Diego Luna talks about the war on drugs

NEW YORK — Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman goes on trial in New York on Monday, accused of running the world’s biggest drug cartel and spending 25 years smuggling more than 155 tons of cocaine into the United States.— AFP news item, Nov. 5, 2018

MEXICO City — This is where it all started.

The earlier seasons of the gripping real-life Netflix series Narcos (2015 to 2017) traced the rise of the cocaine drug trade in Colombia, chronicling the actions taken by law enforcements as it waged a war on drugs. Targeted were powerful figures including drug lord Pablo Escobar (played by Wagner Moura) who was gunned down 25 years ago.

The series’ fourth season, Narcos: Mexico (which starts streaming on Netflix tomorrow, Nov. 16), goes back in time (late ‘70s and early ‘80s) as it explores the origins of the next threat in the drug war: Mexico’s Guadalajara cartel (where El Chapo got his start), the first Mexican drug trafficking group to link up with the Colombia bosses in the cocaine trade. In February this year, Diego Luna talked to The STAR at an old hotel in the city where he and Michael Peña (they are the series’ two new additions to the series) were shooting a crucial scene.

Without revealing much about the series (“I want to let you find out for yourselves”), Diego proved to be engaging, talking about the war on drugs that, according to him, “we are still losing.” Diego sat with international journalists invited to cover the shoot.

Tell us about your character in the series.

“My character is called Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, a very interesting character to play. There’s an information that he’s still alive…that, in fact, he’s in jail. It’s fiction based on real life but we have some freedom to create the characters. In particular, Miguel Angel Felix wasn’t a guy who’s always out; there’s not many pictures of him. So I have to imagine what he’s like based on my research that included reading a lot of books and political magazines at that time. Also, on my conversations with journalists in Mexico who were focused on the issues back then.”

That must have been challenging to you as an actor. 

“I didn’t really grow up during his time (Diego is turning 39 on Dec. 29). So it’s interesting to see how he handled the cartel, how he set things up, you know. But more important than portraying what he was, what he represented and how he made things happen, what mattered to me was how he changed the country not by himself but with his group. He was crucial in orchestrating the terror we are living today. I’m not here to please him or his family but to tell a story so that the world will know.”

So when were you, well, “politicized?”

“I think it was in 1994 or 1995 when I started to be politicized. As a citizen, I started to change. In school, we were talking about everything that was happening in Mexico so it was impossible not to have an opinion. Miguel Angel Felix has a lot to do with that Mexico. He was quiet impressive, a very smart man. I’ve never played a character like him.”

Besides your character, what else about the series do you find intriguing?

“The series is so complex and it’s this complexity that makes it intriguing and interesting. That’s one thing that (the TV) audience loves. It tackles a subject that everybody reads about but doesn’t usually see in a TV series. Normally, people watch shows to be entertained. But while it entertains, this series is something that will make them think, that will bring some debate, that will make people reflect on what’s happening in the world due to drugs. The series will show how the politicians of this country made it possible, how corruption made it possible.”

What lesson do you expect to learn from doing this series?

“People should have the freedom to decide what the series is telling them and tell you what it tells me because I also see it as an audience. I never accept any project that I won’t like to see as an audience. It’s important for people to know about all the suffering, the losses and the injustices caused by (illegal) drugs. It’s important to let people know who are behind this. And cinema is the most powerful tool of change…to impart this message.”

With Narcos co-star Michael Peña: I grew up in theater, influenced by my father who worked as a designer. My mom, a costume designer, died when I was two years old so I stuck with my dad. I love doing movies that not just entertain but also make people think and reflect…

Speaking about cinema, how is it being a child of cinema? (Diego is not only a respected actor but also a director and producer, partner in the movie company Canana Films with fellow Mexican actor Gael Gabriel Bernal who co-stars with him in the classic Y Tu Mama Tambien. Diego has also done such Hollywood films as Milk with Sean Penn, The Terminal, Before Night Falls, etc.)

“I was influenced by my father who worked as a designer in theater. My mother, who was a costume designer, died when I was two years old so I stuck with my father. Acting was a way to be part of my father’s world; it was my way of being as close to my father as I could be. I was six years old when I started doing plays. You see, I had a responsible father (spoken tongue-in-cheek). At 14, my life started to change. I became aware of the necessity of impressing girls.”

How romantic!

“No, not at all. My life story is not as romantic as that of Marlon Brando. I was fascinated with cinema, that’s why I chose to be an actor. I grew up watching all kinds of movies in the neighborhood theater…both Hollywood and European movies. I was amazed by how actors put on clothes and pretend to be somebody else, telling stories and convincing people of things that are not true. I started enjoying acting more, and more and more.”

What other satisfaction do you get from acting?

“Well, not just entertaining people but making them think. Doing that is a great pleasure for me. That’s exactly what I feel about this Netflix series...doing something that will get to millions of people right into their homes…and make them think and reflect on what they are watching.”

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)