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The Interview
Actor Diego Calva: Latin America is more than violence, salsa music and food
00:23:00
Nikki Bedi speaks to Mexican actor Diego Calva about representing Latin America on screen
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- [00:00]
BBC Announcer
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- [00:06]
Diego Calva
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BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
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BBC Announcer
See terms at the BBC we go further so you see clearer With a subscription to BBC.com you get unlimited articles and videos ad free podcasts, the BBC News channel streaming live 24. 7 plus hundreds of acclaimed documentaries from less than a dollar a week for your first year. Read, watch and listen to trusted independent journalism and storytelling. It all starts with a subscription to BBC.com find out more@BBC.com unlimited.
- [01:09]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Hello, I'm Nicky Bady, BBC presenter and this is the interview from the BBC World. The best conversations coming out of the BBC people shaping our world from all over the world. Today we are spending trillions on war and peanuts on peace.
- [01:26]
Diego Calva
Wind power in the United States has been subsidized for 3, 33 years. Isn't that enough? Solar for 25 years, that's enough. I don't have army, I don't have missile rockets. I have my body, I have my voice, I love singing and so my goal was always to do better and better at it.
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BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
I was still in an induced coma in hospital when the world was defining me. For this interview I meet the Mexican actor Diego Calva, one of the biggest talents to emerge from Latin America in recent years. He built a strong reputation in Mexico's independent film scene, starred in the TV series Narcos Mexico before rising to global fame in the Hollywood movie Babylon, starring alongside Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. That was his first American film and garnered him much praise from critics and audiences alike. You may also have seen him last year in the US film On Swift Horses, a historical romance where he co starred with Jacob Elordi. An only child, he he was raised by a single mother and wanted to be a writer and director before fate intervened. One day when an actor didn't turn up for a college film he was working on, Diego was asked to step in. Diego Calva can currently be seen in the second series of the Night Manager, the Acclaimed television drama based on the book by John Le Carre. Diego plays Colombian businessman Teddy Dos Santos. He, he reflects on navigating fame, the kinds of stories he hopes to champion on screen, and breaking barriers in Hollywood.
- [03:03]
Diego Calva
I talked with so many older actors, older than me, and they told me after Babylon, my first American movie, when they started, they had to change their names. For example, Benicio del Toro could be a great example, right. And in my generation I didn't. My name is Diego Calva and I use my real name. And then all the roles, all the characters, like, I don't know, 20 years ago, the Latino actor or Latino actresses, it was like the farmhand, the narco, they're like very stereotype and small roles, right? I mean, I've been very lucky, but like being the lead of a movie like Babylon, a Mexican guy 20 years ago, sounded probably impossible. So I think that the times are changing and mostly now you can create a character or tell any kind of story with any kind of nationality in a way.
- [03:55]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Welcome to the interview from the BBC World Service with Diego Calva.
- [04:00]
Diego Calva
It was a pleasure to play Teddy. I think Teddy's just a complex character, right? And every time I choose a character, I always try to search for a challenge. And the first time I got the casting, the first scenes, I just realized this was not like a one dimensional character. I think Teddy has had so many layers. And me and the director, Georgie Banks, we just figured out how to put more and more and more lay just gonna say it's not your classic villain.
- [04:30]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
So as a Mexican actor playing a Colombian, what would somebody from Latin America know immediately, for example, about your accent or the way you say things? What would define a Colombian speaking compared to a Mexican?
- [04:45]
Diego Calva
Well, first talking about, for example, representation with Giorgi, we figured out that because I'm Mexican and it's hard to get rid of this accent and the Colombian accent is so beautiful, it's so musical, so different than the Mexican. I think the Mexican accent has like a lot of cut, cut, cut, cut. And the Colombian one is just like a song, you know, it's like flows. So we figure out a way, you'll see on the series. And there's something Mexican about Teddy. Oh, I see it.
- [05:14]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Okay.
