Month: July 2026

DeepSeek no longer wants to compete only with models. Its new front aims directly at NVIDIA’s business, according to Reuters

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In just over a year, DeepSeek has stopped sounding like a rarity in the Chinese industry to become one of those names that already appear every time we talk about the global race in artificial intelligence. First we look at it for its models, for its efficiency and for the shock it caused beyond China. Now the question begins to move to another terrain: what happens when a company that competes in software understands that the next advantage may be in the chips that make it possible to execute that AI on a large scale. The jump to hardware. The information that opens this new front comes from Reuters. The agency assureda, citing three people familiar with the matter, that DeepSeek is developing its own artificial intelligence chip, aimed at inference tasks and not training new models. We will see the technical nuance immediately, because it changes the reading of the movement quite a bit. For now, caution is mandatory: DeepSeek has not publicly confirmed the project would be in an early phase and the company did not respond to the agency’s request for comment. The key is in inference. The easiest way to understand this is to think about what happens after training. Once the model is built, every question we ask and every answer we receive requires putting it to work again. It is not an isolated operation, but a routine that is repeated millions of times if the product works. That is why a chip designed for that phase does not aim so much at technical prestige as at something more earthly: making using AI cheaper, faster and less dependent on third parties. The move is best understood if we look at what DeepSeek has depended on so far. The company has used chips from NVIDIA and Huawei to train and run its models, including the base that held R1, trained on NVIDIA H800a chip designed for the Chinese market whose export to China was banned by Washington at the end of 2023. Since then, DeepSeek has increasingly relied on Huawei: In April it launched its V4 model adapted to Ascend and Huawei said its processors were used in part of V4-Flash training. DeepSeek is no longer a footnote: Until not so long ago, the global debate on AI seemed to revolve almost entirely around American companies such as OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Meta or Anthropic. DeepSeek changed part of that conversation by demonstrating that China could also produce models capable of circulating outside its domestic market and force the industry to look towards Hangzhou. Recall that the company was widely celebrated in China as a national AI champion. The trend is already seen in a good part of the sector. Google has been developing its TPUs for years, Amazon has Inferentia for inference payloads, Microsoft has Maia and Meta works at MTIA. Reuters also cites two recent movements especially close to the case: OpenAI announced its Jalapeño chip with Broadcom in Junealso oriented to inference, and Anthropic was considering designing its own chips. The pattern is quite clear: large AI companies want to rely less on third-party providers and better control the cost, performance and availability of the computing that powers their services. The big obstacle is manufacturing it. Designing a competitive chip is not the same as wanting to have it. Developing an AI accelerator typically requires years, a lot of capital, and a network of design, foundry, and memory partners. For a Chinese company, furthermore, the problem does not end at the technical level: US export controls limit access to the most advanced foreign factories and also to high-bandwidth memory, a key component for this type of chips. Times change. NVIDIA arrived at the AI ​​boom with an advantage built over decades: in 1999 it launched the GeForce 256, presented by the company itself as the industry’s first GPU, and in 2006 launched CUDAthe architecture that helped take the parallel processing of its chips beyond graphics. When the models started requiring massive amounts of compute, I already had the hardware and ecosystem in place. For years, for much of the industry, competing in AI meant going through its chips. What the DeepSeek case suggests, with all caution, is that this dependency is beginning to have cracks. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana In Xataka | Samsung earns 19 times more than a year ago. Investors have reacted by sinking the stock 7%

