Let the Light In: Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo on La Mesías

Affectionately known as “Los Javis,” writing-directing duo Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo made an auspicious appearance in the Cannes competition with their musical drama La bola negra (2026), which won them the prestigious Best Director prize. Then selected as Spain’s official submission for the 2027 Oscars, the film premiered to twenty minutes of rapturous applause, one of the longest standing ovations in Cannes history. For these longtime collaborators, breaking records has become something of a habit. Before garnering acclaim for La bola negra, the duo caused a stir with the sprawling and genre-bending La Mesías (2023), which currently reigns as the most awarded TV series in Spain. Spanning from the 1980s to the present day, this twisty tale of a family undone reveals the deep psychological wounds left by religious fanaticism, for which art and cinema prove to be the healing cure.

The duo’s creative partnership began in theater, which led to a string of successful stage as well as TV productions, including the highly rated Veneno (2020), a decades-spanning series about Spanish trans icon Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez. Music recurs as a vital motif throughout these early triumphs, and La Mesías kicks off with an introduction to a viral sensation: a Christian pop group named Stella Maris, whose homemade costumes and kitschy videos elicit both bewilderment and mockery. For estranged siblings Enric and Irene, these bizarre pop songs of worship are more than a mere fad. Over seven gripping episodes that blend thriller, horror, and poignant drama, the show follows the tormented brother and sister on two parallel odysseys. Looking back on their painful childhood and adolescence—in which they grew up with their domineering mother Montserrat, who has since become a cult leader—the pair embark on a race against time to save themselves, and others, from her malevolent spell.

In both tone and style, La Mesías is wonderfully uncategorizable. Though plumbing the shocking depths of familial cruelty and religious brainwashing, the series finds bracing humor and emotional catharsis even in times of misery. Here, make-believe is at once a method of control and a path to escape. In contrast to the tall tales told by Montserrat, a VHS copy of Singin’ in the Rain (1952) smuggles joy into the sequestered life once shared by Enric and Irene. Looking back on La Mesías’s production, Los Javis discuss the difficulty of obtaining the rights to beloved cultural artefacts, the challenge of directing multiple actors playing the same role, and the meticulously stylized universe that La Mesías inhabits.

MUBI: La Mesías jumps between three main timelines. In terms of your writing process, how did you approach the challenge of interweaving past and present storylines while maintaining a sense of mystery and suspense?

JAVIER CALVO: It’s something we really like doing. We love it. We did it with Veneno, and we have repeated the same formula with La bola negra. There’s something about memory, and about connecting the dots between the past and the present, that we really, really like.

JAVIER AMBROSSI: Yes, and we also love the editing process. We are very fortunate to have a wonderful editor, Alberto Gutiérrez, who has worked with us since the beginning of our careers. We have become accustomed to writing with the editing process in mind. Playing with time is something we really enjoy, and it is gradually becoming an important part of our creative universe.

MUBI: In the series, we see the internal and physical transformations of Irene, Enric, and Montserrat over the decades. As each character is played by multiple actors, how did you work with the cast to maintain consistency and continuity in their performances?

CALVO: The actresses worked together extensively during rehearsals. We also tried to shoot the story chronologically. This meant that the actors playing the characters at a later age could watch footage of the younger actors and study what they were doing. They could then incorporate small gestures, mannerisms, and ways of behaving into their own performances.

AMBROSSI: It was something we had already done in Veneno, where three actresses played the same character. In La Mesías, we took that idea to its fullest possible expression. In the role of Montserrat, Lola Dueñas, Carmen Machi, and Ana Rujas rehearsed together on many occasions, both collectively and separately. They also watched one another’s footage, as Javi mentioned. The same applied to Roger Casamajor, Biel Rossell, and Bruno Núñez, all of whom played Enric. Whenever three actors were playing the same character, we brought them together. They spent weeks doing acting exercises as a group, followed by individual work.

Javi and I are fortunate enough to be both the writers and the directors. Because of that, we have a very detailed understanding of the characters’ emotional continuity. We have internalized it over all the years we have spent writing the series. We know exactly what each scene and each character means, and we are very persistent every day about establishing the characters’ starting points and emotional continuity: where they are emotionally when each scene begins.

MUBI: While Montserrat is the architect of her children’s misery, she is also, in many ways, a victim of her circumstances. How did you navigate the binary between victimization and empowerment to create such a complex character?

AMBROSSI: That was always the intention. The idea was to create something similar to Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master [2012], so that we could understand Montserrat from the very beginning: from her youth until her death. We wanted to follow her throughout her life and prevent the series from becoming something that simply criticized her. We wanted to understand her. I believe the series tries to understand every point of view in order to explain the complexity of what happens inside that house.

CALVO: We are all familiar with films and TV series about the leader of a cult, but there are not as many stories about the birth of such a leader. How is that personality formed? How does a woman like Montserrat eventually become the leader of a cult—in this case, a family cult? We found the psychology behind a person with that kind of narcissistic personality disorder extremely interesting.

