"Juan Gabriel movie in the works, directed by the filmmaker of “The Office”"

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The return of Juan Gabriel to the cinema materializes a decade after his passing, with a new biopic being prepared by filmmaker Gary Alazraki. The project has the backing of Iván Aguilera, the singer’s son, who has given his endorsement for the making of the film.

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For the moment, the film has the working title “Juan Gabriel”. This feature film represents the third production dedicated to Juan Gabriel in the last ten years, following the bioseries “Hasta que te conocí” and the documentary “Juan Gabriel: Debo, puedo y quiero”, available on Netflix.

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The international approach and the creative challenge

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Almost ten years after the composer’s death, the documentary directed by María José Cuevas accesses never-before-seen footage and audio, exposing the intimate truth of the man whose music broke prejudices and borders – credit Netflix

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Alazraki has expressed his intention to seek funding outside of Mexico to ensure that the film can be released in several countries. The director emphasizes that the goal is to reach a global audience, which implies a different perspective compared to previous works about the artist.

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According to the filmmaker, the main challenge lies in the abundance of existing materials about the life of Juan Gabriel. “The challenge is greater due to the amount of previous work,” admitted Alazraki. Therefore, the new production aims to distance itself from previous approaches and offer a renewed perspective on the Mexican idol.

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We recommend reading: Netflix to release documentary about Juan Gabriel with unpublished material about his life

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The biopic of Juan Gabriel, directed by Alazraki and endorsed by Iván Aguilera, plans to offer a different and global vision of the singer’s life, which represents an additional challenge due to the large number of previous productions about his figure.

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Side projects and shooting schedule

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File image of the late Mexican singer, Juan Gabriel. EFE /Gerardo Mora /File

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While defining the financing and scope of the biopic, Alazraki plans to start filming the second season of “La oficina” for Prime Video soon. However, if production plans proceed as expected, filming for “Juan Gabriel” could begin later this year.

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The development of this film marks a new chapter in the legacy of the “Divo de Juárez,” opening the doors for his story to be told to a much wider audience. Expectation grows at the possibility of seeing Juan Gabriel portrayed on the big screen from a different and contemporary perspective.

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The most iconic moments of Juan Gabriel’s career that we want to see in his biopic

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The boy from Parácuaro who sang on buses. Alberto Aguilera Valadez was born in 1950 in Michoacán and arrived in Ciudad Juárez as a baby. From the age of 13, he sang on streets, buses, and streetcars. That image—a teenager with no money or stage name trying to make a living on the border—is the origin of everything.
Lecumberri: the prison that shaped him. At 20, he was accused of theft in Mexico City and spent months in the infamous Lecumberri prison. There, he met singer Enriqueta Jiménez, who helped him get out and connected him with RCA. Without that confinement, Juan Gabriel might never have existed.
The debut with “No Tengo Dinero”. In August 1971, with a new name and around 150 compositions in his pocket, he released his first single. The song reached number one immediately and he even recorded it in Japanese. It was the start of a 45-year career without breaks.
“Amor Eterno” and his mother’s death. He composed the ballad after his mother’s death in December 1974, but kept it for a decade. It was Rocío Dúrcal who recorded it in 1984 and turned it into one of the most listened-to songs in Spanish. The film needs to show that pain and that wait.
Bellas Artes, 1990: the “sacrilege” that packed the venue. Newspapers called him vulgar. Cultural authorities resisted until the end. Even so, on May 21, 1990, Juan Gabriel sang alongside the National Symphony Orchestra at the Palace of Fine Arts. It was the most famous concert of his career and a declaration of war against Mexican cultural classism.
The Rose Bowl with 75,000 people. In 1993, he packed the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. To this day, he is the only artist of Hispanic origin to perform on that stage. The scene of that overflowing stadium, seen from the inside, would be one of the most powerful in any musical biopic.
“What is seen is not asked.” For years, he avoided talking about his sexual orientation in public. But that phrase, spoken in an interview, became one of the most repeated expressions in Mexican popular culture. Alazraki’s film will have to decide how it addresses that eloquent silence.
The last night in Los Angeles. On August 28, 2016, a day after a concert in Los Angeles, he suffered a cardiac arrest. His son Iván received the news within 15 minutes. He was 66 years old and had composed more than 1,800 songs. The ending of the film is already written.