A Spanish police officer’s life is about to turn upside down as she infiltrates a dangerous lion’s den in the exclusive new teaser trailer for Arantxa Echevarría’s upcoming crime thriller “Undercover.” The film arrives in Spanish cinemas on Oct. 11 courtesy of Beta Fiction Spain.
“Undercover” is based on the real-life story of Aranzazu Berradre Marín, the pseudonym for the only police officer in Spanish history to infiltrate the terrorist organisation ETA successfully. The Basque nationalist separatist group killed over 829 people between 1968 and 2010 and injured over 22,000 until its dissolution in 2018.
The film, written by Echevarría and Amèlia Mora, takes place over the eight-year period when Marín was infiltrated and focuses on the mind-shattering fear of discovery that permeated her days during the mission.
The Goya-winning “Carmen and Lola” director reunites with Carolina Yuste, who stars as the undercover agent and plays alongside three-time Goya-winning actor Luis Tosar (“Cell 211,” “On The Fringe”). The remaining cast includes Víctor Clavijo (“Verbo”), Nausicaa Bonnín (“Cites”), Iñigo Gastesi (“The Invisible Guest”), Diego Anido (“The Beasts”), Pepe Ocio (“Isaac”), Carlos Troya (“El Beso”), Pedro Casablanc (“Los Farad”) and Jorge Rueda.
Sold by Film Factory Entertainment, “Undercover” is produced by María Luisa Gutiérrez at Bowfinger Int. Pictures and Mercedes Gamero at Beta Fiction Spain in partnership with Esto también pasará, Infiltrada LP AIE, Movistar Plus+ and Atresmedia Cine.
Speaking exclusively to Variety ahead of the teaser trailer’s release, Gutiérrez said she first heard of Marín’s story through a police officer friend in 2017. “Since then, I knew that her life, as with many others who do similar work for public service, was a movie. In Spain, stories like this one are still missing, and yet the film landscape is flooded with similar stories coming from North America.”
“The film has the scope and packaging of a great Spanish production,” added Gamero. “It has been filmed entirely on location and San Sebastián provides an atmosphere directly reminiscent of the time when the story took place, which has the viewer following Marín from a first-person perspective.”
On having a female-heavy creative team tell the story of a pioneering woman, Gutiérrez said that the “greatness of this story is not that our protagonist is the first female police officer to infiltrate ETA, but the only police officer of any gender to do so.” Echevarría’s point of view was, however, very much welcomed. “The strength of Arantxa in this story is how she builds the characters. We never doubted her.”
“We haven’t seen stories told from the point of view of those who had to fight anonymously, risking their lives for the ordinary citizen,” Gutiérrez adds. “It was a taboo subject and we believe it is time to normalize these stories.”
Commenting on the development process, Gutiérrez emphasised that, from the very first moment they boarded the project, they wanted the film to be “as close to reality as possible, with those involved telling us how it was firsthand.” This involved Echevarría and Mora undertaking a lengthy, journalistic research process and speaking to several players who were close to the true events in the film.
Gamero also highlighted how valuable it was to have the actors meet the real people they play in the film. “It gives ‘Undercover’ a great sense of veracity,” she concluded.
Source Agencies