evacuate people from a flood

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Drones in China are increasingly integrated into daily life; since using them in night showsas exam invigilators and even as aid in natural disasters, such as fire extinguishing. Now we have been able to see how a drone rescued a person trapped by the floods that occurred in Guangxi. What has happened? they tell it on the Global Times X account. In late June, a drone evacuated a driver who was trapped on the roof of his truck in Guangxi, southern China, where Typhoon Maysak caused a dam to breaktriggering a massive flood. In the videowhich was broadcast on Hangzhou television, you can see how a firefighter helps the man put on the harness and then the drone lifts him into the air, transporting him to a safe area. A delivery drone. According to the Global Times, the drone that can be seen in the video was not a specific model for carrying out rescues, but rather it was a DJI delivery drone with a multirotor design. It has not been revealed specifically what model it was, but it is clear that it was capable of supporting the weight of a person without any problem. Not just rescues. They count in ChinaDaily that a drone company owned by the Guangxi Beibu Gulf investment group (which in turn It is owned by the Chinese government) activated its emergency response and sent a drone team to inspect the area. They used drones to illuminate and assess the condition of the area, locate trapped people using infrared cameras, and bring them supplies. It had already happened. Although it is not common, in China they already had some experience in rescuing people using drones. Last year around this same time, The New York Times published a video in which a drone rescued a person who had also been trapped in a flood. In this specific case, it was a drone that was transporting the belongings of someone affected by the floods when it saw that there was a person on a roof and changed its plans. There are more similar videos, such as this one from a fisherman either this other in which a drone rescues a child from a flooding river. Drones to the rescue. The drone operator who carried out this improvised rescue that we were talking about recognized the New York Times that carrying a person hanging from a drone is not allowed, “but in an emergency, if someone is about to drown, it is something that the law would ignore.” At the moment we have seen somewhat improvised attempts, but there are already companies developing special drones to carry out this type of tasks. The low altitude economy. It is what the Chinese government calls all the economic activity that derives from the different commercial uses for drones. China has turned this market into a national priority and they expect it to move $490 billion by 2035. Among the most common uses for drones is delivery of food orders, transport of medicines or surveillance tasks. Image | Global Times In Xataka | China is playing with an unusual idea: turning trucks and containers into a take-off runway for drones

This is how China dominates car shipping

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Guangzhou Shipyard International, one of the largest Chinese shipyards, has just delivered its third ship of the same series with capacity for 10,800 vehicles. These are figures that do not clash much with the current panorama, where China exports its new energy vehicles at full speed. But this data also hides one of the most interesting transformations in automotive logistics in recent years. And it explains how China has gone from depending on South Korean and Japanese shipping companies to building itself the ships that today transport its cars around the planet. What has happened? The shipyard we mentioned, a subsidiary of the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), has delivered its third ship in a series of “megaships” designed to transport 10,800 vehicles on each trip. The first, named Glovis Leader, was delivered last April and was the first in the world to overcome the barrier of 10,000 cars in a single journey, according to they counted in The Maritime Executive. This third ship in the series, whose name we still do not know, was delivered at the end of June and will follow the same fate as its siblings, operating under the umbrella of the South Korean shipping company Hyundai Glovis. In detail. These vessels belong to a very specific category within maritime transport: PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Carrier), that is, ships designed exclusively to load vehicles and not other types of merchandise. They do not carry cranes or containers, since cars They are stored through a rear ramp and they park inside as if it were a parking lot of various heights. In this case, the ship measures 230 meters in length (length) and 40 meters in width (width), and distributes its load over 14 decks, five of which can be elevated to also be able to transport buses, trailers or larger heavy machinery, depending on technical data shared by Baird Maritime. This megaship can be powered by both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and conventional fuel. Why it is important. Until relatively recently, much of the maritime transport of Chinese cars depended on foreign shipping companies, mainly South Korean, Japanese and Norwegian. The problem is that demand has skyrocketed, as China has become in the world’s largest exporter of carsespecially electric vehicles, and there were not enough ships available to take them out of the country. This shortage ended up skyrocketing freight prices, so China decided to correct that dependence by building its own fleet. In just a decade, the average capacity of these ships has grown strongly. If in 2014 a typical ship was around 6,000 or 7,000 vehicles, today Chinese shipyards routinely deliver ships capable of exceeding 10,000. Ships with record numbers. Chinese shipyards have engaged in a race that they have been waging among themselves for years. Before the Glovis Leader and its siblings, the record was held by the Anji Soundness and the Anji Ansheng, two sister ships of 9,500 vehicles operated by Anji Logistics, the logistics subsidiary of automobile giant SAIC Motor. BYD, the largest Chinese manufacturer of electric cars, already has its own fleet of eight ships that allows it to export more than a million vehicles a year, according to data collected by CnEVPost. GSI, the shipyard responsible for this third vessel, has already accumulated more than 40 orders and has completed 26 deliveries, more than 95% of them for foreign customers, which gives an idea of ​​the extent to which the Chinese naval industry has become a supplier to the rest of the world. Between the lines. The Glovis Leader and its sister ships will operate on sea routes connecting South Korea with Southeast Asia, North America and Europe, serving mainly Hyundai and Kia, according to they counted from Baird Maritime. That is to say, although the ships are built in China, they will not transport Chinese cars, but rather South Korean cars. And China not only exports its own vehicles on its own ships, but has also become the reference shipyard to which other automotive powers turn to solve their own capacity problem. And now what. GSI has another eleven more under construction, with deliveries scheduled until 2028, according to they claim from Shippax. And the record for the highest capacity will not last long either, since the Norwegian shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen has already announced that it will expand four of its Shaper series ships to 11,700 vehicles. Cover image | ShanghaiEye (X) In Xataka | “Incredibly cruel”: this is how Shenzhen taxi drivers define the new law that gives the green light to more robotaxis in the city

