At the end of April, on Focus Sat TV and the Focus Sat app, the main premiere will take place: the European series “Django”, the most complex TV movie shot in Romania and one of the biggest international cinematographic films shot here after “Cold Mountain”. (2003). The world premiere of 10 episodes took place at the Rome Film Festival in October 2022.

Wild West, different from the canons

The action takes place in the Wild West in 1879, after the American Civil War, which (theoretically) led to the abolition of slavery. In Texas, John Ellis (Nicholas Pinnock from the films Captain America: The First Avenger, Lifetime, Marcella and The Secret of Strength) and Sara (Lisa Vicary from The Dark) founded an unusual community: New Babylon. In this utopian small town, everyone is equal and accepted with open arms, regardless of skin color. Outcasts of every race, creed, and sexual orientation are welcome, and this place offers them a land, a purpose, a dream, and a new identity.

The main character is the enigmatic Django (Matthias Schoenaerts, The Dane, Rust and Bone, The Old Guard and Amsterdam), whose family was killed during the war while he was at the front. The only survivor is his daughter Sarah, who is now 20 years old. Sagittarius is not welcomed with open arms in this community where freedom and equality are the law. But he quickly becomes an unlikely ally of the outcasts of New Babylon in the face of a much stronger adversary – Elizabeth (Noomi Rapace, from the original adaptation of the trilogy “Millennium”, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” and “Prometheus”). , aka The Lady of Elmdale, who wants to wipe the utopian community off the face of the earth. With a weapon in one hand and a symbolic cross in the other. And the violent confrontation that follows threatens to reveal the deeply hidden secrets of both sides.

Something old and something new

The series is not only a new story about Django, the iconic character of the Italian actor Franco Nero in the 1966 film of the same name, but also a rethinking of the western genre. The script combines elements of the 1966 Italian/spaghetti western, its sequel (Django Strikes Again, 1987) and themes from the Quentin Tarantino film (such as the role of African-Americans, ex-slaves in the Wild West), but also contains original ideas. The scene also features the famous – for in-the-know cinephiles – coffin in which our shooter keeps his weapon, but the sequence is extremely different from the original.

The result is a different Western: feminist, modern and inclusive, like the productions of “Englezii”/”The English” (2022-present) or “Godless” (2017), which questions the standards of this cinematic genre thanks to its diverse cast. series “Bridgerton” (2020) and with a negative female character.

“Django”, in numbers

The 10 episodes were completely filmed in Romania (May-November 2021), in various places in the country: in the Brasov area (in the crater of an extinct volcano in the village of Rakosh), at the studios of Buftea and Castel Film (Snagov). ), in Dobrudja (Masinului mountains), on mud volcanoes, in Potigraf, Kelugaren or Ryshniv. Filming lasted 27 weeks (153 days and nights), and sets were built in 20 natural locations (including 54 houses in the crater of the Rakos volcano). Ancient wood and archaic techniques were used here, and set designers worked for three months on a complex structure in the style of buildings of the American Wild West.

An international team of more than 600 people from more than 10 countries worked on Django: Romania, Great Britain, USA, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Croatia, Ukraine. The cast included extras from Romania (of various nationalities) and local actors (such as Mihai Gruia Sandu, Gabriel Spahiu, Bohdan Farkas and Aida Economou). Django, filmed during the pandemic (which required daily testing), is by far the biggest TV production shot in Romania and one of the biggest international films shot here since Cold Mountain (2003). The series can be watched exclusively from April 24 to Focus satellite television and in Focus Sat app!

The article is supported by Focus Sat