Tag: gael garcía bernal

Eric Kripke Says ‘The Boys: Mexico’ Has “A Totally Different Tone” As He Shares Update

As Prime Video heads south of the border with the next The Boys offshoot, franchise boss Eric Kripke has an update for fans.

The 2x Emmy nominee recently revealed that The Boys: Mexico, which hails from executive producers Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal, is “super fun” and “a totally different tone” from its parent series.

“The pilot of [The] Boys: Mexico is being developed right now,” Kripke told Collider. “It’s very cool. I mean, who knows — obviously you never know, but I can say that the world itself meets the standard of all of our spin-offs. It’s our world but a totally different tone, and it’s super fun. Gael and Diego are executive producers, which is amazing and [they] really engaged with it, so — short answer is we’ll see, but I think the script is good.”

Back in 2023, Deadline reported that The Boys franchise was expanding with the Mexico iteration, which will be penned by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (Blue Beetle). With the series expected to film in Mexico, no plot details have yet been revealed.

Luna and Bernal, longtime friends who previously starred together in Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También (2001) will potentially star in the spin-off as well, although not in major roles.

Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna attend the Cannes 75 anniversary dinner on May 24, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

In July, Kripke wrapped the fifth and final season of The Boys, which premieres in 2026. Meanwhile, Season 2 of Gen V debuts Sept. 17, and the prequel series Vought Rising is currently in the works. Prime also has the animated spin-off The Boys Presents: Diabolical.

Glenn Garner

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September 12, 2025
What to stream: Jelly Roll, ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,’ Cate Blanchett and Charli XCX remixes

Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline co-starring in “Disclaimer,” a psychological thriller from writer-director Alfonso Cuarón, and Jelly Roll releasing “Beautifully Broken,” a follow-up to his breakout album “Whitsitt Chapel,” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Sean Wang’s semi-autobiographical feature debut “Dìdi,” Hulu’s first Spanish-language series “La Máquina” and Charli XCX’s deluxe, remixed, double-album version of her culture-shifting album “Brat.”

NEW MOVIES TO STREAM OCT. 7-13

— “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was No. 1 at the box office as recently as two weeks ago, but beginning Tuesday, Tim Burton’s popular sequel will be available, for a price. You can buy it digitally for $25 on Prime Video, Apple TV and other video-on-demand platforms. In it, the Deetz family returns to Winter River after a family tragedy. There, Lydia (Winona Ryder), still haunted by Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), is forced into another afterlife odyssey when her teenage daughter (Jenna Ortega) discovers a portal. In her review, AP’s Jocelyn Noveck called it “a joyously rendered sequel that sometimes makes sense, and sometimes doesn’t, but just keeps rollicking.”

— Sue Kim’s documentary “The Last of the Sea Women,” streaming Friday, Oct. 11 on Apple TV+, captures the lives and livelihood of the Haenyeo, the community of South Korean fisherwoman who for generations have free dived for seafood off the coast of Korea’s Jeju Island. Threats abound for the Haenyeo, who are mostly in their 60s and 70s. Thy ply their trade in a warming ocean contaminated by sea garbage and the Fukushima nuclear accident.

— One of the indie highlights of the summer, Sean Wang’s “Dìdi,” is now streaming on Peacock. Wang’s semi-autobiographical feature debut, a coming of age story set in the Bay Area in 2008, is about a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy (Izaac Wang) struggling with where he fits in. That includes with his family (Joan Chen plays his mother) and fellow skater kids whom he begins making videos with. The film, funny and tender, is a breakthrough for the emerging filmmaker Wang, whose short “Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó, ” was Oscar nominated earlier this year.

— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle

NEW MUSIC TO STREAM OCT. 7-13

— Brat summer came and went, but the hedonistic ideologies behind Charli XCX’s feel-good album endure. On Friday, Oct. 11, she will release “Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat,” a deluxe, remixed, double-album version of her culture-shifting album “Brat,” this time featuring A-listers like Billie Eilish, Lorde, her tour mate Troye Sivan, her forever-hero Robyn, and more. Just don’t confuse this one with her other Brat re-release, “Brat and It’s the Same but There’s Three More Songs So It’s Not.”

