and because there is also no person more different from Antonia Scott than her. It is impossible. It is pure love, pure light, she forgives immediately, she does not hold a grudge at any time, she does not become obsessed… She does have work ethics. And with Hovik, what can I tell you, he already says it all. They are adorable and very loving. Look, an anecdote that can summarize a little what I think about them: last week I told my wife, “some friends are coming to our house for dinner.” She told me, “no, please, I’m very tired, I don’t feel like talking, I don’t feel like talking…”. I told her, “Hovik is coming,” and she replied, “Oh, no problem, so I don’t have to talk.” And that sums it up a bit. No, I’m not afraid. Plus, they are very in love with the characters.
Victoria Luengo and Hovik Keuchkerian in ‘Red Queen’. / padu
Q: What about the series Scar?
A: Scar It will be released, if I remember correctly, in June. I have not participated in that adaptation because I have been completely focused on Red Queen, but I’m looking forward to knowing what they’ve done. I will be the first spectator the day it is released.
Q: In the end it is the same universe. Don’t you feel sorry that they are going to cross paths, like in the novels?
A: Listen, I would also like to be 1’80 tall, have shoulders like those of Henry Cavill, but you get as far as you go. This is what I have been able to do, and we have given ourselves to the maximum, eh? The other day I was apologizing to my two children because I wasn’t going to be able to eat with them, as I had told them, and they told me: “Don’t worry, Dad. “We know that you have three children and we are clear about which one is the favorite.” Sons of bitches (laughs), but that’s how it is, that is. I also tell them very often that I wish I hadn’t had them. We love each other very much. I want you to see her, I am very excited for you to meet her little brother.
Red Queen is now available on Prime Video.
