Paco Cabezas On Vision For ‘Gypsy Bride' Finale And Directing ‘Wednesday'

Forbes

a day ago

Spanish filmmaker Paco Cabezas is a man in motion — moving between continents, genres, and creative worlds. He has just wrapped production on Atresmedia's La Nena, the final chapter of the acclaimed, dark thriller Gypsy Bride trilogy, and is now immersed in post-production, putting the finishing touches on the series. At the same time, he's eagerly awaiting the August premiere of Wednesday, excited for audiences to experience his dark and creative vision in the episodes of the Netflix hit that he directed.
During an interview from Madrid, while still shooting scenes for La Nena, Cabezas reflected on his career path — a journey that has taken him from his native Seville to Hollywood and back to Spain, where he loves to work. He shared the source of his fascination with the macabre, his creative journey, his need for artistic freedom, and his commitment to bringing Spanish stories and locations to global audiences.
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'I watched The Silence of the Lambs when I was like 10, which was not a good idea,' he laughs. 'It was a shock for me watching that film.' But it sparked an interest in suspenseful and intense stories like David Fincher's Seven, planting the seeds for what would become his signature aesthetic — a love affair with darkness that permeates his work.
His affinity for 'a good noir story' found its perfect match in Carmen Mola's Gypsy Bride novels, which Cabezas has adapted into a trilogy that's become increasingly his own. The project drew him to explore the underbelly of Madrid through the lens of gypsy culture, a world he felt uniquely positioned to interpret.
'It's hard to describe, but it has to do with flamenco, and it has a lot to do with flamenco music and the south of Spain,' says Cabezas. 'I'm from Seville, from southern Spain, and there's this thing about flamenco music and... something tragic about the way we see life, and the way that gypsy people see life. It's all about black and white. It's all about extremes — everything is either very funny or very tragic. There's not really a middle point, so when I read those books, I thought, okay, I think I can bring my vision into that.'
Cabezas acknowledges that he has strayed from the source material, convinced that bringing his own style, sensitivity, and ideas has resulted in a more emotional storyline, enhanced by compelling visuals as the series evolved under his direction. 'The characters have grown so much, and the more they have grown, the more they separate themselves from the original novels. Some people have said that I went too far with La Red Púrpura, the second season of the show, and I'm so proud of it. Although I love La Novia Gitana (The Gypsy Bride), I think La Red Púrpura is even better. And I have the same feeling with La Nena. I think it's going to be even better,' he says. 'It's very different from the novel — very personal, very violent, very dark — but I'm very excited about the feminist story we're telling because the female characters are going to become even stronger.'
He compares this evolution to the relationship between the Fargo film and television series — maintaining thematic DNA while creating something entirely new.
Creative freedom is a recurring theme in Cabezas's work. In Spain, he's the architect of his universe, able to change scenes on the fly and rehearse with actors until the material feels alive. 'It's very refreshing and freeing to be able to create on the day with the actors,' he says. 'We're really going to miss each other when we finish this, because we created a family and we create together, and that's a beautiful feeling.'
His style is hands-on — sometimes literally. 'I love the color of blood and I love to have a dark palette and then suddenly a splash of blood,' he says, gesturing to stage blood on his hands. 'I always tend to kind of put blood on the faces of the actors. I'm hands-on, like Picasso,' he laughs.
His process is different in Hollywood. As one of three directors on the second season of Netflix's hit series Wednesday, Cabezas says he had to 'get into the mind of Tim Burton,' adapting to a world where 'every time you move a piece of the puzzle, seven different pieces move at the same time.' Still, he relished the challenge: 'I had to go back to my own teenage mind and connect with those things.'
Cabezas's career has been defined by his refusal to compromise his vision. His breakthrough film, Neon Flesh, was 'very mature, very dark, very violent, very me,' he states. But when producers wanted to make it lighter, he pushed back. 'Although sometimes people will tell you you are wrong… I was always true to what I had to do with that film. And then the movie made it to the Tribeca Film Festival and I got an agent and a manager there.'
That determination opened doors to a myriad of international film and television projects such as Penny Dreadful, The Alienist, The Umbrella Academy, and Into the Badlands.
Whether working in English or Spanish, Cabezas brings his culture and love of Latin storytelling to every set. 'Every time that I can bring that to the table, it sort of flourishes,' he says. And while he's drawn to dark genres, Cabezas also values the element of surprise and suspense. 'Whether it's a movie or a TV show, I love to have the sensation as an audience that what I'm watching, I don't know what's going to happen next — the feeling that I'm not safe.'
Beyond completing La Nena and his upcoming Wednesday season 3 commitments, Cabezas is developing La Línea, a film set in the drug-trafficking hub of southern Spain. 'It's a story about female characters, about a woman and her daughter,' he describes. 'It's like mixing Ocean's Eleven with The Sixth Sense. It's really original, and I'm in love with that script.'
For Cabezas, success isn't measured in Hollywood clichés. 'To me, success is being able to tell the story that you want to tell and be creative and have the freedom to do whatever you think goes through your heart. That's success.'
As he enters what he calls the 'second half' of his life, Cabezas is focused on meaning and connection.
'Now that I'm at a slightly higher level than I was a few years ago, I can help people out… That, to me, is success. That's being able to help people. That's the best.'
You can watch the entire interview with Paco Cabezas here.