— He’s the not-so-new name on everyone’s lips: Jelly Roll will release a follow-up to his breakout album, 2023’s “Whitsitt Chapel” on Friday, Oct. 11. Little is known about the 22-track “Beautifully Broken” beyond its previously released tracks “I Am Not Okay,” “Get By,” “Liar” and “Winning Streak” — the latter of which he debuted during the premiere of Saturday Night Live’s 50th season, joined by a choir. That one was inspired by an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and the album will no doubt center on the kind of stories he’s become known for: Soulful country-rock on adversity, addiction, pain, suffering, and ultimately, chasing safety.

— A decade removed from “Shower,” the viral, bubblegum pop song that launched her career, and Mexican American singer Becky G has found her in lane in Spanish-language, hybrid-genre releases, crossing language barriers and cultural borders. “Encuentros,” out Friday, Oct. 10, is her latest — a follow-up to 2023’s “Esquinas” — and continuation of her work in regional Mexicana styles made all her own, from the single “Mercedes,” which features corrido star Oscar Maydon’s deep tenor, and beyond.

— On Friday, Oct. 11, Duran Duran will release “Danse Macabre – De Luxe,” a deluxe reissue of their celebrated 2023 LP of the same name – a mix of covers and gothic originals. Surprises abound, even for the most dedicated Duran Duran fan: Like in their cover of ELO’s “Evil Woman,” or on the song “New Moon (Dark Phase),” a reimagination of “New Moon On a Monday,” featuring former member Andy Taylor.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

NEW SHOWS TO STREAM OCT. 7-13

— Friends and frequent collaborators Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal team up on Hulu’s first Spanish-language series called “La Máquina.” Bernal plays an aging boxer named Esteban Osuna. His longtime manager (Luna) secures him one last fight to go out a champ but there are major obstacles. The boxer has taken a lot of hits to the head over the years and his mind seems to be slipping and a criminal organization wants him to throw the fight or else. Eiza González also stars as Osuna’s ex-wife, a reporter investigating fixed boxing matches in Mexico. “La Máquina” debuts Wednesday.

— The first spinoff of the 2023 Prime Video spy series “Citadel,” which starred Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden, debuts Thursday on the streamer. “Citadel: Diana” stars Matilda De Angelis takes place in Italy. An India-based version called “Citadel: Honey Bunny” stars Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, and premieres in November.

— Netflix’s favorite sun-drenched, treasure-hunting teens of North Carolina, known as the Pogues, are back for more adventures in “Outer Banks.” Season four, premiering Thursday, is divided into two parts. The show stars Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline.

— Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline co-star in “Disclaimer,” a psychological thriller, on Apple TV+ from writer, director Alfonso Cuarón that premiered at last month’s Venice Film Festival. Blanchett plays a respected documentarian who recognizes she’s the inspiration for a character in a new novel that threatens to expose her secrets. The limited-series also features Kodi Smit McPhee, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jung Ho-yeon and Lesley Manville and premieres Friday, Oct. 11.

— Alicia Rancilio

NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

— Atlus/Sega’s absorbing Persona series has grown over the years from a cult hit to a genuine blockbuster, but it’s been seven years since the last chapter. Meanwhile, several of its creators have branched off to form their own Studio Zero, and they’re about to launch their debut title, Metaphor: ReFantazio. Instead of Persona’s Tokyo-set teen drama, Metaphor presents a power struggle in a pseudo-medieval kingdom. The combat, however, evokes Persona’s zippy blend of turn-based and real-time action, and when you aren’t fighting you’ll need to spend time building relationships with the locals. If you’ve been craving a chance to explore a new world for dozens of hours, this one opens up Friday, Oct. 11, on PlayStation 5/4, Xbox X/S and PC.

