Actor Carlos Areces has a collection of about 150 autopsy photos in his home, which he compiled into a book in 2021. There may not be a more suitable person to lead the cast of a comedy set in a funeral home. “My relationship with death is probably that of most people: it obsesses me and scares me,” says the actor, sitting in the cafeteria of this fake funeral home. “It is a subject that fascinates and fascinates me, but I have no metaphysical or transcendent thinking, I believe that it is what is there and then it ends, which colors everything with a certain bitterness, but what do you want? ” They think? “Let’s do it,” he mused last week during a lunch break while filming the second season of Muertos SL.
Areces wears the uniform of Dámaso, the hard-working (and somewhat mean) manager of the Torregrosa funeral home; a social climber who sees the possibility of promotion after the death of the company's owner, a possibility that is dashed when his former boss's widow takes over, a woman who knows nothing about how this peculiar SME works.
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Muertos SL is the new comedy by Alberto and Laura Caballero together with Daniel Deorador, Julián Sastre, Nando Abad and Araceli Álvarez de Sotomayor. The eight episodes of the first season will premiere on April 4th on Movistar Plus+, while filming for the second episode will be completed these days. They have recreated a funeral home with great attention to detail in the warehouse of an industrial area in Navalcarnero (Madrid). So much so that some members of the team crossed themselves at the beginning of the first few days. Attached to the reception are several mourning rooms, a cafeteria and an interdenominational room. Two floors below are the funeral home offices, the director's (now director's) office, the cold rooms, the crematorium oven and the thanatopraxy room. Everything is made with real material. The screenwriters conducted extensive research and visited funeral homes to gain knowledge of a very little-known work. A thanatopraxicist helped them with equipment, placement and learning how to use the material, and was present on set each time the first season, when scenes were filmed in the thanatopraxy room.
Carlos Areces, Aitziber Garmendia, Gerald B. Fillmore, Adriana Torrebejano and Salva Reina, in “Muertos SL”. Manuel Fiestas Moreno
Those responsible for “La que se cerca”, “El pueblo” and “Machos alfa” wanted to place their next comedy in a work environment. “The Office” is a series that is mentioned several times in the interviews for this report. “We wanted to talk about the Spanish SME. 80% of the business structure are companies of this type, which are far from the models of other countries, explains Alberto Caballero, co-creator and executive producer of Muertos SL. “The theme of death is still a packaging that gives personality.” to the series, but we wanted to tell about work conflicts, conflicts, hardships and very gray lives, which amuses us. We wanted to see people who understood why they weren’t happy.”
“When you take part in a series, part of you chooses the topic because you see possibilities and it catches your attention, and also because it is a way to learn things.” This is clearly related to the midlife crisis. Your references from your childhood and youth are no longer there, you see people of your generation dying…” says Alberto Caballero.
From left: Gerald B. Fillmore, Roque Ruiz, Laura Caballero, Carlos Areces and Adriana Torrebejano, in the thanatopraxy room of “Muertos SL”. Manuel Fiestas Moreno
Adriana Torrebejano, Salva Reina, Diego Martín, Ascen López, Aitziber Garmendia, Gerald B. Fillmore, Roque Ruiz and Amaia Salamanca are some of the names in a cast full of faces familiar to fans of other Caballero series. They explain that they use their productions as fishing grounds to fish for talent: when they spot someone who excels in a small role, they look for ways to get them more attention in their next story. Roque Ruiz appeared in more than a dozen episodes of El Pueblo and Ascen López, Aitziber Garmendia and Adriana Torrebejano had small roles as alpha males. Diego Martín and Carlos Areces are already regular players in their series. “Apart from the talent, we are interested in working with very nice people. Because of the student atmosphere, it takes longer to absorb, but there is an energy that goes beyond the people and reaches them. We try to create groups that get along very well with each other,” explains Laura Caballero, director and producer of the series.
The 30-minute episodes of “Muertos SL” exude dark humor in sometimes very memorable and sometimes somewhat crazy situations. “It has a lot to do with the DNA of what we like about Laura and Alberto Caballero, and that is related to their first series, but it updates it.” “It's pure sitcom,” concludes Susana Herreras, executive producer of Movistar Plus+, together. “In their series they are always looking for discomfort and reflection. “Although they seem very frivolous, they always make jokes that border on the politically correct and raise very interesting underlying topics,” describes the producer, who points out sexual harassment, late empowerment or work dynamics such as competition or plugging. like some of these topics.
In “Muertos SL” Carlos Areces plays Dámaso, the person in charge of the funeral home. Manuel Fiestas Moreno
Of course, the most surprising situations have to do with the topic of morgues and some of them are based on real cases. For example, preparing a funeral for an ex after a painful breakup. Or the desire to say goodbye to a motorcycle lover by placing the body on a motorcycle instead of in a coffin. Or inexpensive funerals with coffin rental and express burial. “My favorite scene from the first season is a man who comes to arrange his own funeral because he wants to commit suicide. The intern helps him and he doesn't know how to react. The tanatopractitioner comes and asks him if he has thought about what a suicide it will be because the price changes when it has to be rebuilt. “It’s a scene that we might have had more trouble with on free-to-air television,” says Alberto Caballero.
They were clear that they didn't want to show any strong or gory scenes. “We’re not doing Dexter, that’s not the focus,” says Laura Caballero. Still, she remembers that when the tanatopractitioner explained to Adriana Torrebejano what his job was like on the first day, he had to pause for a few minutes because the actress would feel dizzy.
Gerald B. Fillmore, Adriana Torrebejano and Diego Martín, in “Muertos SL”. Manuel Fiestas Moreno
The Caballero brothers series has some aspects in common, apart from a few actors. “They work with a sense of humor that I find very funny, they have always had a fine black sense of humor,” says Carlos Areces. “They are able to appeal to a wide audience without making easy concessions, without selling themselves out. They go to gardens and thereby connect with the public,” adds the actor. At the same time, each of his productions has its own identity. In “Muertos SL”, Laura Caballero highlights the use of zoom as a narrative element, which has led even the actors' interpretation to adapt to it, with a more naturalistic touch. “It gives it a real or documentary aspect. There are a lot of strange perspectives, as if someone was spying…” says the director about the use of the camera. Also included in this series are the first improvised scenes they filmed: the funny sequences that accompany the end credits of each chapter.
Now the Caballero brothers have to juggle filming their series: “La que se” for Telecinco and Prime Video, “Machos alfa” for Netflix and “Muertos SL” for Movistar Plus+. “Sooner or later we're going to screw it up at some point, but we're trying to delay that moment as much as possible and I hope that's not the case in this case, because based on the characters, the plot and the atmosphere, I think that “This is the case.” “There is a lot to give,” says Alberto Caballero. “We have a character who is on leave at the funeral home, Carmen, a voice actress who I hope we can find out who she is in season 10,” he concludes.
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