EXCLUSIVE: The Lives of Others star Sebastian Koch and The Loss of life of My Mom‘s Elsie de Brauw have joined Máxima, RTL’s upcoming drama concerning the Argentine-born Queen of the Netherlands. Germany’s Beta Movie has additionally joined the Millstreet Movies manufacturing.
Principal images on the six-part drama for RTL’s streamer Videoland started final month in New York and Madrid in Spain, which subbed in for Buenos Aires, and is about to maneuver to the Netherlands and Belgium with its forged rounded out.
German star Koch joins the forged within the function of Claus von Amsberg, the daddy of Crown Prince King Willem-Alexander, and Elsie de Brauw will play Queen Beatrix. Koch has appeared in 2007 Academy Award-winning characteristic The Lives of Others, Tom Hanks starrer Bridge of Spies and Showtime sequence Homeland.
Queen Máxima is portrayed by Argentinian star Delfina Chaves (The Secret of the Greco Household) and Prince Willem-Alexander, by Martijn Lakemeier (The East), as we reported in March.
Beta will co-produce alongside Rachel van Bommel’s Dutch indie Millstreet and FBO, and has acquired Worldwide gross sales rights. Saskia Diesing directs along with Joosje Duk and Iván López Núñez. Marnie Blok and Ilse Ott led the author’s room and van Bommel produces for Millstreet.
Máxima relies on the e-book ‘Máxima Zorreguieta: Motherland’ by Marcia Luyten, which was revealed by De Bezige Bij within the Netherlands, and tells the story of how Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti turned Dutch royalty and what her life has since been like. An Argentinian version was revealed by Planeta in Buenos Aires in December 2022.
The primary season depicts Maxima’s first encounter with then-Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and her path to changing into a public determine, highlighting her dedication and ambition, in addition to her wrestle to steadiness the loyalty to her household and her personal id. The controversial previous of her father and his function in Argentina’s autocratic Videla regime will probably be instructed in flashbacks.
“The power of this sequence lies within the standpoint of our foremost character, of Máxima,” stated Millstreet producer van Bommel. “By experiencing every thing from her perspective, the main target is totally different than one may count on. We are going to at all times see the story unfold via her eyes. That’s what will seize the viewers’ hearts.”
‘That is an precise particular person’
In an interview with Deadline, van Bommel stated: “Everyone knows The Crown, however within the Netherlands we’ve a royal household that may be very interesting to Dutch and German audiences and Maxima is a personality who modifications the way in which individuals take into consideration them. The e-book — and the sequence — focuses on her upbringing, together with her social climber dad and mom, and the place she comes from.”
Van Bommel secured the rights to the e-book after approaching journalist and writer Luyten and went into an extended interval of growth. “That is an precise particular person, a mom of three daughters, and the accountability to not fictionalize every thing arises.”
Millstreet began the casting course of for the Maxima function in Argentina. “We had the posh of actually good actresses casting for the function, as we had no thought there could be large curiosity however there was,” stated van Bommel. Lakemeier travelled to the nation to do chemistry assessments with 5 actresses, with Chaves in the end proving the clear selection.
“The undertaking was fairly superior after we learn the scripts,” stated Justus Riesenkampff, Beta’s EVP Nordics & Benelux. “It’s uncommon we discover a undertaking popping out of Europe with such an genuine worldwide enchantment from the very starting. There’s an ongoing curiosity with these type of tales — a girls from a Latin America marrying into probably the most prestigious European households — and in Germany, Sebastian Koch enjoying Klaus, Maxima’s father-in-law, will present extra curiosity.”
Riesenkampff added Beta was “very assured with the price range, which is far greater than every other weve seen out of Holland,” and stated the German firm hoped “it’s the first of many to return from the nation on that degree.
“It’s a love story, an exhilarating drama and a conflict of cultures – Argentina’s navy junta vs. the royal home of the Netherlands – the place our protagonists should cope with their opposing familial heritages,” he stated. “This distinctive mixture is why we count on the sequence to resonate effectively with audiences the world over.”
Van Bommel, in the meantime, stated early plans for a second season are underway. “We are able to undoubtedly make a number of seasons and we’re already researching for season 2 — it takes a very long time,” she added. “We’ll inform the primary 30 years of Máxima’s life in season 1, however she’s now 52, with three stunning daughters, so we’ve heaps extra story to inform.”