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Deep Magazine November 2004
In his house in Mexico there is only a bed, a fridge and a poof. But the scarcity of objects does not bother him. On the contrary, he knows it is the beginning of something that will be his and that can be big. With this sensation of relief and plenitude, of certainty and absolute confidence, we chat with Diego Luna. First in his house, then at a party, by phone, in the street and seated, and finally on the couch of his antique house.
Diego Luna’s life has changed radically in the last two years. In 2003 his agenda was filled, for the first time in his career, to the ceiling. He did not come to Mexico any more than a month and a half the whole year. He was occupied filming abroad, being present at film festivals, at premiers, to appointments with the big ones of Hollywood, who were starting to become interested in the 24 year old Mexican. From this moment the ascent of his career happened suddenly, and in a short time, Diego already had the attention of the producers and the most famous directors: Steven Soderbergh, Steven Spielberg, Kevin Costner and Lawrence Bender. Something that not even he was hoping began to happen in his life.
The Basic: Pals For Diego there is one thing that is fundamental in life: his friends. On having spoken with him, one realizes that only there is something which he makes a special emphasis and of what he is absolutely sure. This is what he calls his second family, his friends. He says that his combination of friends is odd, a mix of ages and personalities (we must say celebrities?) that only have one common denominator: acting. Chucho Ochoa, Chema Yazpik, Osvaldo Benavides, Gael Garcia and Rodrigo Murray are the first ones that he names. “Time passes and you become good friends that end up becoming your family, and it is cool to be able to choose your family. We can work together also, and that causes the relationship to become super rich.”
Nevertheless, Diego is out of the country most of the year. And it is obvious that he misses many things, who wouldn’t. “Nostalgia hits strong when you spend too much time outside; strange food, friends, parties, but it is necessary to have time to return and to see what has happened in life that you want. Looking after friends is most important.”
Till not long ago, when Diego was coming to Mexico, he stayed, slept, and ate at his friends’ homes because he still didn’t have one of his own. Fortunately now he has one of his own: “I already have a house in Mexico. I have slept there five nights. I have a bed, a fridge and a chair. Although I know that I am going to keep on traveling, it is good to know that I have a place of my own to go to.” Furthermore, tells the actor, he also gets fed up with hotels and that everything smells clean and new. Nothing like having ‘home sweet home’. “Right now I have everything that I need. I am happy: house, friends, work and I am in love. What more can you ask for.”
The next most important person in his life is his father (Alejandro Luna is one of the most important Mexican theatrical designers). “My dad and I are in contact a lot. If something has been good about working so much, it is the fact that now I can ask for an extra ticket so that I can go visit where he is. We are always in communication because I want it and I always want to know what he thinks and what I am doing.” And when there are bad days, problems or doubts (of each guy), Luna goes to his father. “And buddies too. It is fantastic what is happening to Gael because somehow he is living through the same thing that I am. Although our careers are different and we are doing different movies, the phenomenon is similar. To be able to talk to him, to share what happens to us, and that you can identify with is the best.” One year ago exactly, Luna said in an interview in order to live well one only needs to eat, a girlfriend, work, and football.
Now you no longer eat (you are very skinny), it’s a long time that I do not know you have a girlfriend, you do not play football, but of course, you have much racket. Do you still follow with this idea of life?
He laughs… “I keep eating very well, nothing more that I suddenly have to put myself on a diet (if the job requires that he is skinny); I continue watching football. Whenever I can play it, although each time is less. It is always possible to have a girlfriend and I think that the most important thing in life is to be in love and to make someone happy. So to sum up I am very well. I cannot complain.”
A Tough Guy Diego was seven years when he set foot on stage the first time. Since then he has done everything: soap-operas, film, and of course theater. Undoubtedly, his time in television is what more repudiates him. “The worst of all my works has been in television in general. In any country in the world Mexican soap-operas are happening and the bad thing is that in Mexico one does not make good TV. Everything stays in intentions, but it sells so well that nobody is interested in making it better. It is like a factory of potatoes. What they are interested in is not feeding the people, but that they buy the product and they have a mind to watch.”
On the other hand there is theater that, for ages, monopolizes his best memories. Not only because it was his first introduction with acting (due to his father), but because there he has met his best friends. One of Diego’s most sincere smiles in this interview was when we speak about The Complete works of William Shakespeare (abridged).
- Did you enjoy yourself in this work? “It is one of the most entertaining things that I have done. It was a work where three actors and friends were producing, this is paradise for any actor. Furthermore, the theater was filling up almost always and that does not happen much in Mexican theater. In Toluca, for example, we gave performances for 2,600 spectators and this is the closest thing to feeling like a rock star. Imagine the 2,600 laughing at the same time. It was necessary to take 40 second breaks in hopes that they would keep silent. I believe that this presentation lasted three and a half hours. It was impressive.”
- After Y tu mamá también nothing was the same again? “Since we started filming to date, this movie keeps on giving me incredible things and people remember it very well. For some reason, the eyes of the world stuck on us from this film, and immediately after that I began to receive job offers abroad.”
But in addition to showing on a global scale, Y tu mamá también had other repercussions. For the first time, Diego and Gael worked together, which in this moment did not mean very much, but in the course of time this work opened the doors to both and now there are several who hope to see them sharing credits again.
“Yes there are plans to do something together – it urges us, but we still don’t know exactly what. To film with him again is going to be great for both of us, in addition it is marvelous to work with someone that you love so much.” The only problem is that they be in the same place and at the same time.
