After years of working in the entertainment industry both as a musician and an actor, Eduardo Verástegui decided to dramatically change the path of his career by co-producing and starring in the successful movie Bella.
Eduardo Verástegui has spent the last few years working on changing the negative stereotype of Latinos in the media. After 12 years of working in the entertainment industry both as a musician and an actor, Verástegui decided to dramatically change the path of his career and only take on projects with positive messages. Bella is the first feature film from Verástegui’s production company. The movie follows an international soccer star (Verástegui) whose career comes to a sudden and unexpected end, and how one fateful event changes his life forever.
This is such a passion project for you. Can you talk about why you chose this film as the first film to be produced by your production company?
“You know, when you work as an actor only even though you like the film, after a couple months of promotion you jump to the next one. But this one is more than a film for me. This is my first film that I produced and I acted in it at the same time. It’s a film that is more than a film, it’s a mission. Just making films with a positive message, elevating the dignity of Latinos. It seems before this, Latinos, we have been stereotyped in a very negative way in the media. Always a bandido, the criminal, the prostitute, the gang member and the drunkard, and if you’re good-looking, then you’re the Don Juan Latin lover. In other words, the womanizer, liar. Very few times you see Latinos having the opportunity of being heroes. I’m not talking about heroes like Superman or Spider-Man, I’m talking about the real hero – the everyday hero. The man who comes to this country with a spirit of gratitude, to work, to serve. A man that is honest, a man of integrity, a man of value. A man that is willing to sacrifice everything to help his wife, his children, his friends, his family. You know, a real man.
I think women as well, Latina women – well, right now it’s just women in general – you see them being stereotyped in the media as well. Not all the time but sometimes, they’ve been reduced to objects and just sex symbols and objects. And when I see my family, I see my three younger sisters and my mother, my grandmother, my aunts, my cousins, they are not objects. They are the heart of the family; they are full of wisdom. They are beautiful, smart. That’s when I had this conviction of making films.
First, I made a commitment and a promise that I would never use my talent again to do anything that would compromise my values or offend my Latino community. But deeper than the Latino community, it’s just men in general, women in general. I don’t care where you are, at the end of the day we are all equal in dignity and I think we share the same values, universal values. That’s what I want to bring to the stories that I want to produce. Films that I can bring my family together to see. I can bring my mother and I don’t have to cover her eyes in any scenes.”
Do you see that the stereotype is changing? Have you noticed a difference in the quality of scripts that are out there? Are more Latino actors standing up and doing what you’re doing?
“You know, not really. I think it’s two things. First of all, we have more opportunities, yes. Is more talent out there? Yes. More directors and more actors working, more than before? Yes. But I’m not talking about only the opportunities or the artistic talent value that we can have. I’m talking about the message as well. You can see great films out there with amazing directors with great scripts and everything, but the message instead of really elevating the dignity of Latinos or showing the best of Latinos, I think it’s the same negative stereotype. Now it’s even more dangerous because now you have an amazing film stereotyping Latinos in a negative way.
It’s very sad because you have very close to 60 – we’re almost 60 million Latinos in this country and it’s sad that sometimes they are afraid of us because they think we are what they see in films, you know? All the bandidos and all this. I can talk for myself because for 12 years that was exactly what I was doing. I was set in my career, singing in a boy band and then doing soap operas in Mexico. Well, first of all, singing in this boy band for three and a half years, traveling all over Latin America, and then doing soap operas in Mexico. You know, in Mexico if you want to make it as an actor, you don’t have as many options like you do here. Over here you either do soap operas or soap operas (laughing). You’re stuck on that, so that’s what I did for almost four years.
Then I moved to Miami, the capital of Latin America, to record my first solo album in Spanish. When they were flying me to Los Angeles to promote that album, all of a sudden I was sitting with my manager and behind him was this person who happens to be the VP of casting for 20th Century Fox. Make a long story short, he invited me to do an audition for this film he was working on Chasing Papi. I told him I don’t speak English. I mean, I knew how to count and, ‘I’m thirsty, I’m hungry,’ and things like that. ‘My car is red,’ and that’s it (laughing). But he said, ‘Why don’t you just memorize it and give it a try.’
