Can Robert De Niro save America from the brink of apocalypse?

BarcelonaThe disaster genre has periodically performed well at the box office. It is also a type of fiction that usually works well on the small screen, especially if there is some kind of relationship, however slight, with current events. In this sense, the miniseries Day zero, which arrives this Thursday on Netflix, has many chances of becoming the protagonist of conversations among groups of friends and coworkers, especially among conspiracy fans. In the platform's new production, Robert De Niro plays a former president of the United States who agrees to lead a commission to investigate a massive cyber attack that has brought the country to collapse for a few hours, in addition to causing numerous deaths. The great fear of the American government is that this attack, of unknown origin, could happen again soon, as they have threatened those responsible for it anonymously.

With a lot of patriotic rhetoric, Day zero The film raises one of the most popular themes in American audiovisual media: how far are you willing to sacrifice yourself to save your country? George Mullen, played by De Niro, agrees to lead the commission, following the wishes of the President of the United States, played by Angela Bassett. The president sees in him a figure of consensus capable of confronting the populist, misinformed and conspiratorial discourse that prevails in the street after the cyber attack. It matters little that Mullen was only in the White House for one term and that he ended up retiring from politics following the death of his son.

One of the main people responsible for Mullen accepting the presidential position is a political advisor, Roger Carlson, played by Jesse Plemons. While he pressures the former president to step forward, the former president's daughter, played by Lizzy Caplan, does the opposite. Alexandra Mullen's position is based on personal interest: as a congresswoman for New York, she has been trying for years to escape the long shadow of her father and his political legacy. Beyond the daughter's reluctance, some scenes in the first episode suggest that the politician may not be in the best health condition to accept a job that will entail great pressure.

A fight against disinformation

When the miniseries premieres, viewers and media are likely to look for parallels with the current situation in the United States, marked by tension. However, its co-creator, Eric Newman, responsible for series such as Narcos, points out that the script of Day zero It's from three years ago. The screenwriter explained that the idea for the miniseries was born from his conversations with former NBC News president Noah Oppenheim about society's relationship with the truth. "You can look at two different news sources and come out with a completely different version of the truth, and that terrifies me, and when something scares me, in general, it inspires me," Newman explained at the miniseries' presentation event in London.

To play the protagonist, the creator needed an actor with sufficient entity and credibility and Newman assures that De Niro was at the top of his list of candidates. The protagonist of Taxi driver He accepted the role after a dinner with Newman and admits that he had been looking for a project that would allow him to work for five or six months in New York.

This is the first time that Robert De Niro has starred in a television drama. Day zero The film consists of six episodes and the 81-year-old actor admitted that the project was not exactly easy for him, because it was almost like "making three feature films." "I compare it to swimming across the English Channel. Swimming from France to England, looking back and not seeing France, and looking forward and not seeing England. You have to keep swimming or else you will end up sinking," explained the legendary actor at the London presentation.