Diego Luna

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Speaker 1 The fact that you can just order concert tickets through her, that's that's crazy. Yeah, exactly.
You didn't know that? Even I knew that. Wow.
Yeah. And I fought in World War I and I know that.

Speaker 1 Ready whenever. And yeah.
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Speaker 1 Okay, wait a second. I need to put these things on.
You look really cool and professional.

Speaker 1 Yeah. I look like

Speaker 1 I'm part of the franchise, the Star Wars franchise.

Speaker 1 Okay, hi. My name is Diego Luna.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I feel,

Speaker 1 oh damn it, I feel, I have to say I feel really comfortable

Speaker 1 about being Conan O'Brien's friend. Thank you.
I feel very safe.

Speaker 1 Fall is here, hear the yell. Back to school, ring the bell, brand new shoes, walk in blues, climb the fence, books and pens.
I can tell that we are gonna be friends.

Speaker 1 Yes, I can tell that we are gonna be friends.

Speaker 1 Hey there, welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. I'm joined by Sonoma Ossian, Matt Gorley.
Nice to see you folks. Why'd you pause?

Speaker 1 I paused because I was thinking and then I thought, yeah, it is nice to see you.

Speaker 1 Sona, you're having a bit of an issue today. You had a bit of a spill, and this is a common problem for you, is it not? It's a common problem.
You're a spiller. I am.
You know what? Okay, I love it.

Speaker 1 You don't get angry. You don't have love.
You always say, what? And then immediately say, I know. I know, because you are right.
I do spill on myself a lot.

Speaker 1 And I have to be more aware of it because this is filmed but earlier today i had a dish with pesto and i spilled it all over oh i see it yeah do you

Speaker 1 right there and what did you how did you try to get it out with it with a tide stick shout out tide well

Speaker 1 not shout out tide because i don't think it worked well you use the tide pesto stick yeah it's got to be specifically tied pesto got it in and then i uh and then it was wet for a really long time they were like two wet spots and then i thought oh when it dries maybe it'll be cleared up and it it's not and i just it's bothering me that's got to go to it isn't it boy and can i say i've known you quite a while sona and you have been traditionally a spiller i'm a sloppy eater yes oh well you are who else is a sloppy eater you are a sloppy eater i don't spill on myself though i always wear a giant bib

Speaker 1 and then i say goo googaga when i'm eating

Speaker 1 and i have to feed you and you have to feed me and why do i wear wear a bonnet when I eat?

Speaker 1 And I kick my feet up in the air in little booties. Yeah, and you're sitting in a high chair.
You often doze off, and then you put me right in the crib.

Speaker 1 Sona,

Speaker 1 why?

Speaker 1 It's just something I used to request.

Speaker 1 And you went along with it. No one out.

Speaker 1 Six foot four baby needs to go to bed, bed.

Speaker 1 Look, we all have our fetishes. That was mine.
Wrapped. Furp you.

Speaker 1 What are you going to do in the future to avoid these spills? Because

Speaker 1 nothing. Okay.
It's just a part of my life. It's like something I know about myself.
And I think I need to carry more tide sticks. Shout out Tide.
Well, or something that's going to work.

Speaker 1 Did the Tide Stick work, do you think? No.

Speaker 1 Okay. Well, then why do you want more of them sent this way? And maybe they just need to work on their formula.

Speaker 1 Or maybe Tide's going to say, look, we're a good product, but there's nothing we can do with Sona Marcesi.

Speaker 1 Like, that's not fair. Like, that's not fair.
You know? I do have a good idea. We're a good sponge, but you just threw us in the Pacific and you're bitching that the Pacific is still there.

Speaker 1 So I'm going to say, Tide, I bet you're a great product because I can almost not see it and it's sonum obsession. So good work, Tide.

Speaker 1 I have a lot of them all over the place. Sometimes they clean up.
What, Tide sticks? Yeah, I do. Oh, so you're like someone who hides knives around the house.
Only for you, it's Tide Sticks.

Speaker 1 What do you mean? You know what people when they hide weapons in movies, when people have secreted weapons and guns around the room? That's you, except it's all cleaning sticks. Yeah.

Speaker 1 But when you have a three-year-old, I'm the same way. Your clothes are constantly covered in food from your kids, you know? Yeah, it's from a kid.
Yeah. Oh, wait a minute.
Uh-oh. No, it's from me.

Speaker 1 Oh, wow. I'm just like.
Do you often get food on your kids?

Speaker 1 They're very clean. They're very tidy.
You have three and a half-year-olds who are always wearing little white tuxedos and very fastidious about their eating habits. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And you're like, hey, guys, this burrito is good. That mama's black.

Speaker 1 Mommy, mommy, our

Speaker 1 white tuxedos.

