00:00First film, first feature film as a director, what was the biggest challenge for you?
00:08Great question, it's been a long time since I've been asked that.
00:13Look, I've been in this industry for almost 20 years, more producing, and I love to write.
00:23I've been writing since college, and I've written a lot of scripts.
00:31And when I finished writing this with a friend, I said, I have to do this.
00:37And in the end, I said, I want to direct it.
00:40As you well know, the process, well, it takes you six months, a year to write a film.
00:46It takes you a year, if you're lucky, to get the money to produce the film.
00:52And we made this film with very little budget, a lot of love, and we filmed it in record time of 10 days.
01:01When you know, in general, here in Mexico, the average is a month.
01:06In Hollywood, I can't even tell you, four months, six months.
01:10But for me, the challenge, I think for all filmmakers, is to believe in your project and sell it.
01:21Because you can have the best script, I see you have great movies and great posters and books.
01:28But you can have the best scripts, and if you don't sell them, and if you don't present them,
01:35and if you don't believe in them, nothing will happen, and they will stay in your bedroom.
01:40So, for me, the challenge for any filmmaker is to believe in you and your project, and to be able to film it.
01:47And it's never too late to do what you want, and I think COVID taught us that.
01:52Hey, if you're not happy with your current job, then start writing in your free time,
01:57and eventually try to make your film.
02:00In the end, it's that. I think that...
02:03I did my first opera when I was 44, there's no time, there's no rule.
02:09But I think there is, and maybe a lot of moms will punish me for what I'm going to say,
02:16but the truth is that you learn a lot more in a set than in college.
02:22So, for all young filmmakers who are starting, who want to make their film,
02:28today there are a lot more tools than before.
02:31Today you can even film your film on a cell phone and be in Cannes.
02:35So, do it.
02:38The truth is, you don't have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars
02:43to go to the best film schools.
02:45Rather, do it with passion, and it will grow by itself.
02:52And how was it to work during the shoot with Guillermo, Yanis, and the rest of the cast?
02:58Well, look, the truth is that an incredible family was formed,
03:03that to date we are still friends, we still have a chat,
03:06we continue to support each other, we continue to watch our films, our projects,
03:10we continue to have beers in the canteens.
03:13And with Guillermo I had the opportunity to have worked.
03:18And with Yanis, the first time I saw him was on the big screen,
03:21in our film, Los Nobles, which has been one of the most sought-after films in Mexico.
03:27And it was all, with all the actors, Yanis, Said, Ana Jimena, Oscar López,
03:34the teacher, Miguel Pizarro, Guillermo Quintanilla.
03:37What I always want to do on set is collaboration.
03:41So, in fact, many of the ideas, great ideas that Yanis brought up
03:45while we were checking the script, checking the scenes of tomorrow,
03:50discussing, we sat down to have breakfast.
03:52I remember sitting down with Yanis a couple of times
03:55and reviewing the scenes and seeing how we can make it more authentic.
03:59So there was a great sense of collaboration.
04:02We had a lot of fun, like never before.
04:05Yes, there were many adversities.
04:07Filming a film in 10 days is not easy, with a day off.
04:14So, in the end, we were all tired, but we enjoyed it.
04:17We enjoyed it and we did it.
04:19And I couldn't be happier that this film is flying high.
04:26What attracted you to this project, to this character?
04:30And how did you prepare?
04:33Well, look, I think what I liked the most...
04:36I did a series a long time ago called Blue Demon, about fighters.
04:40Obviously, I grew up like all Latinos and like all Mexicans,
04:44with all this culture of the films called B-movie,
04:48of El Santo, of Blue Demon, of all this, of the fighters.
04:51And those were our heroes.
04:53I mean, those were our superheroes,
04:56before all the Marvel, Avengers, and all this.
05:00And obviously, I grew up with that culture.
05:03And I always find it extraordinary how,
05:05when you put on a mask, you transform,
05:07and you get superpowers, so to speak.
05:10But superpowers of normal people,
05:12because my character didn't get bitten by a spider,
05:15he doesn't fly, he's invisible.
05:17He doesn't have any extraordinary superpowers.