‘Matrix’ or ‘Cyberpunk 2066’ owes everything to them

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arrives at Prime Video the new television series based on the legendary anime ‘Ghost in the Shell’and which is the first adaptation of the franchise that does not pass through the hands of its original managers, Production IG, in three decades. The project has fallen this time to Science SARU, the studio behind ‘Dan Da Dan’ and ‘Your Color’, with Toma Kimura (known as Mokochan) at the helm, in his directorial debut. Since Masamune Shirow published the original manga in 1989, Major Motoko Kusanagi has gone through very different versions without ever giving rise to a closed continuity. Mamoru Oshii directed the 1995 film that would end up influencing the visual imagination of classics like ‘The Matrix’, and that film was followed by series like ‘Stand Alone Complex’ or the OVA collection ‘Arise’. In 2017, Hollywood tried a controversial adaptation starring Scarlett Johansson. But this could be the definitive version. The series sets the action in 2029, with Kusanagi at the head of a unit specialized in cybercrimes which will end up being integrated into Section 9 of Public Security. The approach is closer to the original manga than other previous versions, including plots and characters from the original story that were left out of previous adaptations. So we may be looking at something very close to a definitive version of the work. Additionally, Mokochan has earned the respect of fans for his promise not to use artificial intelligence in any shot of the series. Everything has been done with traditional techniques. ‘Ghost in the Shell’ is part of a series of anime productions that are attracting attention for their iconic value: in addition to this ‘Ghost in the Shell’ there is the remake of ‘The Fist of the North Star’, already released, and the second season of ‘From forty-something peasant to legendary swordsman’. In Xataka | Today in streaming, one of the most epic box office failures of recent decades receives a portrait worthy of its legend

Henry David Thoreau, philosopher, “in my house I had three chairs, one for solitude, another for friendship, and the third for society.”