Speaker 1 You know, I love eating. I love eating.
And I, and I'm a shoveler into my mouth. And so it just sometimes it spills on me.
And that's okay. Cause

Speaker 1 it's an expression of joy. I love that you love eating.
I eat quickly. I unhinge my mouth, get it in, and swallow it.
And I don't enjoy it. You have to enjoy it.
I know, but will you agree that

Speaker 1 it's just,

Speaker 1 I've got, I've got to get rid of that. I'm getting better, but that just get to the grave mentality.

Speaker 1 Get this food in and then get to bed. and breath i like you know for me it's like a i i swear i feel like after every bite i sometimes i can hear in my brain going

Speaker 1 yum yum yum yum yum and then i'll do it again i'll be like yum yum yum yum you know i can tell when zona's liking her food is that she'll have a knife and fork and if she's really liking it she conducts a little bit while she's chomping and gets her saddle she's like and then she i can see her i've seen her conducting an orchestra that's not there i do she's really liking her food you do that

Speaker 1 that's That's nice. I like that.

Speaker 1 Yeah. You should be more like me.

Speaker 1 I should. You know what?

Speaker 1 You should aspire to love the food you eat as much as I love it. And love life.
Yeah, I do. As much as you do.
You're Zorba. But yeah, okay.
All right. Oh, you are.
You're Zorba the Armenian. Okay.

Speaker 1 Also,

Speaker 1 and also quarter Greek. Yeah, Zorba, the quarter Greek.
I think, and you, you get to like eat such delicious food. I feel like, okay, all right.
Never mind.

Speaker 1 Whenever the waiter brings it over, I'm like, let's just, he starts to say, no, let me tell you what we did with the food. And I'm like, let's get it in me.

Speaker 1 Grave waiting.

Speaker 1 Sir, what we do here, it's very beautiful. We infuse

Speaker 1 the olives. Yeah!

Speaker 1 Just push it in the hole and open the casket and shut it.

Speaker 1 My God.

Speaker 1 So someone else can live.

Speaker 1 I want to give up my spy.

Speaker 1 That's me. I don't know what my problem is, but that's always been me.

Speaker 1 From now on, in your head, just go, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, conducting, conducting an orchestra that isn't there. What about you, girl?

Speaker 1 You seem like someone who can live, you live life, you enjoy.

Speaker 1 You know, I'm more like, I mean, either more like you, but lately, I've been more like you, but I wish I could say it was because it's like, ah, life. It's more stress.

Speaker 1 I'm like finding in my 20s, it was weed, 40s was alcohol, and 50s is food is how I call it. Oh.
Kind of like I've used up all those other ones, you know? So now I love food. Yeah.

Speaker 1 But it's like a stress coach. You skipped heroin.

Speaker 1 That's my 60s. Heroin in your 60s.
Never a bad idea. This message brought to you by

Speaker 1 yesterday. I was having lunch with my friend and I had to come here for the

Speaker 1 got to, I had to come here. And I had a piece, there was a piece of sourdough on the table.
And I was like, should I take it with me? And then I did. And I just came here just shoving a giant

Speaker 1 thing. slice of sourdough in my chest.
So you walked down the street holding the sourdough that you were taking from the table. Huge slice of sourdough.

Speaker 1 And I was like, is this a normal thing to do to just eat a giant piece of bread? That's kind of Parisian, you know? Yeah.

Speaker 1 You were walking along the banks of the Seine here in Larchmont. Yeah.
And there was someone. Did you pass an old man playing the accordion? No.
Did you pass a painter painting a nice landscape?

Speaker 1 A mime. A mime.
Okay. Yeah.
We went too far. Yeah.
A lot of stereotypes. Well, anyway, I'm going to try.
I do think I should try and be more like you, even if it means the occasional spill. Okay.

Speaker 1 Enjoy life, live life. Tide.
It's the stick that can help anyone but Sona.

Speaker 1 My guest today has starred in such movies as Ikumamatambien and Rogue One as Star Wars Story. You can also see him in season two of the hit Disney Plus series, Andor.
I love Andor.

Speaker 1 I know you're a fan too, Matt. Yes, sir.
I'm thrilled he's here today.

Speaker 1 Diego Luna, welcome.

Speaker 1 You feel safe being with me.

Speaker 1 Being your friend. Yes, being my friend.
I mean, I can use that, right? Yeah. I've been using it

Speaker 1 to get into places, to get away with doing things that are dodgy, you know. I go like, oh, but I'm Conan's friend.
And they go, oh, of course, now we get it. Oh, wow.
Okay.

Speaker 1 Like, I'm glad that my name creates that much of a sense of protection for you. Yes.

