Latest news with #BrunoStagnaro
LeMonde
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- LeMonde
In Argentina, 'The Eternaut' series rekindles search for babies stolen during the dictatorship
In the middle of summer, it starts snowing in Buenos Aires. The snowfall causes the sudden death of residents who venture outside unprotected. A greater menace lurks. To face it, protagonist Juan Salvo and his friends band together. The six-episode science fiction series The Eternaut (directed by Bruno Stagnaro, released in April on Netflix) was highly anticipated in Argentina, its country of origin. The cast features the iconic Ricardo Darin and Carla Peterson, with ambitious production values, special effects, and apocalyptic scenes. Although designed for an international audience, the series is filled with distinctly Argentine elements. In addition to the omnipresent Buenos Aires, there is an explicit reference to the Falklands War (1982) and the country's great popular singers – folk music by Mercedes Sosa, cumbia by Gilda and tango by Carlos Gardel, among others. While the series is set in the present day, it also takes the country back to the era of military dictatorship (1976-1983). Above all, it has reignited a search that has lasted for more than four decades: the search for stolen babies. The Eternaut was originally a cult comic book by author Héctor Germán Oesterheld, illustrated by Francisco Solano López, published between 1957 and 1959, and then again in 1976 for the second part.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Netflix's snowy alien invasion series 'The Eternaut' is the sci-fi hidden gem of 2025
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. It's always refreshing to stumble upon a new sci-fi show that demands immediate attention and viewers respond to so passionately, like Netflix's eerie new alien invasion saga, "The Eternaut." This six-episode series arrives from Argentina, and it's easily one of the biggest surprises of the year with a 95% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and legions of genre fans clambering on board. Filled with resonating imagery, outstanding performances by its superb Spanish-speaking cast, and visual effects by DNEG and many other leaders of the SFX industry, director Bruno Stagnaro's "The Eternaut" has a humble origin story of how it finally came to the small screen after a half-century of failed adaptation attempts that also included an aborted animated series. "The Eternaut" came to life in 1957 as a serialized sci-fi comic for Hora Cero in Buenos Aires written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and injected with stark detailed artwork by Francisco Solano López. Looking at some of the original comic strips and its veiled political commentary, it's hard to believe that Robert Kirkman wasn't aware of — or influenced by — this international marvel at some point before bringing his "The Walking Dead" comic book saga to life, but perhaps it's just mere coincidence. The intense setup here is fairly straightforward as these types of sci-fi mystery shows go, with Buenos Aires residents going about their evenings when a sudden nightmarish snowfall descends over the metropolis, killing millions indiscriminately. We follow a man named Juan Salvo (Ricardo Darin) and other bands of survivors as they don makeshift protective suits and venture outside to wander the desolate streets littered with corpses, only to find another invasive threat far greater than toxic snow. Carla Peterson, César Troncoso, and Andrea Pietra also co-star with Darin. Gastón Girod's wonderful muted cinematography here is a true revelation: a billowing red Santa Claus balloon skips over the roofs of a mountain of abandoned cars; falling meteors create an unholy glow in stained glass church windows; a solitary masked figure cuts a lonely trail through abandoned snow-covered boulevards; lumbering alien cockroaches wrap victims in spider-like threads. Together, they create a striking visual tableau from which to tell this harrowing tale and pay respectful homage to the comic strip source material by replicating its dramatic panel style. Yes, we've seen this brand of post-apocalyptic mystery box setup and its ensemble survival aspects in other TV offerings like "The Walking Dead," "The Last Of Us," "Colony," "The Rain," "Falling Skies," "Invasion," and countless others in recent years. But it's important to point out that "The Eternaut" was written and illustrated nearly 70 years ago! It was one of the original archetypes, the template, of the genre for all that came later. Those 1950s newspaper comic strips and subsequent graphic novel collections are practically a national treasure in Argentina, and the list of filmmakers trying to deliver its doomsday sci-fi story in other mediums was long and impressive. It's a bit of a slow burn to begin, but it picks up rapidly once we've been introduced to the collection of main characters, so be patient and hang with it as viewers will be well rewarded. We'll save some of the big geeky twists for you to discover once the haunting visuals and compelling performances kick in. With a second season already greenlit, "The Eternaut" is currently streaming on Netflix.
