The history of the Aderes de Burjassot club travels the world through cinema. After winning dozens of awards, three of which were Goya, the truth is, ‘Champions’ stay for a long time. Focus Features recently released its trailer. Adaptation of the movie ‘Champions’ american style. is he third remake There were ‘Champions’ last year after the releases in Germany and Saudi Arabia. “We’re happy with the outcome because they have a lot of respect for the original idea,” says Ibizan filmmaker David Marqués, who wrote the screenplay for ‘Campeones’ for five years.
Marqués appears as the originator of the original idea in the credits of these remakes. The screenwriter appropriated the rights to the story to make these remakes, which is a complex process, as the purchases not only fit the original idea – in a broad sense – but also accepted a number of items. “One of our conditions was that they were hired. disabled people Another was that they paid homage to the ending we thought for ‘Campeones’, but the latter was not accepted in the United States,” explains Marqués without giving spoilers. ‘Blind love’ with his brother Peter, directed by the legendary Bobby Farrelly, They were the first to watch the American movie directed by comedies like ‘Me, own and Irene’ and ‘Something’s wrong Mary’.
However, there are many jokes from the Spanish movie in the American version. “Pretty faithful remake There are many scenes and dialogues translated into the film Applied and I am very satisfied. The more respect the original idea is, the better,” adds Marqués.
film starring Woody HarrelsonWho will be the coach, a role played by Javier Gutiérrez in the Spanish version. The actor is known for his roles in TV series like ‘Cheers’ or ‘True Detective’ as well as ‘The Larry Flynt Scandal’ or ‘Natural Killers’.
The goal of each remake is to adapt the story to the culture of the country in which it is published. That’s what happened in the American version. “The coach’s personality adapted to the characteristic American ways. there are characters that disappear and there are others that change Quite a few. Instead, the personalities of the team members were respected,” he says.
There are currently only three countries adapting ‘Champions’: the United States, Germany and Saudi Arabia. “German version went very well and they’re working on making a second part”, admits Marqués.
But there are still countries that are interested in the formula for Ibizan’s success. The countries that have bought the rights to make their own version of the ‘Champions’ for now are Chile, Belgium, India, France, China and the Netherlands.
For Marqués, the story “has all the elements of tackling the comedies that audiences love.” “While I was writing the script, I thought of scenes from typical American movies, like Hoosiers (1986), where characters thrive through sports. Such films have been made in Hollywood throughout their lives.. However, no one mentioned misfits, not people with intellectual disabilities.”
According to Marqués, his goal when writing ‘Campeones’ was to make a “fun and exciting” story, but to respect boundaries. “Addressing intellectual disability is not easybecause it has always been treated as paternalism or outright taboo”.
Therefore, one of his goals when confronted with the ‘Campeones’ adaptations of Marqués was to “cross these lines”. “we have fear that adaptations will be patriarchal or ridiculed about the characters. Both the German and American versions were respectful and retain the “Campeones” spirit. The Saudi version was directed by Madrid filmmaker Manu Calvo. The filming crew was completely international and consisted of professionals from Syria, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon. or Egypt. The film, in which its protagonists play futsal, not basketball, was a milestone in terms of inclusion of people with disabilities.
origin of the story
The movie ‘Campeones’ is based on the story of the Burjassot Sports, Rehabilitation and Social Association (Aderes) basketball team that founded its own basketball team in 1998 to play in minor championships. He soon won several FEDDI championships, the Spanish sports federation for people with intellectual disabilities. Aderes received the Levante-EMV Award for her work in promoting sport for people with functional diversity.
The Spanish film begins with the story of coach Marco, who has many problems, both professional and personal, and who, after being fired from the basketball team’s coaching, is involved in a drunken car accident that requires a hefty fine. Marco is imprisoned for 18 months or 90 days of community service coaching a basketball team called ‘Los Amigos’consists of athletes with various disabilities. At first the news will not be received well by the hero, but over time he will realize how much more he has to learn from these people.
New project
The ‘Campeones’ script stayed in the Marqués’ drawer for a while until several production companies chose it. Three Goya wins in 2019 And now, it will be watched in cinemas worldwide.
In addition to his work on the dialogues of the movie directed by Javier Fesser, he directed films such as ‘El club del unemployment’ (2021), ‘Gods and dogs’ (2014) or ‘En temporada baja’ (2022), Marqués, Puçol or Valencia. It was filmed at the news center of the Levante-EMV newspaper.
In a week, the shooting of a movie begins with Morena Films. He also has several projects with Valencia production companies Sunrise and TV On Producciones.
‘Campeonex’, the sequel to the movie, in 2023
Javier Fesser finished filming a month ago for the second installment of his biggest box office success, ‘Campeonex’. Fesser returns to direct the sequel, in which the heroes of the first installment will return: Sergio Olmos, Jesús Lago, José de Luna, Jesús Vidal, Fran Fuentes, Gloria Ramos, Alberto Nieto, Roberto Chinchil and Stefan López. It is also announced that “New stars with a lot to talk about” will be added to the roster. The director wrote the script together with actress Athenea Mata, who gave life to the character of Sonia in the first episode. The sequel is produced by Luis Manso for Películas Pendelton and Alvaro Longoria for Morena Films, along with Rey de Babia AIE. The movie also features the participation of Movistar Plus+ and RTVE.