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A philosopher alone in a cabin in the middle of the forest. Everything else is silence. For decades and decades, Henry David Thoreau has been the canonical example of simple living and meditation. Phrases like the one that heads this article about the chairs that the American thinker had in his country house. But history has not been exactly like that: Thoreau’s cabin was less than three hundred meters from the train track; He, in fact, went down to the town almost every day and, once, he put almost thirty people in there. The explanation is simple, of course. Thoreau’s quote (his entire work, in fact) is not about loneliness, nor about self-sufficiency, nor about self-control. The phrase is actually about balance. What exactly does Thoreau say? The text is in Walden (1854)in the chapter dedicated to visitors. It is also slightly different from the one that usually circulates: he says that he had “one chair for when he is alone, two for when a friend visits him and three for society.” And it seems like a matter of nuance, it’s true. But it is not. When Thoreau wrote this he was already fed up with being called a ‘hermit’. He says it himself in the book (“I think and love society as much as anyone else”), but above all he shows it. Henry received more visitors during his forest retreat than at any other time in his life. His experiment in recollection (the two years, two months and two days that it lasted) was a period of self-knowledge, but nothing more. It was Thoreau playing to find out who he wanted to be when he grew up. And why is all this important? Often, we think that others can help us because they have gone through the same things as us; because they have climbed the same mountain as us. But it’s not true: no one is actually climbing that same mountain. Others are helpful because, as they climb their own mountains, they have a unique perspective on what lies ahead and what we have left behind. We live in an epidemic of loneliness. In November 2023, the WHO declared unwanted loneliness a global health threat and set up a commission on the matter, which published its report in 2025. That’s where Thoreau can help us. Because the lesson of the three chairs is not what they sell us. It’s not “sit in the first chair.” The lesson is to have the three chairs ready: seeking moments of chosen solitude feels good, but imposed and chronic loneliness makes us sick. So yes, it is worth remembering good old Henry David Thoreau: let’s count the chairs carefully. Image | Yilei (Jerry) Bao | Abinash Jothimani In Xataka | Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher: “The first forty years of our life provide the text; the next thirty, the commentary”

historical minimum price for the 256 GB version

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Are you one of those who prefer small mobiles? They are compact devices that can be handled very well with one hand, lightweight and do not involve carrying a huge contraption in your pocket. There are very good options in stores, although few that have such a high quality-price ratio right now like him Pixel 10a: it is discounted on Amazon until 449 eurosits new historical minimum price. Google Pixel 10a – 7 years of New Updates and Features, 30+ Hours of Battery, Camera Assistant, Gemini Live, Pixel Security – Raspberry, 256GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Historical minimum price for its version with 256 GB of storage This is a very good opportunity if you are looking for a compact mobile phone that is Android and also has a long life. This version of Google’s Pixel 10a, which is the one with 256 GB of storage, has a RRP of 649 euros. Said more directly: Amazon’s offer allows us to save 200 euros in total. This mobile phone, which barely weighs 183 grams, has a 6.3-inch screen with Full HD+ resolution, a 120 Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, so it can be seen well outdoors. It has 8 GB of RAM256 GB of storage in this version and the Tensor G4 chip, the same one that the Pixel 9. It is not the most powerful on the market, but it offers more than enough performance for everyday tasks. One of the best things about this Google mobile is, beyond offering a pure Android experience, having seven years of guaranteed updates. Its photographic section meets good marks thanks to its dual camera and the work done by AI and it has a 5,100 mAh battery with 30 W fast wired charging. ⚡ IN BRIEF: pixel 10a offer ✅ THE BEST Historical minimum price: It is a discount of 200 euros for the 256 GB storage version of the mobile, its best price to date. Seven years of guaranteed updates: It is a phone designed to last for many years, since it will receive a multitude of updates and security patches. ❌ THE WORST Loading speed: It only reaches 30 W of fast charging, figures that are far from what we can see in other phones in a similar price range. 💡 BUY IT IF… You are looking for a compact Android mobile and you want one with many years of guaranteed updates. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You prefer a mobile phone with a better processor, even if you want to stay within the Google ecosystem. You can fit in very well there. Pixel 10. You may also be interested Samsung Galaxy A56 256GB 5G Smartphone Android 15 8GB RAM AI Display 6.7″ Super AMOLED Photocamera 50MP 5,000 mAh (Graphite) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links XIAOMI POCO The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Iván Linares in XatakaGoogle In Xataka | Best mobile phones in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and ten recommended models In Xataka | The Google Pixel 10a, face to face with its Pixel 10 family: this is the mobile I would choose

China’s best-selling car has just headed to Europe. It has several arguments beyond being electric