Speaker 1 You live, we were just talking

Speaker 1 before we began that you live in Mexico City and

Speaker 1 in the south, whereas I say el sur. El sur class.

Speaker 1 Listen,

Speaker 1 and I know

Speaker 1 Eduardo, Eduardo are sad.

Speaker 1 It's not Eduardo, it's Eduardo.

Speaker 1 Eduardo.

Speaker 1 Eduardo is in a constant hell of me pretending that I am fluent in Spanish and understand the culture, and that that maybe I'm from Central America or Mexico. Oh.

Speaker 1 And you look at it.

Speaker 1 You can blend right in. So, and then you immediately bonded with Eduardo because of the picture.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah, as soon as we arrive to a place, you know, as soon as you get into a place and someone speaks Spanish, you go like, oh, okay. I'm comfortable now.
I mean, he's going to press.

Speaker 1 That's where you're comfortable being his friend. Yes, yes.

Speaker 1 Obviously, yeah. But what about when someone like me butchers it in a well-intentioned way?

Speaker 1 It's very, I mean,

Speaker 1 it makes me, it makes me feel like,

Speaker 1 yeah, like I've done something good in my life, you know, that I get to witness you trying so hard. Because, you know, like the first times I went to your show,

Speaker 1 it's you. I mean,

Speaker 1 I'm freaking out always before going in there. Oh, you know? Yes.
Just because I'm so scary. I'm tall, very, very white.

Speaker 1 Well, yeah, and you have an audience and they laugh you know to what you say and uh yeah so or they're punished how are they punished no one pays them so they laugh at what you say and that makes everything you say

Speaker 1 be so like yeah so then you're freaking out so it's kind of nice to see you now freaking out trying to speak another language yes yes well you did a i you and i have a bond which is very important to me yes which is many years ago during the first trump administration my staff and I, when we were doing the show at TBS and you were part of this Sona, we worked it out with Tel Visa and we did a show from Mexico City and you were a guest.

Speaker 1 And it was really a beautiful thing.

Speaker 1 I loved doing that show. I did a monologue

Speaker 1 en Español and got through it. And the audience actually kind of laughed.
It's sort of the right places. And I think there was some pity there.

Speaker 1 But there's some pity. Oh, he's trying.
He's trying. He's really trying, which is how my wife is.
They were were all Tel Aviv actors.

Speaker 1 All the people from the Telenovelas were sitting there.

Speaker 1 Didn't they look extra cute? They were so beautiful.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 I did.

Speaker 1 But you came on the show. No, you did amazing.

Speaker 1 I just want to make sure.

Speaker 1 people understand you really put yourself there which was uh something like it needed gods it was like a big risk and a lot of fun to see you really going for it well you know what was fun is Vicente Fox,

Speaker 1 the former president of Mexico, came on the show and I still, they're in my office. He gave me these boots.
Holy crap. Which say

Speaker 1 no fucking wall. And then he put my name on them.
And

Speaker 1 they're fantastic. They're fantastic boots.
He found out my size. He does good boots, I guess.

Speaker 1 That's what he does.

Speaker 1 His main contribution, I think, as the president was he people voted on him because he made good boots. I'm sure he charged someone for those boots.
I mean, and they might be a gift to you, but not

Speaker 1 as a gift. Somebody hanged out.
He had one paid for that.

Speaker 1 You know, we were talking earlier about

Speaker 1 we did that show, and it was a very special time. And we thought,

Speaker 1 well, those times. Those times ended.
Yeah. And

Speaker 1 now in some ways,

Speaker 1 in some ways, those times have returned with a vengeance.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I know you touched on it a little bit when you first started talking about how you feel safe being here. And these are tricky times, but it is.

Speaker 1 And, you know, we're not the most political podcast. We're really not a political podcast at all.
But we have to address the fact that

Speaker 1 you and I had this really special time and this special moment during that first administration. And then many of us thought that we were moving past that to maybe

Speaker 1 a better future. And here we are again.
Yeah, history repeats.

Speaker 1 But and reloaded kind of thing.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's, I don't know, I'm shocked

Speaker 1 on many things of what we're witnessing these days. And

Speaker 1 I think the best way to talk about this is

Speaker 1 I don't think I can fully understand what some part of the community, the Hispanic community in this country are going through, you know, the fear and it's like, I can't imagine, I mean, how that is, you know, that you dedicate your life, work,

Speaker 1 to build something and suddenly they tell you they're going to take that away from you instantly, just because of it. It's just, it's quite scary, yeah, scary times.

Speaker 1 But it's also just pointing out that we, I've been living in Los Angeles for many years,

Speaker 1 and Matt and Sony are from Los Angeles.

