Diego Luna on going Method for ‘La Máquina’ and why his character lives in a ‘twisted kind of reality’
Diego Luna doesn’t consider himself a Method actor. But in order to play the role of Andy, the plastic surgery and Botox-obsessed boxing manager in Hulu’s La Máquina,” the Andor star felt like he had no other choice. “I’m not intense in that way,” he tells Gold Derby. “This was just the way I had to do it, because it was a very difficult character to turn on and off. So yeah, I had to be him. I enjoyed it a lot , but I was really tired by the end to be fair.” With Luna earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best TV Supporting Actor, the effort seems to have paid off.
La Máquina, Hulu’s first foray into Spanish-language programming, reunites Luna with his Y tu mamá también co-star Gael García Bernal, who plays an aging boxer managed by Luna’s Andy. The pair first conceived of the project as a film more than a decade ago, and Luna knew that he and Bernal could it into something special. “Something magical happens when we work together and we’re always thinking of what the next thing is,” he explains. After reimagining the project as a limited series, Bernal and Luna found partners in Searchlight Television and Hulu who were willing to back an all-Spanish-language property. “I don’t think the industry was ready 10 years ago,” says Luna.
More from GoldDerby
Luna sees Andy as both comic and tragic, as a man whose outward air of confidence is merely a mask for his own desperate need for approval. “It’s a twisted kind of reality,” he says. “He has this feeling that he’s unbeatable in every possible way. And at the same time, he’s a very sad man. He’s someone that every time he looks in the mirror, he doesn’t like what he sees. He’s searching and begging for his mom and the world to recognize what he’s capable of. He’s a very unhealthy person in many ways.”
That unhealthiness is on clear display in the shows first episode. Andy is shown performing his morning routine in front of a mirror, delivering self affirmations while injecting himself with Botox and lip fillers and applying self-tanner. “He is the kind of guy that there’s no way he won’t get noticed, and he enjoys that feeling,” says Luna. “He wishes he was the star, and that’s what is really sad about him. He represents the boxer– the best of the best– but he wishes to be him. Somehow he wishes to be in the middle of the stage, giving the speech, getting all the attention.”
Luna’s next project is already garnering attention. The actor stars opposite Jennifer Lopez in Oscar winner Bill Condon‘s upcoming adaptation of the Tony-winning musical Kiss of the Spider Woman,”which will have its premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. While Luna can say very little about the film, he promises that fans of the show will connect with the film. “Bill is someone that knows this world, respects theater, loves musicals, and in particular this piece. He knows it better than anyone,” says Luna. “I’ve never done anything like it.”
SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions
Best of GoldDerby
Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
