Ana María Polo, Chile’s Forastero to Adapt Telemundo Show ‘Caso Cerrado’ as Film
By Emiliano De Pablos
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Latin TV personality Ana María Polo and Chile’s Forastero, producer of the Golden Globe-nominated film “The Maid,” are teaming to develop and produce a feature based on her renowned Telemundo show “Caso Cerrado.”
Polo will play a leading role in the movie.
Diego Ayala, co-scribe on Netflix musical bio series “Luis Miguel” and Nicolás López hit comedy “Sin filtro,” has been tapped to write the film.
Ángel Zambrano, a former SVP of content for Turner Latin America and founder of development company Condeco, is joining the project as executive producer.
“Caso Cerrado: La Película” will roll during the second half of the year in México, Panamá and the Caribbean, among other locations. It is planned for release in early 2021.
A popular Cuban-American lawyer, Polo has hosted her hit court show “Caso Cerrado” for more than 18 years in which it has broadcast across the U.S. and 22 Latin American countries. She’s won the Positive Impact Award for Latin leaders at Hispanicize 2018, among other prizes.
“Throughout all these years I have received several proposals to make a film, however, this creative concept from Forastero captivated me because, more than replicating the ‘Caso Cerrado’ format, what we will do is to offer the audience a completely different experience than what they are used to see during the television show,” Polo said in a statement.
“As a writer, being able to work with this iconic character is something unique in life. Therefore, the story will have a lot of respect for the character of Dr. Polo but, at the same time, it will take the necessary licenses to really surprise the viewer,” Ayala said.
“You rarely find yourself with the possibility of working with people as relevant to the Hispanic world as Dr. Polo. I am convinced that the result will be a film of great importance and market impact,” Zambrano added.
Led by Gregorio González and Florencia Larrea, Forastero’s first movie production, Sebastián Silva’s “The Maid,” won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize Dramatic at Sundance and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film in 2009.
With Dominga Sotomayor’s “Thursday Till Friday” (2012) Forastero snagged a Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and, in 2014, the Best Movie Award in Santiago’s SANFIC festival with Rodrigo Sepúlveda’s “Aurora.” In 2020 Forastero will release Sepúlveda’s next film, Chilean drama “My Tender Matador.”
