"It's best to watch this special after you've seen the show"
Downloaded from YTS.MX
The Pharaoh.
Which way do I look?
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
[person] Roll camera.
-[drone whirring] -[explosion]
Welcome!
[Cano] Musical, mystery, thriller…
That's a delight too!
I think everyone should watch It Was Always Me
because it makes us dream.
This project has been the best experience of my life.
IT WAS ALWAYS ME BEHIND THE SCENES
It's a story of conflict.
"THE PHARAOH" HAS DIED
It's a story about a huge investigation into the Pharaoh's death.
At the same time as you're enjoying the amazing sets…
"The Pharaoh"
…you'll enjoy the music and this story,
this story behind it, of suspense, secrets, anguish.
And I said, "Wow, this will be cool. This is something new."
[Cano] I was hooked by the gender story,
the idea of a girl leaving her day-to-day life,
strung along by the pain of losing her father,
and not really knowing her history,
she discovers that maybe that accident wasn't a coincidence.
So, you have to put the pieces in place
to get to the end and find out how the game ends.
[person] Camera B.
How would I describe the Pharaoh in one word? Cool.
-It's passion. -Cold.
Introverted.
-Genuine. -It's show.
Shot 1, take 2, camera A.
Obviously, besides that, they really like each other.
And I started studying it. I started adding some little things,
and I started to give her a bit of a personality
so she's not just a TV character,
but so people can understand that if they ever meet Lupe on the street,
this person exists, you know?
Lupe really exists.
Know what, Pipe? I'll give you some advice.
Get out of here!
Don't touch me. Don't touch me!
Pipe, enough! Enough!
Honestly, when I read the character,
I imagined a totally different Noah,
a little more conceited, a little more posh.
And then, when they started to create him,
and I started to see who Noah really was,
it totally changed my perspective,
and it totally changed how I had read the character
and also how I imagined Lupe if she was with him, you know?
And?
What do you know about Pipe that I don't?
[Noah] Why?
And when we did the first scene,
we started around episode 5 or so,
so the relationship was stronger, and it was our first scene together.
So, it was a little complicated, but honestly, it came out perfect,
and you couldn't tell at all that it was the first scene.
So, I think that's wonderful, when characters connect so well,
and I think Lupe and Noah do that. They connect really well.
Yes, honestly it's my first time in a role
where I'm going to play a character, in this case, Noah.
And imagine how great it is that my first time is a leading role.
-I'm Noah. -Noah what?
[Sevilla] You're going to see a Chihuahua and a Rottweiler.
So, Pipe is so tall next to me.
So, I get there, and it's like… [imitates barking]
And Noah is, "Yes, Lupe. Lupe, relax."
And a special touch by both of us is that every time Noah wants to bother Lupe,
he crouches down. Because he's so tall,
he crouches down, and he says, "I'm going to get on your level."
And what I love about Pipe is how he took this on--
I mean, he took this on, and he asked questions.
He got information. He said, "Tell me. What do I do? Tell me how to do it."
He came from a different place, a really great place,
very human, heartfelt.
It's not easy, honestly.
I've told Pipe, it's not easy to just jump off the cliff like that,
with no parachute.
Along with Cano, it was the three of us that created
and were literally with Pipe the whole time.
I think there was incredible growth,
and now I see him and I think, "Wow, he really grew a lot."
-[upbeat music playing] -[audience cheering]
[Tappan] The Pharaoh, at this point in my career,
is the character I needed.
I can't conceive of this character today without music,
and that motivates me a lot,
because I created a character based on music.
Definitely, that's 100% how it was.
In fact, I gave the Pharaoh one thing,
and that's that he talks with a smile. He talks like this.
He talks with a smile. He's cool.
[person, on PA] All right, girls, we have the scene.
Let's see where we can stop to cut, okay?