— Lou Kesten

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October 8, 2024
‘La Máquina’ Review: Boxing Series Throws a Lot of Punches That Don’t Land

Gael García Bernal, Andrés Delgado, and Jorge Perugorría (from left) in La Máquina. (Photo by: Nicole Franco/Hulu)

Daddy issues, mommy issues, traumatic brain injury issues, international organized crime syndicate issues . . . Hulu’s first Spanish-language series, La Máquina, is full of issues. Ostensibly an underdog boxing tale crossed with a crime thriller, the show collapses under the weight of its own story, making for a messy and often confounding viewing experience.

La Máquina starts with a devastating blow to Esteban “La Máquina” Osuna (Gael García Bernal), as he’s knocked out in the first round of a massively hyped boxing match. His manager-slash-best friend Andy (Diego Luna, unrecognizable under layers of makeup and prosthetics) is left to pick up the pieces of his career. After some wheeling and dealing—and maybe some stealing—Andy manages to set up not only a rematch, but a world championship-level fight for Esteban.

However, Esteban is hardly in title-reclaiming shape; he’s still recovering from his previous injury, and years of getting his head bashed in as well as drug and alcohol abuse have taken their toll. It’ll take a lot of work to get him in the right headspace and weight class, but that’s not all. A shady, secretive, seemingly omniscient organization that Andy worked with earlier in his and Esteban’s career is coming to collect, and their request for payment is that Esteban throws the fight. If he doesn’t, Andy, Esteban and everyone they’ve ever loved will be killed. Yikes!

La Máquina throws a lot of punches, but few ever really land. Plot points and story beats become excessive, whether it’s Andy’s creepy, co-dependent relationship with his mother (Lucía Méndez) or the decision by Esteban’s ex-wife Irasema (Eiza González, who delivers some of the best work among the cast) to pick up her late father’s investigation into boxing match fixing. The writing gets overbearing, and there’s no time for any of these moments to sit and settle for the viewers and the characters alike. The stakes fluctuate so wildly and so often that it’s hard to take the drama seriously, and at just six episodes (of which only five were provided for critics) the series tries to do far too much.

Jorge Perugorría, Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal in La Máquina. (Photo by: Cristian Salvatierra/Hulu)

It’s a shame too, given that it’s the first television collaboration for long-time creative partners Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna. The project has been in the works for over a decade, with the actors also serving as executive producers; in interviews and press materials, they tout their love of boxing and how they’ve wanted to make something about the sport. That passion doesn’t really come through—you won’t find any expertly shot boxing matches here.

Instead, La Máquina feels almost self-indulgent for the two talented actors: Luna gets to play a larger than life, cosmetic surgery-obsessed character, and García Bernal tackles a role that, in theory, is serious and emotionally complex. García Bernal does well to bring some of Esteban’s struggles to life, such as the aging boxer’s brain trauma-induced hallucinations that provide a pretty literal window into his psyche, but his character arc goes in so many different directions that it’s impossible to grapple with.

La Máquina takes a real kitchen sink approach to its storytelling, stretching credulity with every scene. It’s not enough for the match fixing crime syndicate to just threaten the protagonists; the organization must also be part of an apparent international political conspiracy and somehow maybe have something to do with Esteban’s relationship with his father. Very little makes sense the longer the series goes on, and it seems unlikely that the final episode would tie up the show’s many, many loose ends. It’s a genuinely bewildering watch, and it’ll leave you scratching your head over how it got so out of hand.

‘La Máquina’ premieres on Hulu on October 9th.

Laura Babiak

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October 5, 2024
Jason Schwartzman and Gael García Bernal on the Many Masks of Acting

In Reunited, Awards Insider hosts a conversation between two Oscar contenders who have collaborated on a previous project. Today, we speak with Jason Schwartzman, who stars in Asteroid City, and Gael García Bernal, who stars in Cassandro. They previously worked together on Mozart in the Jungle, which starred García Bernal and was produced and cocreated by Schwartzman.

