Jose here reporting from the 25th Guadalajara International Film Festival.Earlier today I had a chance to have a meeting with Diego Luna. Not only was he much taller than I expected but his eyes have this incredibly deep color you never see when he's onscreen. His voice has that same childish joy you know from Y Tu Mamá También and he was more than eager to answer questions. Since this was a more technically oriented conversation (I'm in a film workshop) I thought there would be some interesting non-tech things you all might want to know about him.
- Said "it's always shocking to watch a movie" he's in, especially when he has little behind the scenes involvement.
- He mentioned he discovered that first takes are the best when directing child actors and also thinks they are better than grownups (his son was born almost two years ago so that might've affected his perspective on kids)
- He thinks Latin America is living in cinema without risks because of the lack of box office interest in the locals (Avatar took over us too...)
- Mentioned Carlos Reygadas as "an example of how to invent yourself on film".
- Calls cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki "Chivo" and Gael García Bernal ...just "Gael".
- He doesn't like to think of himself as just an actor anymore.
- Thinks that the most important thing about making movies is making what audiences want to see (which means he is kinda saying Hollywood is right...but still)
- His ideal world would be one where "Sean Penn movies are more popular than Ben Affleck movies".
The rest of the meeting with Luna was mostly shop talk about distribution, directing methods and producing strategies to make a profit out of indies. Which I'd be more than happy to tell you about if you're so inclined. Now I'm off to a screening and a tequila party.[Editors Note: Here's one of my favorite pics of Luna (right), taken by excellent celebrity photographer Fabrizio Maltese at Cannes a couple of years back.
Thanks to Jose for piping in from Guadalajara. Hopefully he'll share more of his adventures there involving actors, screenings and tequila parties... Especially if all three occur simultaneously.]
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