-Yes! -[cheering]
[shrieking]
I definitely think the first thing I thought
when I had the script in my hands was…
Production Designer
…to show and transmit to the audience
all that magical realism that Cartagena has.
The Colombian Caribbean and Cartagena have a lot to offer,
a lot of color, a lot of music, a lot of flavor.
Each location looks gorgeous on camera.
All of it is beautiful.
[Romero] When you've been inside for a year with the pandemic,
and you have this wonderful gift of saying,
"We're going to Cartagena for a month to film
and to do what you love to do,"
well, it's just wonderful.
[Medina] I wanted to transport people
through the locations and Colombia's tropical Caribbean
and make people feel like they were in Colombia,
that this is for everyone.
And it's great to show our Colombian tropics,
which are so special and so beautiful.
[Cano] Everything was thoroughly thought through, you know?
There was a reason for every location, both emotionally and aesthetically.
Each set I visited was always a thousand times better
than what I had imagined in my head,
and, of course, that makes you go much deeper
into the role and to feel more emotions when you're acting,
because you were permeated by and soaked in everything around you,
things you could touch, things you could interact with.
All the sets are 100% created.
Art Director
I think they took advantage of how beautiful Cartagena is,
its nature, its streets and all that.
Colombia!
[Gutiérrez] And they made it Disney.
The value, the style we have in the visual aspect is incredible,
and it's Colombian,
so I can tell everyone from anywhere else that's going to see this,
"This is Colombia," to come visit us for this.
Because this is our country, what you're seeing there,
that scenery, that ocean, those beaches, that sun.
We could say that Cartagena offered us
a wide range of very pretty colors and hues.
The challenge was to bring that to Bogotá.
And, today, to Girardot.
I was also very impressed by the fake Mexico
because it's complicated to make a fake Mexico.
But the area where we filmed is honestly just like an area in Mexico,
just not the cold,
so we had to act like it was Mexico's climate.
And when the sun comes out, well, the cold's not that bad.
This house is supposedly…
artist lab
…just outside the lodge.
That's why it has the art and everything it has.
We made it look like it was an old house in Cartagena or an old estate.
Every time they give me a set like this, I have to show it all.
Camera B.
From the script,
no doubt it was seeing that my character kisses someone of the same sex.
I think that without a doubt, that will provide a lot to talk about,
and it was absolutely necessary for it to happen in a generation
where adolescents hurt themselves
because they don't love themselves and they don't have that validation.
In terms of my character, she's crazier than I thought.
[whooping]
And she was three times kookier than I had proposed at casting!
Which, I have to confess, I loved because I've had so much fun.
So, yeah, I think it's a dream come true
to play a character who is as special and wonderful and genuine as Angie is.
In terms of the script,
I was really surprised mostly about expectations versus reality.
I think its super important, especially for a person
who isn't aware of the thousands of ways you can love, you know?
Because there's also this concept of boxing ourselves in.
I am this or this or this.
And you're simply human, and love is love. Period.
I think that the message is really to be willing to live,
to be willing to love, and to be willing to get to know yourself.
I liked that I found Charly really funny,
and I found a lot of things in Simón that I could use for Charly,
that I really liked and that I could exploit,
and it was really fun and also very rich for me as an actor to play him.
So, honestly, I was very excited.
So, to be a bit basic in terms of the character,
I love to be the character that's the stone in your shoe.
And what are you doing here?
It's not the first time,
but this type of character has a wide range of possibilities
that make them very rich to play, that make them special.
I can't do that! I can't tell them!
REHEARSALS
They're going to find out eventually!
Like, really, really, really?
I went to the casting like any Tom, Dick or Harry.
You've known me my whole life. I'm stubborn. So what?
When I read the character,
when I read a scene for the first time, which was with Noah,
I loved it.
I thought Lupe was a very inspirational character.
REHEARSALS
I think a lot of things happened at the same time
because it's my first time acting.
Yes, honestly, it's the first time I'm playing a role, in this case, Noah.