The minute Jason Schwartzman hops on the Zoom call with Gael García Bernal for this Reunited conversation, he tells García Bernal that he watched Cassandro—in which Bernal stars as a barrier-breaking gay Mexican wrestler—twice in one day. “What a character that you play,” he says. “He smiles so much. And he’s rarely sulking, which is almost more intense for me.”

In his 2023 film, Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, Schwartzman’s character, Augie, does sulk a bit. A recently widowed war photojournalist, the character couldn’t seem more different from García Bernal’s. But as the pair of former collaborators soon learn, the work they put into exploring each of these characters will turn out to be surprisingly similar. Both stories play with the idea of performance within a performance, and both required the use of masks (of some sort, anyway)—a theme that weaves its way through acting in many ways for both of them.

García Bernal and Schwartzman first worked together on Amazon’s TV series Mozart in the Jungle, in which García Bernal played an eccentric music conductor and Schwartzman served as a cocreator, writer, and executive producer. The charming series, which lasted for four seasons, left a strong impression on both of them, as Schwartzman’s first experience in a major creator role and García Bernal’s first major lead role on an American TV series. Now, the pair reunite to look back on the joy of playing an uncensored genius on TV, and dive-deep into the tools and tricks they used to explore their characters in Asteroid City and Cassandro.

Vanity Fair: What do you remember about the first time you met?

Gael García Bernal: Maybe we had talked on the phone, but I think my first impression was you in a room with many, many people and you always with your smile and just charisma, I don’t know, you came up to me and you were the first one I said hello to in Mozart in the Jungle. I always had a feeling that we were from the same kind of postal code, even though we definitely didn’t grow up in the same cities or anything, but there was something that we have – when you look at someone performing and you see through the character, you see that person and you see that vitality and that losing of control as well, which is wonderful. And watching you, I was like, we could be friends. We could talk the same language.

Jason Schwartzman: I have the same feeling really. I just remember seeing you and feeling so honored that we were going to do this together. And I think also just excited because you are going to be the captain of this ship that we were going to be going out on. And your smile and who you were, I just felt like this is going to be a wonderful trip if this is who’s guiding us.

But not to make you uncomfortable, but there’s one time that we didn’t really meet before, but we were near each other. At the Toronto Film Festival, I was there with this movie called I Heart Huckabees and I don’t know what you were there with, but I was having dinner with David O. Russell and this group of people. You came in with, I forget who, and sat down across the table and started talking. And I remember thinking, I know you shouldn’t look at your career like this, but I was thinking this is a good sign for my career. Now, if he’s coming to the table and sitting with us, I’m on some kind of right track.

Rebecca Ford

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January 4, 2024
Diego Luna & Gael García Bernal Will Executive Produce Spin-Off Series ‘The Boys: Mexico’

Amazon Prime Video has announced that The Boys: Mexico, a spin-off series of The Boys, is in the works. But perhaps more exciting than the new series are the men behind it: Mexican actors, producing partners, and close friends Diego Luna (Andor) and Gael García Bernal (Old, Mozart in the Jungle).

The duo broke onto the scene in Alfonso Cuarón’s critically acclaimed film Y Tu Mamá También in 2001, and have built careers working in both independent films and blockbuster productions. The Boys: Mexico will be co-showrun by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (Blue Beetle). Casting and plot details are currently under wraps, but Luna and García Bernal may be appearing onscreen in minor roles. Both actors are already part of major genre franchises with Disney. Luna is best known for his role as Cassian Andor in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the spin-off series Andor. And García Bernal recently joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Jack Russell in the Disney+ Halloween special Werewolf by Night.

The Boys: Mexico will be the third spin-off series for the raunchy Amazon franchise, following the animated anthology series The Boys Presents: Diabolical and the college-set series Gen V, which has already been renewed for a second season. Season 4 of The Boys will be released sometime in 2024. Like many projects, season 4 was delayed as executive producer/series creator Eric Kripke didn’t want to premiere the series during the WGA strike.

