anderswolleck

Diego Luna has long been one of Mexicos favorite actors but it wasnt until Y tu mama tambin became an international hit that he started working in America. Since then hes had some great success with the conman film Criminal and the Steven Spielberg directed The Terminal. But for his own directorial debut Luna has looked back to his native country and created a documentary about one of his heroes, the legendary Mexican boxer Julio Csar Chvez. The documentary is showing at New Yorks Tribeca Film Festival and I got a chance to talk with Luna on his very busy first day of press about the film.

Buy tickets to see Chvez at the Tribeca Film Festival

Daniel Robert Epstein: I know [Julio Csar] Chvez is a legend where you grew up. Were you a big boxing fan?

Diego Luna: I was never a boxing fan but I was a Chvez fan. You cannot be unattached to a story like Chvez. Its a guy who didnt lose for almost 14 years. He was a champion for 11 and a half years and that story is unbelievable to me. As a kid, I remember the whole country would stop to watch him fight. The streets would be empty when he was fighting, the bars were packed, houses were packed and we were all watching the fight. There was something special with Chvez because he would step into the ring and no matter how good the other guy was, he would give it everything. So it was always very exciting with very dramatic endings. There are amazing fighters that would stay away and just punch you when they had to and knock you out. Chvez would go and get many punches to give you one. So it was very amazing to know that there was a Mexican doing so well in a country where we have so many sad stories. At that time, we were going through many problems, just one after the other. Chvez was our only thing to be proud of.

DRE: Im sure theres been stuff done on Chvez before, but what did you think you could bring to the documentary to make it stand out from anything that had been done on him in the past?

Luna: There have been many documentaries on TV honoring Chvez. But there was not a movie about Chvez. I wanted to do a cinematic experience about Chvez. I wanted to do something that was designed to be watched on a big screen with amazing sound. I think the images in boxing are very powerful. They stay in your mind forever. I also thought it was important because no one knows where Chvez is right now. The film starts with whats going on in the last year and a half of his life. In Mexico, he was the best and now no one cares about whats going on in his life. No one honors him anymore. I wanted to let every young kid know who Chvez was and every young Mexican should know that he was an amazing champion and that they should be proud of him. When I was spending time with him, I realized how interesting it is to watch a story like his. What happens when fame encounters power and what happens when the politics get involved and politicians get close to these heroes and how they use them and what happens to them afterwards.

DRE: Its very relevant with whats going on today.

Luna: Yes. It also is a chance to talk about a time in Mexico that was really important to everyone. Its basically the beginning of what we are living in today with the ending of the Priista Party that was in power for more than 70 years. They lost two elections ago and that was the beginning of the end of this dictatorship that we were living in. All that happened when Chvez was at the top. It was a chance also to talk about Mexican politics and about the time where I basically became a man, when I started to have my own opinion of what was going on. I was ten when he started fighting and I was 15 when he was at his best. At that time, I was really surprised at what was going on in my country.

DRE: In the past youve said that when you tried to finish your movie, it seemed like everyone was against you. Why is that?

Luna: Yes, things like that the movie is screening here in New York and I dont have the copy of the movie. All the images and sound were ready, so we were put the subtitles on. I went home, went to bed and when I came back in the morning, my subtitles were on top of my graphics and were blocking the whole image. It never stops. Finishing a film is not easy because you think youre finished. But then for the movie to be real, wow, theres a whole world that I didnt know existed. Many people working on that stage and I just dont understand how directors can go to bed. Your movie can get fucked in one night. Your whole work of three years can go wrong in one night. Its unbelievable.

DRE: Is it just a coincidence that youre directing a film after a year when so many of your countrymen and friends of yours, did so well?

Luna: It is a coincidence because I started this two years and a half ago. But it is not a coincidence that they are getting so much recognition. When I was doing Y tu mama tambin, Alfonso Cuarn used to tell me, Youre going to be a director. You ask too many questions. You want to know everything and youre always curious about whats going on behind the camera. He was right and I did feel pushed by him in a way.

DRE: I read that when you first met Alfonso, he threw you in the pool because you were being an asshole or something.

Luna: [laughs] When I was a young kid in Mexico, he was working with my father on a movie called Gaby. He threw me in the pool and my father wanted to throw his son into the pool. My father was the production designer and Alfonso was the AD [assistant director]. They were having these issues about power, which happens a lot in movies.

DRE: Have you finished the Harmony Korine movie [Mister Lonely]?

Luna: Yeah.

DRE: Was it done in a Dogme style?

Luna: No, no. Harmony shot it almost in a very old-fashioned way. When you see it, you will see that its very different than anything he has done before. Its unbelievable.
What was great was that we got to do all the makeup for our characters because it is a story about look-alikes. So before we started to shoot, I went to Paris for one weekend with my suitcase and all my stuff. I put the whole Michael Jackson character on and started to dance in the streets. I made something like eight euros in an hour. Its more than what many people get in Mexico in a day. It was an interesting experience.

DRE: Could you describe your character?

Luna: Its a character who wants to be like Michael Jackson because he doesnt want to be himself. Its a guy who works as a look-alike of Michael Jackson and finds this woman who is a look-alike of Marilyn Monroe. He falls in love with her and follows her to this commune where theres many other look-alikes living. Its very crazy but is a beautiful story.

DRE: When Y tu mama tambin came out, you said it was the first film that you felt talked about your generation in Mexico. Have there been films since then that you feel that way about?

Luna: I think Alfonsos film Children of Men talked straight to me. It talked to me really profoundly about what we are living in and where were heading. I think its the best film Alfonso has made. In it you can find many issues that matter to you and you can find many things to relate to. I love a story where the heros biggest weapon is a pair of shoes. It says something very important, that we can all be heroes of our own stories. We can all fix things; you just need a pair of shoes. Thats where were heading with the world. Were going to have to do something. We cannot wait until somebody comes and makes it happen.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck