BTN News: Guillermo Francella greets EL PAÍS with this unsettling phrase during a video call. The actor portrays a cunning Buenos Aires doorman named Eliseo in the Argentine comedy El Encargado. Eliseo is a master manipulator, orchestrating events to his advantage. He not only keeps a close watch on the journalist but also on the residents of the building where he works. Eliseo knows their habits, preferences, and secrets, which he leverages for personal gain. In the first season, he used his twisted skills to win over the property owners one by one, convincing them to vote against the construction of a pool that would have left him homeless and jobless. In the second season, he teamed up with a former rival to tackle a common enemy, a new owner who suspected shady activities in the building. Now, in the third season (with the first two episodes already available on Disney+, and the remaining five arriving weekly), Eliseo takes it a step further by starting his own doorman company. What might seem like a union quickly takes on a suspiciously mafia-like nature under Eliseo’s leadership. Additionally, someone from his past returns to disrupt his life.
Francella passionately defends a character that allows him to explore new interpretive avenues. “He doesn’t bite unless bitten; he’s empathetic, and that’s why people love him,” he explains from one of the windows on the video call. “It’s a character I hadn’t encountered before, one that makes me layer myself to explore new things interpretatively, making me feel very fulfilled. It requires a lot of study; you have to study the script thoroughly. In some places, improvising helps, but here it conspires against you. Here, it’s better to follow the script because a lot of work has gone into it,” he adds.
At the helm of the script are Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, the creators and directors of this dark comedy. “It’s a character-driven series; the protagonist fascinates. He’s a living character, and as the seasons progress, we witness his mental evolution, his challenges, his concerns, and how his mind develops. He increasingly becomes a megalomaniac, someone who needs no one, fears no one, and enjoys playing with power,” says Gastón Duprat in another window of the video call. And just as the actor praises the scripts, the creators commend Francella’s performance. “There’s such a high acting standard that Guillermo brings, raising the bar for the rest of the cast and putting everyone on a very high level,” comments Mariano Cohn.
Actor and screenwriters have worked closely together in developing the character, the cornerstone of the entire series. Cohn and Duprat, who also created recent TV titles like Nada and Bellas Artes, conceived the story and protagonist with Francella in mind, having previously collaborated on the film Mi Obra Maestra (2018). Eliseo’s twisted personality and unique worldview emerged after hours of “heated debates” among the three, even before production began. Each contributed something of themselves to Eliseo and the series. As Gastón Duprat explains, “He has a bit of our three idiosyncrasies, with our differences and nuances. Guillermo naturally transitions from being sweet, tender, and warm to vile and wicked within a scene. Mariano has a very detailed vision of direction, giving it a lot of value, and often people tell us, and it’s a pleasure, that they can tell it’s our work. And I bring a very critical, analyzed perspective of reality. Together, we created this monster.”
This interpretive skill of Guillermo Francella, described by Duprat, is also highlighted by Mariano Cohn: “He has a mischief in his acting that’s unpredictable. From the moment we start filming, we rely on that and take it for granted that it will happen. It’s something very unique to Guillermo, who I believe is the best in the world at doing this, not just in Argentina. When we go out to film, we always know we’ll have that final sprint, that mischief that fills the scene with many extra things the actor brings in the moment.”
While the first season drew criticism from some doorman associations for its portrayal of them, the new episodes had already begun stirring up controversy even before their release. “One of the national discussion topics now is to what extent the unions [at odds with Milei] influence the Argentine scene. This season dives into this issue, and we’ll probably have to set up a customer service line to handle complaints,” says Mariano Cohn with an ironic smile. “We’ve already received calls and pressures even before the series aired,” he adds. However, Duprat doesn’t believe that, aside from that aspect, Argentina’s current political and social climate impacts their series. “We’re not looking to imply or symbolize things; it’s a sharp comedy series that has been successful in many countries worldwide, not dedicated to the Argentine context.”
In summary, El Encargado continues to captivate audiences with its complex, evolving protagonist, thanks to the meticulous work of Francella, Cohn, and Duprat. The series delves deep into the psyche of Eliseo, providing viewers with a fascinating character study set against the backdrop of dark comedy. As the new season unfolds, fans can expect more twists, turns, and the exceptional performance that has come to define this unique show.
