In another timeline, in another universe, this might just be Gael Garcia Bernal’s moment. On the shortlist of contemporary actors more than deserving of that first Oscar nomination, his window for his acclaimed performance in “Cassandro” appears to be closing. After stellar reviews at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, neither he nor the movie’s cast was able to participate in the film’s release in August. He was supposed to be celebrated with a career retrospective at the Telluride Film Festival at the beginning of September which would have kicked off his awards campaign. That didn’t happen because of the most significant work stoppage in half a century. Some films were able to overcome the obstacles over the larger, important priorities of the WGA and SAG strikes. After being overlooked by numerous awards bodies, “Cassandro,” sadly, does not seem to be one of them. And, frankly, it’s hard not to wonder, “What if?”
READ MORE: “Cassandro” Sundance Review: Gael Garcia Bernal gives the gay Lucha Libre icon his due
Still one of the best-reviewed films of the year, Roger Ross Williams’ narrative debut tells the real-life story of Saúl Armendáriz (Bernal), a Mexican-born immigrant living in the United States who dreams of making it big in Lucha libre wrestling. When he’s given the opportunity to play the role of an “exotico,” traditionally a feminine, “gay” foil for the butch “hero” wrestlers, he uses his own charisma to make history as Cassandro, a publicly “out” exotico. His actions changed the world of Lucha Libra forever.
Williams initially told Armendáriz’s story in a 2016 documentary short, “The Man Without the Mask,” but he immediately knew the story needed a larger, narrative canvas. Bernal, not surprisingly, was his first choice to play Armendáriz. Sipping tea in the garden of a Los Angeles hotel earlier this month, Bernal says he absolutely knew who Cassandro was, but it wasn’t until his production company got involved that he was confident enough in the project to fully be on board. Because, as he notes, “as an actor, you have to lose control, but in order to lose control, you have to trust a lot what’s happening, the whole structure.”
He continues, “It’s always a bit of a miracle when the films get made. So, I think all the credit in terms of the way we pushed forth and everything was with all the team. They were great at carrying on and trying to make it. Obviously, the trust that Amazon put into us, especially Brianna Oh, who was the executive in charge of the film, they were very supportive, too, for us to do whatever we wanted, and so we could play with that. So that made it like, ‘O.K., this is a great place to lose control and to create an accident.’ Will that accident be good? You never know. That’s the thing. There’s no certainties ever, ever.”
The Guadalajara, Mexico born actor has had a varied career making road movies with Alfonso Cuaron (“Y tu mamá también”), thrillers with Pedro Almodóvar (“Bad Education”), historical dramas with Pablo Larrain (“No”) and commercial blockbusters with M. Night Shyamalan (“Old”), among others, but making a movie set in the world of Lucha libra was never on his bucket list.
“Lucha libre, for example, I love it. I grew up with it. In a way, it’s fun to do that, and I loved the training. I was very prepared for that. We were very excited by it,” Bernal says. “The character of Cassandro is amazing, such a joy. For us Mexicans [in the industry], we remember, ‘O.K. if we’re Mexicans, one day we have to do a film about Lucha Libre, eventually.’”
A spry 43-years-old during filming, Bernal did as much of the actual wrestling in the movie as he could. That being said, he knew it wouldn’t be easy and, well, it wasn’t. And he admits – with a smile – he got hurt, in some manner, every day.
“It looks really tough, and it is very tough. But there were things that I didn’t know I was capable of doing until we started to play with that and then rehearse and put it together,” Bernal reveals. “At that point, I was like, ‘Yes, this that I thought it was going to be really complicated, now it’s a little bit easier. Or not easier. I am able to do this.’”
To bring authenticity to the wrestling aspect of the picture, the production worked with Lucha Libra AAA Worldwide (or simply known as “AAA”), one of the biggest organizations in the sport. Bernal says they were extremely helpful noting, “Chessman and Texano Jr., they were my teachers and many of the wrestlers that we see in the film are real wrestlers, of course, playing other characters as well, not playing their own characters, playing other characters. So that was incredible.”
Unlike many other biopics portraying people who are still with us, Bernal was unable to meet with Armendáriz until the last week of shooting. Unfortunately, the inspiration for the film, who has thrown his body across the ring for almost four decades (he only recently retired) had a medical issue before production began.
“Saul makes an interpretation of Cassandro,” Bernal says. “He makes a character in order to find himself in a way. So, we made our own version of Cassandro in a way, our own Cassandro kind of thing, and everything that we had to do with the life of Saul, well, it’s there, it’s in the script, but it’s also in many documentaries and everything.”
“Cassandro” isn’t just about a man having the courage to be his authentic self while pursuing his dream. It deftly and impressively chronicles the difficulties of immigrants trying to survive in the United States and the juxtaposition of having lives on both sides of a nearby border. Bernal actually thinks that was integral to telling Cassandro’s story.
“All the people in the border, they have to cross and ignore a stupid wall that is there, just a ridiculous wall that is there that they have to ignore it in order to keep on living because you have to do that,” Bernal says. “I was very glad that we captured a bit of the border culture and also the life of Cassandro in a way, that moment where it wasn’t a coming-out film. It was like, Cassandro was already out, and it was like what happens after? Then when I saw the film, I was like, ‘Oh…’ There’s someone that comes out during the film, and that’s society. That’s society. Society makes that step, that leap in a way of us saying, ‘It’s fine to support these guys, these exoticos.’ Because, a little bit of insight, it was not only Cassandro. There were many exoticos that were contemporary to him that subverted everything.”
“Cassandro” is available on Prime Video.