That film was about a man who’s dating three women at the same time. He lied to them and at that time I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to do this for the opportunity and everything.’ But, again, it was a stereotype that was glorifying that the real Latino man is one that is a womanizer. So I did that film and after making that film, that’s when I realized, ‘Okay, what’s going on here? What am I doing with my talent? Am I really helping or am I just worsening the stereotype and hurting not just my own community but people in general? You’re making films or projects that are glorifying that the real man is a womanizer who’s just using women as objects, and he’s treating himself as an object as well.’ That’s nothing about being a real man in that. I think it’s the opposite.”
“The real man is someone who recognizes that there is nothing more beautiful than women,” said Eduardo Verástegui. “They are sacred and they’re beautiful, and they have dignity. You have to respect them. So everything changed five years ago and that’s when I realized that, as an actor, you don’t have so much control, power to control the message because you have to submit yourself to the script. Everything is already made, so you just work and give life to the character.
I realized that the only way you can control the message is if you become a producer. So I opened this production company with that intention of making films that will have the potential not only to entertain, but to make a difference. Films that will touch people’s hearts and minds, and light a candle in their heart. My hope as a producer now is that when people see Bella or any of the films that we will produce, they will leave wanting to love more and judge less. They will leave wanting to forgive more and complain less. They will leave with a candle in their heart. They will leave inspired to use their talents to serve others. They will leave with hope and love and wanting to be a better person.
I think there’s nothing more beautiful than really using this amazingly powerful means – television, film, music, whatever you do in the media, journalist, reporter, actor, musicians – sometimes we have so much responsibility and we forget that whatever you do, whether you like it or not, you are going to affect how people think, how they live, and how they behave. Young people live according to the standards of what they see in the media. Just recently somebody told me that the average percentage between parents and children having meaningful conversations is only six minutes a day. But in front of the media, more than eight hours a day. So we know that if parents are not educating their children, schools either – then who? Well, the media. Now, there’s nothing wrong with the media. I think it’s an amazing opportunity, but I think sometimes what comes out of the media is not the best thing for young people or not the healthiest thing. Because we have this tendency and this inclination to imitate and to copy what we see in films or television or whatever we’re reading – magazines, newspapers – or what we hear on the radio. We’re very influenced by that. So that’s when it hit for the first time in a way that I decided, ‘Okay, so why am I here? What am I going to do?’
We put this company together with two of my best friends – Alejandro Monteverde and Leo Severino and myself. We set it up in my house with a little table, sofa, and a cell phone, just dreaming of making films that would make a difference in people’s lives – a positive difference. And it took us three years of putting the whole thing together. When Alejandro wrote the script of Bella, inspired by a true story, I read it and I really liked it because it had everything that I wanted to say. Next then you know, we met Sean and Eustace Wolfington from Philadelphia, they financed the film and bought part of the company. We went to New York and in 24 days we shot the film.”
24 days is an incredibly short shoot. How difficult was it for you to juggle producing and acting when you’ve got such a short time frame to get things done?
“Oh wow, it was the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my life (laughing). One day I was thinking, ‘I’m going to die of having a heart attack if I keep doing this!’ Well, the good news is that when I met Alejandro, he’s from the same place where I’m from. I’m from a very small town called Xicotencatl, this is below Texas. Alejandro is from Tampico which is an hour away from my place. His older brother was one of my best friends when I was in Mexico when I was a teenager. So then once a year I go to visit my family at Christmas and I was visiting my friends. I was visiting his older brother and when I told him about the things that I wanted to do, he said, ‘You should meet my brother. He just graduated from the University of Austin, Texas and he’s my brother, of course, but I have to say the guy’s a genius. You have to meet him. I’m not saying this only because the guy’s my brother, but the first time he touched a camera when he was at the University of Austin, Texas, he broke the record. He won four film festivals. Second time he touched a camera he won seven film festivals. He just graduated and he’s hungry. He just wants to use his talents to make a difference. Listening to you is the same thing he’s talking about all day. You should connect.’
