Alberto Ammann, (“Narcos” “Cell 211”) and “The Eternaut” star César Troncoso are attached to star in Martin Aliaga’s upcoming drama “The Other Gómez.” The project, produced by Brazil’s Ark Entertainment and Andaluz Entertainment in co-production with Argentina’s Albatroz Media, is one of the selected works at this year’s prestigious Málaga Festival Fund Co-production Event (MAFF). The event runs March 9-13.
“The Other Gómez” is currently in late development and is set to tell the story of William Puente, an anonymous accountant mistaken for the titular character, a lobbyist wanted for regulatory offenses and shadowy ties. Forced to assume the identity of the man he should fear, he discovers in power an irreversible vertigo. Between his own life and the intoxication of influence, he must decide who he is willing to become.
Aliaga will write the script alongside Marcelo Muller (“Clandestine Childhood”), Gianfranco Quattrini (“Encintados”) and Nicolas Gueilburt, with Ark Entertainment’s Mariana Ricciardi acting as lead producer following a successful run of projects that include the Emmy-nominated series “Impuros” and Brazil box office hit “My Sister and I.”
Speaking with Variety ahead of MAFF, Ricciardi said Ammann and Troncoso are not only “extraordinary Latin American actors whose recent work is finally being recognized worldwide, but they are also a fundamental creative asset in how we envision ‘The Other Gómez’ coming to life.” The producer also reiterated how the high-profile casting “brings significant international production value, positioning ‘The Other Gómez’ as a ‘glocal’ project that attracts international sales agents and Spanish production companies to this high-potential story.”
“I’ve had the privilege of working with Troncoso on four previous projects, and the possibility of having Ammann as this ‘other’ Gómez feels like a perfect match for the film’s universe,” she added. “At this stage, as we continue to develop and finance the project, imagining them inhabiting these roles gives a very concrete shape to the story’s emotional stakes and to the dynamic of the double at the heart of the film.”
Ricciardi emphasized that what makes “The Other Gómez” unique is “its ability to transform the myth of the double into a pop thriller with sharp, acerbic humor about the contemporary urge to be what one is not.” By portraying corruption as a human and intimate phenomenon, rather than merely an institutional one, the film explores identity, ambition, and artificiality with Latin humor and global resonance,” she added. “It’s a story that provokes laughter and discomfort at the same time, precisely because it feels so deeply familiar.”
Director Aliaga added that, with ‘The Other Gómez,’ he is setting out to explore a “very simple but unsettling question”: “What happens when a man who feels invisible is suddenly offered the chance to become someone else?”
“The project is conceived as a thriller infused with dark comedy, rooted in the doppelgänger tradition, a tangible double that forces him to confront his own fears and desires,” he went on. “Even at this stage of development, I imagine the film with a sharp visual language built on symmetry and duality, constantly playing with deception and shifting identities.”
Aliaga noted how, from the very beginning, both he and Ricciardi felt the story needed “two actors capable of embodying that tension between the ordinary man and his more seductive, dangerous double.” “Alberto and César strike me as ideal partners for this, because they bring emotional depth, intelligence and a strong presence on screen. While we are still in the development and packaging phase and many things can evolve, thinking of them in these roles has been essential in how I imagine the tone, rhythm and inner conflict of the film,” he concluded.
“The Other Gómez” is supported by Argentina’s Incaa Mecenazgo Participación Cultural and Fondo Nacional de Las Artes, pan-regional fund Ibermedia, Spain Fundación Carolina and the Brazil’s Federal Fund.
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