Forbes
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Argentina's ‘The Eternaut' Storms To No. 1 On Netflix's Global Top 10
Ricardo Darín in a scene from Netflix's No. 1 non-English series "The Eternaut." Netflix/Marcos Ludevid Argentina's groundbreaking sci-fi series The Eternaut stormed its way to the No. 1 spot on Netflix's Global Top 10 for non-English TV. The post-apocalyptic series captivated audiences worldwide, attracting an impressive 10.8 million views. The six-episode series, starring renowned actor Ricardo Darín ( The Secret in Their Eyes, Argentina, 1985 ) as Juan Salvo, depicts the devastation in Buenos Aires, following a deadly toxic snow that kills most of the city's population and ultimately leads to the revelation of an alien invasion. The gripping story amassed 58.3 million viewing hours in the first week since its premiere on April 30. Ahead of the series debut, Darín and director Bruno Stagnaro discussed the challenges of bringing the iconic 1957 graphic novel by Héctor G. Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López to the screen. They shared how the series stays true to the comic's emphasis on solidarity and collective heroism - following ordinary people who band together against extraordinary threats - as the only way to survive. This focus on relationships and "Argentine-style" solutions - improvisation, resourcefulness, and creativity - resonates throughout the storyline. The imagery played a crucial role in immersing viewers in the haunting post-apocalyptic environment, breaking new ground for Latin American television production. The Eternaut team utilized advanced virtual production techniques to create hyper-realistic, interactive backgrounds depicting the devastated landscape, elevating the viewing experience. The show's technical achievements, blend of suspense, collective heroism, and social commentary has resonated globally, reaching No. 1 across countries in the Americas and Europe, proving that compelling storytelling transcends language.
France 24
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Netflix's 'The Eternaut' echoes fight against tyranny: actor Ricardo Darin
Based on a 1950s comic with iconic status in the South American country, the sci-fi series tells the story of a mysterious, toxic snowfall that precedes an alien invasion of Buenos Aires. More elementally, it is about ordinary people with few resources and no special powers who collectively stare down a totalitarian threat, Darin, 68, told AFP in an interview. "The communities that managed to survive were those that stood shoulder to shoulder, defended themselves, and did not care only about what happened to them individually," he said of the storyline. In this way, the series "resonates" with the present, said Darin, though he declined to specify which threat in particular he was referring to. Directed and scripted by Argentina's Bruno Stagnaro, "The Eternaut" is based on the comic by the same name serialized by writer Hector Oesterheld and illustrator Francisco Solano Lopez between 1957 and 1959. Oesterheld took the series up again in the 1960s, with ever-more political overtones that are believed to have contributed to his kidnapping in 1977 under Argentina's brutal military dictatorship. He was never heard from again, nor were his four daughters and three sons-in-law, all of whom figure among the estimated 30,000 people listed as "disappeared" by agents of the dictatorship, according to rights groups. 'Very, very hard work' Darin, known for his roles in the films "Nine Queens," "Wild Tales," and "The Secret in Their Eyes" -- which won the Oscar for best international feature in 2010 -- said he was scared at first of playing Juan Salvo, the resistance hero in "The Eternaut." He had no background in science fiction and had to do demanding stunts. "Physically it was very, very hard work," the actor said. "Each day, the end of filming found us exhausted, and with little recovery time." Darin took part in 113 of the 148 days of shooting, often decked out in Salvo's heavy snow-proof outfit on sets covered with tons of cumbersome artificial snow. "Not to mention the things that happen in an action shoot, where you have to roll, jump, fall, crash, fight; a series of things that when you're 25 or 30 years old, it's nothing, but for me, who is 114..." he laughed. Darin is hopeful the series will be a boost for Argentine cinema at a time the government of budget-slashing President Javier Milei has withdrawn state support for the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts, and for culture in general.
