“The Outlaws” offers an alternative history, set in Portugal in the 1980s, where a dystopian dictatorship has taken over much of the world after World War II. Director and writer Bruno Gascon, along with lead actor Tomás Alves, sat down with Variety to speak about the six-part miniseries at the Italian Global Series Festival in Rimini where the show had its world premiere.
In “The Outlaws,” a carpenter, Mario, played by Alves, resists the regime by helping fugitives escape the system at great danger to himself.
“It comes from the idea that the world is changing and history repeats itself,” Gascon said. “I wanted to create a story that actually talked about what happened in history before and what is going on right now in the whole world, and draw parallels between the past and the present. Our characters live in a dystopian world where you can see what happens during a dictatorship and its evolution over the years.”
The inspiration comes from the fact that fascism and dictatorship didn’t end with World War II in reality either. “In Portugal, we had a dictatorship until 1974,” Gascon says. “We need to remind people what happens if we start going again in that direction. You don’t have any progress. Your rights are totally blocked. You start to lose empathy with each other, and like everyone is always afraid of the people near them, so they’re always really cautious. And the idea was to create this sort of power that you don’t see, that actually controls you.”
“Years pass during the series,” Alves says. “During the first half of the series I thought of pressure really pressing down on this character, but the sense of justice and the appeal of empathy and the fight for human rights made him, step by step, go out and try to survive that environment. My character is the only one who goes through the whole arc. And you can see in this character, the result of that pressure. And ultimately, in the end, he has to decide what he wants to do in order to survive.”
Gascon has moved between cinema with films such as the 2018 human trafficking drama “Carga” and the 2024 crime series “Irreverible.” He says that in Portugal the tradition is to have one off miniseries rather than coming back for continuing seasons. In TV, he argues: “You can create more depth between characters, inside characters, you can create more secondary roles. And you can create more layers and more situations that build up the story even more.”
The show has a cinematic feel, and Gascon is not afraid of keeping the camera still and letting the action play out in front of it. “My idea is to create a window and you’re watching the whole world falling apart. That way they can see the details in the shots as well. The idea is always to create a cinematic approach,” Gascon says.
For Alves, the message is ultimately one of hope. “Like Mario, you have to find a way of resisting and yet somehow being at peace with yourself.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
variety.com
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