I saw everyone at the casting for the Pharaoh,
and I said, "No, I don't belong there."
REHEARSALS
It was another class of actor,
all great, all musical,
tall, handsome, dark hair, not-so-dark hair,
but not short and red-haired, like me.
THE PATH OF THE PHARAOH
And today is a special day because today is the birthday of yours truly.
When I read the synopsis of Lupe, what her personality is like, everything,
I fell even more in love. Like, I said, because she's introverted, closed-off,
because I'd never played a character like that.
And it got my attention, so right away, I said,
"I will give my all to this project, absolutely. You can count on me 100%."
It's also really nice that right now
we're in the same studio where we did the first casting.
It was here!
My process with the casting was truly magical.
I remember when my mom and my manager told me,
"You're going to the casting for Disney's first show in Spanish,
produced by Disney+ in Colombia."
It was a total shock when my manager called me
two weeks later, crying, saying that I had gotten the part.
And yeah, I was in shock too.
I remember it perfectly.
The song I had to sing was "Tú" by Shakira, with piano.
I practiced it a ton, and when I got there,
I looked at the piano keys,
and I couldn't see the separations. It wasn't 2, 3, 2.
They were just black, black, black, and I said,
"They changed the piano. This can't be happening."
I was really nervous,
and then I took two seconds to breathe, and I said, "This is my life's dream.
At the very least, I have to try my best."
-[piano playing] -I sang, and now we're here.
[laughing]
How could you say that, Mariana?
Dad was the most important thing in my life.
I think my scene went really well.
They called me, and they were like, "Hey, we liked what you did,
and we want you to do the casting again,
but this time for Noah, the lead."
There's an expression that what's meant for you will never miss you.
I guess this was meant for me.
What's meant to be will be.
♪ For every moon that I gave to you For every kiss that I swore to you ♪
♪ A thousand nights by your side remain And I haven't forgotten the way ♪
What I love the most is that it isn't a musical, you know?
It's different. It's a story that has music.
The contest and the music, we could say, is the spine of this whole series,
of this whole… of the story's plot, you know?
And there's something different in this project,
which is that the music is the vehicle for the character's actions
and not necessarily an expression
of what they're feeling, what they're experiencing.
♪ Baby hear me say I want to sing to you night and day ♪
And I like it. I like to be sitting in the music scenes.
In some of the scenes, it was like, "Well, this is short."
Here you just go… [vocalizes] …and that's it,
and I said, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. A little more."
Well, one of my favorite songs is "Friday."
I love it. I think the song is very meaningful, really,
and also very romantic and very Lupe.
♪ One more time ♪
♪ Because Saturday and Sunday I only want to spend them with you ♪
♪ I know you would find me And I'm lost ♪
♪ You already found me Playing hide and seek ♪
♪ Because I didn't want to fall in love ♪
♪ But now I know it's too late ♪
I had a great coach here who helped me a lot with playing, you know?
To show off the guitar, the movements, the 4/4 time,
and I had to feel that.
And you know what? I feel it.
I have a guitar, and I would love to know how to play a lot more things,
but I don't.
Coach/Music Producer
Some of the actors have never played guitar or piano before,
so I meet with them. I explain a bit about how the chords are,
where they need to put their hands so what they're doing looks credible.
Every time we have an instrument, for example, me with the guitar,
Noah with the guitar or with the piano,
Angie with the drums…
We each have our instrument.
I'm with them on the day of shooting too.
Whenever they have questions or anything,
I'm there to tell them how the scene looks best.
♪ There's so many things I want to tell you ♪
♪ And you're so cute And I didn't know how to ♪
♪ The world stops spinning I'm not gonna lie to you ♪
I'm going to sing with someone who, when they came into my life,
filled my days with light. And her name is:
María Guadalupe del Mar Díaz, my daughter!
The story covers a lot of things in my life
that are just day-to-day things, normal.
And I think Lupe also has a lot of things that are personal to me.
