HBO Max starts recording ’City of god’, the platform’s new national series

HBO Max began recording the series CITY OF GOD. In six episodes, the platform’s new original national series takes place two decades after the story of the international award-winning film of the same name.

Produced by O2 Filmes, CITY OF GOD will continue the story of its legendary characters, with Buscapé’s memories as the starting point. The plot takes place in the early 2000s and features excerpts from the movie in flashbacks, to reconstruct the memories and affective memories of the protagonists. The series will be shot in São Paulo.

The cast of the series includes well-known characters from the movie: Alexandre Rodrigues returns in the role of Buscapé, Kiko Marques revives the role of Reginaldo (Cabeção) and Edson Oliveira as Barbantinho. In addition, Andréia Horta, Marcos Palmeira, Roberta Rodrigues, Sabrina Rosa, Jefferson Brasil, Thiago Martins, Eli Ferreira, Otávio Linhares, Rafael Lozano, Leandro Daniel and Luiz Bertazzo have also been confirmed. The CITY OF GOD series, as in the movie, highlights talent from communities such as Cidade de Deus, Vidigal, Mangueira and others. They are: Victor Andrade, Demétrio Nascimento, Luellem de Castro, Carol Dall Farra, Aretha Sadick, Dhonata Augusto, Jurema da Matta, Eduardo BR, Emilly Amaral, Shirley Cruz and Manuela Dourado.

“City of God is a work loved by the public and deals with themes that, even after 20 years, are still extremely relevant, both for Brazilians and for audiences anywhere in the world,” says Silvia Fu, Director of Content Production at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). “We are very excited to finally get this production off the ground and continue this story and such impactful characters.” 

In the feature film, the popular saying “if you run, you catch, if you stay, you eat” presents the City of God as an unsolvable place. In the series, the community ravaged by disputes between drug dealers, police and militia members brings a perspective of collective resistance.

CITY OF GOD is a Max Original series, produced by O2 Filmes, inspired by the work of Paulo Lins. The producers responsible for the project are Andrea Barata Ribeiro and Fernando Meirelles.  Aly Muritiba is the general director and Bruno Costa is the second director. The script is by Sérgio Machado, Renata Di Carmo, Armando Praça, Estevão Ribeiro, Rodrigo Felha and Muritiba. The series has no premiere date yet.