Speaker 1 But you live here in Los Angeles and everybody,

Speaker 1 just everybody I work with, everybody who works with me, everybody who helps me in any way or helps my family in any way with

Speaker 1 everything that needs to be done with our house. There's no, in every way, every day, I'm working with people who are from Mexico or Central America or South America.

Speaker 1 They're such a vital, they are the community in Los Angeles. This just feels like it's such a,

Speaker 1 they're doing all the work,

Speaker 1 which is really powerful to see every day. And it's, um,

Speaker 1 I, I have empathy because if you're paying attention, you understand that

Speaker 1 it feels like 80% of what's getting done here to sustain you know, our lives and our culture and our community is coming from south of the border.

Speaker 1 So I didn't mean for things to get this heavy this quickly because

Speaker 1 you're such a funny guy. But I think I just had a little bit of a flashback to the times

Speaker 1 we've spoken before. And I know that this is very important to you.
And you're a very proud and vocal member of your community. And so

Speaker 1 it's meaningful to me that you're here today because I've been thinking about it a lot lately. And I was very happy you're coming.
And it meant so much to me that you did our show in Mexico City.

Speaker 1 And I consider you a very special friend for that reason. I consider you a special friend too, man.
And I was very disappointed to hear that

Speaker 1 because every time I have to come and promote something, I always go like, can we go to Conan?

Speaker 1 And I'm glad we're here. You're creating the impression that people say no, no.

Speaker 1 Well, it's just that you don't have a show anymore. What would not be a good move for you?

Speaker 1 Diego, we're trying to build up your career and it's really going great for you. Conan's the wrong move at this time.
No, you're always welcome here. Always welcome here.

Speaker 1 I love that now you have this new format. I love it.

Speaker 1 And it's good we started like that. It's good we said it because it's important.
You cannot come to this country. You cannot come to California.

Speaker 1 You can not be in front of a microphone and not say something about that, you know, what

Speaker 1 this community

Speaker 1 is going through and the amount of support and help they need these days.

Speaker 1 you know they need you to show up so the that that you dedicate some some space for that means a lot uh and it's a good example of what people should be doing with microphones these days yeah you know that being said i do miss you having a uh a a show on tv because uh now i can't go there when i have something to promote well it might stop

Speaker 1 you can come here and uh also i do a travel show now for max so maybe we'll go someplace oh can we travel together oh we you know we just did a new season is starting in a few days.

Speaker 1 And Javier Bardem did a whole episode with me in

Speaker 1 Madrid. And

Speaker 1 we're total idiots, lunatics.

Speaker 1 It was really fun and silly.

Speaker 1 He's a fun guy. He is a really fun guy.
And so, and I'm thinking you and I'll find a will find a way to go and do it.

Speaker 1 I mean, you did do a travel show with me because that was the Mexico City show, but in this this new HBO Max format, it would be really fun to do something with you. So we'll do it.
I would love to.

Speaker 1 I'm going to bring you to Northern Ireland.

Speaker 1 You'll feel right at home. Well, I'll tell you one thing.

Speaker 1 You're not going to believe it, but I am half-Scottish.

Speaker 1 I did know that. Okay.
I did know that. My mom was born in Scotland and Scottish family.

Speaker 1 I have a big British family.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I've never traveled through Scotland looking for my roots. So, this is perfect.
Oh, wait a minute, this is perfect because and now I have to pay you for the idea.

Speaker 1 I did have the idea, right? Eduardo, it's right. Eduardo, you got it right.

Speaker 1 You got it back, man.

Speaker 1 Gracias, okay.

Speaker 1 Eduardo, Eduardo,

Speaker 1 como se dice edit.

Speaker 1 I wonder what the word could be.

Speaker 1 Say hello to the all-new Alexa Plus and see how Alexa can do so much more for you. Need last-minute concert tickets? Craving your favorite restaurant? Just sit back, relax, and talk naturally.

Speaker 1 Alexa's on it. It remembers what you love, anticipates what you need, and makes it all happen.

Speaker 1 Whether you're using Echo, Fire TV, or any compatible device, Alexa Plus brings thousands of possibilities to life. Everything.

Speaker 1 The fact that you can just order concert tickets through her, that's crazy. Yeah, exactly.
You didn't know that? Even I knew that. Wow.
Yeah. And I fought in World War I and I know that.

Speaker 1 Ready whenever. And yeah.
And you were born in the second Obama administration. This is incredible.
Ready whenever inspiration strikes, amazon.com slash new Alexa.

Speaker 1 I'm sure a lot of you out there are plain Coca-Cola people, and that's respectable. Trust me, I'm one.
Yes, I am. You've many times seen me just, I like to order just a regular Coca-Cola.
I really do.

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Speaker 1 I was reading about your family. I know your mom, you lost your mom at a very early age.

