“I am an actor because I like to tell lies on stage.”

March 2006

Mexican actor Diego Luna continues his assent with his career. On Saturday, the 25th of March, he came to Guadalajara to present his 21^st performance in national cinema: Sólo Dios sabe and he spoke with MagazineMX on his plans, opinions and development.

“If not for Y tu mamá también, my career would not have taken the courses I have now,” mentioned the young actor. Diego on having spoken about chances, luck and things of the future, subjects that touch his most recent performance in Latin cinema, the movie Sólo Dios sabe,  the same in which he plays along side Brazilian actress Alice Braga and under the direction of film maker Carlos Bolado.

In the lounge of the hotel in which he is staying, he sat in a chair. With feet widespread and restless body movement, he responded to each question, even those that don’t matter to him but that he wants to answer to give his opinion. He chats about the reasons he became an actor.

Although he should be more than acquainted with the flash and the accommodating pleas of photographers, this time he decided that none of them should enter the room, using his companions as an excuse, a little time that the actor had. Nevertheless, it can be said that he is kind in his manner. When he speaks, he seems to forget those that surround him, be it the person who handles his public relations or the girl who coordinates the interview. He does not stop looking at the clock in order to control the time of interview.

“It’s true that I grew up in a theatrical environment, because of my father (set designer Alejandro Luna), but it wasn’t until my adolescence that I decided to take it seriously. Let's say that I am an performer because I love the idea of going out on stage or on the screen telling an interesting lie that can be received well by the public,” he explains with anxious hands that he sometimes hides in the pockets of his coat or in his trousers, and he constantly takes them to his mouth while he listens to the questions.

About his 21^st movie of his filmography, in which he also takes part as executive producer, he mentions that he decided to accept it not only for the desires of working next to Carlos Bolado, but also for the interest that the story of the two young people generated. They meet each other because of a supposed coincidence of life or so-called destiny, in a city that they don’t live in, since both are passing through.

In the plot, the loss of the girl’s passport generates the meeting and coexistence of both characters, which discover similarities in their life stories. She is atheistic, he is mystical and in the drama of their romance they will have to mature more than what they think they can bear.

“I like the story because it speaks about the return to faith, death, laying down roots, of desires to want to know where you come from, to risk deciding what you want to do with your life, what path to take and with whom to walk,” he expresses.

“I believe that the lives of all of us are something like that, to go and come from faith, because we all believe in something. We need to place our love, needs and hopes in a belief. On the other hand, there are humans that leave a trace (sign). I do not believe that thing about that “a new worry helps take your mind off the old one”. Rather I believe that each one leaves a hole in our heart and person, so that we are a collection of small hole, made by each of the people that marked our life,” he adds. He met director Carlos Bolado many years ago. He knew him in the cinematographic world, but it was not until 1999, in Guadalajara precisely during the course of the so-called Trade Fair of Mexican Cinema, that both sat down to chat and drink more than one beer, ending with the promise to make something together at the first opportunity.

“I remember that three years ago Carlos' co-producer called to tell me that he wanted to do a new movie and he wanted me for the lead role. I told him that I would love to and would wait for the script to read immediately. But then something more entertaining and special happened, he confessed to me that there was no text; that Carlos only wanted to know if I was interested in being his actor, to sit down to write me a character,” he mentions smiling.

Mexican cinema is a topic that makes him move his body from the support of the chair to get closer to the interviewer, to place his elbows on his legs and to be able to say, “I’m always going to do Mexican movies, because I am from here. I belong to this country. I was born, grew up and fell in love here the first, second and tenth time. I had sex here the first time. I met my best friends here. I chose to be an actor in this place. In the end, I have a thousand reasons to be before the camera of national cinema all the time possible. Also, we have great talent here.”

To go filming in other countries like Spain where he filmed Soldadso de Salamina in 2001 or the United States, where he already earned a name with titles like Open Range, Havana Nights and Criminal.  It is also attractive to him because “it allows me to have an outlet to my curiosity, I am a very observant man. I love walking down the street and more than knowing people, to look at them; to understand something about them, to make use of it the first opportunity that it’s called on me to reinterpret it in a theatre, movie or TV scene,” he points out.

And he is not equivocal when he listens to what they say. His eyes have sufficient time to see the notebook and eyes of the reporter while he takes the glass with water that they have brought over and sometimes he cannot avoid smiling if the question has provoked a bit of nostalgia. But his features harden when it is a question of a topic of opinion or that has to do with this future plans; such is the case of his desire to increasingly get evolved in the trades of cinema. “For me it’s clear that I love movies and at the same time that I enjoy taking characters. Also, I very much want to get into production and in time into directing,” he points out.

In his opinion, producing allows you to ensure that a story takes its course towards the big screen. “I do not believe in the author's cinema. I believe in cinema that occasionally can be done by people that also write it; that film is done by a head (leader) and many arms “so-called actors, photographer, illuminator, among others,” he explains.

His work agenda includes the efforts that the producing house Canana needs, of which he is proprietary together with his friend and partner Gael García Bernal. The same that at the beginning of this year promoted a tour of shorts (short films) in the most noteworthy cities of the country [Mexico].

For what is left of the year, there is contemplation of his participation in the Mexican film Amapola (Poppy), written by Vicente Leñero and directed by Luis Mandoki. In addition to the movie Toto, in which he’ll return with García Bernal, under the direction of Carlos Cuarón. And the English work Fade to Black, that’s already in the post-production stage.

Translated from: http://www.buscajalisco.com/bj/bjfiles_archivo/diego/diego.htm