And so we reconnected in Mexico because I hadn’t seen Alejandro for 10 years. He moved to LA and when he was driving from Austin to LA, the story of Bella came to him and he started crying. Next thing you know, he told me the story. He went to Lake Tahoe for two months because he wanted to be in silence. He knew a friend over there that he could borrow his house. And in two months he came and showed me the script. I read it and said, ‘Okay, so what’s next?’ We needed to find the money. But the good thing is I started working with the character since day one. It’s not like they gave me the script three months before. It was like almost two years of learning that character, talking to Alejandro about many, many details. I was just giving a lot of thought to the character. I let my beard grow for almost a year. By the time I got there, I was Jose. I was already Jose.
But it’s really hard because when you’re making a film that is a very small budget, with very, very little money in New York City which is the most expensive city to shoot in the country. That means that we have only one or two takes per scene, which is very scary because whatever you do, that’s what you’re going to see in this film so you better do it right. And it was a very hard role to play, as well.”
“Alejandro was coming to the set, for example, and he was, ‘Okay, are you ready? In this scene I want to see forgiveness in your eyes. I want to see hope, love. I want to see your redemption. I want to see…’ He gave me like 10 things, you know? ‘This scene you don’t have any words. I want to see everything in your eyes. I’m going to put the camera right in front of your face.’ You know, I have my beard and I have the long hair,” explained Eduardo Verastegui. “You have one take. No pressure. Are you ready?’ It was crazy!
And then at the same time in my head, I knew that I had a hundred things to solve on the set production-wise or other things that we were running out of budget, so I had to disconnect from producing and jump into acting. It was amazing because you, in a way, you control the whole message - with my two business partners who were on the same page with the same vision and the same mission. That helps a lot. But at the same time, it was a lot of pressure from somebody trusting in you and giving you money to shoot a film, and we’re all first timers. This is my first film as a producer – this is Alejandro’s first film. This is Leo’s first film. So we jumped from my house in a little room with a little table, little sofa with a cell phone to the set to shoot a real film with real money.
I just wanted to make sure that at the end we would accomplish what we promised to the investors. That was the scariest thing because when you give your word and somebody trusts in you, you have done nothing and they’re only trusting your word… It’s easier when you invest in someone when you know that he’s already proven himself. But when you’re just investing in only the faith and the vision of this guy who hasn’t done anything before, that’s a lot of responsibility, you know?”
I know you had quite a while to work on getting into character, but was the idea of having the beard and the long hair there all along or is that something you came up with as you figured out you needed to tell the story through the eyes?
“No, that was Alejandro’s idea. When we met for the third time and we knew that we were going to work together… When I made that decision of never using my talents again in anything that would compromise my values, I knew that what I was saying was maybe the end of my career. Which means maybe I’d never work again. All the offers that I was receiving were exactly the same negative stereotypes. So after I talked to my whole team who was representing me at that time – you know, agents and managers and lawyers and the whole team – in a way, they couldn’t understand what I was going through because they kept sending me the same thing. I realized, ‘You know what? I can’t do it.’
I used to be here in this career because I just wanted to work. I loved the arts but everything was very selfish. The reasons why I wanted to be here were very superficial reasons. When I started my career at the age of 18 everything was about fame, success, pleasures, money. I was seduced by the environment to the point where I lost perspective. I was completely lost and confused. I got to the point 12 years later after making Chasing Papi that I was empty. Something was missing. So when I finally, after all the things that told you before about the negative stereotypes of Latinos, for the first time I just opened my eyes. When I made that commitment I knew that was it. So I had to leave the whole team and just be by myself.
