Leo Zimbrón of 3Pas Studios: “Instintos Inaugurates Our International Collaborations”

The thriller film Instintos, debuting on ViX starting Friday the 29th in the U.S. and Latin America, produced by 3Pas Studios, BTF and AF Films, marks the beginning of their international collaborations, according to Leonardo Zimbrón. “It’s the first one that’s fully finished and ready for a general audience, and it’s a proper co-production. We’re very proud of it. This is the start of a great path of internationalization among different studios. Doing it with ViX, with our partners, with Kate (del Castillo), with Bruno (Bichir), with Daniela (Schmidt) is truly an honor,” Zimbrón told PRODU.

Zimbrón, who is one of the producers for 3Pas Studios, also serves as SVP Film & TV Producer, International Co-productions for the company.

Instintos is the third or fourth film that 3Pas Studios has made for ViX. “And in series, well, there have also been several projects that have gone through. Without a doubt, the relationship with ViX is very solid and we hope to continue working together for a long time,” he said.

The screenplay for Instintos is by Till Osterland, with Ben Odell, Leonardo Zimbrón and Frank Ariza as producers; Francisco Cordero and Eugenio Derbez as executive producers; and direction by Argentine Sebastián Borensztein, “who is a genius in the genre,” said Zimbrón.

The stars are Kate del Castillo (Es Por Tu Bien, Volver A Caer), Bruno Bichir (Narcos, El Callejón De Los Milagros), and Daniela Schmidt (Dante Y Soledad, Latido).

The thriller follows Maggie (Kate del Castillo), in the final days of her pregnancy, who plans to spend a quiet weekend at her countryside home with her husband (Bruno Bichir), a prestigious psychologist, preparing for their baby’s arrival. But the couple is surprised by two criminals who break in and decide to stay until Monday, intending to drain their bank accounts. However, one of the intruders (Daniela Schmidt) has other plans… and with the baby’s arrival, unimaginable secrets will come to light.

FILMED IN SPAIN

Instintos was filmed in Spain. “We went to Spain because the formula was right. The conditions aligned for us to make it there. We’re very happy with the outcome. The quality of Spanish production is very high. Of course, the rebates are part of the strategy, but also the kind of story allowed us to tell it from a more neutral space, with a combination of talent that made complete sense, along with certain logistics that also worked for us to shoot there. Working with the team in Spain, both in production and postproduction, added so much to the film’s quality,” he explained.

He pointed out that they benefited from Madrid’s and the Canary Islands’ tax incentives in the production, which allowed them “to make the film we wanted, with the quality we wanted, within the financial and partnership structure we set from the beginning. We weren’t wrong, honestly. We’re very happy with the result—with how it looks, sounds, and feels.”

He explained that they adapted Till Osterland’s script: “It’s not precisely the original script. We had to make some changes to adjust it to the Hispanic American or Mexican idiosyncrasy, but the core of the story is there, and we couldn’t be any closer.”

Filming began in May of last year and wrapped in late October, with postproduction taking six months. It was ready by May.

He emphasized that director Sebastián Borensztein is a specialist. “Watching him work, how he moves the camera and pushes the actors. Even more so when you have such high-level actors in the cast. Every time Kate (del Castillo) performed an emotionally intense scene, giving everything she was feeling, it was something impressive. Bruno (Bichir) is also excellent, a fantastic performance. Iván Marcos, who is Spanish, has a training background that really shows when you see him on set. When you have actors at this level with a genre specialist like Sebastián, the result is wonderful. Every day we wrapped filming, we ended happy and exhausted from the emotions we had just witnessed live—and that comes through on screen. It’s a joy.”

He noted that Instintos takes place entirely in one house, with some exterior shots in the countryside. “The setting is wonderful, with a forest that plays an important role. All of this setting is part of the story. You’re in a beautiful, large place, but one that wants to trap you. That’s one of the wonderful contradictions that allows us to make an intense, entertaining film.”

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS

The producer mentioned that 3Pas Studios has several projects underway, both films and series. “International collaborations are solidifying. We made this movie together with Spain, but we’re also working with people in Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and more surprises. We’re working on something with Italy. We’re seeking many international collaborations. That’s the idea. Particularly for films, but also for series,” he said.

Zimbrón stressed that what he seeks is artistic collaboration: “to add up in terms of ideas—several heads think better than one, right? And when you have a combination of talents, regardless of their origins, those talents bring ideas, debate them, or you throw them all in a bowl, mix them up, and something really interesting comes out. Sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes it turns out badly, and you repeat the process until you have a very solid script.”

He added that collaboration also allows for pooling resources—not just money, but technical capabilities, production expertise, photographers, directors specialized in certain genres, “actors I don’t know but who join the story, and locations that might never have occurred to us for completing the story, but then your partner says, ‘I have the perfect house,’ and that adds to the story. International collaborations push us to expand our creative limits. I think we’re at a moment, both in the market and in technology, that allows us to dream big. This co-production strategy is about doing interesting things and dreaming big,” he said.