Life swings between triumph and failure in the enthralling “El Gran Salto” produced by Atresmedia TV in collaboration with Banijay’s Diagonal TV, the force behind shows such as “Isabel” and “La Catedral del Mar.”
Spanish star Óscar Casas (“Instinto,” “Xtremo”) stars as Olympic Gold Medalist gymnast Gervasio Deferr. The series is written by “Bye” scribe José Rodríguez and based on the Olympian’s own book of his struggles.
“Success is like a pendulum; it goes back and forth and is very delicate because if you don’t control it, it can screw up your life,” Deferr’s coach advises in the series opener.
This metaphor sets the tone for a five parter, which chronicles Deferr’s Olympic victories and profound personal struggles. Taking the reins is Catalan Director Roger Gual, “The idea from the beginning was to show the two sides of sports: success and failure. In Gervasio’s case, success came very early,” Gual tells Variety.
The show’s structure reflects this, alternating between Deferr’s struggles—illustrated in Episode 1 by a sequence moving from the hedonism of a drug fuelled club session to his later collapse in his flat, all while 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 entire structure of the script with the ebb and flow starting from the ‘present’ in 2017 when Gervi begins the story in the after-party, and then we go back to when he is preparing for his first Olympics in Sydney 2000. This structure will be maintained throughout all five episodes of the series,” Gual explained.
Blending real documentary footage with the dramatized scenes, “El Gran Salto” captures Deferr’s journey. This seamless integration was key to the production. “We did extensive research to access all the IOC [International Olympic Committee] images of Gervi’s competitions in the Olympics, as well as in World Championships and the openings of each of the Games he participated in,” Gual noted. With budget 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 can’t tell when Gervasio is performing and when it’s the actor Óscar Casas. That was a success.”
“El Gran Salto” is emblematic of the high-quality event series consistently emerging from Spain and championed locally through operators such as Atresmedia and Movistar Plus+.
“The arrival of streaming platforms in Spain has significantly increased the level of films and series, both in quantity and quality,” said Gual, well experienced in directing for platforms having worked on Netflix’s first Spanish original in both film and series with “Seven Year” and “Cable Girls”. “I believe that the fact our productions reach so many countries and are appreciated abroad is a testament that we are doing something right.” he added. It could foreshadow many more productions focused on sports from Spain given Banijay Iberia’s announcement at Mipcom of a division now fully focused 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 inside Gervi’s head and try to empathize with everything he goes through,” Gual outlined. “I use extreme close-ups and some shots in perspective from 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 have the idea of the therapy monologs at the beginning of each episode.”
Class struggle is another undercurrent in the opener, with Deferr’s background contrasting sharply with the privileged world around him. This feeds into his volatile nature, and the tension is woven into broader societal issues. “I believe that is reflected in some sequences, moving from the most particular to the universal, so that the story can be seen worldwide and transcend cultural boundaries,” Gual added.
Óscar Casas delivers a committed performance as Deferr, rising to the daunting challenge to portray the distinct physicality of an Olympic-level gymnast. “Physically, he trained for several months to get in shape and perform the gymnastics routines during the first half of the shoot. Then he followed a super strict diet to portray Gervi after his retirement when he was in a spiral of self-destruction with alcohol and drugs,” Gual said. “Emotionally, the journey has been very intense and required total commitment, which only the best actors are capable of understanding, and Óscar has exceeded expectations.”
The series taps a broader conversation around mental health in sports, a subject brought to the fore in recent years by athletes like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka. “El Gran Salto” explores the toll elite sports can take on those placed on pedestals. “It’s encouraging that mental health issues, not just in sports but in all areas of society, are finally being discussed,” 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 believe it will have all been worth it.”