Speaker 1 And your father, this fascinates me. Your father was a set designer for everything, for theater, for opera, for movies, anything.
And so you grew up, it's no accident.

Speaker 1 I mean, I'm sure it's part of it's you're extremely talented, obviously, but you grew up in a house where your dad would be building sets in the house that had to inform your sense that, oh, life is magical and mysterious.

Speaker 1 And there's different, my dad is building weird sets for operas in the house that would maybe think, make you think, this is a world I could inhabit. Definitely.

Speaker 1 And I saw things go from like a quick drawing to like a model thing to then suddenly like a gigantic set, you know.

Speaker 1 There's a, there is a film called Santa Sangre. And I was very young.
That's why I remember Santa Sangre because it made a huge impact.

Speaker 1 It's a Khodorovsky film. And my father

Speaker 1 was working there as the, yeah, the art director. and uh there there's this moment where an elephant dies you know and there's and I was with a with half of the head of the elephant and the Trump

Speaker 1 you call them Trumps

Speaker 1 Trunk yeah trunk trunk oh good I just said Trump right

Speaker 1 damn it

Speaker 1 he's the other end of the elephant

Speaker 1 cut to 1930s audience applauding

Speaker 1 very Very well done, Matt. Very well done.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry to bring that.

Speaker 1 I wasn't trying. So, and the thing, because the thing, there's a moment where blood is coming out of the trunk.

Speaker 1 And so, I, but I had the piece of the prop, the gigantic thing in my living room for months. You know, I was interacting with that thing.
It's like the sandworm

Speaker 1 from Dune.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Well, exactly.

Speaker 1 So it's, it's, uh, it was quite a thing. And my father, at the same time, because you always, everything you do somehow at that age is to piss off your parents.

Speaker 1 So my father, like,

Speaker 1 he loves actors and he works for actors to suddenly use his sets, but he always complains about what they do. You know,

Speaker 1 he would always say, like, oh, the actor never gets in the light. Where, you know, I put a light here and he stands there.
Then I move the light and he starts in the other side.

Speaker 1 Or like these stem actors and these them actors don't know how to use the ramp in the state in the in the theater or the blah blah blah so i decided to become an actor also to piss him off

Speaker 1 and then intentionally stand in the wrong spot exactly exactly but uh yes it was

Speaker 1 and and to be honest it was more i i never had like the moment where i went like oh i want to i want to be an actor because of what happens on it was just about being part of his world sure and uh make sure no one would take him away from me, you know, like and and and also because school was boring and it was nice to feel I could be around adults that were acting like kids, you know.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's that's what theater represented for me. Like these adults are much more fun than the kids in school.

Speaker 1 These adults, these crazy adults pretending to be someone else, telling stories, playing games, like spending all day in this fantasy world. It's like that old idea of running away with the circus.

Speaker 1 Yeah. There's a, my reaction to getting into comedy and when I was 18, 19, and seriously thinking about it was, wait a minute, this can be a job?

Speaker 1 I just assumed that my job had to be something that I hated,

Speaker 1 that, you know, I have to go and do something serious and it's going to be something I hate, but then I can be fun with my friends and my family when I go home.

Speaker 1 And the idea that

Speaker 1 this could be a profession was insane to me because I'm from Boston, Massachusetts. Nobody's doing that.
It was a very strange feeling.

Speaker 1 But I know that idea that, well, of course I'd rather do this than go to school or memorize something or take a test. And also it's a family that shares a passion.

Speaker 1 And that is like such a difficult thing to find.

Speaker 1 You know, imagine a Christmas dinner where everyone talks about something that matters to the other, you know, because Christmas are like, oh my God, here, the uncle, the drunk uncle again.

Speaker 1 Now he's going to tell the story of, but imagine you care about what they're talking about and you really want to be around that gang. And that's how it feels in these communities, you know.

Speaker 1 Also,

Speaker 1 my mom passed away when I was two years old, but she was a costume designer and a painter. And she worked with half of the people I grew up working with.

Speaker 1 So in a way, it was her love stories that were around me, you know, and all these people trying to to to be their best because they knew my mom wasn't around so suddenly everyone like was like feeling for my mom you know somehow i got all these crazy interesting mothers you know that were like beautiful actresses or directors or yeah designers and they were all like very into

Speaker 1 making my life nice and easy and fun and it was it was the best you've said that you had a real connection uh with women always and and this, what you're saying may have been the introduction to it, but that women would befriend you and confide in you and trust you.

Speaker 1 And you were that guy growing up. Oh, yeah.
Which sometimes

Speaker 1 I was that way a little bit and I would

Speaker 1 take it a little bit of as an insult.

Speaker 1 You know, Conan, we don't see you as a sexual threat. Yes.
You don't even seem like a man to us.

