Entertainment
How do you adapt 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' into a TV show? By taking creative risks.
When Colombian director Laura Mora was first approached about joining the team tasked with adapting Gabriel García Márquez’s novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” into a TV series, she was more than skeptical.
“I first heard of the project back in 2018, and I remember saying, ‘What is this madness?’ ” Mora said in Spanish in a Zoom interview. “How could they possibly want to do this? I was terrified. I really thought it was an act of folly. Irresponsible, even.”
José Rivera, who would eventually pen the scripts that changed Mora’s mind, was initially just as wary.
“I’m not going to go watch that,” he recalled thinking when he heard about what Netflix was trying to do. “It’s going to suck. They’re going to blow it. It’s not going to be good.”
But as was the case with everyone who eventually signed on for what’s an ambitious and assured adaptation (Part 1, consisting of eight episodes, is now available to stream), Rivera, Mora, fellow series director Alex García López and the entire creative team realized that the best way to guarantee the series would have made García Márquez proud was to take the plunge and make it their own. To honor it but to let go of the idea of being wholly faithful to it.
Published in 1967, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” earned the Colombian novelist known affectionately as “Gabo” a Nobel prize in Literature in 1982. More than 50 years since its publication, the story of the Buendía family and the tragicomic events that ravage their small town of Macondo remains one of the most beloved novels of the 20th century.
In García Márquez’s prose, Macondo is Colombia and Colombia is Macondo. An entire sense of history was contained within its melodramatic stories. The town founded by José Arcadio Buendía (played by Marco González as a young man and Diego Vásquez as his older version in the series) with his wife, Úrsula Iguarán (played by Susana Morales and later by Marleyda Soto), slowly tracks the arrival of mysticism, then science, later still politics and the Church. Macondo soon finds itself at the heart of a political civil war wherein Buendía’s grown son, Col. Aureliano Buendía (Claudio Cataño), becomes a revolutionary leader destined for glory and infamy.
The novel covers so much ground that adapting it had long seemed impossible. Rumblings about Hollywood taking a stab at it followed the book ever since it had been published, with people as varied as Anthony Quinn and William Friedkin expressing interest at some point over the last few decades. But García Márquez, who died in 2014, always resisted such offers.
With the arrival of streaming giants like Netflix and their commitment to bolstering local talent and productions, García Márquez’s family — which includes his son, filmmaker Rodrigo García — saw a chance to give “One Hundred Years of Solitude” the adaptation it deserved, one that would be shot in Spanish and in Colombia with mostly Colombian talent in front and behind the camera. (The series uses English subtitles.)
García serves as an executive producer on the show but said he tried to not be too involved. He knew his mere presence might have distracted the creative team.
“I did say that I thought a lot of the adaptations that have been done with my dad’s work suffered from too much respect for the book,” he said over Zoom. “And too much awe for the writer. I told them they should feel free to truly adapt it.”
García Márquez’s poetic language and his iconic imagery were always going to be hard to translate into the language of episodic television, especially since the book didn’t follow a neat timeline.
Rivera, who was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for “The Motorcycle Diaries” (2004), knew that to tell the Buendías’ story he’d have to wrangle the novel’s circular sense of time. In the drafts for the show’s 16 episodes — which then were fleshed out and co-written by a coterie of Colombian writers, including Natalia Santa, Camila Brugés, Albatrós González and María Camila Arias — Rivera tidied up the chronology of the show’s titular century, which begins roughly in 1850 and ends in the middle of the 20th century.
That alone unlocked a way to structure into 16 hours of what is otherwise a 400-page novel that features little dialogue and covers six generations of the Buendía family — not to mention civil wars, bloody massacres, illicit love affairs, family betrayals, ill-fated marriages, cold-blooded executions and everything in between.
Another signficant obstacle was how to import García Márquez’s signature sensibility onto the small screen. Mora and García López worked to ground the world of the series in a believable, tangible reality. Shot on location in Colombia with sets that allow characters to move freely in long wandering shots, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” has a handcrafted, theatrical sensibility.
