Mexican actor Diego Luna is currently promoting his latest film "Elsyium," in theaters August 9, a sci-film set in year 2159 that explores themes like class issues, immigration and health care, according to Latina.com.
But the talented 33-year-old artist is also dedicating some time to direct his first English-language film, American labor leader César Chávez's biopic, "Chávez," about the life of the founder of the United Farm Workers.
On Tuesday, he talked about his projects during an interview with Huffington Post's Alyona Minkovski. "The idea behind the film is to talk about a community that now I have a strong connection with," the actor told Minkovski. "And I found out that no one has done a film about him and I don't think it has been celebrated enough. And I think it's the right time to tell the story of Cesar Chavez."
Luna confessed that despite being born and raised in Mexico, he actually learned more about the Mexican-American activist during his time living in the United States.
The "Chávez" cast includes Michael Peñas as César Chávez, America Ferrera as Helen Chávez and Rosario Dawson as Dolores Huerta, among others. According to the Huffington Post, the movie will cover ten years of Chávez's life starting with the foundation of the National Farm Workers Association in 1962.
Luna believes the movie also speaks about the Mexican-American community's current situation. "There's so much prejudiced instilled today about this community, from people in the States and people in Mexico," the actor said during the interview. "And there is a connection that hasn't been established between Mexico and Mexican-Americans. I learned about this community from Mexico and when I moved here I realized it was a completely different story."
For Luna, there is a physical and social line between the Mexican and American cultures. "It's such a long, long, long frontier between the Third World and the First World, and that separates them with their story, with so many things I believe are necessary to become someone, to know where you come from," said the "Elsyium" star.
He also stated that the movie is not about the Mexican community, but about Americans. "It talks about this double moral issue that you find a lot in the States, where there are all these people feeding the country, building the country but at the same time [it] is a country that doesn't want to recognize that, but doesn't want to get rid of them either, that just wants to keep them in the shadows. And that's probably why there's not a film about Cesar Chavez today," Luna told Minkovski.
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