Diego Luna On Playing a Dreaded Drug Lord In ‘Narcos: Mexico’

Michael Peña and Diego Luna, the two lead actors of Netflix’s new show Narcos: Mexico were in India to publicise the just released popular series. While Peña plays the tough DEA agent Kiki Camarena in the new season, Luna acts as the dreaded Mexican drug lord Felix Gallardo.

Here’s my chat with Diego Luna about playing the ruthless drug smuggler and he also reveals that his addiction is food!

My first question to you is, you know, how do you identify with someone who is as evil and ruthless as Felix Gallardo? He is not just a drug kingpin but he is also a guy who has tortured and killed many people. So how do you get into the character and identify with, as an actor, you know get into his motives. Is it also psychologically taxing?

Diego Luna: No, I don’t identify with him at all. I don’t think that is the right word to use, because I feel as far as I can from this character. I think that’s a challenge I like. This is the most interesting role I’ve ever played because this is the one I understand the least. But after saying that, I’ve to humanise the character. I’ve to understand where his motivations come from and what triggers his actions, because in the end we all feel the same things. We’re all kind of like motivated by love, by regret, by jealousy, by ambition. It is just that this guy is willing to cross the lines I will never cross. But he has an explanation for everything he does, like every human being. So the first step is not to judge the character. That is a very important thing, not to judge it and to come in and try to give truth to every action and every choice he makes in the process.

Then, I also think by humanising these characters, you can go deeper into why do they exist? Why is humanity the way it is? Why are these people making these choices? So, I think I like to think about this show as a show that talks more about a system that is corrupted and system that is wrong and a system that pushes people to do the wrong things, where we are mostly victims of our own system, all of us somehow. I think Narcos lives in the grey area where every character is kind of like trying to survive.

Felix himself was a cop, right, at one point of time. And he could’ve become what Kiki Camarena become. So Kiki goes a certain way, he stands by certain values but Felix goes another way. What do you think was the difference that made Felix go off the path? Was it ambition? Was it money? Was it desire for power?

Diego Luna: There is one big difference. One comes from the first world and the other lives in the country, in development, in a very poor country where the police is not paid enough to resist corruption. In fact, it is the opposite way around. But there is corruption also on the other side. When Kiki arrives, and he sees how the DEA is working, he realises that the DEA is also doing the wrong thing. And I don’t think it is about right and wrong. I think it is about something else. I think it’s about them realising that whatever they are fighting for means nothing because there is some market that has a need.

I don’t think this is a show about Kiki Camarena or about Felix Gallardo. I think this is a show about cocaine and about a market that is reluctant to accept the responsibility they have on their addiction. But my character is definitely a man who is willing to sacrifice anything, that is ready to leave everything behind – friends, family, his hometown. His ambition is bigger than anything.

Now, I read that Felix Gallardo had secretly published his memoirs while he was in jail. Do you happen to read them, to get an idea of…

Diego Luna: Yeah, of course. I didn’t pay too much attention that, I read a lot of material about him, including what he wrote in jail. And it helped me kind of analyse and understand the character. But sometimes you learn more about someone by what others say about you. If I go on Facebook and see the way you have described yourself, probably it’s gonna be a lie. But if I ask your friends, who you were, what did you do, then I’ll learn much more about you.

There is tons of material about not just Felix but about this time. What they built, what the case of Kiki Camarena meant, material written in States and in Mexico and confronting those point of views was interesting you know. How the story was told in the States and how the story was told in Mexico and trying to find somewhere in between for our story to be told.

You and Michael, go back some way. You directed Michael in the film Cesar Chavez and I want to ask you what makes Michael special as an actor? What sets him apart?

Diego Luna: That he is willing to take risks. That even when he is coming in with an idea, he is willing to throw that away and try other stuff. That he really knows how to live the moment, how to react to the moment. And I guess he is not an actor that you have to fight with the way he has pre- conceived stuff. He is very free on set, and that is a good thing to have.

Acting or directing? What do you find more exciting?

Diego Luna: Acting in theatre, directing in films.

Tell us one addiction that you have. It could be your mobile, it could be watching movies, could be anything.

Diego Luna: Yeah, the mobile definitely. It is one of my addictions. But I would say food. Even though I know I don’t need it, I can keep eating and eating and eating.

Do you have a particular cuisine that you prefer?

Diego Luna: I love Indian food, and that is not because you are here and I’m in Mumbai, but I do love it. I love Mexican food. I love Thai food, and I love paella.

Thank you so much.

Diego Luna: Thank you.