The Mediapro Studio’s The Head in the Works with Hulu Japan, HBO Asia

The Mediapro Studio, Hulu Japan and HBO Asia have started shooting The Head, the first series by Àlex Pastor and David Pastor, in Spain.

Directed by Jorge Dorado (El Embarcadero, Mindscape), the survival thriller is set in one of the remotest places on the planet: Antarctica. The shooting will take place in the Canary Islands and Iceland.

The Pastor brothers and Dorado have worked with Ran Tellem (Homeland), head of international content development at The Mediapro Studio, on the creation of the thriller. Álvaro Morte (Money Heist, The Pier) stars alongside Tomohisa Yamashita (Code Blue), Laura Bach (Sprinter Galore, Rita), Mònica López (Hierro, In the City), Alexandre Willaume (Below the Surface, Deep State, Tomb Raider), Katharine O’Donnelly (Mary, Queen of Scots), John Lynch (The Terror) and Amelia Hoy (Below the Surface, Killing Eve).

Javier Méndez, chief content officer of The Mediapro Studio, said: “The Head is an example of the direction we’re headed in, with ambitious and complex international projects based on great stories. The Head is a major step in the studio’s strategy to guarantee that the best stories reach our clients around the world; to do so, we have an excellent partner like Hulu Japan.”

Laura Fernández Espeso, corporate director and co-head of TV at The Mediapro Studio, commented: “The Head is the fruit of many months’ labor to meet deadlines when demand for content is huge. Having talents like Jorge Dorado and Àlex and David Pastor working from the beginning to build and shape this project, altogether with a great international cast and a prominent partner such as Hulu Japan, gives an idea of the magnitude of the project. It is a privilege for The Mediapro Studio to bring this amazing series to the audiovisual market.”

“After a process lasting two and a half years, we at The Mediapro Studio are proud to bring this unique story to the screen,” explained Tellem. “The Head is about good and evil. Our story begins when a group of people finds themselves completely disconnected from the world, in the frozen darkness of the South Pole winter. For the unknown killer among them, this is the perfect setting. For everybody else, telling good from evil just might be the thing that saves your life.”

“In The Head, I made some contribution to the development, which is quite unusual,” Dorado explained, “because directors normally join in at a much later stage. And this is very interesting, because this way, the story in a way becomes yours too.”

Dorado also emphasized the work of The Mediapro Studio: “At the moment, no one else in Spain is doing projects of this magnitude and with such international ambition.”

The Pastor brothers added: “The series plays with two different times because the idea is to find out who the murderer is, the reasons why they have done this, and if there is something else behind or beyond what seems to be a series of crimes.”