“One of the great gambles of the language of the series was precisely the chance to distance ourselves from that magical realism that has often been interpreted as a fantastic place, and embrace it instead as a poetic place,” Mora said. “A place where our reality, sometimes because of its beauty and harshness, surpasses any fiction. To do so not in an artificial way but in a very artisanal way, instead.”
“The book is well known to be a book with magical flourishes,” García adds. “But it is also a very grounded, realistic, psychological story of relationships. Of desires and frustrations. I think that’s what keeps the book alive. It’s about life.”
The currency of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” hasn’t diminished precisely because Gabo’s stories have long served as both a chronicle and a warning. As history and template.
“One of the things that marks a great work is precisely that it doesn’t lose its relevance,” Mora said. “That it always gives us insight into the world we live in. It doesn’t matter when it was written. The author becomes a prophet of his times.”
For its cast, the series’ themes — on political violence and a divided people, on the cost of peace and the price of corruption, on families torn apart and traumas passed from generation to generation — remain as topical as ever. And not nearly as local as they may at first appear.
Even as the show is clearly rooted in Colombia, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is a text that transcends borders.
“The contradictions at the heart of the human experience will forever resonate across time,” said Cataño, who plays the famed Aureliano Buendía. “It is a theme with which all races on Earth can identify. All of humankind’s dualities and ambiguities are the dualities and ambiguities that exist in these characters. It is impossible not to identify with them.”
“I think its significance and relevance comes from the fact that we have gradually lost our memory,” Vásquez adds. “The cycle just keeps repeating itself.”
It’s a bleak message. But one that by its very nature, and as the Buendías themselves learn, will never get old. And it will continue to resonate not just in Colombia but elsewhere. Particularly in countries that face challenges with the very issues of power-hungry figures Gabo sketched out close to half a century ago.
“The book touches on many universals, one of which is the ever-present problem of tyranny,” Rivera says. “The idea of revolution and revolutionary fervor is universal. And it’s apropos to today, if you understand that Trump is a tyrant, or a would-be tyrant. Then we’ll have to ask ourselves, Where is our revolutionary spirit? Who is our Aureliano?”
This is why Mora is most excited, if apprehensive, about exporting this most Colombian of stories to a global audience once more.
“I do wonder how this may resonate in a place like the United States, in a country that is so divided at the moment,” Mora says. “But then I think that the whole world is very polarized. And ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ gives us insight into how difficult and dangerous such a divided world can be, and about how poetry and beauty are also what can save us.”
Movie Reviews
Movie Review: A real-life ’70s hostage drama crackles in Gus Van Sant’s ‘Dead Man’s Wire’
It plays a little loose with facts but the righteous rage of “Dog Day Afternoon” is present enough in Gus Van Sant’s “Dead Man’s Wire,” a based-on-a-true-tale hostage thriller that’s as deeply 1970s as it is contemporary.
In February 1977, Tony Kiritsis walked into the Meridian Mortgage Company in downtown Indianapolis and took one of its executives, Dick Hall, hostage. Kiritsis held a sawed-off shotgun to the back of Hall’s head and draped a wire around his neck that connected to the gun. If he moved too much, he would die.
The subsequent standoff moved to Kiritsis’ apartment and eventually concluded in a live televised news conference. The whole ordeal received some renewed attention in a 2022 podcast dramatization starring Jon Hamm.
But in “Dead Man’s Wire,” starring Bill Skarsgård as Kiritsis, these events are vividly brought to life by Van Sant. It’s been seven years since Van Sant directed, following 2018’s “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot,” and one of the prevailing takeaways of his new film is that that’s too long of a break for a filmmaker of Van Sant’s caliber.
Working from a script by Austin Kolodney, the filmmaker of “My Own Private Idaho” and “Good Will Hunting” turns “Dead Man’s Wire” into not a period-piece time capsule but a bracingly relevant drama of outrage and inequality. Tony feels aggrieved by his mortgage company over a land deal the bank, he claims, blocked. We’re never given many specifics, but at the same time, there’s little doubt in “Dead Man’s Wire” that Tony’s cause is just. His means might be desperate and abhorrent, but the movie is very definitely on his side.
