"The primary motivation was that producer Marc Dujardin said his brother Jean Dujardin [who won an Oscar for his role in The Artist] wanted to play him. I wasn't entirely sure about it, but it was a possibility, series creator Benjamin Charbit tells this publication. Plus, he had the idea that the vigilante could be used to talk about politics, powerful men and populism."
"Now, with Trump back again, the violence of the political class continues to be a relevant topic. [The series] was meant to be a comic way of addressing it. The new version of the famous masked avenger, which premieres this week on the AMC+ streaming platform, is actually a comedy in true French style. But it is not a parody, says Charbit."
"His mission is to fight for the city's residents, but via politics. Serving as foil to the optimism of this Zorro are the classic rich villains of capitalism, who want to steal the water of the city's Indigenous inhabitants through corrupt ploys. Everything is so polarized, and with money concentrated in the hands of the few, it's normal that the villains would be rich people. That makes this a very European Zorro."
Jean Dujardin's interest prompted a revival of Zorro in a new French television series developed to address politics, powerful men and populism. Writing began six years ago during Donald Trump's presidency; Trump's return reinforced the series' political relevance. The show premieres on AMC+ and adopts a French comedic tone while avoiding outright parody. Don Diego de la Vega appears as a fifty-something mayor of Los Angeles who fights for residents through politics. Wealthy capitalist villains plot to steal water from Indigenous inhabitants through corrupt schemes. The series foregrounds political polarization and concentrated wealth, making it explicitly political.
Read at english.elpais.com
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