It’s not that they can’t do well on their own. Over nearly three decades, the two have proven to have enough talent to individually become prominent actors worldwide, both for their forays into film and for their work on the small screen.
But everyone knows that, together, Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna are dynamite. The fact of knowing each other since they were children (they have only been together for a year) and having collaborated on numerous projects as producers has established a level of trust and complicity that has undoubtedly been reflected in the unquestionable chemistry present in the characters they played. perform in “And your mother also” (2001) and “Rudo y cursis” (2008).
In this way, being able to see them united again in a television series that, in addition, is first class and emerged from their own imaginations, is a circumstance worthy of celebration for all their admirers, as well as a reason for enthusiasm for those who eagerly await the premiere of “The Machine”, the production that enters Hulu’s programming starting October 9.
We are facing a television show that places the popular “charolastras” – so called because of the dialogues in “And your mother too” – in the world of professional boxing to develop a story that starts from an apparently conventional premise – that of a boxer who is at the end of his career – to suddenly transform into a ‘thriller’ whose strings are pulled by a mysterious criminal group.
During the recent interview that you can also find here in its video version, García Bernal and Luna spoke about the origin of the project, its development, what they seek to convey with it and their shared work in it. Our edited transcript of the conversation includes in the final part the complementary statements that both gave us that same day on the red carpet to present the series, and which are also available audiovisually at this link.
I would like to start with what is, clearly, the most outstanding thing about “The Machine”: the epic reunion between the two of you. If I’m not mistaken, they had not shared the screen since “Casa de mi padre”, a film that premiered in 2012. There was also a very valid reason for the reunion, because this series arose from your own imagination. I read that the idea came about in a very particular environment, during an early morning that found them walking through the streets of Berlin. I imagine they were partying a little or under some external influence.
García Bernal: Sure, sure; teaching material, they would call it.
Diego Luna: But I don’t think it had much to do with it. It was going to happen one way or another. In fact, I wasn’t into that, because I was taking antibiotics. [risas].
García Bernal: We had just presented “Revolución”, a compilation of short films that we produced.
Luna: And we went to have a kebab, as if to bring down the party. You see, when it’s late, you say, “I’m not going to make it to breakfast.” The one at the hotel ends early and you’re still asleep, so you better go to sleep with something in your belly. It is a simple precautionary measure.
The truth is that Gael came from training boxing for a project that didn’t happen, and I came from making the Julio César Chávez documentary. That led us to think about doing something about boxing, and also doing it together, because collaborating in this way is something that we always have in mind.
The opportunity [de realizarlo] It took a while, between the pandemic and the fact that things on television pass through many hands. Luckily, finally, the stars aligned, and we were able to bring together a beautiful film family to tell this story.
How much of what you see now in the series was already present in what you imagined that night?
García Bernal: I would say that a large part of the concept was forged in that first drunkenness, and then we worked on it with…
Ah! So it was a binge, despite the antibiotics.
García Bernal: Exactly, despite them [risas]. Then came the incorporation of several authors, such as Julián Herbert, Marco Ramírez, David Gaitán and Manuel Alcalá, who participated greatly in the process; but it was something that somehow the two of us consolidated in the sense of what we wanted, where it should go, what it was about, who the characters were and what their names were.
At what moment was it decided that Gael was going to be the boxer and Diego the manager?
Luna: From the beginning. As I told you, Gael came from training [en esa disciplina]so it was logical that it should be so. He wanted to do something with all that work he had done. Plus we were drunk [risas]. I was more interested in the social phenomenon, because I am a fan of boxing and, like Gael, I grew up watching a lot of boxing, because it is a sport in which a Mexican usually wins. And the Mexicans always put on a great show.
But this series will probably make some boxing people uncomfortable, right? Because it speaks clearly about the corruption that exists in this sport, although that is already an open secret.
García Bernal: I don’t think it falls badly in any way. It’s fiction, obviously. We are doing something meta, about a parallel world, completely fictional, about an order that moves things. It’s more like a Greek tragedy than something real.
Of course, because the central problem has nothing to do with the World Boxing Association, which would take away the possibility of being a work of direct denunciation.
Luna: The truth is, it doesn’t go that way. Boxing is an excuse to talk about other things, like friendship, persecution and this prison that success can become. What happens to us when we have to accept that something is over? Boxing is a great metaphor, because it ends with physical capacity. Applies to everything.
Another image of Luna on the set of the series.
