The sets for the series about Zorro take shape in El Chorrillo

 

La Voz de Almeria

By Evaristo Martinez

January 22, 2024

The Sierra Alhamilla area sees the construction of a Mexican-style town growing these days

El Chorrillo, the place in Sierra Alhamilla that ten years ago became the Egypt of; 'Exodus' by Ridley Scott, these days houses the construction of a Mexican-style town through which Zorro, the legendary masked man who defended the oppressed in Spanish Alta California in the 19th century, walked.

It will do so with a French series that has chosen Toledo and Almeria as locations, a shoot that will coincide with the imminent premiere, on TVE's La1 and on Prime Video, of another series dedicated to the character; in this case, Spanish, with Miguel Bernardeau in the role of the hero with the mask and the Cordoban hat and filmed in the Canary Islands.

The sets for this new adventure of Zorro, a character created in 1919 by the American writer Johnston McCulley who has been given life in the cinema by actors such as Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, Alain Delon, and Antonio Banderas, began to go up about six weeks ago. in this enclave of Pechina.

[The new sets that are being built in Chorrillo]

The town of Zorro

Since then, the workers have been busy giving shape to different structures that, seen from the road, take on the shape of a Mexican-style villa: houses with simple architecture, with soft arches in the style of those of the missions, facades of shining white are displayed in the same place where the gigantic head of the sphinx from 'Exodus' stood.

Some of these constructions are very advanced, although there are still several bare frames that will be transformed into other buildings over the next few weeks. The filming, in accordance with the calls that were made to search for Almeria figuration, will take place from the second half of February or early March.

Unlike other productions that have, to a greater or lesser extent, reused the remains of Scott's biblical film, this French adaptation of Zorro is building its sets from scratch.

Crazy Productions, from Madrid, is in charge of its construction, a company with more than twenty years of experience in the sector. It is not their first time in Almeria: they have already left their mark on the sets of titles such as 'Exodus', 'Resurrected' and 'Game of Thrones'.

Among their latest works are the plains from 'The Snow Society', by J. A. Bayona, the sets in Morocco for the sequel to 'Gladiator', by Ridley Scott, and the interiors of the new work by Pedro Almodovar.

OLD RAIL STATION CONVERTED INTO A LOCALES

The choice of El Chorrillo de Sierra Alhamilla as the location for this Gala production of Zorro expands the cinematographic legend of Ester Rincon de Pechina. In 1897, a small train station was inaugurated in the area, a stop where minerals were loaded, the English Cable. Some of those houses are still standing. Although it was not the first film filmed there, 'Exodus' rediscovered this place as a natural area and transformed it into Egypt. Since then, it has been used to represent other locales. Texas ('Penny Dreadful'), Afghanistan ('Riders on the Storm'), Lebanon ('Dicte'), Judea ('Road to Bethlehem'), 19th century Andalusia ('Assassin's Creed'), Vaes Dothrak ('Game of Thrones').