A scripted Netflix series about Frida Kahlo’s tumultuous relationship with her husband, Diego Rivera, is in the works. The show which is yet to be titled, is an adaptation of the novel Frida: The Award-Winning Novel about the Colourful and Captivating Life of Frida Kahlo by French writer Claire Berest.
According to Netflix, the series will depict how the legendary Mexican artist couple’s love, betrayals, and work were informed by the social and political environments of the time. It is not intended to portray the familiar grooves of Kahlo and Rivera’s lives and art, but rather uncover the humanity inside them. The project is early in development, and actors have not yet been announced. Patricia Riggen and Gabriel Ripstein will serve as co-directors, while Mónica Lozano of Alebrije Producciones will produce. María Renée Prudencio will serve as head writer.
“The ambition of this project is unprecedented,” said Carolina Leconte, vice president of content at Netflix Mexico, in an interview with Variety, who broke the news. “We want to show a real Frida – a Frida who seems to step out of the screen and take you by the hand so you can live her story alongside her, during one of the most significant eras in this country: a Mexico that Frida and Diego placed on the world map.”
Kahlo has long been the fascination of filmmakers and visual storytellers. Past projects about her life and work include director Julie Taymor’s 2002 biopic “Frida” starring Salma Hayek, which was nominated for several Academy Awards; a 2024 documentary of the same name by filmmaker Carla Gutiérrez, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; and a three-part docuseries from PBS that featured contributions from her biographer and great-niece, among other art historians and curators.
Interest in the late Mexican painters’ work has steadily climbed in recent years. Next week, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will unveil a new exhibition dedicated to artistic duo (the show, entitled Frida and Diego: The Last Dream, will run from March 21st through September 12th), which is organized in conjunction with The Metropolitan Opera’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, an opera by American composer Gabriela Lena Frank devoted to the painterly couple. The opera features libretto by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz and will run May 14th to June 5th.
In 2019, a major exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum was dedicated to Kahlo and featured a display of her personal clothing and possessions. It built upon a similar show presented at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2018.
