Diksha Sundriyal
Directed by Álex de la Iglesia, Netflix’s ‘1992’ is a crime thriller series that starts with a fire that kills several innocent people. When Amparo’s husband is also killed in the fire, she decides to find the truth behind it. While others believe that the fire was an accident, Amparo believes that it was deliberately started by someone, and people like her husband became the collateral in someone else’s murder. She comes to this conclusion after seeing a figurine named Curro in the hands of a victim. The investigation leads Amparo to the events that took place at the Seville Expo in 1992. Interestingly, there really was an expo of the scale mentioned in the series.
The Show Uses a Real Incident as the Foundation of Its Story
‘1992’ is a fictional series created by Álex de la Iglesia and Jorge Guerricaechevarría, based on the script of Pablo Tébar and Jorge Valdano. The part about the serial killings and all the plot points related to it are highly fictional. Still, the story remains grounded in truth by referencing one of the most well-known events in Spanish history. It set its roots in the Seville Expo ’92, which took place from April 20 to October 12, 1992, on La Isla de La Cartuja in Seville. The expo was meant to celebrate Christopher Columbus’ life and legacy, especially marking the 500th anniversary of his journey’s end in America, which started in Seville. In remembrance of Columbus’ ship, an exact replica of the Nao Victoria was created. However, it had a bit of an accident when it upturned shortly after its launch in November 1991.
Several external factors were held responsible for the incident, in which no lives were lost. The expo had another incident in February 1992 when the Pavilion of Discoveries, a newly built and highly anticipated building in the expo, was destroyed in a fire. Investigation revealed that it was an accident, and no foul play was discovered behind it. Despite these incidents, the expo went forward without a hitch and remains one of the most iconic moments in the nation’s history. Director Álex de la Iglesia was young when the expo happened, but he remembers the fervor around it and how the incidents created a wave of theories and whatnot in the masses. Looking back at his memories of the time, the director sees it as a mix of emotions, as some really bad things happened at the expo that was supposed to be a celebration.
He also remembers the confusion around the events of the boat and the fire and how, to some, it still remains a mystery. On top of that, the expo was supposed to represent Spain’s step forward into a brighter future, but it was marred by things that still plague the society. De la Iglesia saw a lot of depth and symbolism in the references to the expo and found it to be a great premise to set a story that explores complicated themes and circumstances. Moreover, he wanted a story that would not only entertain the masses but also make them stop and re-think the events they thought they knew everything about.
The Fictional Curro Killer Reinvents the Expo’s Mascot
Considering the big deal that the expo was, a competition was held to determine the mascot for it. Heinz Edelmann won it with his design of a bird with elephant legs and rainbow-colored beak and crest, whom he called Curro, after his pet chihuahua. The mascot took on a life of its own and is still seen as a reminder of the expo. However, time has not been so kind to it. Álex de la Iglesia remembered the importance of the mascot from his childhood, which is why he was startled after seeing the photos of Curro’s cemetery on the Internet one day. Their chipped-away, decayed forms seemed to form a different story than what they were originally made for. That’s where he came up with the idea of flipping the script on the mascot’s happy image, which led to the formation of the Curro Killer.
In the show, the Curro Killer is on a killing spree, targeting the people who have a connection to the expo. In real life, there is no such killer. His story is completely imagined by the writers of the Netflix series and presents a “What if” version of events surrounding the expo, with no base in reality. The primary idea behind the Curro killer was to dive into the contradictory nature of mascots, to explore the depths of something that appears as one thing but turns out to be something completely different. The director was inspired by Frankenstein and Freddy Krueger, with Kick-Ass thrown into the mix to create the look of the Curro killer. ‘The Murders at the Wax Museum,’ ‘Se7en,’ and ‘The Blade Runner’ were also cited as the inspiration behind the TV show. The intention, at the end of the day, was to make him seem so realistic that the audience wouldn’t find it too far-fetched to believe that a killer like this could exist and wreak havoc on the world.
Read More: Best Serial Killer Movies on Netflix
