By Vanessa Erazo
As we previously reported a film based on the life of Mexican pop icon, Gloria Trevi, began shooting in Mexico City late last month. In a new twist, lawyers on behalf of the songstress have sent a cease-and-desist letter to the producers of the film, tentatively titled Gloria.
The biopic is a collaboration between Rio Negro in Mexico, Ocean Films Brasil and U.S.-based producers Barrie Osborne and Alan Curtiss. Several weeks before the shoot began Trevi told a Mexican newspaper the film was unauthorized. The producers immediately responded that the script, written by award-winning Mexican playwright Sabina Berman, was based on extensive interviews with Trevi. They also claim to have a signed, notarized contract that gives them the authorization to make the film and use her music.
Last week Trevi’s lawyers released the following statement: “The project is being developed without script authorization on behalf of Gloria Trevi. In addition, the limited authorization that might have existed under contract has expired and it was not and will not be renewed by Gloria.”
The producers immediately responded in a separate statement, “The contract is not subject to script authorization on behalf of Gloria Trevi; in fact she read the screenplay in 2010, was fully in agreement and even passed along some notes which have since been included.” The contract signed by Trevi is said to stipulate that the producers retained rights to her story until December 1, 2013. In accordance with the written document and to avoid having the rights revert to the singer, the shoot began on November 29, 2013.
It is unclear if recent developments will affect the film, which is actively in production.
Directed by newcomer Christian Keller and starring Sofia Espinosa and Marco Perez, Gloria traces the controversial singer’s ascent to stardom throughout the eighties and nineties as a teenaged pop star and later as a solo artist and recounts her arrest in 2000 on charges of kidnapping and corruption of minors, her incarceration in Brazil, and her release from jail in 2004 all while heavily featuring her music.
In any event, it’s time someone made this movie. Gloria Trevi’s epic rise and fall is ripe for a cinematic reenactment. There’s even enough material for a sequel. In 2011, her husband, Armando Gomez, was kidnapped and subsequently released after a ransom was paid to his abductors. Just a few months ago, several suspects were detained in connection with the crime. One of the alleged captors is Trevi’s own godmother. The hoopla continues.
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