One of the things that I really emphasized is I think she's not about people,
and I'm not about people either.
I get scared really fast.
Like, I go into a panic when I see a lot of people
because I start to, like, collapse and I start to, like…
It's a very weird feeling, honestly,
but it doesn't happen when I'm at concerts.
No, it happens more when I'm in places like restaurants or places where I…
On the street, for example.
And it happens to Lupe onstage. It happens to her all the time with people.
♪ How do I tell her ♪
♪ That she's the star That's going to light my ♪
♪ Way every night ♪
You could say that my 13 years of experience in music,
which lead you to experiment
and to go deeper
and to hide a lot of things about yourself for a show,
managing the crowd…
So you start to lose your fear of embarrassment.
And many of those things are tools that are needed for this profession.
♪ Baby hear me say I want to sing to you night and day ♪
[Sevilla] I think your personal life is no longer so personal,
and your personal life starts to belong to them.
And if they start to follow you, to be with you all the time,
they wait for you outside hotels,
or they even go to the set where you're shooting to wait for you.
Me, Karol, I see Selena Gomez, and I'll go to her hotel,
and I'll wait for her there all day.
And that's where you say,
"Okay, this is what a fan feels,
and this is what happens to a fan when they're waiting for their idol."
-♪ I don't know, I don't know ♪ -♪ Oh no ♪
♪ I don't know I don't know ♪
From the moment the music gets inside you, it becomes part of your life.
Which, after that, not only do you have a profession where you can do well,
you can make a living. You can have it all.
It's also amazing to work in something that isn't work.
♪ And dedicate this feeling to you What would I do without music? ♪
So far, honestly, I haven't had fans who've gotten to the point of hurting me.
It's an affection and love that is so sweet and healthy,
which is beautiful, but sometimes fanaticism can go too far.
[singing continues]
[person] All right, cut. I've got it. Thank you, Lupe. I have a stop first.
[Toscano] Today, we're filming in one of the most important houses,
which is the Pharaoh's house.
We call it Pharaoh's eccentric house.
So the set is very important too
because we're going to create all the explosions,
the fires, all the effects.
Special Effects Supervisor
It all starts with a fire. The Pharaoh fell asleep on the sofa.
He's unconscious, and the fire touches the curtains.
The curtains set the rest on fire.
A wall of flames moves towards the kitchen, the stove,
where the gas is turned on.
It's not an accident. That's on purpose.
TEST EXPLOSION
[explosion]
We did a test so that we are sure that we have good strength,
so then we'll go to the original site, where there's no option.
We can't do a test, and that way we can be sure.
[woman] We have balsa wood.
We have powder, in a can, and you'll feel heat.
We have the actor lying on the floor.
What saved him, if I can say it like that, is that he's inside the house,
and as soon as he passes a safety line, we shoot.
[explosion]
And that door blows off.
The bricks go flying, mushrooms of fire.
And that's it. The perfect catastrophe.
[explosion]
Action!
There, at this height…
Well, the experience of working with Pipe Cano is…
I mean, I'm not saying this just because he's our director, but it's wonderful.
I heard a lot of comments about him before, all positive:
"Wow, what a great director for your first time,
and in the lead role, to be with Pipe Cano."
With just a few words,
he can transform an idea or an action,
or sometimes it's not even words, just how he looks at you
and says, "Take it down a little, or not, or add a little oomph."
So, he's really good at two things.
One, you can't lie to him, in the sense
of approaching the scene from another point of view.
Or you messed up, maybe,
and he pauses to say, "Look, this is what's happening."
How are you going to enjoy the moment? Don't think about the choreography.
He always catches your lie or what you're trying to do and disarms you.
I was very insistent that I needed actors who I already trusted,
because what we had to do was take this story,
put it on Earth,
so the viewer sees a real world when they watch it,
a world that you can touch, so the viewer feels
that they're sitting in the room with them.