- [05:14]
Diego Calva
But I think the most beautiful thing about the Colombian accent is like a salsa song. That's why they're so good at salsa, because they sing when they talk.
- [05:22]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
That's a poetic way of putting it. So you talked about representing then. Do you feel a responsibility in represent American actors on this global stage?
- [05:34]
Diego Calva
Yes, I do. It's something really kind of new for me. After my first movie in America, I realized there's a responsibility, right? It's one of these ideas that you maybe don't think or you never thought before when you're starting in this career, you know, but then you go to a certain level to have the spotlight or some kind of voice in a way. So now I think it's such a responsibility and such a pleasure, because Latin America, we have way more than violence. We're more than and a salsa as our music or food or culture. So it's just a pleasure and a responsibility to share it with the world in a way. And mostly in a show like this.
- [06:11]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
I mean, with the way that you just described the things that Latin America might be known from. Those are presumably the cliches which then become stereotypes or tropes in dramas or in any form of representation that's visual. So as somebody who is working internationally, what feels different today about the way that the industry sees you?
- [06:36]
Diego Calva
First of all, I talked with so many older actors, older than me. They told me after Babylon, my first American movie, when they started, they had to change their names. For example, Benicio del Toro could be a great example. Right. And in my generation, I didn't. My name is Diego Calva and I use my real name. And then all the roles, all the characters, like, I don't know, 20 years ago, for the Latino actor or Latino actresses, it was like the farmhouse. They're like very stereotyped and small roles, Right. I've been very lucky, but, like, being the lead of a movie like Babylon, A Mexican guy, 20 years ago, sounded probably impossible. So I think that the times are changing, and mostly now you can create a character or tell any kind of a story with any kind of nationality, in a way.
- [07:27]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
You just mentioned that narco culture is part of the way people are depicted. One of your breakthrough roles was in the global hit series on Netflix, Narcos Mexico, you played. And I just wondered what your thoughts are now on the way that that series portrayed your people and your homeland.
- [07:47]
Diego Calva
Well, I think it's a complex situation because you can't deny the truth, first of all. But then as a viewer, you know, as part of the audience, also, like, I grew up, like, watching all these narco shows, all these narco culture, there's like two sides of the coin in a way. And when you start acting and you are just to have a role, and if you watch the show, if you watch Narcos, what I try to do with the character is not what I do usually, that is, try to find the human size or side of the character. It was literally playing a cartoon. Because I'm not down to humanize that kind of people in any way, you know.
- [08:29]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
But did you have to do that subtly or with the permission of your director? Were you just doing it for yourself?
- [08:35]
Diego Calva
I think the difference, for example, between Narcos and Night Manager, Narcos, it is a cartoon, is created to have like a blowout viewer. You have a Brazilian actor playing Pablo Escobar, for example. Right. And I think the morality of it, when you are doing television, I think in theater, in television is actually the place when you can play without no rules, you know, that's why we watch theater, that's why we watch television. Because then we can see what in real life, it shouldn't happen.
- [09:08]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
You've been working in the US a lot within the film and television industry. What are the sort of differences that you've noticed between working in Latin America and in the us?
- [09:21]
Diego Calva
Well, honestly, the big toys, probably.
- [09:24]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
What are the big toys?
- [09:26]
Diego Calva
I mean, the big toys for me is like a concept, right? But like being able to shoot one scene for two weeks, right. Is something that, in my opinion, only happens in America or in a very big production. But. But when I arrive to a movie set, I mean, I shot in Copenhagen, I shoot here in London, I film in Spain, in Colombia, in Mexico, at least in my opinion. I talk the same language, I speak the same language. So the difference for me as an actor is just the money maybe they can put in the productions. But we are speaking and talking the same language, so not much difference, actually.
- [10:05]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Do you think that the language of cinema is something that's universal?
- [10:09]
Diego Calva
I do, I do. I grew up watching Korean movies, American movies, Monty Python, I mean, so, yeah, I think emotions are a universal language. And movies, cinema use emotions as letters to create sentences. So the language, you know, the grammatic of it, is universal, in my opinion.
