MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥 For filmmaker Issa L贸pez, the first question was where?
鈥淭he moment I understood it was the Arctic, everything started falling into place,鈥 the director of told reporters in Mexico City ahead of Sunday's premiere on HBO and HBO Max. All six episodes were written and directed by L贸pez.
The Mexican director was looking for a region of the United States that had a totally different physical feel from the which were set in Louisiana, Los Angeles and Arkansas, respectively. And that鈥檚 how Ennis, a fictional and remote town in Alaska, came to be.
L贸pez conceived the season 鈥渋n the darkest time of the pandemic,鈥 infusing the story with a sense of loneliness and loss. plays Liz Danvers, a detective who suffered the death of her son and husband. Kali Reis stars as Evangeline Navarro, a detective who lost her mother to mental illness and worries about the same fate befalling her sister. Both seek to shed light on the disappearance of eight scientists from an isolated research station, and also face the unsolved murder of an Inuit woman who was an environmental activist and midwife.
L贸pez, who grew up in the 鈥渨ithout money and in a crazy situation and barely surviving,鈥 had a special interest in portraying violence against women and the disappearances of Indigenous people that are not investigated in the United States.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an absolutely terrifying situation among the Indigenous population, almost as what鈥檚 happening in Mexico,鈥 she said. 鈥淭he color of your skin is tied to your financial possibilities, your education, and your expectations in life and your expectations in death, apparently.鈥
Navarro is a woman of Dominican and Inuit descent; Danvers has an Inuit stepdaughter: 鈥淢aybe the biggest difference between our 鈥楾rue Detective,鈥 Season 4, and 鈥楾rue Detective鈥 1, 2 and 3 is that the two main detectives can relate to the victims,鈥 Foster said.
For Reis, developing Navarro's character was a complex process that required her to step into the shoes of a police officer 鈥 and reckon
鈥淚 being a woman and of color, and I also faced police brutality myself, I have been on the other end of playing Evangeline Navarro. So to jump right into the very thing that put a little bit of trauma in my own personal life was very interesting and kind of flipping it on its head,鈥 said Reis, who won two world titles and has Indigenous origins on her mother鈥檚 side.
The series is executive produced by Foster, L贸pez, Barry Jenkins, Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey and
It was filmed in subzero conditions in Iceland and in its opening credits feature 鈥渂ury a friend.鈥 L贸pez constantly listened to the artist while writing the plot 鈥 鈥渂ut I don鈥檛 want to give writing credit to Billie Eilish,鈥 joked the director. The song, she said, has several 鈥渃lues鈥 to what transpires in the series.
Another Mexican influence on the plot is the relationship with the dead and the supernatural, similar to the Rose Aguineau, played by is not scared of communicating with her deceased husband.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no way not to make it Mexican, it鈥檚 not an intention, it鈥檚 not that I said I鈥檓 going to make a Mexican series, it鈥檚 that I can鈥檛 not do it,鈥 L贸pez said. 鈥淲hat issues are there about Mexicanity? The absolute certainty that all Mexicans have that the dead are with us, we invite them to dine with us once a year, that鈥檚 what we are.鈥
