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Netflix Starts Production on Paco León’s Modern-Day ‘Wizard of Oz’ Inspired Feature ‘Rainbow’

Jamie Lang
·3-min read

Netflix in Spain has kicked off production on “Rainbow,” a new feature film from celebrated film and TV multi-hyphenate Paco León (“The House of Flowers,” “Kiki, Love to Love”). Inspired by “The Wizard of Oz,” the film will heavily feature important aspects of contemporary culture such as dance, fashion, plastic arts and above all, music.

Netflix has teamed with Mediaset España’s Telecinco Cinema (“Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Adú”), the powerful feature film production arm of Spanish broadcaster Telecinco, to produce the new film, which his currently shooting in Madrid. The film will track the journey of a modern-day Dorothy teenage girl who embarks on a journey of her own.

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According to León, he is “dead scared and hugely excited to see how this film, written during quarantine, comes out as I believe it is a step forward in my career as a director.”

“This is also a bigger film than my previous ones, not only budget-wise but also because of the complexity of the production and the number of weeks of production,” he went on. “But what really moves me and thrills me is the amount of admired artists that will take part in the production, including the main cast, small features, and all sorts of collaborations.”

León is one of Spain’s most promiment actois who has worked on both sides of the Atlantic, as was the case with his starring role in the Netflix Original Mexican mini-novela “The House of Flowers.” “Rainbow” enlists a who’s who of local talent in front of the camera. Leading the cast are breakout 17-year-old singer Dora Postigo, Áyax Pedrosa (“Sky High”), musician-designer Wekaforé Jibril , Carmen Maura (“Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” “Volver”), Carmen Machi (“Broken Embraces,” “The Bar”) and Luis Bermejo (“Your Son,” “Magical Girl”).

Filling out the roster of on-screen talent are Hovik Keuchkerian (“Riot Police”), singer and up-and-coming actor Samantha Hudson (“Veneno”), longtime León collaborator Carmina Barrios (“Carmina o revienta”) and designer-model-actor Soraya Yasmin. “Rainbow” will also include feature appearances by Spanish cinema Pillar Rossy de Palma and “Élite’s” Ester Expósito.

“With this project, we resume the collaboration that we started years ago with the production of Paco’s films ‘Carmina y Amén’ and ‘Kiki, Love to Love,’” said Telecinco Cinema CEO Ghislain Barrios. “When Paco shared this new adventure with us, we immediately got excited and, obviously, we couldn’t refuse to take this ride full of great talent. Paco is a unique author with a very personal vision, so only he could create a project like this. A film that Telecinco Cinema and Mediaset España is facing with enormous enthusiasm!”

Producer Sandra Hermida added that: “’Rainbow’ represents the vibrant and heterogeneous moment that the film industry is experiencing right now, where creativity and quality shines. For this new adventure, we have surrounded ourselves of an irresistible combination of emerging and seasoned talent, both in front and behind the scene. This is the best possible team to bring to the screen the wonders of Paco’s universe. Let the ride begin!”

“Rainbow” will shoot in and around Madrid, Guadalajara, Toledo, Segovia and Alicante over the next eight weeks. Netflix and Telecinco Cinema co-produce in collaboration with Los amigos de Dorothy, Andy Joke and Colosé Producciones.

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