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Europe has already begun to fill in one of the boxes that was most difficult to resolve in the electric car: that of small, urban and somewhat more rational models. There are proposals like the Renault 5 electriche Citroën ë-C3 or the Dacia Springeach with its own recipe to bring electric mobility closer to more everyday use. He wants to enter that fight now Geely with the E2but with an unusual cover letter. It does not come as a proposal without a commercial route, but as the European name for a car that in China has already shown that it can sell a lot. Geely Auto Europe already shows it on its website as a model that “will arrive soon” and presents it as a compact electric hatchback for everyday use. It is a relevant confirmation, but still incomplete: the brand has not detailed in which countries it will be sold, when exactly its marketing will begin, what versions will arrive or what price it will have in the European Union. The Chinese bestseller that wants to make a place in Europe An important fact is not in a European promise, but in what the car has already done in China. Geely assures that the Xingyuan, which is how it is known in its original market, was in 2025 the best-selling model in the country in all segments, with 465,775 units. That nuance is relevant because we are not talking about a residual category, but rather about a pure electric car that came to lead the Chinese market as a whole. As additional context, the brand also positions it as the world sales leader within the A/B segments, that is, between small and utility cars. The name change is not a rarity for this model, but rather a fairly common practice in the automotive industry: manufacturers selling cars on the same basis, or practically identical ones, with different names depending on the market. In this case, the Xingyuan retains its Chinese identity at home, but when going abroad It moves under the names EX2 and E2. In the European Union, the brand is already using E2, while the United Kingdom appears associated with EX2 and its own calendar. Geely’s European page already makes it clear where it wants to sell the E2. The brand presents it as a compact electric hatchback for everyday use, with a speech based on three ideas: dynamism, space and safety. It also ensures that the chassis is tuned specifically for European roads, a phrase designed to answer a common question with Chinese cars that arrive on the continent: how they will behave outside their original market. In the absence of the definitive record for this market, Geely’s Chinese website It allows us to define the starting car quite well. The Xingyuan measures 4.14 meters long and has a 2.65 meter wheelbase, figures that clearly place it in the urban territory, but not in that of microcars. The brand also talks about a frunk of 70 liters and a trunk of 375 to 1,320 liters, depending on load configuration. For Europe, the reference available on CarNewsChina points to a 39.4 kWh battery, an 85 kW/rear motor 114 HP and 317 km WLTPalthough final specifications for the EU will be known closer to launch. The temptation would be to look at the Chinese price, convert it to euros and draw a quick conclusion. It is advisable not to do so. In its domestic market, Geely places the Xingyuan between 64,800 and 94,800 yuan, about 8,350-12,200 euros at the exchange rate, but that figure belongs to China and responds to very different industrial and commercial conditions. For Europe it only serves as a clue of origin: the car is born as an affordable proposal, although its real price here will depend on the final version, import costs, homologation, logistics and Geely’s strategy. And here appears the closest unknown: Spain. We have entered the Spanish Geely website and, for now, the E2 is not among the brand’s visible models; what appears are the Starray EM-i and the Geely E5. That doesn’t mean the E2 isn’t coming, just that Geely hasn’t added it to its local showcase yet. If it finally lands in this market, furthermore, it would not be another SUV within the range, but rather an entry into a different terrain: that of the urban and compact electric car. The arguments are on the table, but the decisive part is still missing. We know that it comes from a model that has worked massively in China, that Geely already shows it on its European page and that its format fits into an increasingly competitive category. We do not yet know how much it will cost, what versions will arrive, if Spain will be among the first markets or how it will respond to already known rivals. That is why the most prudent reading is not that he is going to repeat his Chinese success, but that he arrives with sufficient reasons for us to look at him closely. Images | Geely In Xataka | Anti-electrics lose an argument about car batteries: a study confirms that they are more durable than previously believed

“If your cat licks you, he is telling you that you are his property.”

