Since his invention in 1919 in Johnston McCulley’s serial novel, Zorro has often hit the screens. Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, Alain Delon and Antonio Banderas wore the mask of the “cunning fox” to defend the widow and the orphan in the hills of Upper California. On television, Guy Williams made him famous in the Disney series from the late 1950s, which has since been broadcast around the world and whose credits (“A rider who emerges out of the night/Runs towards adventure at a gallop…”) still resonates in memories.
How can we reinvent this mythical character, bring him up to date without betraying him? The screenwriters Benjamin Charbit and Noé Debré chose to gently mock the myth, with a second degree which recalls the way in which Michel Hazanavicius had hijacked the figure of James Bond in the film series OSS 117. Like Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, the Zorro played (here too) by Jean Dujardin happily detracts from the image of the hero, without ever losing his elegance and charm.
When the series begins, Don Diego de la Vega has put his vigilante costume in the closet for twenty years and lives in the shadow of a tyrannical father (André Dussollier), mayor of Los Angeles for forty-eight years. Diego is supposed to take the reins of the town, for which he has major modernization projects, but the succession turns out to be more complicated than expected, faced with the rapacity of the notables and the stupidity of his constituents. Under pressure from Bernardo, his faithful mute servant, Zorro returns to service and finds himself seducing, almost without his knowledge, his wife Gabriela (Audrey Dana) who knows nothing of his double life.
Between leaping action scenes, vaudeville and mischievous criticism of the pitfalls of celebrity, the series lacks neither panache nor humor. Especially since Zorro is surrounded by a gallery of truculent characters, from the greedy Don Emmanuel, played with suaveness by Éric Elmosnino, to Sergeant Garcia, the eternally unlucky person to whom Grégory Gadebois brings a tasty tenderness.
Technical sheet
Genre comedy
Creation Benjamin Charbit and Noé Debré
To have on France 2 and france.tv
1 saison of 8 episodes of 40 minutes