The Biggest Screen After theatre and television, the biggest international showing that Luna has done, of course, cinema. In the career of any actor, cinema can be synonymous with glamour, stardom, lights, money, fame, and what one becomes in Hollywood can be very tempting. But Diego’s perspective is different, not because he doesn’t like stardom, but because it is seen that he loves what he does and believes in that. Acting makes him feel good inside.
“Cinema is incredible because it allows you to add a little of your reality and what you are. I like cinema in which you forget that you are in a movie and you get really into the story. The funny thing is that this cinema is cheaper than that of Hollywood. And although the Hollywood productions are definitively a work opportunity, the sure thing is that it is necessary to be able to choose, since this industry does bad cinema, and a lot of it. ”
“To have it as a goal to do it in the United States is an error; to go there and hope to snare it can be very depressing because it makes very bad cinema and there is also a lot of competition. There is a lot of dough (money) but that does not mean that there is quality. Nevertheless, there are also actors, photographers, and excellent directors with whom it is possible to work. But this is not a work of money, but of convictions and desires.” It’s that simple. An actor’s success is not taking an airplane in the direction of Los Angeles. Or at least this is his vision.
The glamorous part does not seem to call him so much attention either. “When you do a red carpet it is not you; I do not go out in the street in a suit, I don’t worry if brown goes with black, if I need to take sunglasses or not. Suddenly everything that they set up, the glamour and the parties, only represents more work. The different parties, which belong to friends, they are never going to belong to those. The only good thing is that I am not going to buy myself clothes for a long time; they send you clothes and they fit you. That is incredible. It is amusing, especially the first time.”
In Mexico or Latin America, making cinema is very different from the United States, where the budgets are incomparable, glamour does not exist, and the form of work is opposite. “Here they take so much time raising a project that you are not going to get to any thing, but something that really matters for you because you have to invest time and money. It’s a hard process where you often leave injured.”
The form of work is so different that it even might look like a joke. Luna knows that while in the United States there is an expert for everything – “to place the table, to say ‘action’, to move a light”, here there are ten people who do everything, that repair and improvise to make the day. For example, at least in Mexico, there are times that the camper does not come and Diego has to change his wardrobe in the car, so many others have had to lend their clothes or their car for what it offers. “On the other hand there (in the US) – he adds - everything is much more comfortable, which works in the 'big' productions because the people do not come to the shooting tired and you do not have to worry any more than about the movie.” But in the middle of so much comfort there must be a good script, a good story, because if it is not like that, “it does not matter how many comforts they give you, you are going to be the nuisance. A bad script does not make a good movie nor does a lot of money,” he specifies.
The Most Anticipated: Criminal When a film is written by Steven Soderbergh and Gregory Jacobs, and led by John C. Reily, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Diego Luna, we can be sure that we will have a good movie.
When Diego received the proposal to do Criminal, he was in the middle of filming Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights: “I was suffering very much because it was a movie easily different from everything else I had done” – let’s say that Luna had never been considered to be dancer. “In one of these tortuous days the script for Criminal came to me. As soon as I read it I was completely sure of wanting to do it. This is the first movie that they offer me without meeting me, nothing more because they saw me in Y tu mamá también. I did not do casting (and even though I like to do castings because it is useful to see if you want to work with the director, if you believe him, if there is chemistry); but in this occasion Gregory Jacobs and Steven Sodebergh told me that I was their first option to play the role. In addition, incredible people entered the project: John C. Reilly, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Mollan, among many others.”
Criminal is a remake of the famous Nine Queens. Luna’s role is that of a Mexican swindler, “but not the typical role that they offer to Mexicans,” he clarifies. The character description said: this is a guy that inspires confidence, he looks like a nice guy. And the actor likes that. Furthermore, for the first time, he says, he felt comfortable and relaxed acting in English. It is the first time that he films a movie in so few days (28 days of filming) and it is the first occasion that he notices an absolute commitment on behalf of all the staff members of a film. “Each and everyone was there for the story, up to the chauffeur who picked me up every day had read the script.”
On November 19 (2004) Criminal makes its début. The eyes of Mexico will be on Diego. He knows that this might be the second big springboard in his career, but he does not want to get ahead of himself. “Nothing can assure the success of this one, nor any film. And you cannot expect things go well because if not, you get upset about life. That a film comes out well depends on many things, so many people… and magic. You need all that so it comes out well, and of course it’s a bitch.”
Diego Quickly - What you enjoy most about your work? “To tell lies and that you create them. ”
- One frustration: “Movies for which I have already have prepared myself for that suddenly they fall through.”
- Your greatest quality as actor: “Mmmmm, I don’t know. The cool thing about this career is that you can always improve, grow and take new risks.”
- 5 things people envy about you: “I don’t know, rather I hope that nobody envies anything about me.”
- Best moment of the day: “When I’m not working; to be able to get up at whatever hour. The only thing that hate about movies is that they wake you up at 6:00 every day. And when I am filming, the best part of the day is when shooting starts.”
- A disk (CD): “Right now I am listening to Jack Johnson, Dub Side of the Moon, and Beta Band.”
- Your biggest extravagance: “To travel with my small can of chipotle chilies.”
- Favorite object that you use every day: “My Blackberry. It is my contact with the world. And my i-pod because in that thing you take your music all over and, when you have music you miss less.”
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