By Coral Gables Gazette staff
Before “Drawn Together” reaches Prime Video viewers around the world, Coral Gables audiences will get an early look at the romantic thriller alongside the author who wrote it and the actors bringing its central characters to the screen.
Books & Books will present an advance screening Thursday, Aug. 27, at the Coral Gables Art Cinema, nearly two weeks before the film’s worldwide streaming premiere Sept. 9.
The event, billed as “An Evening at the Cinema with Mercedes Ron,” will feature bestselling author Mercedes Ron in conversation with the film’s stars, Ester Expósito and Hugo Diego García. Each $25 ticket includes admission and a deluxe signed copy of the newly released English edition of “Drawn Together.”
The program begins at 7:30 p.m.
A new adaptation from the author of ‘My Fault’
Released in Spanish as “Enfrentados: Marfil,” “Drawn Together” adapts “Marfil,” the first book in Ron’s two-part “Enfrentados” series.
The story follows Marfil Cortés, the daughter of a powerful Spanish businessman whose life in New York is upended when she is kidnapped and then mysteriously released. Her father responds by assigning the guarded Sebastián Moore to protect her.
Forced into near-constant proximity, Marfil and Sebastián initially clash over her fiercely independent streak and his insistence on maintaining professional distance. That distance becomes increasingly difficult to preserve as the pair return to Spain and confront new threats.
The screenplay is by Sofía Cuenca, whose credits include the film adaptations of Ron’s “Culpables” books. Óscar Pedraza, known for the television series “Patria” and “Vivir Sin Permiso,” directs.
The film was produced by Pokeepsie Films, the company led by filmmaker Álex de la Iglesia and producer Carolina Bang. Both “Drawn Together” and its already announced sequel, adapting the second “Enfrentados” novel, were filmed in Madrid and New York.
The project extends an increasingly substantial relationship between Ron and Prime Video. Her “Culpables” trilogy previously became the “Culpa Mía” film franchise, and Amazon MGM Studios has continued developing additional adaptations of her work.
Familiar faces lead the cast
Expósito plays Marfil after becoming internationally known as Carla Rosón Caleruega on Netflix’s Spanish teen drama “Élite.”
García plays Sebastián. His recent credits include Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance,” in which he appeared alongside Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, and the Hulu mystery series “Death and Other Details.”
The supporting cast includes Eric Masip, Pablo Molinero, Zoe Bonafonte, Lluís Homar and Joaquín Ferreira.
Prime Video plans to release “Drawn Together” Sept. 9 in more than 240 countries and territories, making Thursday’s Coral Gables screening an advance look at a film intended from the outset for a global audience.
From Wattpad to a growing screen franchise
Ron built her readership online before becoming an international bestseller.
Her breakthrough novel, “Culpa Mía,” emerged from Wattpad and won recognition in the platform’s 2016 Wattys competition before Montena, an imprint of Penguin Random House, published it in Spain in 2017. “Culpa Tuya” followed later that year and “Culpa Nuestra” in 2018.
Those books eventually became three Prime Video films: “Culpa Mía” in 2023, “Culpa Tuya” in 2024 and “Culpa Nuestra” in 2025.
Ron followed that series with the “Enfrentados” duology, publishing “Marfil” and “Ébano” in Spanish in 2019.
Atria Books released the English-language edition of “Marfil” as “Drawn Together” on Aug. 4. The U.S. first printing features designed page edges, and Thursday’s ticket package includes a deluxe signed copy.
Ron’s “My Fault” trilogy has sold more than six million copies worldwide and has been published in 22 countries. Born in Argentina, she now lives in Seville.
Thursday’s event gives local readers a chance to encounter the next adaptation in that expanding franchise before most viewers see it on a television or streaming device, this time on a theater screen with its author and two lead actors in the room.
‘Drawn Together’: An evening at the cinema with Mercedes Ron
When: Thursday, Aug. 27, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables
Tickets: $25 plus tax; admits one guest and includes one deluxe signed copy of “Drawn Together”
Presented by: Books & Books in partnership with Coral Gables Art Cinema
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Tickets: Books & Books or Coral Gables Art Cinema