Speaker 1 So we're very comfortable.

Speaker 1 I'll braid your hair, you braid mine, and we'll tell you all our secrets and there was a time there where i thought this is this is uh insulting but i'm still happy yes no i never felt i was being insulted yeah not at all and i do

Speaker 1 i do connect with that definitely yeah uh yes yes and and always also there was stories you could tell no i mean uh because i was having a

Speaker 1 a life that no other uh kid was having so i could talk to you about stuff yeah no one else could Yeah, so it was fun, I guess.

Speaker 1 That's a nice way in, but then

Speaker 1 it's quite frustrating to have to go back home and

Speaker 1 say, like, oh no, she's now with a boyfriend. Yeah.
Yes.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 We have this great deep connection, but she doesn't see me that way. She's with this other guy.
That happened to me, like from, yeah, like for a year or two of my life. Yeah.
Then things got better.

Speaker 1 Are you still, are you still there? Because you look very, You look very...

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 things never got better. I do have a wife.
I love her, and we've been together a long time, but she also does not see me as a sexual person. You're the mayor of Friend Zone.

Speaker 1 I'm in the Friend Zone.

Speaker 1 I have a very healthy marriage, but I'm in the Friend Zone with my wife. of 23 years and I don't know how that happened.
And we have two children, but who knows how that happened.

Speaker 1 For your wedding, you guys just gave each other friendship bracelets. Exactly.
Yeah, exactly. Instead of kissing after you high-five.

Speaker 1 We high-five.

Speaker 1 Do you take this friend to be your friend? And do you take this friend to be your friend?

Speaker 1 I'm curious about, I know the breakout for you was that the beautiful, terrific movie, Itu Mamatambien. And that...

Speaker 1 How old were you when you did that film? That's probably the best Spanish I've heard from you.

Speaker 1 Really? Wasn't it? Yes. Didn't he say ituma matambien? Ituma también.

Speaker 1 Okay, okay, guys. If we call it out every time I manage to get it kind of right, it makes it worse.

Speaker 1 Okay?

Speaker 1 Good job, Corey.

Speaker 1 That was cute.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 This is quite like a structure. Your show is about them making fun of you the whole time.
Yes. Is that it? Yes, or here.
When you guys leave, though, he comes at us.

Speaker 1 But you don't record that, therefore, the actual no oh oh god we record it okay no i am very comfortable being uh i'm one of six uh children in my family i have many brothers and sisters so being mercilessly made fun of uh is in my dna and i i actually sick in a sick sadomastoistic way i like it um

Speaker 1 but uh yeah sorry no no no i was saying that that that was how old were you when you made that film you were i was 19 19 i think when when we did that film and uh and that kind of changed i mean obviously, theater was a big part of your life and theater still is a big part of your life, but that must have been a huge change for you.

Speaker 1 I was doing, I was doing, yeah, because I was very

Speaker 1 comfortable

Speaker 1 in Mexico. And I didn't even think it was possible to actually start like...

Speaker 1 moving around and

Speaker 1 traveling with my work and finding new audiences. Like I was pretty comfortable doing cinema that was very small.
We had an industry that was doing 10 to 12 films a year back then.

Speaker 1 So it was very small.

Speaker 1 Your family would watch it and someone in a festival, probably, but that was it.

Speaker 1 But I had theater and I was doing TV to support myself. I was living by, yeah.
What kind of TV did you do? Oh, like the last

Speaker 1 the last telenovela I did, it was just right before Itum Mama Tambien because I was 19 years old. I remember that day as like the the day I stopped doing telenovelas.

Speaker 1 I'm never going to forget.

Speaker 1 But I started really like at 12. I worked on the first telenovela, so it was a good seven years of my life.
I occasionally will be talking to someone from Mexico. This happens a lot.

Speaker 1 And we'll be chatting and they'll want to know. They know that I work in television.
They've seen clips.

Speaker 1 But I always say to them, well, I did a telenovela because I did it when I was in, and I was in, I think it was the something maledicion, I forget what it's called. Mi adorable

Speaker 1 maldicione. Yeah.
Mi adorable malvella. That's close.
It's more like mi adorable a maledicion. You'll get it.
Oh, Eduardo. Okay.
You'll get it later. Yeah, I know.

Speaker 1 It just needs a little more time under my tutelage. Wow.
Yeah. I'll teach you how to do it in a Boston accent.

Speaker 1 But no,

Speaker 1 they wrote a part for me, and they were really funny. They wrote a part for me as a cheese merchant.

Speaker 1 And they gave me a mustache. And I come in and I have this scene where I'm getting very angry.
And it's this one of the most beautiful women I've seen in my life.

