Money Heist has been a blessing in disguise to many during this quarantine time. The fan base of the show is increasing day by day, the credit goes to the powerful characters and the unpredictable script of the show. With four seasons till now the heist has always generated a sense of curiosity among the fans. The Spanish web series has been dubbed in English and can also be watched with subtitles.
1. Money Heist was first aired on Spanish TV channel Antena 3 in May 2017.
2. Original title of the show is La Casa de Papel which translated to The House of Paper.
Thou La Casa de Papel was not the first choice. The show was originally titled Desahuciados, a Spanish term meaning ‘hopeless’ or ‘irredeemable’.
3. The show was deemed a failure in Spain and was almost canceled after season 1.
The first episode drew in 4.5 million viewers but eventually the show lost audience enthusiasm and the makers had accepted the doom of the show.
4. Then Netflix picked up the show re-titled it as Money Heist and added it in its international catalog.
Despite the fact that almost no advertisement was done, Netflix’s gamble seemed to be beneficial. The show and cast were surprised by the response and the rest is history.
5. Money Heist is the top viewed show on Netflix in six countries.
The countries are France, Italy, Chile, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina. The show became Netflix’s most-watched show in 2019, and has a rating of 8.5 on IMDb.
6. Tokyo was the first character to get a name and this is how it happened.
Director and producer of the show Jesus Colmenar shared that one day Money Heist creator Alex Pina came to work wearing a shirt that had the word “Tokyo” printed in front. It was then Colmenar thought “Tokyo” would be the perfect name for a character.
And in another 15 minutes names other city names such as Moscow, Denver, Berlin came up.
7. The iconic Dali mask is actually a tribute to the famous painter Salvador Dalí.
Salvador Dalí was a renowned Spanish artist famous for his surrealist paintings and his anti-modern capitalist views.
8. The Professor also has a city name.
In an interview with Rappler, Alvaro Morte, the actor who plays The Professor shared,
“The concept of what it is fits him, but we have to remove the religious components. This would be Vatican City. It’s a state city. A very small one. But like The Professor, it’s always shielded, and at the same time, it has a great power all over the world.”
9. Stephen King and Neymar Jr are some of the most popular fans of the show.
Many celebrities have donned the red jumpsuit and the Dali mask. Neymar even made a cameo as a monk in Part 3 of Season 2.
Netflix has relaunched 2 episodes form season 3 of "La Casa de Papel" with Neymar in it portraying a monk. They were originally held back due to the rape allegations. In this caption he says "I dont like football nor parties". Really in The Upside Down.. pic.twitter.com/Y8D55qZi7a
— André Noruega (@AndreOstgaard) August 27, 2019
10. The show never left Spain while shooting season 1 and season 2.
Money Heist has always been an internationally focused show and all that was recreated and lot of CGI work.
11. Seasons 3 and 4, however, saw a significant boost to the show’s budget thanks to its acquisition by Netflix.
12. The break into the Bank of Spain is as realistic as possible.
The team did substantial research on the defense mechanisms of the actual Bank of Spain’s vault (because just like in the show, the vault in real life floods itself in case of a breach). The makers even hired a marine engineer to help design the antechamber which can address the said defense mechanisms.
13. The series has also inspired few real robberies incidents.
14. Scripts for Money Heist aren’t written in advance rather they are written alongside filming.
This gives no one an idea where the show will go.
15. Bella Ciao was a song of protest long before Money Heist.
During World War II Bella Ciao was used to rally the antifascist resistance in Italy. The song is played multiple more times in the show making it one of the show’s key elements. The song is a symbol of victory in the midst of rebellion.
