00:00What drew me to the role of Alonso Rondia in the movie Almost Paradise.
00:07I was always very fond of political and historical literature from Mexico.
00:15And I've always been very curious on how the high spheres of powers,
00:22how do they handle themselves and how they become so powerful within themselves
00:27and how power in certain ways corrupts you in many ways
00:33and how many times you have to put aside or everything,
00:43you know, like subordinate everything in your life
00:46in order for you to ascend and blind towards that power.
00:52Luis Spota is a very classical, contemporary classical writer
00:58and critic of the political and social scenery in Mexico in the 1950s.
01:06And I was very surprised when I read the script adapted to our age,
01:11to our era right now.
01:12And so how current the theme still was and still is
01:20and how little have we changed throughout the years,
01:24if not worsened, you know, right?
01:27I love the idea of making this film.
01:30Of course, I knew about the production company who was making it,
01:35the level of production that it required is a co-production,
01:38Italian, Mexican, Italian, the cast also, you know, very strong cast.
01:44The Mexican cast was just perfectly well picked as well as Italian cast,
01:51which are also very majestic.
01:53And so we've made a very, very good fusion.
01:58So, you know, it had all the elements,
02:01the director who also had the understanding and the vision,
02:05because he's been there, of the high spheres of power in Mexico
02:10and the possibility that I also had to, you know,
02:13interview assistants to ex-presidents from Mexico from the 1950s
02:21and people or even presidents that I have met through my career
02:25and that I have picked certain things from them,
02:31this understanding that they're also very charismatic but also very ambitious
02:35but at the same time very tragic in a way.
02:38So they have, like, all these elements that, you know,
02:41combine makes a Mexican politician, you know, what it is.
02:46And, of course, the corruption side of it
02:48and perhaps the lack of generosity also for the people.
02:57They're just, you know, working for their own interests or group interests.
03:01And so I love to criticize that sort of vices from our society
03:07that we suspect, you know, picked pretty well.
03:10Well, the level of challenge that I had within this character
03:17who was always seeking for this balance between public ambition,
03:24public image and personal ambition,
03:27it's a very complex, you know, combination
03:32that I think every politician in the world plays, right?
03:37It's just that Mexico has its own ways of doing it.
03:42It is almost institutionalized, the corruption in Mexico, you know,
03:46the fact that you, that it's almost normalized,
03:50the fact that if I am, as a politician,
03:53I get into a certain position, I'm going to benefit myself, right?
03:58If I do develop certain projects,
04:01I'm going to keep a very big part of the pie for me, right?
04:06That's a very common practice here in Mexico and Latin America
04:10and many other countries, of course.
04:12I hope that people would get to see
04:15how much ambition and corruption makes you miserable
04:19and also how the lack of given self-value
04:25also makes you miserable.
04:27I think for a very little moment,
04:32my character becomes aware of that.
04:35There's a moment in the movie, without spoiling it,
04:39but where my character really gets to see
04:41how miserable he really is and has become,
04:44how he has been able,
04:46how he's, ever since he decided to have this wife,
04:51it was a vehicle for him to climb over the power ladder
04:55and the political ladder.
04:57It was a trophy wife.
04:58It's a trophy family.
05:00It's a, and he doesn't care about his,
05:03you know, his family well-being either, you know,
05:06and he only cares about him, you know,
05:10ascending into power.
05:11And, and, and, and also,
05:13if he needs to bring someone from the outside
05:16and give him value because he's a,
05:18he's a, he's a foreigner blood
05:21or a nobility blood or royalty blood, whatever,
05:26he will then feel much more valuable because of that.
05:30So I think it's a very good reflection.
05:33I mean, it makes people reflect on the fact
05:37that where is our self-worth set at,
05:41put at in what place?
05:42And, and, and how much are you willing to give
05:46or, you know, in order for you to have certain power
05:50and, and, and is it worth it or not, or not?
05:53That's, that's probably what I would really hope
05:56that people through laughter, through comedy,
06:00through all this, you know, beautiful settings
06:03and beautiful, you know, beautiful scenes.
06:05But yeah, at the end,
06:07that's what I would have them expect them
06:09to, to make the reflection on.
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