(Alexandro Bolaños Escamilla/ HULU)
García Bernal: We also wanted to play with the concept of success, of what happens when an outside entity arrives and says that all this supposed success was already written. It’s something that could happen in any sport or any industry.
Now, unlike other people who are involved in the universe of film, television and acting, you have achieved everything you have achieved entirely on your own merits… or that is at least what it seems.
Moon: Yes; Sometimes I wonder if they are following me or why they gave me something. You’ve already made me doubt even you [risas].
Garcia Bernal: What we do is not about winning or losing. It’s another story, completely. If someone wrote this and designed it like this, they should go into sports, where they would earn more.
But you are winners, in the sense that you are not only great friends, but that you have a very particular chemistry that works when you are together in front of a camera. In this case, it was practically essential to have something like this so that the characters were believable and did not feel like just ambitious, stupid or villainous guys, despite all the trouble they get into for not doing things right.
Luna: Yes, there is a huge advantage in relation to what happens to us, but it is not the only way. How many movies have we seen where a friendship is depicted that moves us and with which we connect? What happens here, and what is incredible, is that we enjoy it a lot, and we have the ability to recognize it and repeat it. But I liked what Gael said a second ago: that nobody wins and nobody loses.
This is something that also allows us to work with people we enjoy, with whom we learn, with whom we share and with whom we grow. In fact, projects don’t always work, but that doesn’t mean that what happened to you on the trip didn’t happen to you.
We do have the fortune of living a trip that we are enjoying very much. Everyone goes their own way; We cross paths from time to time and do things together, but we are not beating anyone, we are not tied or anything like that.
Well, but the world is set up in such a way that there is always a competition. If the series is nominated for different awards, it will be inevitable.
García Bernal: It is assumed that, in sports, it is much clearer who wins and who loses. But in this case, that is not the case.
Luna: In fact, that’s what the series is about, because for this character, the only way to really get what he’s looking for, the only way to achieve that triumph that you’re talking about, is to lose. In other words, in the end, no one wins and no one loses. It’s simply a trip in which you take things and leave others, and that’s it.
The series is also interesting because it begins as a sports drama and suddenly becomes a thriller that takes on an air of criminal intrigue; but he never leaves humor aside. That’s also due to the interactions between all the characters, including yours, obviously. Were there improvised scenes, or was what was written always respected?
García Bernal: All of these elements were things that we had thought about and that we wanted to include. Comedy, for example, is a fantastic and liberating element, although it is not easy to achieve. Comedy opens the door for several things, because, to translate it in boxing terms, it is like the jab that somehow opens the guard and then lands the hard blow.
It is something that is built by doing it, putting it into motion, putting together the staging. And that’s where those improvisation factors come in where you say, “hey, this doesn’t work”; “this is working, let’s go this way” or “let’s try this better”.
Luna: Additionally, we were fortunate to work with Gabriel Ripstein, a director who is not afraid of adding and changing things.
The protagonists before the ring.
(Hulu)
Diego, we have to talk a little about your appearance in the series, with all the botox that your character abuses and how strange it looks.
Moon: What do you think? Did you like the lips a little? Do you think I should have risked more? Or was it too much?
No, the transformation is strong. And it was hard to take it on, I imagine.
Luna: The whole process was difficult, but at the same time very rewarding, because it gave me tools that I had never had to develop a character.
How long did makeup and prosthetics take?
Luna: About two hours in the morning, and in the end, I had to stay almost an hour longer. That was the really hard moment, when everyone was leaving. We would play some music and begin the goodbye process there. But the truth is that it was worth it, because what happened there was very genuine, very nice. Anyway, we filmed very quickly, so I didn’t even notice.
Gael, please tell me about your approach to boxing and how you applied it to the interpretation of this role.
García Bernal: I have a lot of respect for boxers around the world, because it is a very noble sport. I like many of them, but I can tell you which ones inspired me for this character: Julio César Chávez, Roberto Durán, [Juan Manuel] Márquez and some things from [Ricardo] “The Finite” [López] that I used directly. Furthermore, the time I trained helped me a lot to be able to stand in the ring and properly do what I was doing.
Were you also able to use some of what you learned to play Cassandro?
García Bernal: No, not at all, because wrestling is something else. They are completely different disciplines. And in the mental aspect, we had to play with the state of a person who has to say goodbye to success, just at the moment when he is doing better what he likes most.