05:20He's just a person like you, like me,
05:22who decides that he's going to change.
05:24And well, it seemed to me that also,
05:26another thing that motivated me a lot to make the film
05:29was Lalo, the director.
05:31Because Lalo came from this whole universe of the underground,
05:35having worked in Vice,
05:37having worked in all these magazines,
05:39and all that, he knew the underground movement very well.
05:42And he was, for me, the right person to portray this film
05:46with a very, how to say it,
05:49to highlight everything that is Tijuana, for example.
05:52All the music, all the roughness, the crudeness,
05:55all this, well, this completely chaotic city
05:59where you cross, it's the last corner of Mexico,
06:02the last corner, and it's a city that has a street
06:05where there are parties, bars, craziness,
06:08and on the other side are the whales, and the sea, and so on.
06:11So, well, there were many elements that I liked.
06:14But another thing that stood out a lot in the film
06:16was that beyond all these elements,
06:19which I would say are like the whipped cream of the film,
06:23what is at the bottom of the cake, really, of the film,
06:26is the relationship of a son with his father.
06:29And a son...
06:31And it seemed to me that this was something that wasn't seen much in the films.
06:34Yes, there are obviously relationships of parents with their children
06:36when they are very young,
06:38but not a mature son with a mature father,
06:40who also raises two men, alone,
06:43and who are getting up every morning to go to their taqueria,
06:47for their business to work,
06:49for their son to help their father get out of depression,
06:52for their son to tell their father...
06:55And that, in a way, also to break the myth of the father,
06:58because he was this fighter, the hawk, this unattainable man,
07:02but he doesn't fight anymore.
07:04So, also, for my character, there was a dilemma
07:07between continuing to admire his father,
07:09but he doesn't want to fight for justice anymore,
07:11so I have to put on the mask.
07:13And for me, in that, the film of the hawk is summarized.
07:17Obviously, Lucha Libre is a great tradition and symbolism in Mexico.
07:24How was your experience in immersing yourself in that world?
07:28Well, I had preparation for Lucha Libre,
07:30I was training in a gym for a long time,
07:32a couple of months, for the series in which I had participated,
07:35which is called Blue Demon.
07:37But my character, in this film of the hawk,
07:40is not a fighter, unlike his father.
07:43He is the son of the fighter, but he is not a fighter.
07:46He doesn't have experience, he doesn't have training.
07:48So, what he has is a lot of desire to become, to help.
07:53And when he sees his father, he more or less knows some things,
07:56but nothing more than what you could learn from seeing.
07:58So, all that experience that I already had,
08:00of having worked on this character before,
08:02helped me to adapt it.
08:03But, well, each character is totally different,
08:05and each character is unique,
08:07and it requires you to contribute everything you can.
08:09What helped me a lot for this character
08:11was to work on the relationship between the son and the father.
08:14And something that happened to me on screen
08:16is that, honestly, sometimes,
08:18I even had the impression that we physically resembled Quintanilla.
08:21I had the impression that we had,
08:23like, yes, I can age like this,
08:25that could be me in a few years, right?
08:28And, well, how wonderful,
08:30to be as handsome as Quintanilla at his age and everything.
08:32I say, wonderful, right?
08:33I don't have any problem with that.
08:35But, yes, that relationship for me
08:37was what I wanted to nourish the most
08:39in my work as an actor,
08:41so that, in the end,
08:43the final scenes, on the beach,
08:45the death and all that,
08:47were very...
08:49were very full of truth.
08:51So that it was more like,
08:53letting the body express itself
08:55more than you trying to invent something.
08:57Because you already built a very strong relationship
08:59with your brother.
09:01And besides, he's a great guy.
09:03Honestly, we have a very similar vibe,
09:05we have a very similar energy,
09:07he's a very generous person,
09:09very talkative, very cute,
09:11he's not pretentious at all,
09:13he's not a showman at all,
09:15on the contrary, right?
09:17So, he totally made me fall in love
09:19and I think that
09:21that strength of building these two characters together
09:23is what I think
09:25stands out a lot in the film
09:27and I also think that Lalo was able to enhance it
09:29with his image and his direction and everything.
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