“Eight Moroccan surnames”: the transformation of “Almost a family” in the expansion of the “Eight surnames” saga

On January 19, Universal Pictures surprised us with the announcement that ‘Ocho apellidos morroquís’ will be released in theaters on December 1, a continuation of the hugely successful ‘Ocho apellidos vascos’ and ‘Ocho apellidos catalanes’ that we didn’t even know was on the air going. That’s because it wasn’t even called that when it launched.

At the end of June last year Mediaset released the first images of ‘Quasi famiglia’, a comedy directed by Álvaro Fernández Armero (“If I Were Rich”) starring Elena Irureta, Michelle Jenner, Julián López and María Ramos. Behind her were Telecinco Cinema and LAZONA, the same producers of the two episodes of ‘Ocho apellidos’. One of the three authors of the screenplay was Diego San José, co-author of the two plays by Dani Rovira and Clara Lago together with Borja Cobeaga. ‘Casi familia’ would be distributed by Universal, like ‘Surnames’. But that’s where the coincidences with the highest-grossing Spanish film in history and its sequel ended..

The last news we had of an alleged ‘Ocho apellidos 3’ was in 2019, when the CEO of Telecinco Cinema, Ghislain Barrois, confirmed to us in an interview that the project was launched because “they had finally found the corner”. Of course, he hadn’t yet spoken to Lago, Rovira, or Emilio Martínez Lázaro, director of the first two films. He also assured them that they had no intention of making a new delivery “for pasta” because you know they are characters “very expensive”so they didn’t want to “defraud” to the fans. “We worked on a song for a year but when we saw the script we threw it away, started over and now I think we have it” He told us.

Between that idea of ​​’Ocho apellidos 3′ and the filming of ‘Casi familia’ in 2022, three years have passed, but that three years, of course. The pandemic has put the world on hold and the industry upside down. Telecinco Cinema has only distributed ‘Adú’ (its last release before the cinemas closed) in these three years, ‘Malnazidos’, ‘Way Down’, ‘Operación Camarón’ and the two films with which they are back: ‘Tadeo Jones 3: The Emerald Tablet’ and ‘The Fourth Passenger’. They also premiered ‘Rainbow’ on Netflix. During this time, Emilio Martínez Lázaro continued to direct ‘Supernormal’ on Movistar Plus+. Dani Rovira has also participated in a Disney blockbuster such as ‘Jungle Cruise’, in addition to shooting films such as ‘Mediterranean’ or ‘I will have fun’, he was a presenter with ‘La noche D’ and shares with Arturo González Campos ‘My favorite year’ . And Clara Lago has been busy with series such as ‘El vecino’ and ‘Limbo’ and in February she will present the Gala Goya with Antonio de la Torre. Carmen Machi and Karra Elejalde also didn’t stop. None of them seemed to want to clear the agenda especially to shoot an “Eight surnames 3”.

When “Eight Moroccan surnames” was announced, The press release did not hide the fact that they started the “Casi familia” project without associating it with the “Ocho apellidos” brand until it was finished and they saw “the final result”. But Ghislain Barrois said he saw in her “the heiress of the saga” because the story “he perfectly realized the three essential elements of the DNA of ‘Ocho apellidos’: the overcoming of cultural prejudices through humor, the tenderness of a romantic comedy and the presence of a certain political dimension”. The story is led by a family that, according to the photos, meets the stereotype of the typical right-wing Spanish family: they wear pearls and crucifixes, it looks like “fachaleco”. All three have a Spanish flag at some point on their clothing. The director describes them as “conservative and modest characters who have to deal with a culture they don’t know and about which they only harbor unfounded prejudices”. It looks a lot like the culture clash between Andalusia and the Basque Country of the former, and since it’s Morocco, that political component comes into play. Where does romantic comedy come into play? Julián López’s character is Michelle Jenner’s ex, who went with her and her ex mother-in-law to Morocco with the intention of winning her back.

ride with the script

Although Mediaset announced in 2022 that ‘Casi familia’ was written by Diego San José, Borja Echevarría and Daniel Castro, in the announcement of ‘Ocho apellidos morroquís’ we also had a first trailer, but not who signed the script. Asked on Twitter, Borja Cobeaga confirmed which had nothing to do with this project (it didn’t even appear when it was called “Almost Family”). Diego San José, for his part, explained that he was involved in the plot of “Almost family”, but that the script of “Ocho apellidos morocquís” is signed only by Daniel Castro. In statements to El Correo, San José says so “the final film, the one that was shot, has nothing to do with it” with what he wrote at the beginning. “Dani Comes in and They Take Him to Another Movie” he comments, and points out that something similar happened to him with ‘El pregón’, whose initial idea was his but the screenplay ended up being signed by Daniel González and David Serrano. What he did not want to specify is at what point the lucrative brand ‘Ocho apellidos’ comes into play, deriving the explanations to Telecinco.

It is difficult for Telecinco Cinema to clarify if they have already thought of ‘Casi familia’ as a kind of test to see if the brand could grow beyond Amaia and Rafa, and their original screenwriters, or if they have decided to include it now in the franchise to attract more audiences in theaters thanks to the presence of “Ocho apellidos” in the title. Both Universal and Telecinco Cinema are betting big on it, giving it the Friday before the December long weekend and all of Christmas to rack up box office receipts. It has the potential to blow up theaters, with the precedent of ‘Ocho apellidos vascos’ surpassing 55 million euros and 9 million admissions. It’s also added pressure for a film that shares, in principle, only one title with that phenomenon. New characters, new writer and director, and the breaking of another hallmark of the previous ones like laughing at ourselves and the differences between autonomous communities, which now include a different country and a very different culture. Starting December 1, we’ll see how the show pans out.