The Big Picture
Gael García Bernal stars as gay wrestler Saúl Armendáriz, whose character Cassandro challenged the conventions of professional wrestling. The film explores Saúl’s rise to fame in the macho world of Mexican Lucha Libre, with the help of his trainer and friend Sabrina. Cassandro’s joyful and fun-loving character made him famous in the Lucha Libre world, while also breaking down taboos and challenging stereotypes.
Gael García Bernal’s Cassandro is set for a limited theatrical release ahead of its global Prime Video premiere, the streamer has announced. The biographical drama is helmed by Roger Ross Williams and will see Bernal as gay wrestler Saúl Armendáriz who rose to fame thanks to his fan-favorite in-ring character Cassandro. Often called “Liberace of Lucha Libre,” the exótico character turned the macho conventions of professional wrestling on its head.
What’s Cassandro About?
The movie made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. The movie sees the rise of Saúl Armendáriz (García Bernal) in the macho world of Mexican Lucha Libre wrestling. While he’s always cast as the runt, he meets Sabrina (Roberta Colindrez), who becomes his professional trainer as well as a friend who helps him create a new character in the ring. Together they debut Cassandro, a subversion of Lucha Libre’s stereotypical role known as the exótico. While the character brings him a lot of fame it also upends Saul’s life and his relationship with his mother Yocasta, his secret lover Gerardo, and his absent father Eduardo.
Speaking to Collider previously, Bernal shared his approach to the “joyful” character, “I just wanted to sort of gravitate or permeate the essential archetype of Cassandro’s character that is so joyful, his joy.” Calling it the secret of Saul’s success, he added, “And that’s why he became very, very famous and transcendent in the Lucha Libre world because he was a character that was having fun, and there was enjoying and there was interacting, almost like in a drag show with the audience and just making everything lighter and happy. And at the same time, breaking down taboos.”
Image via Amazon Studios
RELATED: Gael García Bernal Details His Lucha Libre Training for ‘Cassandro’
Williams co-wrote the script with David Teague, and with strong initial reviews, it’ll be interesting to see how the movie pans out. The previously released images give fans an intriguing look at Bernal in full-drag glory as Cassandro. With a talented cast and crew coupled with theatrical release, the feature can even be in award consideration this season. Along with Bernal as Saúl Armendáriz/Cassandro and Colindrez as Sabrina, the movie also cast Perla De La Rosa as Saul’s mother Yocasta, Joaquín Cosío as his lover Lorenzo, Raúl Castillo as Gerardo/El Comandante, El Hijo del Santo as himself, and Bad Bunny as Felipe.
Cassandro will hit select theaters on September 15 before making the Prime Video debut on September 22. Meanwhile, check out our interview with Bernal down below:
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