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It doesn’t matter if you are more of a dog person or if you prefer cats. We can all agree that the image of a cat licking its paws or licking its human friends is adorable. The problem is that it is a scene as adorable as it is disconcerting. Traditionally we think that if our cat licks us, it is telling us that it loves us. However, according to experts, there may be many other reasons. And none of them are precisely related to love. It tolerates you, tastes you or possesses you. As explained by Dr. David Sands, an expert in animal psychology, in an article for Science Focusit is not known for sure why cats lick humans. However, there are three quite plausible hypotheses. They may even all be true. The first indicates that the cat indicates to the human that it does not perceive it as a threat. On the other hand, the second hypothesis opts for a chemical analysis of the human. Cats’ taste buds are powerful. More or less. Finally, it may be that if your cat licks you, he is basically marking you as property. For them we are just another animal. Cats learn to behave with humans as they do with other animals. Since they are puppies, they conceive the act of licking as a sign of trust. The first relationship they have with this gesture is through their mothers, who groom them with their tongues when they are puppies. This, logically, is a boost of confidence. Therefore, over time, they get used to doing the same with other animals they trust. If another cat is not a threat to them, they show it by licking. With humans, they do exactly the same. In a way, they indicate that they tolerate that person, not necessarily that they adore them. Chemistry based on licks. Cats don’t actually have a super powerful sense of taste. They have only a few hundred taste buds. Humans have 9,000so that we get an idea of ​​how insensitive cats are in that sense. However, they do have a great sense of smell, which they are very guided by. analyze the world around them. They often complement this sense of smell with that of taste, so that the tongue can be considered a kind of antenna with which they extract the first signals. These signals can indicate the presence of substances that give them information about the human in question, such as pheromones, perfumes or food remains. You are his property. Cats give a lot of importance to their smell. In fact, as Sands also explains, if you’ve ever seen your cat lick itself after you pet himhe’s basically getting rid of your smell. But they don’t just do that. They also try to make what they own smell like them. It is a way of marking territory. on your cheeks They have glands with which they can impregnate everything from objects to animals through the act of licking. In a way, they scrape off your own scent and impregnate you with theirs. Therefore, in reality, several of Dr. Sands’ hypotheses can complement each other. Your cat licks you to show you that it is not afraid of you and, by the way, since it does not see you as a threat, it decides to mark you as its property. If you are not going to cause him problems and you usually bring him food, you are a good possession. Does this mean your cat only wants you for convenience? Well it depends, each cat is different. What is clear is that, in general, the licking gesture is not an act of love. They may love us in other ways, but let’s not fool ourselves with that either. Image | Magnificent Xataka | In Alicante, the Animal Welfare Law has put associations on a war footing over an issue: feline colonies

Your desperate solution is to cover the windows with aluminum foil

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If there is a culture shock that we Spaniards suffer when crossing the Pyrenees, it is not the meal times or the language, but the painful absence of blinds and even air conditioners. Under normal conditions, it is a simple architectural anecdote, but during a sustained heat wave like the ones we are experiencing, it becomes a public health issue. A new remedy. During the last weeks of June and the beginning of this July, France and Germany have seen thermometers exceed the dangerous barrier of 40 ° C. Temperatures for which these countries were not prepared, and that is why they are resorting to different home remediessuch as cover the glass with aluminum foil kitchen towels or thermal blankets. Two measures that respond to the desperation of seeing how their houses heat up and do not have a barrier like we can have in Spain to block the impact of the direct sun. But in addition, we are also seeing how the heat It is becoming a political weaponwith different parties promising million-dollar aid funds so that citizens can install air conditioners. It has logic. Both private homes and some hospitals in Paris have joined this initiative due to the lack of air conditioning systems, and it is not a simple TikTok eccentricity, but rather it makes a lot of sense. The reason is that aluminum has a very high reflectance, being able to bounce between 95% and 98% of solar radiation. Normally, when sunlight passes through bare glass, the energy is converted to heat as it hits the floor and interior furniture, creating the dreaded “greenhouse effect.” By placing aluminum foil or thermal blankets on the windows, the radiation rebounds before heating the room. A simple gesture that can reduce the interior temperature between 5 and 7 ºCwhich is an abysmal difference that greatly reduces the discomfort caused by such high temperatures. It is not infallible. Turning the living room into a kind of spaceship is not an architectural panacea nor is it free of problems. Here Vicent Parasie, French architect, in statements collected by La Vanguardia point that this is an “emergency, economical and superficial solution, since it does not alter the home.” The architect warns that these patches can never replace adequate sun protection elements or good insulation. In fact, he points out that if the aluminum is placed inside and without adequate space, the thermal radiation rebounds and is trapped in the glass itself. This causes extreme overheating of the glass which, in cases of severe thermal stress, can fracture or burst. On the other hand, if placed outside, domestic aluminum deteriorates quickly due to the elements. The Spanish solution. All this phenomenon has revealed the enormous structural advantage of southern Europe in the face of new climate scenarios. And the difference between Spain and France in the face of this type of extreme heat episodes lies mainly in our better response to an architectural and cultural adaptation that we already have as standard. Our Mallorcan blinds or awnings are top-of-the-line technology against heat. As we have seen, the simple gesture of lowering an awning or a blind is capable of lowering the interior temperature by 4 or 5 ºC in a safe and long-lasting way. In Xataka | Popular wisdom is not always right: the great heat myths that we should avoid in summer

