Lucia Puenzo Sets ‘The Gunwoman,’ Starring Luisana Lopilato, a ‘Giant Story’ Female Gangster Epic Inspired by a Real-Life Legend (EXCLUSIVE)
“Dive” and “La Jauría” helmer Lucía Puenzo is set to direct gangster epic “The Gunwoman (Pepita’s Legend),” toplining and executive produced by Argentine star Luisana Lopilato (“Perdida,” “Pipa”), and inspired by the real-life story of Margarita Di Tullio, queen of its Mar del Plata underworld who became the most famous woman in Argentina’s criminal history.
Currently in pre-production, the movie is backed by one of the grandest alliances ever assembled to produce an Argentine feature film, thriller “The Gunwoman” (Pepita’s Legend)” being produced by a consortium led by Argentina’s Zeppelin Studio, headed by Lucas Jinkis. The alliance also takes in Historias Cinematográficas, Erik Barmack’s Wild Sheep Content, Yair Dori, Bar Rimoni, Javier Furgang, 7395 Media and Non Stop Studios.
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From initial comments made by Puenzo, referring to “this gigantic story” and given the robust breadth of financing, “The Gunwoman” looks like one of the biggest movies without known streamer backing which is currently in the works from Latin America.
Written by Puenzo together with Andrés Gelós (“Yosi, The Regretful Spy”) and Tatiana Mereñuk (“Dive”), “The Gunwoman” “talks about Margarita Di Tullio’s journey. She became a famous criminal who caused a revolution in the prostitution business when she rescued and empowered some women who were victims of human trafficking and turned into a legend after a triple crime where she defended her family,” Zeppelin Studios said Monday in a written statement.
The triple crime reference is to the event that launched Di Tullio’s legend when in August 1985 she shot three hoodlums, former employees, who had surprised her in her bedroom. All died.
Making a huge media splash, Di Tullio was baptized “Pepita la Pistolera,” after a popular Mexican song.
“But she wasn’t the innocent and vulnerable woman that everybody believed she was,” Zeppelin Studio noted Monday.
“Before becoming a murderer, Margarita Di Tullio was already a professional thief and a master of deceit. She was also the most glamorous madame in a world dominated by men. The triple crime only increased her legend,” it added.
“To be immersed in the development of my next Argentine film with this great team of producers and writers, led by Luisiana Lopilato, fills us with joy and enthusiasm for this gigantic story we have in our hands,” said Puenzo.
“Beginning pre-production of this movie is to fulfil a dream for several reasons,” Lopilato added. “To interpret Pepita’s story is a desire I’ve had and thought about for several years, even more so because I’ll be making my debut as an executive producer. There’s also the plus of working with Lucía Puenzo, a director whose development I really admire.”
As a novelist who selected by Granta in 2010 as one of the best young storytellers in Spanish,” Puenzo won early fame for tales of lives lived vicariously (“XXY”) told at a propulsive pace with a sure sense of genre, especially Noir. Added to that is a focus on gender politics and abuse captured in her premium TV series “La Jauría” and “Señorita ’89,” both made with the Larraín brothers’ Fabula and Fremantle, and movie “Dive,” also backed by Prime Video, and toplining “How to Get Away with Murder” star Karla Souza.
Zeppelin Studio credits take in “Días de Gallos” and “Bilardo” for HBO Max and “Nahir” and “Doble Discurso” for Amazon’s Prime Video.
Founded by Academy Award winner Luis Puenzo (“The Official Story”), Historias Cinematográficas is the Puenzo family production house, behind 1985’s “The Official Story” and Lucía Puenzo’s films through to 2013’s “The German Doctor.”
Launched by Erik Barmack, a former Netflix international chief with oversight over shows such as “The Witcher,” “La Casa de Papel,” “Kingdom,” and “Sacred Games,” Wild Sheep Content has sold 15 projects to nine global partners over its first two years of operation. MSC is backed by The Mediapro Studio.
Yair Dori produced with Cris Morena 2002’s “Rebelde Way” and 2004’s “Floricienta” which became international TV phenomena, exported with huge success by Dori to Israel.
Tel Aviv-based Bar Rimoni co-founded Israeli OTT Here Is All TV; Argentine talent agent Javier Furgang heads up The Remake.
Also on board are Moisés Chiver and Paula Manzanedo at 7395 Media, executive producers on Michel Franco’s “Memory,” Puenzo’s “Dive” and Julian Schnabel’s “In the Hand of Dante,” and Non Stop Studios, headed by Patricio Rabuffetti and Gastón Gualco, producer of big series such as “Santa Evita” and “Tierra Incógnita.” Non Stop and 7395 both work with Screen Capital.
As pay TV and broadcast networks pull out (Sky Italia) or pull back (the U.K., Germany, Spain) from movie acquisitions, global streamers are becoming the gatekeepers of significant film acquisitions. They are looking, however, to acquire movies that are fully packaged, heavy on IPs, and with stars, which they may window with over players. For independents, it’s ever more attractive to form part of that game than produce alone movies which simply don’t sell.
“The era of CO is coming: Co-production, collaboration and co-financing. The industry is changing once again; we are going to see series that are going to coexist in different windows (platforms and linear signals) and films that are going to live in theatrical and then on platforms,” Jinkis told Variety.
He added: “Four years ago we all talked about ‘original’ and no one needed private investment, now we all talk about “licenses”: the great challenge of what is coming is to find formulas for collaboration between production companies. This project is the result of the union of forces between big production companies.”
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