I didn’t know I wanted to do films until I started to do them. Very few films are made in Mexico and film-making belonged to a very specific group, a clique.
I was asked to go to Cannes to present Amores Perros. And little did I know that this film would be huge. I saw it for the first time in Cannes, and it was the first time I’d seen myself on such a big screen. And it had a huge impact on me – it was the strangest feeling.
In terms of work, obviously acting is such a job that is very in the flesh kind of thing. It’s your work, but it’s your life, in a way. You can get so mixed up.
In Latin America, you don’t do things for the money because there is no money.
I always wanted to act, but I never thought it would be my profession. I thought that I’d end up doing other things, but that in the meantime I’d do plays.
In Mexico you have death very close. That’s true for all human beings because it’s a part of life, but in Mexico, death can be found in many things.
Life certainly points it out to you – ‘you can go this way or the other way.’ You have to decide and it’s a very strong decision because, would you sleep well knowing that you’re living in the best place, but you’re letting the place where you should live alone?
Every decision that you make you have to be incredible congruent. It doesn’t mean that you have to starve. If you need money, you do something that gives you money, that’s normal.
Doing films in Latin America is like an act of faith. I mean, you really have to believe in what you’re doing because if not, you feel like it’s a waste of time because you might as well be doing something that at least pays you the rent.
Films, fiction, can encompass a whole global vision on a particular subject with any story, whatever it is. You can play the story in whatever country with whatever language in whatever style you want to tell the story in.
Mexican food is far more varied than people think. It changes like dialects. I was brought up in Jalisco by the sea on a basic diet – tomatoes, chillis, peppers of every size and rice, which is a Mexican staple. The Pacific coast has a huge array of seafood.
In Mexico, theater is very underground, so if youre a theater actor its very difficult to make a living. But its also a very beautiful pathway to knowledge and to an open education.
I believe fervently in the nature, in truth and imagination, I believe in the blood, in life, words, and motivations.
Let’s not give the electoral process so much importance. We have to be cynical about it. Let’s give importance to the real democracy that’s constructed on a day-to-day basis. That’s my hopeful perspective on it.
When it’s good, cinema can be one of the most important things in a person’s life. A film can be a catalyst for change. You witness this and it is an incredibly spiritual experience that I’d never lived before; well, maybe only in a football match.
I was brought up the Mexican way, where actors are paid very little and every part you take is an act of faith. If people respect that, then great.
My love is for acting not money, so I only take on roles that I find challenging, in stories I find interesting.
A person isn’t born with the intelligence to be with someone especial, you learn it, and you fail in the path of life, but you don’t have to give up the chance to love.
The collective experience of watching a great film together in a room is a transcendent moment that will never die.
It’s very difficult to raise money, especially in the United States, for independent movies.
Every democracy is constructed day-to-day. And the electoral process reduces and minimalizes every single aspect of human complexity. We’re putting it into pamphlets. We’re doing a publicity show. We’re becoming symbols.