Latinos changing Hollywood: Xolo Maridueña and Joel Nova light up FICG
Wearing a mask of El Santo, the renowned actor of 'Cobra Kai' and 'Blue Beetle', Xolo Maridueña, arrived, accompanied by the director of the same series, the Venezuelan, Joel Nova , who were received with thunderous applause and screams from their fans at the Conjunto Santander, both presented the panel "Of heroes and narratives: Latinos changing Hollywood."
As part of the 40th edition of the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG), fans of the iconic series, a sequel to the iconic "Karate Kid" saga, filled the audience with excitement during a powerful Latinx discussion that sought to create spaces for conversation to highlight the Latinos who are taking center stage on the big and small screen as heroes and leaders.
In that sense, Joel Nova, who considered himself Guadalajara's husband, spoke about the importance of the representation of Latinos on screen, as he explained that around 23 percent of the United States population is Hispanic , in addition to historically being the largest consumer of cinema, despite the fact that the numbers are high, Latinos "are less represented, only six percent of the shows and the big films have Latino elites, the reason you already know" he detailed.
For his part, Xolo Maridueña , who has Mexican, Cuban and Ecuadorian ancestry, was smiling throughout the talk where he shared the responsibility he takes when interpreting his characters, thereby challenging the traditional Hollywood narrative about how a Mexican should look and be , just as he did when giving life to Jaime Reyes in the film "Blue Beetle", a character who became the first Latino superhero within the DC Extended Universe to have his own film.
"You know, being part of the change in a good way, and in these projects like 'Cobra Kai' and 'Blue Beetle,' I get to play positive roles like the ones we're talking about that have changed the narrative," the actor explained excitedly, who also confessed his desire that his characters could become many people's favorite superheroes, in order to have more diversity in who and what the protagonists look like.
After his performance in "Blue Beetle," Maridueña hopes this film can serve as a bridge to continue representing the Latino community in other roles. In that sense, he confessed his desire to work in a film by prominent Mexican filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón.
"It would be a dream come true for me to get to play the bridge in 'Blue Beetle.' I had the pleasure of doing a story written by a Mexican, you know, Gareth Dunnet Alcocer is fantastic, as I was mentioning before, I had a lot of moments where I was like, 'Wow, this feels so personal.' I felt very connected and deeply inspired by their writing and I think I would love to work with any of those directors."
Finally, the panel concluded with the entire room standing, breaking the silence that had been maintained throughout the entire talk among the fans , who were attentive to every word of the Latinos who are changing Hollywood.
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