Julieta Cardinali, Laura Esquivel on playing Claudia Villafane in 'Maradona: Blessed Dream'

Argentine actors Julieta Cardinali and Laura Esquivel, who play Claudia Villafane, the ex-wife of late footballer Diego Maradona in ''Maradona: Blessed Dream'', say the character's strong personality resonated with them a lot.

The show, which currently streams on Prime Video, charts Maradona's humble beginnings in Argentina, his game-changing career through Barcelona and Napoli, and his role in taking his national team to win the World Cup in Mexico in 1986.

The 60-year-old footballer died in November 2020 following a cardiac arrest, two weeks after undergoing surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain.

''Maradona: Blessed Dream'' stars Argentine actors Casero, Palomino and Nicolas Goldschmidt portraying Diego Armando Maradona through different stages of his life in the series.

While Esquivel plays young Claudia Villafane, Cardinali portrays the character's older version.

What touched Cardinali deeply about Villafane was her ''strength, her integrity, and the love that she had for Diego over the years''.

''Claudia is the love of his life. She is his first love and they met when they were teenagers, and somehow she became his partner for life, for his career. And she's a very strong woman, who stood by him at a time when so much was happening in his life.

''I liked the strength of Claudia as she immersed in Maradona's world. I liked her perseverance, which makes for a great personality,'' Cardinali told PTI in a Zoom interview.

Esquivel said she worked closely with Cardinali so that there was a seamless transition in the series.

''We had seven months of rehearsal that was very strong. We worked jointly with the director and the production crew. The director had a very clear mind of what he wanted and we trusted him. ''It was very important to work together as colleagues, because we were two actresses creating the same character.So we practiced voice and gestures, the idea wasn't to imitate Claudia, but build together one character,'' the actor said.

With the show being mounted on a large scale, Cardinali said she had a wonderful experience working on the series.

''In comparison with other opportunities, working for Amazon Prime Video gave me the opportunity to work in a very large scale production. We are used to different kinds of production here in Argentina but this was amazing. We were provided a lot of time and different things, like time for rehearsal for work.

''I also loved the colleagues and the technical crew. Everyone was very professional and, and nice,'' she added.

''Maradona: Blessed Dream'' started streaming on Prime Video on October 29 and is available for Indian subscribers in Spanish as well as dubs in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali and English.

Produced by BTF Media, in co-production with Dhana Media and Latin We, the biographical series was filmed on location in Argentina, Spain, Italy, Uruguay and Mexico.

Alejandro Aimetta serves as the showrunner and director of the episodes filmed in Argentina, Mexico and Uruguay, and is also one of the show's writers alongside Guillermo Salmeron and Silvina Olschansky.

Roger Gual and Edoardo De Angelis directed episodes shot in Spain and Italy, respectively. Francisco Cordero, Liliana Moyano, Mari Urdaneta, Ricardo Coeto and Luis Balaguer serve as the executive producers.