YALILE: The Scent Of Passion Is A Story About The Universe

Telemundo’s The Scent of Passion recently premiered in Nigeria.

In this chat with the Executive Producer of The Scent of Passion, Yalile Giordanelli, she expresses her excitement about the telenovela and how the TV drama shares commonalities with the Nigerian society.

Q: Nigerians are excited about The Scent of Passion. Please tell us a little bit about the show, and what it is about.

The Scent of Passion is about Gaviota, a peasant and coffee farmer who picks up harvest together with her mother at different times of the year. So, she goes to pick harvest at Sebastian’s coffee farm, and they happen to fall in love. They are so different from one another because she’s a farmer and Sebastian is supposed to be a businessman in the coffee sector. He used to live in New York while she lives on different farms while traveling with her mother. Sebastian and Gaviota fall in love when they meet each other but they have all these differences between their families and the way that they grew up. Interestingly, they have the same dream – to grow special coffee. They are united by the coffee and the love of the land.

Q: Tell us, what inspired the remaking of this classic love story. Why did you decide to focus on this story in particular?

Well, it’s a story that’s still relevant today. We think that human relationships and love stories are always relevant and of interest to everybody. The countryside, the city, the story of family and women are very interesting for everyone. 

Q: The story of love is universal, and I guess everybody can understand it.

Exactly. And we find that we can make it current with different things that have happened over the last thirty years – the technology and all the differences. It has been a very interesting work. 

Q: What do you think it is about this type of story that resonates with people? Why do you think they would love it so much? Is it the characters? The storyline?

I think it is a little bit of everything. I think the characters are very close to everyone. Then the relationships between the characters – the sons and their mothers. We also have different races and different interests. There’s also a solidarity between friends, then the love stories. We have the love story of Gaviota and Sebastian and then we have that of Marcela and Lemarcus. And then, the universe of coffee farms and the countryside and the city – the contrast between the two universes. I think it’s very interesting for everyone. 

Q: Was there a particular scene or episode that you loved filming?

A lot. There are two that I can name, and they are about love. One is the first time that Sebastian and Gaviota discover each other. She was singing while picking up coffee beans in this countryside and Sebastian is asked to make her stop singing. He goes and then they have a great conversation. I love this scene. There’s another one when they get separated for a lot of time because they are angry with each other and confused because of a misunderstanding. She goes to look for him in New York, but she doesn’t speak English and hasn’t been in a city before. She arrived in his office building and starts singing to get his attention because she doesn’t know how else to do it. I love those two scenes. 

Q: Talk about casting Laura Londono as Gaviota. It must be quite a thing to make sure that your actress is the right actress for the role. So, why is she perfect as Gaviota?

We always had Laura in mind. I don’t know why we called her later, but when we saw her in the casting, we saw her as Gaviota. She’s a very strong woman, but a sweet woman as well, and her family is from there. She has the sensibility for love just like the character Gaviota, who grew up uneducated but with hard work and a sense of solidarity and support for women. Laura has all that sensibility. We think her appearance is that of a very beautiful woman, but it’s not a very common beauty. She also sings very well too. It was easy for us to see her as an ideal Gaviota. 

Q: As a producer, it must be quite fun to produce romance movies. Is that something you love and are you going to carry on with romance movies? 

I love romance and love stories, but I also love the universe and the world that we create, the real world, and human beings. That’s what I like most. The relationships between one another. I think The Scent of Passion has all these ingredients. 

Q: What were some of the challenges that you faced while you were filming? Was there anything that was difficult during filming The Scent of Passion?

The Scent of Passion was one of the first productions during the pandemic. We were just coming out of quarantine. We didn’t know a lot about how to deal with it, to align with protocols, to film. This was the most difficult thing. And the fact that we had to travel to farms, to the countryside, the city, with a lot of actors and a big team and international travel, I think that was the biggesr difficulty. But we handled it very well because we have a wonderful team, and the actors were great.

Q: Telemundo fans are called Passionistas and they’re very excited to watch The Scent of Passion. What are your words for the fans? Why should they watch the show? And what can they look forward to?

Everyone has to watch this show because it’s a great love story in a very beautiful landscape and we can identify with a lot of characters. The story goes through different emotions, so you’re going to feel a lot of emotions. Believe in love and dream and smile!