There’s both a calmness and a high level of intensity about Diego Luna. The actor, who talked to Remezcla about Pan y Circo, the Amazon series that in 2021 was honored with two Daytime Emmy Awards, one for Best Entertainment Program in Spanish and one for Luna as Outstanding Daytime Talent in a Spanish-Language Program, knows not just what he’s talking about, but the message he wants to send.
And yet, you can tell that, for him, this isn’t just another show. Not just another job.
Pan y Circo is, instead, a labor of love and a brainchild of La Corriente del Golfo, the production house spearheaded by Luna and fellow friend and actor Gabriel García Bernal. The show, which returns October 8th to Amazon with the first of four new special episodes, is meant to be a conversation – and an opportunity to learn.
Luna doesn’t just cook in each episode; he hosts a conversation between experts on any given subject. But lest you think the show is just about recording something spontaneous, Luna shared that “we do a very deep and long research,” not just about the topics, but about the guests they’re bringing. “We know why they’re sitting there.” Which, of course, doesn’t mean he – or anyone – can dictate the entire conversation.
“When you let them talk, and their own positions start affecting each other, that brings the accident, that thing you can’t control.” And that, well, that’s “beautiful to witness.”
The first of the new episodes, “Healthcare Access,” focuses not just on the pandemic, but on how Latin America has responded, and what the region needs to do going forward. With so many people in the United States having a connection to Latin America, Luna felt there was a need to not just present this information, but to have these conversations in public, so we can “understand where we are and how we can work together.”
“I think this pandemic brought to us one certainty – we’re in this together.” Diego shared, adding that the pandemic “kind of highlighted the inequality and the distance that we’ve created between each other.”
So, what’s the answer? “We won’t be out of this moment in our history unless we articulate a response that involves all of us,” Luna was unequivocal. “We share the same issues; the solutions might be in understanding and reacting as one.”
These aren’t the pretty, but empty words of a man who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Instead, these are the conclusions of someone who has put a lot of time and research into this subject. Someone who hopes that, by bringing Pan y Circo to us, he can bring about that little spark of interest in someone else.
“I really want to share what happens to me when I sit down in front of people who know a lot about something that matters to me, and when I give myself the chance to listen, and also give them the chance to expose these sometimes very complicated topics in a different way, in the way they talk at home.”
Hopefully, the answer is understanding.
The Pan y Circo special titled “Healthcare Access” will be available on Amazon Prime Video on October 8th.