The Boys is based on the best-selling comic series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, which debuted in 2006. The series quickly amassed a devoted fanbase thanks to its graphic violence, explicit raunch, and satirization of modern-day superhero culture and fandom. While the series takes aim at both DC and Marvel, it has developed into a razor-sharp indictment of the Trump presidency, with lead villain Homelander (Antony Starr) getting Trumpier with each season.

Amazon is quickly assembling a sprawling shared universe based on The Boys, which is one of the streamer’s most successful original series. The Boys is quickly shaping up to be a major superhero franchise, not unlike the very franchises it mocks. This kind of corporate synergy is right up Vought International’s alley.

(featured image: Kurt Krieger/Corbis via Getty Images)

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Chelsea Steiner

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November 28, 2023
How Amazon’s ‘Cassandro’ Puts a Queer Twist on a Classic Biopic Formula

In many ways, Cassandro takes the shape of a classic, inspirational sports biopic. The film, now streaming on Prime Video, follows an outsider who finds meaning in a particular competitive realm, tracing his most unlikely rise to stardom. It’s a description you could apply to dozens of Hollywood hits—a fact that the movie’s director, Roger Ross Williams, is keenly aware of. Those conventional bones give shape to the kind of story that, in reality, the industry rarely takes seriously—in this case, that of a gay Mexican American wrestler who defies the odds to triumph in his ultramasculine environment.

So goes the story of real-life lucha libre icon Saúl Armendáriz, which was previously tackled by Williams in the nonfiction short The Man Without a Mask. Here, Williams, whose lauded work in documentary has earned him both an Academy Award (Music by Prudence) and an Emmy Award (The Apollo), makes his narrative debut by reexamining a subject he already knows intimately. It’s why the film brims with confidence, from the casting of Gael García Bernal—an actor Williams pursued for years—to the focus on self-acceptance and familial estrangement, topics true to both Armendáriz’s and Williams’s actual lives. It’s why Cassandro feels quietly radical in its portrait—especially in the exuberant, soaring performance from Bernal, who’s receiving the kind of showcase he’s deserved for a long time.

That goes somewhat for Williams too. Cassandro (watch an exclusive clip above) arrives smack in the middle of a true breakthrough year for the director, if such a term can apply to someone who’s already got a healthy trophy shelf going. His work on the Hulu docuseries The 1619 Project has him currently up for another Emmy, while his Oscar-contending new Netflix doc, Stamped From the Beginning, just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival—and his docuseries The Super Models just hit Apple TV+. “Cassandro was seven years in the making, and Stamped was three years; Super Models, a couple years,” Williams told me over coffee in Telluride a few weeks ago, where Cassandro screened. “And it’s all just kind of coming together within a couple of weeks now. Kind of crazy.”

Vanity Fair: This movie really lives on Gael’s performance. You’ve talked about how aggressively you pursued him for this movie, but how did you find him as a collaborator?

Roger Ross Williams: Gael really dug into the physicality of it and did mostly all of his own stunts. He really learned to wrestle. He also started training six months to a year before. He started pretty extensive bulking up and working out, but he really learned to be a wrestler. He embraced that part of it. He made an emotional connection to the material, because we talked a lot about how it’s about tapping into his own relationship to his own father. Working with Gael, it was really a lot about just talking. Just breaking down and analyzing the character and the emotional arc of the journey of the character. He’s very much an intellectual—and it was COVID, so we had a lot of long Zoom conversations. By the time he had gotten to set, we had worked that out. He was ready. So it was about executing the physicality of it. Spending hours and hours and hours being pummeled in the ring every day.

I imagine that was true for you too. Moving into narrative filmmaking, I thought about those wrestling matches and the world of lucha libre as a place where you get to explore a different kind of filmmaking. How did you want to capture that world? What kind of research did you do?

David Canfield

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September 22, 2023