That’s owed significantly to Skarsgård, who gives one of his finest and least adorned performances. While best known for films like “It,” “The Crow” and “Nosferatu,” here Skarsgård has little more than some green polyester and a very ’70s mustache to alter his looks. The straightforward, jittery intensity of his performance propels “Dead Man’s Wire.”
Yet Van Sant’s film aspires to be a larger ensemble drama, which it only partially succeeds at. Tony’s plight is far from a solitary one, as numerous threads suggest in Kolodney’s fast-paced script. First and foremost is Colman Domingo as a local DJ named Fred Temple. (If ever there were an actor suited, with a smooth baritone, to play a ’70s radio DJ, it’s Domingo.) Tony, a fan, calls Fred to air his demands. But it’s not just a media outlet for him. Fred touts himself as “the voice of the people.”
Something similar could be said of Tony, who rapidly emerges as a kind of folk hero. As much as he tortures his hostage (a very good Dacre Montgomery), he’s kind to the police officers surrounding him. And as he and Dick spend more time together, Dick emerges as a kind of victim, himself. It’s his father’s bank, and when Tony gets M.L. Hall (Al Pacino) on the phone, he sounds painfully insensitive, sooner ready to sacrifice his son than acknowledge any wrongdoing.
Pacino’s presence in “Dead Man’s Wire” is a nod to “Dog Day Afternoon,” a movie that may be far better — but, then again, that’s true of most films in comparison to Sidney Lumet’s unsurpassed 1975 classic. Still, Van Sant’s film bears some of the same rage and disillusionment with the meatgrinder of capitalism as “Dog Day.”
There’s also a telling, if not entirely successful subplot of a local TV news reporter (Myha’la) struggling against stereotypes. Even when she gets the goods on the unspooling news story, the way her producer says to “chop it up” and put it on air makes it clear: Whatever Tony is rebelling against, it’s him, not his plight, that will be served up on a prime-time plate.
It doesn’t take recent similar cases of national fascination, such as Luigi Mangione, charged with killing a healthcare executive, to see contemporary echoes of Kiritsis’ tale. The real story is more complicated and less metaphor-ready, of course, than the movie, which detracts some from the film’s gritty sense of verisimilitude. Staying closer to the truth might have produced a more dynamic movie.
But “Dead Man’s Wire” still works. In the film, Tony’s demands are $5 million and an apology. It’s clear the latter means more to him than the money. The tragedy in “Dead Man’s Wire” is just how elusive “I’m sorry” can be.
“Dead Man’s Wire,” a Row K Entertainment release, is rated R for language throughout. Running time: 105 minutes. Three stars out of four.
In a bid for greater user engagement, Walt Disney Co. will introduce vertical videos to its Disney+ app over the next year, a company executive said Wednesday.
The move is part of the Burbank media and entertainment company’s effort to encourage more frequent app usage, particularly on smartphones.
“We know that mobile is an incredible opportunity to turn Disney+ into a true daily destination for fans,” Erin Teague, executive vice president of product management, said during an onstage presentation in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show. “All of the short-form Disney content you want, all in one unified app.”
Teague said the company will evolve that capability over time to determine new formats, categories and content types.
Disney’s presentation also touched on its interest in artificial intelligence. Last month, San Francisco startup OpenAI said it had reached a licensing deal with Disney to use more than 200 of the company’s popular characters in its text-to-video tool, Sora. Under the terms of that deal, users will be able to write prompts that generate short videos featuring Disney characters and use ChatGPT images to create those characters’ visages. Some of those Sora-generated videos will be shown on Disney+, though the companies said the deal did not include talent likenesses or voices.
Disney also said it would invest $1 billion into the AI company.
Part of Disney’s move toward AI is to appeal to young Gen Alpha viewers, who are more comfortable with AI and “expect to interact with entertainment” instead of simply watching stories on the screen, Teague said.
“AI is an accelerator,” she said. “It’s why collaborations with partners like OpenAI are absolutely crucial. We want to empower a new generation of fandom that is more interactive and immersive, while also respecting human creativity and protecting user safety.”
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Is This Thing On?