I had two options. Either I’m going to wait here all my life to see which script is going to arrive in my hands that I can do, or I’ll do it myself – even though I’d never produced anything. This is the American dream, I heard that since I was a kid. You can do everything here if you just do it right. The sky is limit. I said, ‘Well, let me see if that’s true.’ The next thing you know, when I was thinking about opening a production, ‘I’m going to do it,’ right then is when I met Alejandro. Alejandro was trying to do the same thing so I said, ‘Why don’t we just do it together? You’re a director, I’m an actor.’ He said okay. Then he said, ‘But listen, people who know you for example in Latin America for the soap operas and the music and all the things you’ve done in 12 years, people think that you are what you’ve been doing for 12 years. Now you’re a different person and they don’t know. My job as a director is to tell a story and I want the people to see who you are now. In order for me to do that, I need to destroy you on the set. Which means I don’t want to see anything but your eyes because the eyes are the window of the soul. I want to dress you from your neck, completely, with a very dirty chef outfit. Very simple.’
Before that, everything about me was about having a thousand pictures with my shirt off, showing my abs. Everything was just being reduced to an object because I thought that that’s what sells and that’s what you need to do, you know? When you all these managers training you since you’re 18 years old, brainwashing you and all you do is what they tell you…that’s why I was feeling empty and completely losing perspective of why I am doing this. ‘Is it for money? I achieved a certain amount of money and fame and success, so how come I’m not happy? Something is missing here,’ so therefore it can not be fame and money and rewards and recognition that’s going to give you happiness because that’s not true. I experienced it for 12 years and I know people who have done this even bigger, a thousand times more than me, and they feel the same way so something here needs to change. So when I came to all these conclusions, Alejandro said, ‘Okay, so I’m going to put a long beard, long hair, and this and that. It’s going to be a very small budget which means you have only one or two takes. That’s going to be a challenge, and I’m going to make you cry. You’re going to hate me on the set. I’m going to be very, very, very hard.’”
Did he make you cry?
“Yeah (laughing),” answered Eduardo Verástegui. “Oh yeah, he did from the frustration and all the stress that I had. There was a lot of frustration, but at the same time there was a lot of peace, too. A lot of peace because we knew we were doing this not for us. There’s nothing more beautiful than waking up in the morning and fighting for something that is bigger than yourself, and is a mission that will make a positive difference in people’s lives. Regardless of if the project or nothing happened, regardless if the film would have come together or didn’t come together, that’s outside of your hands. But the fact that you’re waking up in the morning and you’re fighting and you’re working really hard for something bigger than yourself, and you’re really using your talents to serve others – and it’s not about you anymore – that makes such a difference.”
Can you talk about Bella’s win at the Toronto Film Festival?
“Finishing the film in 24 days and being first time producers, we sent the film to the biggest film festival in the world where we knew how hard it was going to be. Just to get in, it was almost impossible because that festival sees 5,000 films around the world and they select only a few hundred. And only one film wins the People’s Choice Award. Films that have won that award have won the Oscar in the past.
We knew that the odds were going to be very hard, but if we can get in that’s amazing because we can have that label on the poster – ‘Official Selection’. That for us was everything. That’s all we wanted was that little label. But not only did we get in, but nine days later we found out that we won. I was thinking just recently I’m afraid I’m going to wake up and it’s going to be a dream. I’m going to wake up in Xicotencatl, Mexico, and I’m going to be very mad (laughing). If this is a dream, it’s a long dream. It’s not a dream, it’s reality, which is even better. If it’s a dream, I don’t want to wake up. This has been amazing. The biggest museum in the world , which is the Smithsonian in Washington, gave us the Legacy Award as well for the contribution and the positive message to the Latino culture in this country.
But what I want to emphasize is that this is not a Latino film. It’s a film in English. It’s an American film, but the characters happen to be Latinos and that’s why I’m passionate, because I’m Latino. It’s the first time that in 12 years of my career I’ve seen an American film in English where the hero happens to be a Latino, and we had to create it otherwise it would have been very hard to find it.”
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