One of our favorite animation auteurs, the two time-Emmy-winning director Jorge R. Gutiérrez (The Book of Life, El Tigre, Maya and the Three) is experimenting with alternative ways of launching a new project. On Monday, he posted a 40-minute work-in-progress pilot for his fresh, adult animated series, El Guapo vs. the Narco Vampires on YouTube. The piece includes three-minutes of fully animated content (produced by Anima Estudios). The high-energy and hilarious project has already generated over 30,590 views in its first 18 hours of release online.
“This pilot, created with the help of an incredible cast and crew from both side of the US/Mexican border, is one of my ultimate dream projects!” Gutierrez tells Animation Magazine. “I had this crazy and super personal idea since my CalArts days, back in the mid ’90s. I grew up in my beloved and chaotic Tijuana in that era and things were pretty wild. A few years ago, I pitched it to Guillermo del Toro as my first live-action film since I didn’t think anyone in animation would let me make it. He laughed and told me to figure out how to get it made in animation since a live-action version could never capture what I was imagining. And here we are!”
Gutierrez says he hopes that if enough people around the world like what they see, he can find a studio partner to help finance and distribute this epic nine-episode (30-minutes episodes) adult animated series. “This is my first-ever foray into the indie adult animation world, so it’s a big, bold experiment for me,” he wrote on the YouTube project notes.
The storyline follows the adventures of a charming luchador called El Guapo (voiced by Gutierrez) in Tijuana who betrays his brother José during a championship match after selling his soul to a powerful narco-vampire cartel. After the death of both brothers, Guapo is sent to Hell, where he is granted one last chance to redeem himself. So, he comes back to the living world to protect his brother’s family from harm, but as fate would have it, he is pulled back into the world of the evil vampires.
Created by Gutierrez, the pilot was written by Gutierrez and his frequent collaborators Doug and Candie Langdale. It was produced by Tim Yoon. Sandra Equihua is the project’s creative consultant and character designer (along with Guiterrez and Diego Ramirez). Roman Laney is the art director. The storyboard panel designs are by Gus Casio and Eddie Triguerros. Gutierrez, Equihua, Grey DeLisle, John Dimaggio, Carlos Alazraqui, Eric Bauza, Hugo Morales, Esther Tejano and Tim Yoon round up the terrific voice cast.
We have our fingers crossed for a huge bidding war between Netflix, Amazon, HBO Max and Apple and over this fantastic gem!
You can watch the pilot below:
