WATCH: Ben Affleck & Matt Damon Give Mexican Filmmakers Their Flowers
Credit: Netflix
Mexican cinema is taking over and two actors who love to see it are Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. During a recent interview with Remezcla, the stars of The Rip talked about their favorite Mexican directors. Affleck also opened up about working with Mexican actors in his upcoming film Animals.
The Rip was produced by Affleck and Damon’s company Artists Equity. Affleck, who has been embraced by the Latine community for his fluency in Spanish, talked about his Mexican co-stars in his next movie, Animals. He also opened up about wanting to support Mexican film with Artists Equity.
“When I think about Mexico and artists, I just finished a movie [Animals],” Affleck said. “You know Luis Gerardo [Méndez] and Adriana Paz and they are incredible, in my opinion, in the movie. Obviously, they’re both from Mexico. Now with our company, we’re trying to work more with Luis. He’s been really kind of educating me more about how movies are produced and financed in Mexico and some of those opportunities I think are really, really interesting.”
From there, Affleck and Damon talked about their love for Mexican cinema. They even gushed about their favorite Mexican directors. “The greatest filmmakers in the world are Mexican,” Affleck said. “This is like the French New Wave for Mexico. You know, Guillermo [del Toro] and Alfonso [Cuarón]. When we only have to say someone’s first name, it’s pretty impressive.” Then Damon added another director to the mix. “Alejandro [G. Iñárritu], Alfonso, Guillermo,” he said. Affleck also called Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki a “mighty filmmaker.”
“There’s so much Mexican, Mexican-American, or Mexican-informed cinema. It’s really, really exciting,” Affleck concluded. The Rip started streaming on Netflix on January 16. Animals will also be released on Netflix later this year.
This interview was conducted by freelance contributor Brenda Barrientos.