During her career, Eiza González has made a name for herself as a telenovela and movie actress, recording artist, brand ambassador, and fashion icon. However, the Mexican star has other interests, too.
“I love quantum physics,” González, 34, told Remezcla during a recent interview at SXSW. “I find it very fascinating. It’s my favorite subject matter within the science world. That’s why Interstellar is one of my favorite films.”
González said quantum physics opens your eyes to “the fact that we’re just a tiny speck in this ginormous, moving energy blob.” She adds: “You can really go into a spiral of thought for hours and hours.”
Her interest in science is one of the reasons she was drawn to her latest project, the Netflix sci-fi series, 3 Body Problem. In the sprawling series, which is based on Chinese author Liu Cixin’s 2006 novel of the same name, González plays Augustina “Auggie” Salazar, a nanotech inventor caught up in a world where science is unreliable and scientists are meeting their demise.
Auggie’s life becomes complicated when she begins to have visions of a clock counting down to an uncertain and possibly apocalyptic finale. All of this is happening while a secondary storyline is taking place during China’s Cultural Revolution where science and communism are in conflict. Toss in some astrodynamics, and you’ll soon realize that 3 Body Problem is easily one of the most ambitious series to hit the small screen in recent memory.
The philosophical and complex questions about the nature of reality are something that has always intrigued González, who said she finds beauty in the limitless cosmos. “Sometimes when you’re driving in a car and looking up in the sky, it’s like, ‘Wow, there’s a whole thing out there,’” she said. “That thought itself is amazing to me.”
González has starred in a couple of sci-fi movies in the last few years, including Alita: Battle Angel and Godzilla vs. Kong, but nothing like 3 Body Problem. She said her older brother was the one who introduced her to the genre and got her hooked.
“I would watch a ton of stuff with him,” she said. “I definitely think the first movie that had an impact on me was Blade Runner. I remember watching it and being so blown away by the concept and the visuals. Sci-fi is my favorite genre.”
Sci-fi, of course, wouldn’t be anything without science, a discipline that, despite its evidence-based facts, has always been attacked by denialists (flat-earthers have been around for centuries). 3 Body Problem confronts that theme and asks important questions about science in a modern world where people still believe that climate change isn’t real.
“I personally believe in science more than I believe in other things,” González said. “To me, it’s impossible to not believe that science is the response and answer to a lot of things.”
Still, for Eiza González, it’s up to the individual to decide what they believe in. “It’s about what makes you feel hope,” she said. “The most important thing is maintaining faith. That’s what gives us purpose as human beings.”
3 Body Problem premieres on Netflix on March 21, 2024.
