-
Have you proposed becoming involved in working in
Hollywood?
DL: No, but (if) it is true that in the United States there are many directors
that I admire a lot and want to work with. The Coens, Paul Thomas Anderson,
Robert Altman are directors I admire. But also I want to work with Almodóvar,
Medem or Amenábar.
- Tell us about your role in Dirty Dancing 2.
DL: I saw the first part when I was rehearsing. I understand because it was so
good, but it is not my kind of movie. And less when you are 8 years old. For
my roll I had to practice for two and a half months with Puerto Rican and LA
dancers. To dance like Cubans is very difficult; these guys are born with the
gift. A chaparrita, chubby lady begins to dance with you and she turns
into the most beautiful woman in the cavern. The dance stops being a mere
sexual matter. It turns into a communion with yourself. It’s to accept your
body and enjoy yourself. For me it was very complicated because I have two left
feet. As a dancer I leave much to be desired. I danced every day for five
months and for dancing already, I am good for the next 15 years. I had a
girlfriend that loved to dance salsa and I was not the dancing type until I
started to dance with her, more for jealousy than for desire.
-
Does he not fear that the
Hollywood industry consigns him to secondary and stereotypical roles?
DL: Well no. I already did two staring roles in
Dirty Dancing 2 and
Criminal. Criminal is an independent film produced by Steven
Soderbergh and George Clooney. Later I filmed a secondary role in The
Terminal, but who wouldn’t want to film with Steven Spielberg? I think that
a solo is separated (relegated). A solo is labeled in one position. If you
wait, great things happen to you. And I hope much for myself.
- What seduced him about
Nicotine?
DL: The fact that it is a risky story that happens in real-time attracted me
because that’s life. In two hours everything changes for you. Nicotine
talks about the daily responsibility of living. All your actions in life
reverberate to people you don’t even know. We are very individualistic and we
should allow ourselves to affect what happens in the world. I was also
attracted by the challenge of interpreting a character that I had never done.
He is a guy that lives behind a computer, very fearful, that does not dare to
face life. Fortunately they did not offer me a role of a guy that goes away to
the beach, gets drugs and wants to have sex with everybody. Besides, I was
filming
Open
Range
for three months in
Canada
and I was already dying with desire to film in Mexico in my native tongue.
Since And Your Mother Too, I had not returned to film in my country.
-
Is he a smoker?
DL: I stopped smoking a short time ago and I have turned into a bore. It is
said that tobacco kills, but I believe that there are more important problems
than if you smoke or not. Neurosis kills more. I am not saying that smoking is
good. My dad is 64 years old and smoked since 25 and he is happy, and it does
not hurt anybody. To smoke or not smoke is one’s own decision and must not be
so complicated.
- He has filmed in
Mexico, Spain and the USA. What differences does he detect between these three
places? In which does he feel more comfortable?
DL: I will always be more comfortable in my language. I will always be happier
being employed in Spanish. Basically I feel comfortable with a good story, with
a director one admires. In
Spain there are many directors that I admire, and in Mexico, the US and
England. The nationality of movies is the least of it. And Your Mother Too
demonstrated it, with a budget of 2 million dollars, it went around the world
and more people saw it than other movies of 60 million dollars. After all, the
only thing that is important is the story that you are going to tell.
-
Is the Mexican cinema living his best creative moment?
DL: It’s fashionable to do cinema in
Mexico.
The idea fascinates me. But the absence of a Mexican movie industry saddens
me. One speaks a lot about the ‘boom’ of Mexican cinema. I think there is a
‘boom’ of people that devote themselves to doing cinema, but as an industry
there is nothing. Each one accommodates itself as it can. Alfonso Cuarón has
filmed the third part of Harry Potter, Iñárritu has filmed 21 Grams
in the US. That one that likes cinema does not want to be employed at another
thing. But people can’t live off cinema in Mexico. Success does not guarantee
you keep filming. It is a luxury to be able to live off the cinema. We make
very little cinema in Mexico. Most of my friends film one film a year and the
rest do theatre or film commercials for television. I wish in my country they
took care of you more so that you stayed.
-
In spite of little exhibition of Spanish cinema in
Mexico, what reception does he have between the Mexican public?
DL: Good movies are seen anywhere in the world. People are thankful for cinema
in their language. Movies arrive from Almodóvar, Amenábar or the Trueba. I
have the Belle Epoque
DVD by Fernando Trueba. In all ways, I am very annoyed with the distribution of
Soldiers of Salamis because it went out with only 11 copies. That’s a
laugh. The lack of confidence annoys. Spain should be the natural market for
Latin-American cinema and Latin America
for the Spanish cinema. And it is not like that.
-
What are his next projects?
DL: I have two projects. The first is a Mexican-Brazilian co-production titled
Only God Knows. The director is Carlos Bolado and it is a road movie.
The other is an English film directed by Michaels Winterbottom in that I’ll play
a soccer player.
- He thinks to
continue with his presenter (host) aspect?
DL: I had a good time presenting at the Goya gala. To present the Goyas is a
way to remember the Spaniards that exist. I hope some day I’ll be there in
order to collect an award and not give them. In Spain they complain a lot, but
I’d like them to give Mexico a turn. Here in a bad year they make 80 movies,
and I want to come to complain here.
Source:
http://www.locoporelcine.com/preview5.php?article=176
