While acclaimed author and Adult Third Culture Kid Isabel Allende’s novel “The House of the Spirits” had been adapted into a Hollywood film in 1995, it had certain limitations as a movie.
In those days, for a film to be successful, it had to be in English and with marketable Hollywood film stars. Additionally, it was filmed in Europe, with German financing, according to Allende.
Allende, who herself was born in Peru while her father was serving as a diplomat at the Chilean embassy, also grew up in Bolivia and Lebanon.
The 1995 movie “didn’t have the authenticity of the book, but it was a stupendous film that can still be seen on video and television,” Allende says.
Now, Amazon Prime Video is producing the first Spanish-language adaptation of the novel via an eight-episode miniseries co-directed by two Chileans, with actors from Spain and Latin America and filmed in Chile.
The family saga spans half a century, centered on three generations of women — Clara, Blanca and Alba — in a conservative South American country shaped by class struggle, political upheaval and magic.
“It’s going to be much more authentic, and in addition with eight episodes they’ll be able to include a lot more material than in a two-hour movie,” Allende says.
Allende, Eva Longoria and Courtney Saladino are executive producers alongside showrunners Francisca Alegría (“The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future”), Fernanda Urrejola (“Cry Macho”) and Andrés Wood (“News of a Kidnapping”).
“The House of the Spirits” premieres globally on Prime Video on April 29.
Check out the trailer below.