Speaker 1 The women in these, the men are so good looking. This woman

Speaker 1 took my breath away. She was so beautiful.
And you can see the clip online. And she, there's a point where I'm getting very angry with her.
And I'm, I'm, it's all in Spanish.

Speaker 1 And I'm yelling at her in Spanish. You do not treat me this way.
I will not be. And she puts her hand hand out and she touches me.

Speaker 1 And I guess they have a name for it in Telenovellas, which is the Thunderbolt or something where a woman touches a man and suddenly they have that moment of connection.

Speaker 1 And it's such a soap opera thing. It is.
But she, I'm yelling at her and she touches me and I look at her and they cut to her.

Speaker 1 And she suddenly feels this emotion, which by the way, she would never feel in real life.

Speaker 1 And the crowd went crazy. This crowd, they go crazy.
And it's one of my favorite moments from my career. And I love to show it to people I talk to.

Speaker 1 I'm constantly calling it up on my phone and saying, check this out. And my wife is like, You're not making them watch your telenovela.

Speaker 1 This is Pedro.

Speaker 1 And this is Jose. And I'm just showing it to them.
And they always, but

Speaker 1 it's so funny because it all depends on the perspective, right? I'm trying to disappear everything

Speaker 1 that's out there from the work I did in Telenovelos. Nah.
You're a kid. You're a young man.

Speaker 1 I was 19. I was still doing telenovelas.

Speaker 1 And there was a few, no, there's a few that I'm more proud of than the others, but it is a big thing. And

Speaker 1 it was one I grew up in theater where they would see, like, they would judge you if you were going to work on a telenovela.

Speaker 1 But the point came where every actor had to be in both things, you know, to survive. You know, theater wouldn't be enough to pay

Speaker 1 your rent and

Speaker 1 actors would be doing telenovelas

Speaker 1 and theater

Speaker 1 at night.

Speaker 1 And it it was quite a thing and and and you can tell like what happens with the popularity you know in telenovelas like you are doing one and you are very popular but another one comes and everyone forgets immediately you know right it's that kind of thing where because it's what some people have said too about being in soap operas or telenovelas is that if you're playing the bad guy

Speaker 1 people in the supermarket who see you are mad at you.

Speaker 1 They're like, I don't like what you're doing. And you're like, no, no, no, that is a role in playing sex.
So yes, people take it very seriously, become part of their lives. Obviously, I mean,

Speaker 1 and things have changed. I think in the 90s and early 2000s, like the TV was always on, you know,

Speaker 1 in many homes, and you were there. You were part of their everyday life.
You know, it was like telenovelas. There was...
the ones that were meant to be playing while you're doing something else also.

Speaker 1 And that's why they repeat them over and over the same scene, you know, because you're not really paying attention sometimes, you know?

Speaker 1 But television was really important for audiences, not these days now. Now people are more like into searching for what they want to be consuming, you know? Yes.
There was a time they...

Speaker 1 It's a great term for it here where people are siloed. Everyone's in their own little tube watching all the stuff that they just want to see.
They're not connected to each other. Yeah, the bubble.

Speaker 1 You live in this. You're in your own little bubble and you're watching and all the content is catered just to you.
If you're online, you're seeing everything that you would want to see, as opposed to

Speaker 1 when I was growing up,

Speaker 1 obviously I'm much older than everybody here, but it was TV was there's three, four channels. And you had to wait for what was, what had good reception because we didn't have cable.

Speaker 1 So sometimes the channel that had something good on wasn't coming in. And then you'd flip the channel and it's a Catholic Mass.
You're like, oh my God,

Speaker 1 but it looks good. It's coming in.
I guess we'll watch this and hope a gunfight breaks out.

Speaker 1 Jesus. Never did.

Speaker 1 But you're right. You were forced to be exposed to things like old movies, things that you wouldn't watch normally because that was what was on television.

Speaker 1 What's fascinating to me about your career is that you have this very bohemian background, theater,

Speaker 1 small movies, arthouse movies, and then you're in what's arguably one of the best of the Star Wars franchise films, Rogue One, and that's got to just change everything.

Speaker 1 I mean, it's, and then it's led to, you know, today you're here because Andor is out with the second season, a show I love, by the way. It's fantastic.

Speaker 1 And I'm not even a Star Wars person per se, but I love it. I think it's such a great, it's a beautifully told story.
And so now you find yourself in this world

Speaker 1 of a huge international international audience

Speaker 1 and the power of the Star Wars franchise behind you. It's such a, you weren't setting out, you weren't looking for that.
No, not at all. Not at all.
And also because it would have been painful.

Speaker 1 There was no room. You know, I grew up watching these films, but I never thought I, I mean, I never saw someone like me there.
I never thought it was possible. And I didn't even want to.