Cinematic stories of disintegrating marriages are fairly commonplace—and often depressing emotional endurance tests, besides—so it’s interesting to see co-writer/director Bradley Cooper take this variation on the theme in a fresher direction. The unhappy couple in this place is Alex and Tess Novak (Will Arnett and Laura Dern), who decide matter-of-factly to separate. Then Alex impulsively decides to get up on stage at an open-mic comedy night, and starts turning their relationship issues into material. The premise would seem to suggest an uneven balance towards Alex’s perspective, but the script is just as interested in Tess—a former Olympic-level volleyball player who retired to focus on motherhood—searching for her own purpose. And the narrative takes a provocative twist when their individual sparks of renewed happiness lead them towards something resembling an affair with their own spouse. The screenplay faces a challenge common to movies about comedians in that Alex’s material, even once he’s supposed to be actively working on it, isn’t particularly good, and Cooper isn’t particularly restrained in his own supporting performance as the comic-relief buddy character (who is called “Balls,” if that provides any hints). Yet the two lead performances are terrific—particularly Dern, who nails complex facial expressions upon her first encounter with Alex’s act—as Cooper and company turn this narrative into an exploration of how it can seem that you’ve fallen out of love with your partner, when what you’ve really fallen out of love with is the rest of your life. Available Jan. 9 in theaters. (R)
JANUARY SPECIAL SCREENINGS
KRCL’s Music Meets Movies: Dig! XX @ Brewvies: As part of a farewell to Sundance, Brewvies/KRCL’s regular Music Meets Movies series presents the extended 20th anniversary edition of the 2004 Sundance documentary about the rivalry between the Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre as they chart different music-biz paths. The screening takes place at Brewvies (677 S. 200 West) on Jan. 8 @ 7:30 p.m., $10 at the door or 2-for-1 with KRCL shirt. brewvies.com
Trent Harris weekend @ SLFS: Utah’s own Trent Harris has charted a singular course as an independent filmmaker, and you can catch two of his most (in)famous works at Salt Lake Film Society. In 1991’s Rubin & Ed, two mismatched souls—one an eccentric, isolated young man (Crispin Glover), the other a middle-aged financial scammer—wind up on a comedic road trip through the Utah desert; 1995’s Plan 10 from Outer Space turns Mormon theology into a crazy science-fiction parody. Get a double dose of uncut Trent Harris weirdness on Friday, Jan. 9, with Rubin & Ed at 7 p.m. and Plan 10 from Outer Space at 9 p.m. Tickets are $13.75 for each screening. slfs.org
Rob Reiner retrospective @ Brewvies Sunday Brunch: Last month’s tragic passing of actor/director Rob Reiner reminded people of his extraordinary work, particularly his first handful of features. Brewvies’ regular “Sunday Brunch” series showcases three of these films this month with This Is Spinal Tap (Jan. 11), The Princess Bride (Jan. 18) and Stand By Me (Jan. 25). All screenings are free with no reservations, on a first-come first-served basis, at noon each day. brewvies.com
David Lynch retrospective @ SLFS: It’s been a year since the passing of groundbreaking artist David Lynch, and Salt Lake Film Society’s Broadway Centre Cinemas marks the occasion with some of his greatest filmed work. In addition to theatrical features Eraserhead (Jan. 11), Inland Empire (Jan. 11), Mulholland Dr. (Jan. 12), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Jan. 14), Blue Velvet (Jan. 19) and Lost Highway (Jan. 19), you can experience the entirety of 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return on the big screen in two-episode blocs Jan. 16 – 18. The programming also includes the 2016 documentary David Lynch: The Art Life. slfs.org
Death by Numbers @ Utah Film Center: Directed by Kim A. Snyder (the 2025 Sundance feature documentary The Librarians), this 2024 Oscar-nominated documentary short focuses on Sam Fuentes, survivor of a school shooting who attempts to process her experience through poetry. This special screening features a live Q&A with Terri Gilfillan and Nancy Farrar-Halden of Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, with Zoom participation by Sam Fuentes. The screening on Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. at Utah Film Center (375 W. 400 North) is free with registration at the website.
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