- [10:30]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Mexico claims some of the greatest filmmakers in the world right now. Alejandro Gonzalez Seniorito, five Oscars. If we're measuring by Oscars. Alfonso Cuaron, four Oscars. That's just naming two. Why do you think that is? What is it that you guys do?
- [10:48]
Diego Calva
Well, first, we have. We come from a very, very big tradition of filmmaking. We had what we call La Hocade Oro, the golden age of Mexican cinema. And it was all these black and white discharrow movies. We had Lindio Fernandez, we have Juan Orol. It was a whole generation. And then during the 60s, we had all these lucha libre, el santos. We came from a very long tradition of filmmaking and also, I think art. It's always. I mean, this is going to be kind of controversial in a way, but I think we have a really close relationship with death. From our tradition El Dia de los Muertos from that's the Day of the Dead. The Day of the Dead. You know, I'm not talking about violence. I'm talking like, culturally we have all these relations, like really close relations with dead. For our ancestors, like the Aztecs being dead, it was like an honor, you know. So I also think there's something about it, like the nature of the Mexican, as Guillermo del Toro, another great director, says, like, of course. Well, he has a very beautiful quote that says, like, why your movies are so beautiful and horrible and kind of scary at the same time. Because. Oy, Mexicano. Because I'm not afraid to death.
- [12:05]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
You're listening to the interview from the BBC World Service. People shaping our world from all over the world.
- [12:14]
BBC Announcer
At the BBC we go further so you see clearer with a subscription to BBC.com you get unlimited articles and videos ad free podcasts, the BBC News channel streaming live 24. 7 plus hundreds of acclaimed documentaries from less than a dollar a week for your first year. Read, watch and listen to trusted independent journalism and storytelling. It all starts with a subscription to BBC.com find out more@BBC.com unlimited.
- [12:47]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
For this episode of the interview, I'm speaking to the actor Diego Calva. Diego came to BBC Broadcasting House in London for our conversation and after making a humble entry into the studio, no big entour, I apologised for the stuffiness and heat. He simply laughed, flashed his infectious grin and said, this is hot. I'm from Mexico. Dressed in casual but very cool garms with small silver hooped earrings in each ear, he exuded a relaxed confidence and was really engaged and thoughtful during the conversation. He's already a big star, but was almost childlike in his thrill to be on the BBC, something he felt his mother would be very. Anyway, let's return to my conversation with Diego Calva. Do you feel a responsibility as an actor to be able to represent certain parts of your life, your culture, your people?
- [13:49]
Diego Calva
Yes, I do. And I will always going to believe that I'm gonna quote my mother.
- [13:55]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Oh, yes, please.
- [13:57]
Diego Calva
She always said, like, it's not about not losing your head, you know, it's not about don't get crazy or don't be sometimes like too high in the clouds. It's about, remember the Way back home. So I always want to think that representing my country, saying that I'm Latino, I'm Mexicano, speaking in Spanish at some moments, you know, even with my characters going back and forth with English and Spanish, is going to be my way of putting, you know, like, my little drop there, like my little piece of representation. Because at the same time, I also think the most important part of being responsible with this representation is for me to be free and for me to be able to explore and for me to be able to play all kind of characters in all kind of countries and don't let myself to put my limit because I'm from Mexico or China or wherever. So it's kind of interesting situation, you know, like being responsible with representation, but at the same time realizing that being responsible is just to be free and open to explore with it.
- [14:59]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Yeah. So what have you witnessed in your own career that proves that arts and culture, especially cinema, can bridge worlds more effectively than politics ever could? What have you experienced that bridges worlds?
- [15:16]
Diego Calva
I think every character I played, and I'm gonna talk only about Teddy Dos Santos, my character on Enslaved Horses, Henry, that's the name of the character on Enslaved Horses, and many Torres from Babylon. I think they're loaded with political ideas, but not maybe in a spoken way. They don't have to say it just to be there. And this is a shame in a way, you know, but we're still living in a world where a Mexican guy, a Mexicano playing around kissing Jacob Elordi or kissing Margot Robbie, it's something impressive, you know, like people is still impressive.
