Oviedo Cathedral rejects Netflix request to film scenes from ‘La Regenta’

The chapter of Oviedo Cathedral has refused permission for Netflix to film parts of La Regenta inside the Asturian temple. The new adaptation, directed by Mar Coll and produced by Elastica Films, stars Ester Expósito as Ana Ozores, with Oriol Pla and Vito Sanz also in the cast.

The decision followed the review of around 25 pages of the screenplay submitted to the cathedral authorities. Dean Benito Gallego said the refusal was made exclusively by the chapter and not by the archbishop. He described filming certain scenes inside the cathedral as inappropriate, while acknowledging the novel’s literary importance.

Gallego also argued that Leopoldo Alas “Clarín’s” depiction of the clergy amounts to an explicit attack on the Church. In comments reported by La Nueva España, he compared the decision to refusing to provide a balcony from which someone could attack his mother.

The cathedral chapter cited logistical concerns as an additional reason. According to Gallego, closing the building for several days would have disrupted its normal activities. He recalled that the 1994 filming of Fernando Méndez-Leite’s television adaptation had caused repeated problems for the cathedral’s daily life and religious celebrations. The temple had also been used for Gonzalo Suárez’s 1974 version.

The chapter further pointed to the current volume of tourism, arguing that the steady flow of visitors would make it difficult to accommodate a large film production. The producer had offered the cathedral a standard paid filming agreement, but the refusal has not halted the project.

Filming began in Pola de Somiedo on Monday. The sequences initially planned for the cathedral will instead be adapted to locations in the Basque Country, which was already scheduled to host other parts of the production.

Coll adapted the novel with Anna R. Costa and Diego Vega. In Netflix’s announcement of the shoot, the director said she had approached Clarín’s work from a highly personal perspective, focusing on Ana Ozores’s loneliness, heartbreak and search for meaning.

The dispute echoes earlier opposition to the novel. In 1885, Oviedo bishop Ramón Martínez Vigil described La Regenta in a pastoral letter as a mockery of Christian practices. The story is set in the fictional city of Vetusta, whose locations are widely associated with Oviedo.

Sources: El País Cultura.