Historically, Disney found the pillar of its machinery, which immortalized it through the years. That Walt, amazed by the impact that legends and stories had on him, took it upon himself to take literary classics and generate his own (and several) versions of it. His composition of worlds, and his attraction to cinema and screens, brought the closest thing to being in contact with a certain type of magic for many. There we find Gabriel Goity.
In the company’s offices in Argentina, where you are greeted by the giant princesses Anna and Elsa, murals of Minnie and Loki, illuminated images of Aladdin and the animated Genie, elevators from each of the associated companies (such as National Geographic , ESPN), and figures from the Star Wars universe (by George Lucas) that exceed 1.70 meters and precede rooms with corridors and desks; the actor presents “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, the new original series of the platform. It is the first adaptation made by Disney and to include the writer Julio Verne as character.
“I’m very happy. Now that I’ve seen the first chapter, more. Personally, I love these projects: with the possibility of making a character like Jules Verne, of whom I am an admirer. He was the first author who led me to read, in the famous Billiken collection from when I was a boy”, he recounts in dialogue with Filo.Newswhile going back to his childhood, years before a friend named him the Puma.
From Argentina to Mexico, to the center of the Earth
The essence of Verne’s story, proposes to move to other areas, that’s where the journey begins. For Goity, who as a child once imagined the worlds of the writer, the lands of magma and sediment, he arrived with the ticket to one of his… “dreams” of him would be the right word in the Disney field. Like the character who waits for his chance and that’s where the film starts from him.
“The illusion, right? What I loved being able to travel: the possibility of filming in another country, no less than Mexico, which is a mecca for the audiovisual industry. The ‘is happening’. I have always done a lot of theater and I don’t like to say that this limited it because I am very grateful for my work, but it has happened to me that they told me ‘we have a project’ and I ‘look, I have theater from Wednesday to Sunday’. Even with films that can be shot here… ‘it’s two days in Catamarca’, ‘ah, I can’t either’, he is sincere with his characteristic humor.
“But I don’t feel like I missed anything. I have no pending subjects, I make my career very happy. But look, everything coincided: because I was doing theater but we had to close due to the pandemic, and here comes this call. I said: ‘I can’t believe it’. If they called me a week before, I couldn’t do it ”, he adds.
“The real prize is when they call me for a project. I am excited that they choose you for a character”, Gabriel Goity.
Upon arrival, he filmed for ten days in the Federal District. “They involved a lot of work because I had to record many episodes in a few days. But I love working on this, I am grateful, and there is nothing better than doing what one likes, so I jumped on the popcorn ”, he admits.
“In Argentina there is fervor to work. We risk our lives and we face a project as if it were the last one we do”, Gabriel Goity.
The actor comes from playing Matías Zambrano, the president of the consortium in “El Encargado” along with William Francella, a series by the duo of filmmakers Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat (creators of “El ciudadano Ilustre”, “4×4”, “Official Competition”, and more), on the Star+ platform, which belongs to the Disney conglomerate but in its content for adult audiences. This year, which promises the arrival of its second season, led him to the challenge of composing a fiction for boys and girls, an almost personal challenge due to its connection with Verne’s novel.
“I enjoy it very much. The real prize I feel is when they call me for a project. I’m excited to be cast in a character. I really like reading and I really encourage my children to turn to the book, take their heads a little off the screen and listen to the sound of the pages. Everything was a very big conjunction so that the enthusiasm I have is constant, the privilege of doing this profession that I love ”, she expresses.
* How does this story continue for you?
It is a version inspired by “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. Disney has the best authors who are dedicated to this. It seems very intelligent to me because it will stimulate the boys, they will ask themselves: who is Jules Verne? And with that curiosity, they are going to look for those books and find a wonderful world where imagination flies, which is what fundamentally stimulates this project. The finding is to give it a much more current look without losing the essence.
Gabriel Goity | Photo: Courtesy of the press.
Diego (sebastian garcia) and his friends, roam the Earth’s core. Protected by their suits and guided by their sensors, they detect the presence of a dinosaur, which they try to repel. The creature is not deterred, and the party of explorers runs towards a cliff from which they fall. But its dramatic ending fades when Diego’s older brother interrupts them and they remove their virtual reality goggles. Detail of the advancement of science, which frames the passage of decades through the versions that take Verne’s classic.
Journey to the Center of the Earth was first adapted into a film by 1959 Directed by Henry Levin and starring James Mason. Later it had a Spanish version in 1976, made by Juan Piquer Simón; and in 2008Eric Brevig presented his film for Walden Media and New Line Cinema with Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem y Seth Meyers. Until now, Disney has only adapted one of Verne’s books, “Around the World in 80 Days” (Frank Coraci) which premiered in 2004, with Jackie Chan.
In “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, Diego (Sebastián García), his brother and friends are sent by their parents to the camp of Pompilio Calderón (a charismatic Óscar Jaenada, after being Luisito Rey in the Luis Miguel series). There, a sequence of scenes will recall references to the best style “Twins game” (1999). But mainly it will connect you with a portal to another dimension.
The cast is completed with the performances of Manuel Márquez (Pedro), Paola Miguel (Ana), Valery Sais (Laura), Camila Núñez (Violeta), Carla Adell (Andrea), Emilio Treviño (Felipe), Israel Capetillo (Mauro), Camila Valero (Evelyn), Luigi Cerrada (Antonio), Luciana Tappan (Raquel), Daniel Sáez (Pote) and Maximiliano Uribe. While the direction is in charge of the filmmaker JM Cravioto (“Monarca”, “Diablero”).
For his part, Goity had the particularity of putting together the character without previous references. How was the experience of composing without having any records? With simple features you can appreciate the work of achieving a French accent, and the change in appearance with white hair, to resemble.
“Of course, because I only knew his work” — confirms the actor — “I refer to what the authors write in the scripts, how they saw this Jules Verne and from that I started thinking about how he would develop in their situations. I think that’s where I aimed and put my whole heart into it.”
At the beginning of the first episode, Verne writes a series of instructions for those who follow his legacy. Something that can even be interpreted in the generations that resignify and resignify for years, his story (first published in 1864).
Gabriel Goity | Photo: Courtesy of the press.
* Disney often connects us with that inner child, right? In your case, in addition to your experience as a boy with the novel, the work with a cast of boys and girls was added
We always have that child, because the actor has to play and there we have to bring him. The child plays and believes in the game: that the car that moves, works, and has sounds. The boys play with happiness, so I think that those of us who undertake our work have a responsibility that is to do it with happiness.
Or as his character says, “I lived everything in a parallel universe that I discovered.”
* “Journey to the Center of the Earth” is almost the first local production made for Disney +. We have seen soap operas from the Disney Channel (such as “Violeta”, “Soy Luna”, and so many) and also Star+ such as “El Encargado”. How do you see this realization of national content from the arrival to the Argentine audiences?
We have the best human resources, the best actresses and actors, producers and directors are in South America. They do very well to look here because there is a lot of desire. Here there is fervor to work, we take it almost personally and we risk our lives.
We are 24 hours a day thinking about how I am going to resist. All of my friends and the ones I know approach a project as if it were the last one we do in our lives. And with a clear conscience that you may not like it, but I left everything.