- [15:55]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
It doesn't matter who it is. It's impressive, isn't it?
- [15:58]
Diego Calva
Well, the idea is like it shouldn't, you know, I think the difference between cinema and politics is like cinema affect your heart. Politics is always like the mind. It's a reverb kind of situation. So every character, if touches your heart, then comes the politics of it, then comes the politics of the story, of the character, of all the untold story. But I think always, like, feelings and heart is going to open more doors than any political idea, in my opinion.
- [16:27]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
In a way, you've bridged all those cultures by acting in the way you have and traveling in the way you have.
- [16:33]
Diego Calva
As I said, just trying to be free.
- [16:35]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
How would you feel about living in America as a Mexican with the political rhetoric that's been coming out of the White House, the increased ice activity, that sort of thing?
- [16:46]
Diego Calva
Well, I'm living in Mexico City. I was born and raised there, and I think I'M gonna stay there.
- [16:53]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
But how would you feel about living in America?
- [16:56]
Diego Calva
I lived in Los Angeles for, like, for work. For work. And then I stayed for. Well, mostly for work, you know, networking and all that. But now I think it's kind of the same situation. You know, there's a part of me that says, like, I will never going to live in this place or other place, but at the same time, in this idea of being free. And Gonzalez signorito, in his last movie, Bardo, he has this beautiful also idea of VIP immigrant. Let's be honest. I am a VIP immigrant. I go to hotels, I go for work. But representation is also. And this is something very important to me. If you don't see someone like you living, acting, working, going and doing stuff in so many different places, it's hard for you to imagine yourself there. So at the same time, I think it's important. And I will buy a house someday in America, believe me.
- [17:52]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Okay, but, like, what you're saying is you have to see it to be it.
- [17:57]
Diego Calva
I think it's really important because, for example, when I was doing the research for Babylon for my character, it was so hard to find a Mexican guy during the 20s, a Mexican actor. I mean, I found Rene Cantona, who was a Cuban. Mexican producer. You had Manuel Silvero, who was like a Mexican actor, and a couple of Mexican actors, even Elindo Fernandez. But it was not the common thing, you know. So I think it's important to see yourself, to imagine yourself there. So I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about. And this is. I'm gonna brag a little, but I really hope that someday one kid is going to watch one of these movies and say, like, hey, I can be an international actor. Like, it happens to me with Diego Luna and Gal Garcia. I mean, after watching their careers, I was thinking, like, okay, this might be possible, you know?
- [18:45]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Yes. What global stories or themes do you think are underrepresented in the world today in terms of telling stories through the arts?
- [18:56]
Diego Calva
Well, my mother is 16.
- [18:58]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Is your mother an artist in her heart?
- [19:02]
Diego Calva
She's a publisher. She's a Sun Editora. She does books.
- [19:05]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Right.
- [19:06]
Diego Calva
So I grew up around books and culture and poetry all my life. Hola, Mama. Estoying la bebese.
- [19:13]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
What does that mean? Hello, Mother.
- [19:14]
Diego Calva
Hello, Mother. I'm on the BBC.
- [19:15]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Oh, I love that.
- [19:17]
Diego Calva
But I always have this idea that there's, like a hole of woman's representation. Actually, like, I don't see a lot of stories of womans like my mother in their 60s, single, for example, you know. So, yes, I think there's like a hole there, in my opinion. And we are just starting this conversation about gender. And I think that's the revolution of our time. Not only like breaking, let's say, the borders, right. And the situation with nationalities, Mexicano, Chinese. I think also we're starting a very important conversation about gender. I don't know if that. It's an answer, but that's a perfect.
- [19:59]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Well, yeah. So when I said underrepresented stories or themes, women in their 60s, gender in many, many ways, what kind of stories would you like to tell next as an actor? I mean, what sort of role would you like next as an actor? Or perhaps you can tell us what you are doing next.
