Jordi Mollà: "For twenty years I haven't known what it's like to get up at my home to go to work"

BarcelonaWhen Barcelona is the setting for series or films, its most touristy and stereotypical image is very often projected. But the Catalan capital is not just a holiday epicenter, it is also a technological hub and this is the aspect that "Day One" wants to show, the thriller that arrives this Friday on Prime Video and can also be seen on 3Cat this March (when it is broadcast on Catalan public television it will be titled "Dia u"). The six-episode series focuses on a computer prodigy, played by Álex González, who returns to Barcelona when he is alerted that a major technological innovation could put humanity at risk. The series features the participation of the Mobile World Congress, which has contributed to its production.

In Day One there is action, murders, technology and even a technooilarch played by Jordi Mollà. After many years of consecutive projects abroad, the actor from L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, known for landmark Spanish cinema films such as Jamón jamón or Historias del Kronen, has returned to Catalonia to play a character with real-life references. "Basically, I was inspired by Steve Jobs, for his vibe. He was a guy who had the guts to give conferences in shorts and barefoot, or with a black turtleneck sweater. At the time he appeared, California was a neutron bomb: post-Vietnam, LSD... They must have had a great time. It's amazing that Hewlett-Packard hired him as a kid," explains Mollà to ARA. The technological entrepreneur the actor plays is called Diskin and claims he is about to launch a technology, Day One, that will change the world forever. His ambition means he knows no moral or ethical limits.

In real life, Mollà's relationship with technology is more distant. "I don't use ChatGPT or Google Maps. What's important with artificial intelligence is knowing how to use it and not letting it use you. I think we still haven't understood what AI is, everyone talks about it but we don't really know what it is. It's like a bomb that has fallen on us suddenly. Technology interests me a lot, but I hire people who know how to use it. I know what I want and they do it. I don't need to know how to use it," he reflects.

In recent years, Mollà has worked mainly on international productions, such as the series Jack Ryan or Hunting season, the latest film starring Mel Gibson. Day One and the film Leones de invierno, which he is filming in Madrid, have allowed him to return home. "For twenty years I haven't known what it's like to wake up at my home to go to work because I work away. Here in Barcelona I have been sleeping in a hotel, but I was born here. Working here has been great because when I finished I knew exactly where I wanted to go for dinner, I have everything under control. If I go to Montreal and stay for two months like I did, the question is always 'where am I going?'. Here, on the other hand, it was 'I'm not shooting on Saturday? Then I'll go for some patatas bravas at Tomàs'.

Catalan cast

Beyond Mollà, the series features other Catalan actors such as Mercè Martínez and Ivan Massagué. The latter plays a police detective tasked with investigating a murder connected to Diskin. "It's a series that shows us the potential Barcelona has and a story we've invented which, in the end, is quite close to the reality we live in. [Barcelona as a setting] shouldn't just be Woody Allen showing off the Sagrada Família," remarks Massagué. The actor also has Gènesi, the series about Ferran Adrià that will be available on 3Cat, in which he plays Juli Soler, the architect of El Bulli alongside the chef.

The technological Barcelona shown in Day One has used settings such as the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS), the ALBA Synchrotron, the Talent Arena, the Collserola Tower, Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), the Mirador Torre Glòries, or the 22@ district.