Oscar Casas plays Gervasio Deferr in “El Gran Salto”

Life oscillates between triumph and failure in the captivating “El Gran Salto” produced by Atresmedia TV in collaboration with Banijay’s Diagonal TV, the force behind shows like “Isabel” and “La Catedral del Mar.”

Spanish star Óscar Casas (“Instinto,” “Xtremo”) plays Olympic gold medalist gymnast Gervasio Deferr. The series is written by “Bye” scribe José Rodríguez and based on the Olympian’s own book about his struggles.

“Success is like a pendulum; it comes and goes and it’s very tricky because if you don’t control it, it can ruin your life,” advises Deferr’s coach during the series opener.

This metaphor sets the tone for a five-part film, which chronicles Deferr’s Olympic victories and deep personal struggles. At the helm, Catalan director Roger Gual: “The idea from the start was to show the two sides of sport: success and failure. In the case of Gervasio, success came very early,” says Gual Variety.

The structure of the series reflects this, alternating between Deferr’s struggles, illustrated in episode 1 by a sequence ranging from the hedonism of a drug-fueled club session to his subsequent breakdown in his apartment, all then that he should be at his mother’s bedside as she fights for her. life – combined with flashbacks to his competitive glory days.

“We developed the whole structure of the storyline with the ebb and flow starting from the ‘present’ in 2017, when Gervi begins the story at the after-party, then we return to when he is preparing for his first Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. “This structure will be maintained throughout the five episodes of the series,” explained Gual.

Blending real documentary footage with dramatized scenes, “El Gran Salto” captures Deferr’s journey. This seamless integration was key to production. “We have conducted extensive research to access all of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) footage of Gervi’s competitions at the Olympics, as well as the World Championships and the opening of each of the Games he competed in,” Gual noted. With budgetary constraints making it impossible to recreate these monumental events, the solution lay in mixing real footage with Casas’ performance. “The result is that the audience cannot tell when Gervasio is playing and when it is the actor Oscar Casas. It was a success. »

“El Gran Salto” is emblematic of the series of high-quality events that are constantly emerging in Spain and championed locally by operators such as Atresmedia and Movistar Plus+.

“The arrival of streaming platforms in Spain has considerably increased the level of films and series, both in quantity and quality,” said Gual, very experienced in directing for the platforms, having worked on the first Spanish original from Netflix in film and series with “Seven Years” and “The Cable Girls”. “I believe that the fact that our productions reach so many countries and are appreciated abroad is a testament that we are doing something right.” he added. This could presage many more sports-focused Spanish productions, given Banijay Iberia’s announcement at Mipcom of a division now focused entirely on sports.

Much of the drama in this series is internal, capturing Deferr’s mental and emotional battles through close-ups that accentuate his turmoil. “For me, it was very important to be in Gervi’s head and try to understand everything he’s going through,” Gual explained. “I use extreme close-ups and some perspective shots of the actor’s head to capture his thoughts. I also wanted to hear his voice and have him share his experiences in the first person, which is why we came up with the idea of ​​therapeutic monologues at the beginning of each episode.

Class warfare is another undercurrent in the first episode, with Deferr’s journey contrasting sharply with the privileged world around him. This fuels his unstable nature, and the tension is linked to larger societal issues. “I think this is reflected in certain sequences, going from the most particular to the universal, so that the story can be seen worldwide and transcend cultural boundaries,” Gual added.

Óscar Casas delivers an engaging performance as Deferr, taking on the daunting challenge of portraying the distinct physicality of an Olympic-level gymnast. “Physically, he trained for several months to get in shape and perform the gymnastic exercises during the first half of filming. Then he went on a very strict diet to play Gervi after his retirement, when he was in a spiral of self-destruction from alcohol and drugs,” Gual said. “Emotionally, the journey was very intense and required total commitment, which only the best actors are able to understand, and Óscar exceeded expectations.”

The series taps into a broader conversation about mental health in sport, a topic brought to the forefront in recent years by athletes like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka. “El Gran Salto” explores the consequences that elite sports can have on those placed on pedestals. “It is encouraging to see that issues of mental health, not only in sport but in all areas of society, are finally being addressed,” says Gual. “If El Gran Salto can make it possible to talk about mental health without taboos or complexes, allowing those who need help to ask for it without fear of what others might think, then I think it will have been worth it. ”