Malaga, 7 March. A journey to the past, to Marbella in the 80s, where luxury and parties sparkled in all their splendour. A powerful woman, owner of Marbella’s nightlife and of one of the nightclubs of the moment, has managed to bring the jet set together in one place, but everything changes in a second when a ghost from her past comes back to take revenge. This is the plot of the new Atresmedia series, Eva & Nicole, which was premiered this Thursday at the 27th edition of the Malaga Film Festival.

In a discussion, held in Room 1 of Cine Albéniz after the screening of the first episode, which was attended by some of the cast appearing in the series, the series’ creator Daniel Écija pointed out that the production 'revolves around love, revenge and success'.

'In the 80s, Marbella was beginning to become significant as a city in which you could feel free, and clear yourself of the mothballs and dandruff of the years under dictatorship. It was an incipient window to vice', the creator pointed out, later adding that he was 'very keen' to write about two women of different ages at odds with each other.

He also defines the series, which will have eight 50-minute episodes, as 'tremendously exciting, very brutal. It’s a classic novel and a beast'.
Eva & Nicole, played by Belén Rueda and Hiba Abouk respectively, are two women who became friends in Paris in 1972, when Nicole hired Eva as a waitress and showed her a world of nightlife. They began a friendship that lasted until the appearance of Manuel, an attractive man who captured their attention. A betrayal and love for a man caused their paths to separate forever, and they didn’t cross paths again until much later.

'As a woman and as an actress, it has been a challenge and at the same time a gift to play a powerful woman and businesswoman in the eighties, and even more so being two such recognised figures. This series aims to show that women are also capable of working, fighting, being mothers, warriors, lovers, everything... and as an actress I feel proud to play a woman like Nicole', admitted Abouk. 

For her part, Rueda pointed out that what they also wanted was to humanise these characters, who suffer, laugh, rejoice and cry. 'Marbella was full of people of luxury and appearance at that time. It was its golden age, and it put Spain on the world stage', he pointed out.

Although they have acknowledged that the characters of Nicole and Eva were inspired by Régine and Olivia, Rueda explains that 'nothing that has to do with a specific person is followed to the letter, but we have managed to humanise those we only saw through the press'. Moreover, Écija notes that other 'fictional celebrities also appear in our series, including Sean Connery and Liza Minnelli'.

The show also features Andrés Velencoso as Manuel, Nicole’s husband and the man of dispute from the past; Oliver Ruano as Oliver, Nicole’s son, the owner of an airfield with which Eva does business in Tangiers; and Belinda Whasington, Nicole’s trusted partner and right-hand woman.
All of them were also present at the talk.