[Sevilla] And it's been a pleasure, an honor.
And I think people are really going to like it
because he humanized her for me. He helped me to give her life.
He helped me to give her a heart to make her a real character,
and that's not easy, so…
High five, team!
Hurry up! Go!
I have a story. At the beginning of it all, they told me,
"Tell Tappan to send a voice memo singing a song."
And I told them,
"If I send you a voice memo singing a song, I won't get the role."
And something that cracked me up, for example,
was me diving into the pool when you were teaching me to swim,
because I had to dive in very badly,
and even though it was painful, it was really fun.
One of the scenes that I remember was the most fun for me
was the scene in the hut with Lupe when we had to jump from up above,
because I remember that one of the times we jumped,
Karol and I were so excited. They told us, "You can't jump.
The doubles will do it because it really is very high,
and you have to be careful."
And there were rocks in the ocean.
And at one point, we were both so excited that we forgot we were acting,
and we both jumped, but we realized in time.
So both of our faces were like… [gasping]
Well, honestly, she's always goofing off.
-All right, I'm leaving. -I'm done. Thanks. Goodbye.
[kiss]
[Sevilla] I have to tell you something fun.
Wendy's bullet wound.
That day we all got really hurt.
That day, Wendy broke her finger.
I scraped both my knees.
I twisted my hand.
Tappan already had, like, 20 shirts missing buttons.
Pipe fell too.
Very conveniently, we had been waiting a year
for this to start and not a thing had happened,
but we get here and José decides that he's going to kiss the guitar
with his eyebrow at like 100 mph.
And he cut his eyebrow in the middle of the show.
The story is really simple actually.
In part of the choreography, I was supposed to take off the guitar.
And we got caught up a little, me and the dancer
who was supposed to take it from me, because of the speed.
Plus, that guy had to do it all.
That same guy had to do flips in the air.
He had to take the guitar from me, give me a microphone, hand off the guitar,
so, due to the speed, I was still taking it off,
and he grabbed it a little early,
and that created, like, a lever while I was lifting the guitar.
And it was my pleasure to give you that gem for the behind the scenes.
But it wasn't too bad. Everything was fine.
Fortunately, the production paramedics are amazing. They're geniuses.
They acted very quickly. The doctor approved everything they did,
and apparently, I'm only going to have a scar and a great story to tell.
[Tappan] This is a very unique project because
it started in the middle of the pandemic.
So we had a responsibility during the pandemic,
that we all had to be in a bubble together.
[Bueno] After the first two weeks that we were in Barú,
where we were apart, it's different there, obviously.
We got to Cartagena, all in the same hotel,
where it was more obvious that we were living together.
And obviously, there was something there.
It increased the energy of the whole team, to get to know each other better.
And that makes it very unique
because, making this type of show, you really bond with the others
because it's three, four months, two months,
whatever it is, you're with the same people every day,
from sunup to sundown, lots of hours, very intense.
It's intense for everyone.
We're a very big team, and we took care of each other. We cared for each other.
We supported each other, and we made this time really enjoyable, really happy,
and I think that will definitely show in the end result.
We spent so much time together, and it was quality time,
where we developed a lot of things,
and the scenes were like puzzles that moved on their own.
We can't believe it was only two months.
I feel like I've known Jose for over a year.
And Juliana, Dubán, Pipe, and everyone.
And of course, that helped make what everyone sees on-screen
that much stronger.
And that allowed us to create this bond, and from there, as artists,
to start to work with the character, without fear,
because it also broke down a barrier for us as actors too.
And I watch it, and I feel very proud, however that happened.
Life knows how it plays its cards,
and it put us all together at the right time
in the right place, in the right way.
I'm grateful.
It's impossible not to be grateful when one of your life's dreams comes true
in the middle of such worldwide chaos.
So, that gratitude was there behind everything,
and that willingness to love and those acts of service
were so present in each of us,
that each of us offered up
for what It Was Always Me was going to be, the best of ourselves.
