Netflix Spain, ‘Veneno’ Creators Los Javis Set Modern-Day Makeover of Before-Its-Time Spanish Comedy ‘My Dearest Señorita’

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Netflix Spain and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – popularly known as Los Javis – are teaming to produce a modern movie makeover of way before its time Spanish classic “My Dearest Señorita,” nominated for a 1973 Academy Award.

The adaptation was the biggest news at a packed-to-the rafters Next on Netflix showcase which took place in Madre on Thursday, where the U.S. streaming giant also announced a docu-reality series, “The Thyssen Baroness,” and released a first-look pic of “Superestar,” its recently announced six-part series inspired by singer and fleeting pop culture phenom Tamara.

More from Variety

Written and directed by Jaime de Armiñán, who co-wrote the script with José Luis Borau, who went on to become of Spain’s greatest directors of the ‘70s and ‘80s, directing “Poachers, ” the original comedy “My Dearest Señorita” starred top Spanish comedian José Luis López Vázquez, as a frumpy old maid in her ‘40s with an inexplicable talent for soccer who suddenly emerges as a cowed bachelor looking for a job in the city, and who begins a love affair with his former maid when he was a woman.

The sex change allowed Armiñan and Borau to deliver incisive commentary about the limited perspectives of women in early ‘70s: Either solitude or servitude.

The Javis look set to tease out far more the implications of. Film still made under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.

“‘My Dearest Señorita’ is an adaptation; times have changed, and we believe it is a good time to revisit this story, a story of gender identity and wonderful, mainstream love. The creative challenge is how far we can update it without losing the essence,’ they said in a written statement.

At the Next on Netflix presentation, Javier Ambrossi commented that the film will be the first of a slate of movies which they will announce shortly.

In a second piece of news, Tita Cervera, a former Miss Spain 1961 and socialite, art collector and fifth wife of Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Baron Thyssen, provoked a gasp of surprise at the Madrid press conference as the living legend of Spanish high society for the last 70 years appeared to announce a new docu-series project on Netflix.

Produced by Komodo Studios, behind “Soy Georgina,” the series will portray the Baroness Thyssen’s day-to-day life “in which she will answer, first hand, many questions that the public has been asking themselves for years,” Netflix said in a statement.

About the project, the Thyssen Baroness explained that: “It is the moment to tell my life from the beginning. I am very happy and excited that Netflix has thought of me for this.”

More to come…..

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.