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It’s impossible to imagine Netflix without one of the most beloved international shows ever created, Money Heist. But did you know that before the streaming giant came along and swept it up, La Casa de Papel was on the verge of cancellation? Much like our favorite group of robbers, Money Heist‘s story is about unexpectedly snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. And that’s the tale Netflix’s latest documentary Money Heist: The Phenomenon documents.
Over the course of an hour, the film explains the show’s unexpected boom in popularity and rise in fame. But more interestingly it dives into the cultural impact of this show that was almost lost to television history. Around the world, Money Heist‘s iconography has been used in protests and rebellions, from France to Iraq.
If you’ve finished up this latest group of episodes and are craving more of a deep dive into how your favorite band moral of robbers came to be, we have your back. Here are some of the most jaw-dropping revelations from the new Money Heist documentary. Spoilers for Money Heist Part 4 ahead.
'Money Heist' was doomed to fail before Netflix picked it up.
When the first season of La Casa de Papel premiered in Spain, it showed promise. Its first episode drew in 4.5 million viewers on the Spanish channel Antena 3. But as the series went on its viewership plummeted. The creators and cast had already accepted the series was a flop when Netflix came along and acquired it.
Netflix added La Casa de Papel, retitled as Money Heist in the United States, to its library with little advertisement. Regardless subscribers found it and fell in love. And this unpredictable heist drama proved to be one of Netflix’s smartest gambles.
Season 1 never left Madrid, Spain.
Despite the fact that Money Heist has always been an internationally focused show, the series never left Spain in its first season. All of those foreign locales were recreated by some dedicated set workers and a lot of CGI. Now that Money Heist is one of Netflix’s most popular series, its budget has expanded dramatically. Season 2 is as international as the gang’s code names.
'Money Heist' is the most viewed Netflix show or movie in six countries.
According to the documentary, Money Heist is the most viewed program on Netflix in France, Italy, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Portugal. The series also has a significant fanbases in North Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey. So yeah, saying Money Heist is popular is a bit of an understatement.
Stephen King and Neymar are among the show's famous fans.
As the series has gained more and more traction, more celebrities have donned their own red jumpsuits and Salvador Dali masks. But the two biggest names obsessed with the show many be horror writer Stephen King and the Brazilian soccer player Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior. Neymar even made a cameo as a monk in Part 3 of Season 2.
Despite how crazy its plots are, the series isn't written in advance.
This may be the most shocking detail of Money Heist: The Phenomenon given how intricate the series’ many escape plans are. Scripts for the series aren’t written in advance. Rather they’re written alongside filming. This is so that the writers can better understand what a script calls for and adapt the direction of the series. So if an actor or director captures something truly remarkable on set, the show itself can change on a dime to double down on that new direction.
For example, Part 3 features a flashback where The Professor (Álvaro Morte) teaches his students how to perform surgery in case of an emergency. Once he brings out a dead pig to practice on, Marseille (Luka Peros) the fearless hitman immediately refuses. It turns out he may not value human life, but he is an animal rights activist.
This detail was originally included on the fly to give this tense scene some levity. But as the season progressed, the writers drew from this unexpected character development. Marseille’s bond with animals, specifically his old dog, became a humanizing element to his character that allowed him to bond with the grieving Professor.
The scuba and the money throwing scenes were two of the most complicated in the entire show.
There are two scenes the documentary highlights as being more difficult than all the rest: Denver (Jaime Lorente) stealing the Bank of Spain’s gold while underwater and the team throwing money into the air of a crowded public square. To capture the submerged vault, the crew had to rebuild the set inside of a special filming tank located in the United Kingdom. But there was a problem with the gold bricks made out of foam. First they started to float and needed to be drilled down. Then they started to collapse under the water pressure. Getting the scene right took a lot of quick thinking and corrections in post.
But the money throwing distraction was this season’s real nightmare. Not only was it next to impossible to launch the euros in the way the director wanted, but the weather also kept changing. It took several tries and herding hundreds of extras, but they finally got the hugely important shot.
If you think The Professor is a nerd, you're right.
Money Heist: The Phenomenon highlights one very important key to the series’ success. No matter what the show aspires to be unpredictable. That dedication extends to Money Heist’s fearless leader. As the show’s creator cheerily explains, The Professor is supposed to be a loser. You’re supposed to think of him as a bumbling academic who’s more comfortable teaching a class than hitting on women. But it’s this unexpected leader of such a cool show that makes Money Heist so interesting, and it’s The Professor’s dedication to precision that makes his heists so believable.
Parts 3 and 4 made the break into the Bank of Spain as realistic as possible.
From breaking into a vault filled with water to taking hostages, the team’s infiltration of the Bank of Spain wasn’t just for the cameras. The behind-the-scenes team did as much research as possible to make their heist seem realistic. This included hiring a marine engineer to help with the design of the antechamber as well as several metalworkers to learn the easiest way to melt gold and transport it away from the bank. Robbery is always wrong. But if you’re really planning on breaking into the Bank of Spain, you could find a worse guide than Money Heist.
"Bella Ciao" was a song of protest long before 'Money Heist.'
One of the most haunting moments of the series has little to do with outsmarting the police or surviving gunfire. It has to do with a song. In Season 1 when the team first finds dirt in the Mint of Spain, they start singing the Italian song “Ciao Bella.” That dirt embodies the first hope that they really will be able to escape with their money. Laster “Ciao Bella” is repeated again as The Professor somberly sings it with his brother Berlin (Pedro Alonso). It’s then that the song becomes a symbol of victory in the midst of rebellion.
Long before it was inspiring fictional robbers on Netflix it was inspiring real protestors. During World War II “Ciao Bella” was used to rally the antifascist resistance in Italy.
The show's iconography has inspired protests and burglary attempts.
And now we go full circle. “Ciao Bella,” a song that was used by real protestors decades ago and adopted by fictional protestors for a TV show, has become a real rallying cry across the globe. As a tearful Morte recalls, once when NGO rescued a boat of immigrants the first thing these people did was sing “Ciao Bella.”
The song along with the series’ iconic red jumpsuits and Salvador Dali masks has appeared in protests in Lebanon, Iraq, France, and Chile. The series’ iconography has also inspired copycat burglaries, but for now let’s focus on the protests.
