For Juanes, acting was a long-delayed dream. And it’s not that he was desperately looking for an opportunity in front of the cameras. Simply, one day, when he arrived home in Miami, his wife received him with a message that would change everything: “The director Andrés Baiz is looking for you, he wants you to act in his next movie.”
With his eyes lighting up, Juanes confesses that he couldn’t believe it. He had closely followed, with deep admiration, Baiz’s career (Satanás, Griselda, Narcos, The Hidden Face) and did not suspect that, just days before that proposal knocked on his door, the Cali filmmaker had spent long hours searching for the perfect actor to play the eldest of the Estrada brothers, belonging to a family of gasoline smugglers who moved through the desert defying death.
The background of this story recreates what happened a decade ago, when Venezuelan gasoline was the cheapest in the world, and smuggling of this fuel was frequent on the Colombian-Venezuelan border.
Juanes put his career on hold and spent two months in La Guajira to film the Prime Video movie. | Photo: Courtesy Prime Video
Juanes himself says that he did not imagine becoming an actor at the age of 52, already established as one of the great artists of Latin America, nor debuting in that role alongside renowned figures, such as the Mexican Alejandro Speitzer, the Cuban Alberto Guerra and the Colombian Laura Osma. And even less receive applause in a space other than the stage: the Toronto International Film Festival, where the film premiered with great success in September of this year. Precisely, about this unexpected step through the performance in Pimpinero, Sangre y Gasoline, which landed in the country’s movie theaters on October 10, the Paisa singer spoke with this magazine.
SEMANA: At the media premiere in Colombia of the film, you acknowledged that this new facet put you in a place of discomfort. How did you actually experience it?
Juanes: Yes, it was real. When Andy contacted me about this project, he made things clear to me from the beginning: “I don’t want your music, I don’t want Juanes on screen. “I want you to be another character in the movie.” What’s more, he asked me to do two castings for two very different characters. When I met him I confessed that I was a superfan of his work as a director. Then I said, “I really want to try it.” And I took the two castings he requested. Recording itself was a very strange experience from the beginning. Being on a recording set was challenging. I had been on those kinds of sets making videos and things like that, always related to my music, but I had never been acting. Less working with a director and actors who are too top in this industry. It was all very very crazy to me. All this made me very nervous.
Alejandro Speitzer, Juan Esteban Aristizábal, Laura Osma, head of Amazon Studios for Latin America, Canada and Australia, Javiera Balmaceda, Alberto Guerra and director Andrés Baiz attend the Prime Video ‘Pimpinero Sangre y Gasolina’ at the TIFF Festival Sept. 8, 2024 in Toronto Canada. | Photo: Todd Williamson/JanuaryImages
SEMANA: But you once said that since you were a child, acting caught your attention.
Juanes: Yes, since I was a child I always liked cinema and I have admired it. He had done very small things in film. But, to be honest, I had never expected this acting thing to happen in my life, but when fate gives you an opportunity like that, in that way, you simply cannot miss it.
SEMANA: What happened to your singing career at that time?
Juanes: It was a risky decision in my career, dedicating two months of my life to being on a recording set. I said, “No concerts, no new music, I’m going to concentrate on the movie. “I’m going to La Guajira for several weeks and, above all, I’m going to prepare.” I trained with an acting coach, and Carolina Gómez, in this case, was the one who helped me in that preparation to be able to get into the skin of Moisés Estrada. In the end, I quite enjoyed it and liked the experience.
SEMANA: For this film you had to present two castings, one of them was that of a villain. Would you have liked to see yourself more in that role?
Juanes: (Laughs) In both cases I would have enjoyed it. I would have liked to play a villain. I confess that doing those castings made me very nervous, but it was like playing a little at being someone else and looking for ways to represent that. So, I knew that in one of the characters he was a stoic, serious, profound man, which was the one I finally played in this film, and in the other he was a crazy man who moved his hands all the time. More like a guache, as we say here, in Colombia, something more irreverent. The fact is that everything in this process of acting was super uncomfortable and even strange, but today I feel very grateful to have been part of this story and reach people in this way. Someday I will show you that other villain casting so you can tell me how I did it and even make me bullying.
Andi Baiz, Alejandro Speitzer, Laura Osma, Alberto Guerra and Juanes. | Photo: Prime Video
SEMANA: How did your wife, Karen Martínez, who has great experience as an actress, support you in this titanic task?
Juanes: He supported me a lot. From the first day. What’s more, it was she who told me everything. “Luis Badaguer called me, who is Sofía Vergara’s manager, and he is asking me if you want to act in Andy Baiz’s movie,” he told me one day. I just said, “What?!” And then he helped me prepare for the casting. He always told me do this or do that. Learn the text, but it’s not just about memorizing some dialogues. She shared with me all those secrets that she has used for so many years as an actress. The truth is that it was very exciting to share this entire process with my family, my wife and my daughter Luna, who is studying film.
SEMANA: And are you prepared for criticism from a filmmaker at home?
Juanes: She has really enjoyed that I got into acting. And I tell you that my children have always been the first critics of my work, even in music. I like that, I enjoy that feedback. Every time I work on something new, I tell them, “Please tell me the truth.” That’s how it’s always been, they confess to me when they don’t like a song, for example. Or if it sounds cool to you. As a parent, I always listen to them and take their opinions into account.
