Marbella hosts secret shoot of Yellowstone series creator's new feature thriller

If there's one person everyone in Hollywood wants to work with today, it's Taylor Sheridan. The screenwriter who revolutionised the thriller genre with Sicario (2015) has seen his influence grow over the last decade, especially thanks to series with acclaimed titles like Tulsa King, Lioness and Landman.

One title in his portfolio, however, has truly captured the attention of viewers: Yellowstone. The legendary series cemented Sheridan's status as the leading guru of the American entertainment industry.

This included his clash with the franchise's star, Kevin Costner, which led to the actor's departure and the show's abrupt cancellation. However, this didn't stop the creator from expanding the universe of his modern Montana western with spin-offs like Dutton Ranch and Marshals.

Sheridan hasn't stopped producing new thrillers that aim high. A few months ago, he was in Spain for the filming of F.A.S.T., which included a stop in Marbella. Despite its scale, the expensive production managed to go unnoticed.

"Part of our work for major production companies is to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. This time, we managed it," executive producer and CEO of Malaga-based company Fresco Film Peter Welter says.

Fresco Film was in charge of managing this Warner Bros. production, which, in addition to the Costa del Sol, also filmed in Alicante, Murcia, Madrid and Toledo.

F.A.S.T. tells the story of a former special forces officer who, upon returning to the US, is recruited by the DEA to lead a covert operations team against drug traffickers protected by the CIA.

"We needed a mansion to serve as the residence of some drug traffickers and we found it in Malaga, between Marbella and Estepona," Welter says. The mastermind behind the setting is Malaga-native location scout manager and head of A Film Location Tate Aráez

"It was a shoot in a private residential development, which allowed us to camouflage the filming very well," Welter says.

The film stars Brandon Sklenar, one of the actors from the Taylor Sheridan stable, who rose to fame starring in the series 1923 (the prequel to Yellowstone).

The script for F.A.S.T. is over a decade old, dating back to when Warner Bros. approached the screenwriter after the success of Sicario (2015) and his directorial debut with Wind River (2017).

Sheridan himself applied to direct the film, but the project passed from one studio to another. There was even talk of turning it into a TV film when the pandemic triggered the streaming boom, but that project was shelved. Finally, the studio revived the project last year.

Although Taylor Sheridan couldn't direct 'his' film since he's now under contract with Paramount, he is producing F.A.S.T. Sheridan has managed to secure the directorial debut of a studio veteran, Ben Richardson, director of photography and director of episodes of Yellowstone and 1923, who makes his feature film debut with this project.

Alongside Brandon Sklenar, the cast also includes some popular faces from action cinema, such as Jason Clarke (A House of Dynamite and Oppenheimer), Sam Claflin (Peaky Blinders and The Hunger Games), rapper LaKeith Stanfield (Play Dirty), Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight) and Juliana Canfield (Succession).

The film already has a release date in April 2027. It has joined the ranks of international productions seeking out exclusive villas in the Costa del Sol for filming luxury scenes, among them recent series, such as The Crown, This City Is Ours and Kaos.

Indeed, Kaos, the most expensive series ever filmed in Malaga (15 million euros per episode) was also a production overseen by Fresco Film.

Fresco Film was also the leading production service company for the Spanish filming of the Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon sagas. Acquired by Mediapro two years ago, the Malaga-based company also has offices in Barcelona and Tenerife to cover filming for major studios anywhere in Spain.

In the last year, besides F.A.S.T., Fresco has also managed the filming of the second season of Apple's Murderbot: the sci-fi thriller with comedic elements based on the Martha Wells saga and starring Alexander Skarsgård.

"It was also a major shoot, filming over 14 weeks on three soundstages," Welter says. He also chairs Profilm, the association of Spanish producers of international audiovisual content.

According to figures Welter recently presented, direct investment in foreign film productions in Spain last year reached 104 million euros.

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