Gael García Bernal defends his right to interpret a character queer in Cassandro, the film that will tell the true story of a wrestling fighter who is homosexual. Bernal is a faithful believer that an actor can become any type of character, without his ideology necessarily being the same as the role he plays.
Gael spoke with indiewire about the coming Cassandro, a film that will premiere this weekend at the Sundance festival. There he stated that he considers the notion that an actor should only play certain characters dangerous.
“It’s quite dangerous to think that we can only represent people who are like us,” he said. “In that sense, if you want reality, then there would be no one better than Saul to create Cassandro.”
Although Gael García is a cisgender heterosexual man, he has already successfully portrayed characters queer in the past. The examples are Bad Education by Pedro Almodóvar and the classic by Alfonso Cuarón, And Your Mother Too.
“I’ve never played myself, you know? And who I am is always someone who changes,” he said. «I have a bisexual character, a homosexual, a trans character, all within me in some way, and I took advantage of them to play different people. It’s very complex and also really great that we can do that. It is a triumph of humanity.”
When talking about Cassandro, a homosexual in a sport associated with macho men, Bernal pointed out that in Mexico there is an interesting duality when it comes to machismo. “If you scratch the surface, what is really behind the male? A man who loves other men,” said the actor.
He affirmed that for this reason machismo in Mexico develops in a somewhat different way than in other countries. Mexican macho culture has “many different colors and shades” that make it somewhat contradictory, unlike the machismo of other countries like the United States.
Precisely about that duality Cassandro, who was the stage name of an openly gay wrestler whose real name was Saúl Armendáriz. Born in El Paso, he became a phenomenon during the 1980s and the idol of many straight men. “He showed the truth behind the mask, in a way,” Bernal said.
Cassandro, Directed by Roger Ross Williams, it will be screened for the first time for audiences on January 20. Its premiere will take place within the framework of the famous Sundance festival. Eventually the movie will make it to Prime Video.
Luis Angel H. Mora My most stable relationship is with the movies, parties and music. I love writing about cinema, meeting new people and sharing ideas. Idealistic in every way, I guess that’s my Ascendant Aquarian trait.