Clint Eastwood has no regrets about a film he made with difficulty but it has a rating of 4.9 out of 5

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Alan Horn, retired president of Warner Bros.read the script for ‘Million Dollar Baby’ (which you can see on Prime Video, Movistar Plus and HBO Max) before a single actor was attached to her. Eastwood showed up “discreetly, in his own way” and gave him the script without an associated cast. Horn admits that his first reaction was that he “just didn’t see it clearly” and responded to her request with an expeditious “no, I’m sorry.” He doubted the public would want to see a woman boxing. The Girlfight precedent. The fact is that Horn had logical reasons for hesitation in the abstract, but not much practical basis. Four years earlier, ‘Girlfight’ had shown Michelle Rodríguez as a Brooklyn boxer in a film directed by Karyn Kusama with awards at Sundance included, and a critical reading that transcended its status as an independent film. The thesis has been defendedEven that ‘Girlfight’ directly promoted the arrival of female protagonists in the boxing genre, and that films like ‘Million Dollar Baby’ were heirs of that change. It was hard to get there, yes. Get me money. Eastwood did not argue with Horn and went looking for money outside of Warner. He found it at Lakeshore Entertainment, which agreed to cover half the budget, which was said to be around 25 million dollars. With Lakeshore in, Warner became interested but the obstacles did not change, because Horn kept asking for changes, and these appealed to the very essence of the film. of whathe goes ‘Million Dollar Baby’ follows a lonely veteran boxing trainer (Clint Eastwood), who runs a run-down gym in Los Angeles with his only friend, a former boxer who is blind in one eye (Morgan Freeman). A young waitress (Hilary Swank) shows up at the gym every day asking for Frankie to train her, something he rejects for weeks, claiming that he doesn’t train women and that she is starting the sport too late. He finally relents, and Maggie quickly rises through the ranks of women’s amateur boxing, earning herself a million-dollar shot in Las Vegas against a champion known for fighting dirty. More changes. Horn wanted different tragedies that happen to the protagonist (be careful with spoilers: that she died at the end, that she lost her tongue after biting it, that she lost the fight) to be softened. But Eastwood believed that issues like these were the very essence of the film and refused to negotiate the third act. In the interview mentioned above, Horn himself quotes William Goldman, a two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter, acknowledging that he is right in his famous criticism of the film machinery, which includes himself: in Hollywood nobody knows anything about anything. A success. ‘Million Dollar Baby’ was released on December 15, 2004 and reached the 77th edition of the Oscars with seven nominations. It won four: film, director, leading actress for Hilary Swank and supporting actor for Morgan Freeman. The great favorite that night, ‘The Aviator’ by Martin Scorserse, took home five technical statuettes but was left without the most important one. Controversy where you least expect it. And finally ‘Million Dollar Baby’ was controversial, yes, but not where Horn thought it would be. It came because of the treatment of euthanasia in the final stretch, with organizations defending people with disabilities questioning the film’s reading of life after a spinal cord injury. Articles were published against the film, rating it of “melodramatic and cheesy assault on people with disabilities” or comparing it to Nazi propaganda. And curiously, Eastwood attacks also came on the opposite side of the political spectrum, accusing her of pro-euthanasia propaganda. In Xataka | One of the most famous phrases in the history of the “western” was improvised and was not even uttered by Clint Eastwood

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