AMBROSSI: Empathy is very important to us. We want every actor, including those who may only work with us for a single day, to understand what we are doing from a place of empathy.

MUBI: The songs performed by Stella Maris and composed by Catalan pop duo Hidrogenesse are incredibly catchy. How involved were you with the music department? Did you have specific reference points for how the group should look and sound?

AMBROSSI: We were completely involved. In fact, many of the songs that audiences see performed onscreen were written into the script.

When it came to Stella Maris, we were absolutely certain that it had to be something very camp, but also strongly influenced by internet art. We worked with many different creative talents—not only with Hidrogenesse, who are geniuses and immediately understood what we wanted to do, but also with Elena Rodríguez on the music videos, which are a fundamental part of the project. The costumes by Ana López Cobos were designed individually, dress by dress. Every music video has original costumes created specifically for it. Belén Martí Lluch choreographed the movements. Everything was created with enormous attention to detail, so that the final result could appear wild, unusual, and unique.

CALVO: We looked at real people who had experienced similar circumstances. One reference was Crystal Moselle’s documentary The Wolfpack [2015]. It’s about siblings who recreated films inside the apartment they were never allowed to leave. Another was the American rock band The Shaggs, who made music because God had supposedly instructed them to do so. They created that music in the basement of their home, and they had barely ever seen sunlight. 

There was a strong connection between confinement and the need to create. We wanted to explore how music and visual imagery are invented by people who have almost no references to the outside world.

MUBI: Alongside its original music, the series also features a wealth of classic tracks, including a haunting use of Pink Floyd’s “Mother” in the first episode. Was it difficult to secure the rights to that song?

CALVO: Very difficult.

AMBROSSI: Yes, it was extremely difficult. It was almost impossible. We eventually managed to obtain the rights because we knew that the song was perfect for the ending of that episode. These are legendary songs, so they are naturally very difficult to obtain. That song in particular was difficult to secure, but we were certain that we wanted it.

Apart from the songs—and there are many complicated music rights involved—the series also contains many other intellectual-property rights. For example, there are excerpts from Singin’ in the Rain. Those rights are almost impossible to secure because they are rarely granted to anyone. Obtaining them required a tremendous amount of work, including almost a year of legal negotiations. The same was true of using scenes from Titanic [1997]. 

I think the series is very rich because its universe is highly original, but also very real. For that universe to feel real, you have to work carefully on all the details: what the characters eat and drink, what they keep on their shelves, and what they watch on television. The films and cultural references they consume are essential. This is a series in which cinema and music are especially important. They represent a window of salvation for these characters. It was therefore essential that everything felt real, while also creating a sense of wonder for the audience.

MUBI: La Mesías explores multiple forms of worship, including Christian fundamentalism and devotion to UFOs. Cinema also emerges as a kind of religion. How did you arrive at Singin’ in the Rain as a key plot point in the series? Was the film your first choice?

CALVO: Yes, it was our first choice. Without Singin’ in the Rain, I don’t think the series would have existed. We knew it had to be a musical, and we knew it needed to possess that particular sense of joy. Singin’ in the Rain was very important because it is one of the quintessential musicals. It expresses that joy of dancing even when it is raining. We wanted that to be the film. It was difficult to secure the rights, but we eventually managed to get them.

MUBI: The series is full of amazing costume details. How involved were you with the wardrobe department? Did you create specific mood boards for each of the main characters?

AMBROSSI: Ana López’s costume design was extremely important. This applied not only to the clothes worn by Stella Maris, which were based on classic musicals and silent films, but also to those worn by the women inside the house. Those clothes had a certain cool quality, but at the same time conveyed a sense of neglect or abandonment, almost like the women in Grey Gardens [1975].

Irene’s character is particularly striking because of the electric blue that accompanies her throughout all three periods of her life. There is also Enric: In the present-day storyline, particularly, his look perfectly captures that of a film technician, with all his technical clothing. When all of these elements are combined, they create an enormous variety and a very rich overall design.

In addition to that, there is Montserrat’s character, whose evolution is constructed through costume in a very surprising way by Ana López. There is the young Montserrat, wearing a summery floral dress, and then there is the Montserrat who gradually transforms into a guru, dressed in her nightgown. Eventually, that nightgown and the sofa almost become a part of Montserrat herself.

MUBI: The brother-and-sister bond between Irene and Enric is the emotional beating heart of the series. Javier Ambrossi, Irene is also played by your sister, Macarena García, and you have worked with her on other projects. What is your collaborative process, and how has it evolved over the years?

AMBROSSI: My sister is one of the best actresses in Spain and one of the most important people in my life. For me, making this series with her was fortunate in two different ways. On the one hand, I was lucky to have access to her talent. On the other, I was fortunate to have her close to me as her brother.

Of course, when you are able to choose, it is wonderful to have your sister close to you all the time and to be able to share a passion with her. I don’t think there is anyone who can watch the series without falling in love with Macarena García.