Netflix has announced the acquisition of the rights to develop Gabriel García Márquez’s seminal novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” which was published in 1967. The novel 50 years before, Since its publication, the book has sold an estimated 50 million copies and has been translated into 46 languages. Now, it will be adapted for the screen for the first time.
Rodrigo García the executive producer along with his brother Gonzalo, said, “that his father,a Nobel Prize winning novelist, had received many offers over the years to adapt the book to film. But, while some of his shorter books were adapted, his father was concerned that “One Hundred Years of Solitude” would not translate well or fit within a single movie (or even two).”
Francisco Ramos, the vice president for Spanish language originals at Netflix, said, “He noted the success of series like “Narcos” and movies like “Roma,” which recently won the Oscar for best foreign language film, that have shown “we can make Spanish-language content for the world.”
Ramos said, “We know it’s going to be very magical and very important for Colombians and Latin America, but the novel is universal.” He also added that, It’s too early to know who will write for or be cast in the series, but the show would be shot in Columbia”.
García said, “since I was 8, I’ve been hearing the discussion about whether or not to sell the rights to ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, it was not an uncomplicated decision to make, for myself and my brother and my mom. It feels like a great chapter opened, but also a long chapter has closed.”
Netflix is the first to prove that people are more willing than ever to see series that are produced in foreign languages with subtitles.