- [20:19]
Diego Calva
Well, well, I'm gonna quote my mother again. She likes to say that futuriar, you know, like to think a lot about the future is just not worth it. So, like, I never sat down and said, like, okay, I want to play this, I want to play that. I like to wait for it. And I just want to have the wisdom to be able to choose, you know, to say, like, this is what I really want to do. This is something that I might not, but what kind of character? I don't know. I want to go to space. I want to be a pirate. I want to try to. I want to go everywhere. Yeah, why?
- [20:52]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
And what about because you studied cinematography and the technical side of filmmaking, the practical side. Can you see yourself directing anything? And if so, what's bubbling in your mind?
- [21:06]
Diego Calva
Well, I used to be the coffee guy. I was a driver. I work in sound department, art department, prop department. Then I did my first movie. Then I quit acting and starting film direction. So since I remember, as in Goodfellas, this Scorsese movie, I always want to be a wise guy, a gangster, where I always. I remember that. I always want to do something related to movies. For me, love is about the time you put in on things, on people, on whatever you love. For now, acting is my love. It's my complete passion. And I found that directing an actor, there's something symbiotic about it. And I would love to go back to Mexico and direct in Mexico, because I think that's something really important. When Hina Ritu went back to Mexico and directed it, just revolutionary. Our industry again, you know? So I think that's really important. I don't know about the story. You're gonna think this is a cliche, but I have this script that I've been writing for, like, Five years about my mother's life. I would love to go back to Mexico and direct there and do it there with Mexican actresses, with Mexican actors, with a Mexican producer and just like, try to give it a push of my industry. Because in the end, I came from the independent movie scene in Mexico. So pretending to do a big movie. I really want to direct an independent movie in my country.
- [22:29]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Yeah. And Diego, do you think that today an actor of your caliber, for example, or anybody who's your contemporary, who's from Mexico or anywhere else in the world outside America, do you think it's still the thing that people seek to go to Hollywood? Or has that changed? And if so, why has it changed?
- [22:51]
Diego Calva
After, for example, having Los Tres Amigos, Hinaritu del Toro Cuaron, these are the.
- [22:57]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Three big filmmakers in Mexico.
- [22:59]
Diego Calva
After having this generation, this new generation of Oscar winners, et cetera, there's another generation that is growing and growing and growing, like Amate Scalantes, another big director, Alonso Ruiz Palacios. Then you have this other generation that is bringing all the other awards to Mexico. So we have so many different directors that won the Camp d' or in Cannes, that won Berlin, now that one, Rotterdam. So I think there's a generation now that wants to be part of the independent movie scene in Mexico and Latin America, right? And there's always going to be people that wants to be Brad Pitt or wants to be Leonardo DiCaprio and wants to go to Hollywood. Both are the meccas now. Now there's not just one way to be on the spotlight. In a way, you know, I've been lucky enough to play in both sides of the coin, you know, to play in the very independent movie scene in Mexico and even outside Mexico. Right? And then Babylon, Hollywood. So if I'm able to, I don't want to belong anywhere. I just want to belong to the movie situation, to the movies.
- [24:12]
BBC Interviewer (Nicky Bady)
Thank you for listening to the interview from the BBC World Service. You'll find more in depth conversations on the interview wherever you get your BBC podcasts, including episodes with the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, the author Sir Salman Rushdie, and actor Sir Anthony Hopkins. Until next time. Bye for now.
- [24:45]
BBC Announcer
At the BBC, we go further so you see clearer. Through frontline reporting, global stories and local insights, we bring you closer to the world's news as it happens. And it starts with a subscription to BBC.com giving you unlimited articles and videos ad free podcasts, the BBC News channel, streaming live Twitter 24. 7 plus hundreds of acclaimed documentaries subscribe to trusted independent journalism and storytelling from the BBC. Find out more@BBC.com join.