Year 2003, a murderer is loose and acts randomly, anywhere and at any time of the day or night, leaving a peculiar signature at the scene of the crime. This it could be the story of any documentary or fictional series set in any remote city in America, like Wisconsin for example “and we would be hooked”. However, this true story tIt took place in Madrid in a year when crime was skyrocketing, became known as the case of the ‘card murderer’ and had all the ingredients of a cinematographic story. For this reason, 20 years later, the producer Marga Luis and the director Amanda Sans, known for their previous work ‘¿Dónde está Marta?’, have decided to explore that event in the Netflix series ‘Shuffle: The Assassin’s Signature’.
In a video call interview with both, Marga Luis tells us what did the story have that made them decide to take it to the screen: “There were many elements to make a very big story, we had a serial killer who was very popular in the media and It caught our attention to write that account of how the events occurred, how they were told and what has happened 20 years later“. And he adds that “although it is a case where there is a convicted person, there were also some survivors who never told how it all happened.” Director Amanda Sans was fascinated by “how many layers it has and unexpected twists in the story. So many things happen, that the great job has been to distribute that information and play it at the level of the script structure, using those unexpected twists to give it that thriller bill”. And he adds that “at that level it was a sweet story”.
The case could have happened in Wisconsin and we would be hooked because, luckily, in Spain there are few serial killers
As a brief reminder of the case, after several months of terrorizing society with random killings that looked like executions, ex-soldier Alfredo Galán turned himself in and was convicted of six murders and three other attempts. From the crimes, from the appearance of letters in various scenarios, from the disseminated robot portraits, the testimony of witnesses and the leaking of reports the media created an image of the murderer that contrasts with that of the detainee after surrendering “They have sold us a story and then you see him unable to even look up and he is the image of the anti-hero, the opposite of the construction that the media did.
The intention, says the producer of the title, was give it a cinematic vision and turn it into a thriller because as Marga Luis says “the case could have happened in Wisconsin and we would have seen it here and we would be hooked because, luckily, here in Spain there are few serial killers.” Most of the serial killers that we know of and that fiction has portrayed have acted in the United States. Perhaps that is why when it was learned that there had been several murders and that next to the bodies appeared a card from the Spanish deckspecifically the suit of cups, the media found a vein. The media focused on analyzing the meaning of the letters while investigators searched for clues that would lead them to the murderer.
The media perspective is collected in the series with the Testimony of various crime journalists from major newspapers that tell how they lived those months. It was an unusual year because “the homicide rate was extremely high, with a crime approximately every 70 hours.” And with the case of the murderer in the deck, the social alarm created and there was a lot of pressure to solve the case. “We wanted to tell it from all these perspectives, also from the point of view of the investigation because it was an absolute challenge for the police and the civil guard who, in fact, worked together for the first time on that investigation,” says Marga Luis.
For Sans “the intention was also to provide a different and unprecedented point of view. We have given a significant role for the victims, the great forgotten ones, and we review the case to put it into perspective that (around the murderer) a certain movie is put together until everything collapses like a house of cards”. And he adds: “That great serial killer that the media turned into a myth becomes the antihero”.
Around the murderer a certain movie is mounted until everything collapses like a house of cards
The Serie run away from the chronological story because “for that there are many articles and reports”. “We wanted to build on the research because a lot of things hadn’t been told and based on that we’ve had the opportunity to do all those twists.” As Marga Luis explains, “there are robot portraits that don’t look alike at all, recognition rounds that instead of clarifying doubts throw up more, and we were also interested in talking about mental health, how the media treat murderers or leaks.” Also By putting the victims at the center of the story, it is essential to talk about the lack of civil responsibility in this case, taking into account that the murderer had been part of the army where he had access to weapons. “We also talked about the world of the military from 20 years ago,” he points out.
In that sense, the families of the victims and the people who survived have a lot to say. Marga Luis highlights the hardness of the story of the young man who was two years old when his father was murdered and who does not remember anything about him or Teresa, the owner of the Rojas bar who saw her son murdered and that he fought for his life after being shot several times. “She tells it with an integrity that was essential for us and even so, she left us fascinated. She doesn’t come just to tell her pain, but also to talk about the investigation, about the pressure. She needed to talk,” explains the producer. And she adds that “while the media and the police were trying like crazy to solve the case and giving blind blows, the victims were largely forgotten.”
The boom in the ‘true crime’ genre continues to grow and the creators of ‘Baraja: la firma del asesino’ or ‘¿Dónde está Marta?’ They appreciate it because for them “it’s fascinating.” But they clarify that within the genre there is everything. “It interests me, I love it and I’m passionate as long as it allows me to go beyond the facts,” says Marga Luis. “One has to differentiate the merely descriptivewhich recounts the facts explained with morbidity and with dramatic music or the one who is rigorous who does an investigation, who contributes new data about the story, a new perspective, an in-depth review of the case. That is to say, that it is situated in another place and is not a mere morbid description of the facts”, distinguishes Amanda Sans.
From ‘Baraja: the killer’s signature’ the creators stand out all those keys included in the series as the testimonies of survivors, investigators, journalists or companion of Alfredo Galán in which army that, above all, “They help a little to demystify that serial killer that was created”. And after seeing it, two big questions remain: what happened to that first card in the deck and what would have happened if the murderer had not turned himself in.