Hi Dubán!
♪ There's nothing else to say I've leave this love in your window ♪
♪ Love me, love me in the morning ♪
[Medina] The final concert, and really,
I would say all the concerts in the show, like the rounds,
was one of the main challenges,
because being a musical story,
it required a lot.
And when the pandemic happened, we all had to readjust the story,
because it was a story that took place in scenes
on the street, like festivals, big concerts.
All right, today we're… This the episode's final sequence.
Postproduction Coordinator
And we're going to multiply the crowd.
We can't bring people in because of COVID, so we're going to do it digitally.
We're preparing a drone, doing tests with a drone now to see how they look,
and we've already done a lot of tests with digital animation.
The hardest part is coordinating with the director
and mixing the kids singing live
with the live people that are going to be down below, applauding,
since we don't have many people because of COVID.
So all the crowds that you see,
they are generally going to be digital and created by us in postproduction.
Action!
[Fernández] Another effect that took a lot of time was
the front of the Pharaoh's house after the explosion.
In episode 6, Lupe and Noah visit the burned house.
We didn't have the house,
so we decided to do the whole front part digitally,
all burned up and exploded.
So we had to cover up, paint, clone,
add wooden boards, close the doors,
all digitally and frame by frame.
We also had a big job with the interior because it was done in Bogotá, not there.
We had pictures of the original house and the original house sets,
so we could chroma key them with Karol and Pipe,
and be able to make it look like they were inside the house.
Along with multiplying the audience,
that was one of the most complicated effects of the series.
Boom!
[laughing]
What I'm going to miss the most about It Was Always Me?
My colleagues, no doubt,
seeing them every day,
having breakfast with them every day,
them cleaning up all my messes, and they've cleaned up many.
We had an incredible relationship.
I've never felt so connected, and I'm going to miss them so much.
I'm going to miss Colombia,
waking up early, going to shoot,
saying, "Good morning, friends."
[Gaviria] Like I was saying before, you have no choice.
You either kill each other or you love each other,
and I think we ended up all loving each other, which is good.
I think the series was made with a lot of love,
and that love was enough to be able to keep going.
All together, no one failed here.
We were all sailing together on the same ship,
and you can see that in the show.
Family, that's the only word I can use,
because it was like me as the dad, Adriana as the mom,
Christian was like the crazy uncle,
and the rest were our children, nieces and nephews.
So it was really special.
When I finish a shot, and let's say, I stop to think of what's next,
when I turn around, there's 15 heads looking silently in the same direction,
trying to think what I'm thinking.
And that… I miss that a lot in my day-to-day life.
I mean, losing a family of 100 people overnight, it's not easy.
Each project is a journey.
But this project was very special because it's a journey I've never taken.
And yeah, I'll be romantic. I'm going to miss my colleagues
because some live in Bogotá, and I'll be in Medellín.
But we made a nice family and friendships that I don't think will be temporary.
I think they will last over time.
I'm leaving with a full heart.
I mean, honestly, I can't fit any more love in there or it will explode.
Thanks to each person that was part of this project,
thanks to them, this project is what it is,
and thanks to them, Lupe is who she is.
-[clapboard claps] -Episode 6, scene 8, shot 4, take 1.
Last shot of Lupita, camera B.
[applause]
You definitely have to see it. You have to see it and enjoy.
I hope you love it.
Let me introduce Pipi Bueno! Ay, ay, ay!
I love you so much, It Was Always Me!
[shouting]
Second day of shooting of the final episode.
[chattering]
Last shot Noah, episode 5, scene 17, shot 3, take 1, camera A.
Where are you keeping my dad?
That was very relaxed.
[engine cranks]
[person] Cut!
[person] You look great. I mean, really impressive…
I'm gonna cry, okay? [laughing]
IT WAS ALWAYS ME BEHIND THE SCENES