Juanes is showing another facet of his artistry: acting.
The emblematic Colombian rockstar is stepping off stage and on-camera to portray Moisés Estrada on Pimpinero: Sangre y Gasolina [Pimpinero: Blood and Oil], which is now available on Amazon Prime Video. Ahead of the streaming premiere, he spoke with Remezcla about what he did to prepare for the role, what he learned from it, and how the film shows the humane side of organized crime.
Juanes stepped into the cinema world with only a few cameos and appearance gigs under his belt (Bordertown, Jane the Virgin) thanks to being hand-picked by Colombian director Andrés Baiz. This time around, the director asked Juanes to be part of his film about pimpeneros – also known as gasoline smugglers – and their struggles on the Colombian-Venezuelan border. Juanes’ character Estrada, is the oldest of the brother clan, who are all part of the illegal work. And the film follows the brothers as they go across the desert to buy cheaper gasoline in Venezuela and then resell it in Colombia.
For the role, Baiz asked the Colombian rockstar to take everything about his onstage persona out of his mind. Baiz didn’t want Juanes behind the camera, he wanted Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez to take on the character. “One of the things I liked the most about Andy [Baiz] when we talked the first time is that he told me ‘I don’t want any of Juanes’ music, I don’t want Juanes himself, I want you to play the character,’ So that put me in a different place and I think it was something I really liked,” Juanes told Remezcla.
After that, Juanes had to dive into what it was to be a pimpenero. Turns out the Colombian star didn’t know much about pimpeneros, or the term itself. “I did more research, I understood what a pimpinero was, because when Andy said the word, even for me it was not very common. So obviously I understood the drama that was happening on the border with the gasoline that was much cheaper over there, and in Colombia [it] was much more expensive, the caravans of death, everything that this meant, how it worked and that gave me more context to be able to understand what was going on in Colombia.”
Just like everyone in a new type of job role, he had to learn things about acting that he wasn’t aware of. It wasn’t just about memorizing text – it was about having the character’s backstory ingrained so it would reflect on the on-screen performance. “I felt like when I was en el colegio – super nervous – because Andy [Baiz] would ask me ‘Where is Moisés coming from?” Juanes recalls about his filming days. “[He would ask] ‘Where was he [Moisés] last night? Where is Moisés going now in the afternoon? Is he angry or happy, is he tired?’”
Furthermore, as someone who is known for being political about social injustice, he says it was important to show a human perspective surrounding this “delicate” film subject about organized crime. Juanes said, “I think the way Andy [Baiz], let’s say, covered these issues with great care and humanity, makes it worthwhile to understand what this problem has been, not because of political differences between countries and prices [and] how they varied, [but] what it meant for the families of these people who were there risking their lives every day and also how these people – because it is the life they have to live – have no other option but to live that.”
He continued: “In the end, all people – no matter how bad they are – always look for family or love as a way to save themselves. There are some who manage to do it, [and] others who will never manage to do it.”
Pimpinero: Sangre y Gasolina is now streaming on Prime Video.