Speaker 1 Like, I was doing theater really happy. I was, when it, when I did it, to Mama Tambien, I started traveling with my work.

Speaker 1 and it was suddenly I realized there was a community that it was really close to me. Uh,

Speaker 1 you know, in the States, for example, when I went the first time to Sondens, uh, I realized there was people that struggled the same way I struggled to work on film, you know, the Hollywood wasn't a thing, like a Hollywood, like Hollywood was just like a

Speaker 1 there were different subsets, communities, yeah, independent cinema, theater, people doing cinema, but theater and then cinema again, and struggling to get financing for their movies and finally getting it and having very little resources so have to like with creativity solve things and all of that i i started finding those connections in in the states in london in spain and suddenly was like okay great i can keep doing what i what i do when i was asked to do rogue one uh or or to go into the process of of doing auditions for rogue one the director said to me i want to do a film in this universe that tonally

Speaker 1 feels very realistic, close to what you guys did in Ituma Matambien. And I was like, what?

Speaker 1 Are you okay, man?

Speaker 1 Exactly. Who was saying this specifically? Gareth Edwards,

Speaker 1 the director who I owe him being here talking about Andor, because he had the idea.

Speaker 1 He shot in Mexico Film. He loved Ituma Matambien.
And he was crazy enough to think that there was a room for me in that project. I couldn't really believe it.

Speaker 1 I make the joke a lot of times about like, I was sitting there going, like, what does he want from me? Does he want the number of an actor? Or like, does he want me to help him with Gael? Or what?

Speaker 1 You know, I don't even speak English. You know, I mean, what is this about? And, and he was like very honest and saying that.

Speaker 1 And he got an amazing cast of people that were doing the cinema i was doing but in their context you know felicity risa met mats michelson like it was a cast of like people that were doing tiny films in their countries and and and and dramas that were all about the the the the storytelling and and anyway so i went into doing that and and i've I freaked out.

Speaker 1 I was like, wow, this is amazing because I can still be myself.

Speaker 1 And I have to thank, yeah, Lucas Film and Disney and everyone, everyone because they gave us the tools, but then the freedom to, you know?

Speaker 1 So it felt like I was just on a set of a film that I've been my whole life. I felt the same freedom.

Speaker 1 I didn't feel like, oh, shit, we have to now behave differently because we're doing these gigantic projects.

Speaker 1 Well, I think that also the moral of the story is sometimes a big popular movie can be fantastic. Yeah.
Do you know what I mean? There's a, it, it, it, there. And it can have integrity.

Speaker 1 Yes, there can be a reverse snobbery sometimes of, oh, this is a popcorn movie. This is going to be huge.
Everyone's going to love it.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 Yes, people are going to love it. A lot of people are going to see it.
It's a big franchise.

Speaker 1 And it's now this television series, and it is

Speaker 1 beautifully acted. The story is so well told.

Speaker 1 And what's so fascinating to me is Cassian, your character, it makes sense to me because of the story, the backstory of Rogue One is he comes from this other place and he doesn't belong.

Speaker 1 And so there's something that lines up very neatly with someone coming from, in your case, Mexico. Yes.
You know,

Speaker 1 and you are coming from a different land and trying to struggle to figure out what your place is in it. So it's all...

Speaker 1 It all makes sense, but it takes someone with vision to see that and go, we got to get Diego Luna. And 99.9% of the people in the room would say, What are you talking about?

Speaker 1 That's that's exactly what Gary said. Including me, I'd have mixed it.

Speaker 1 They did call me if I had worked with you and I said, I think it's a mistake. It's a mistake.
He's a very good voice. I said, I'm more of a.
Get him out of the novel.

Speaker 1 I said, I'm more of a Cassian when you think about it.

Speaker 1 And they did some tests, and apparently, not good.

Speaker 1 You don't fit in the cockpits, also.

Speaker 1 My head, they had to cut a hole through the spaceship. No, but it is.

Speaker 1 so I did realize

Speaker 1 on the process of Rogue One and then Andor, that it was more my prejudice

Speaker 1 speaking, you know, that because

Speaker 1 I think Andor is a it's a it's a great example of

Speaker 1 how things should be done. You know, it's like a it is a gigantic project.
It has a

Speaker 1 wonderful and very diverse reach.

Speaker 1 But the way they did it is the way they do the films I love.

Speaker 1 We are there because there's a perspective, a point of view, which is the creators, Tony Gilroy, the amazing writer and producer and director that is behind this.

Speaker 1 And we're following a leader and a voice. And if you commit to that, then that's integrity.
That's where integrity comes from, you know? And then this thing can fly and be huge, you know?

Speaker 1 And obviously, we all get it. I mean, we're part of a community.
People really want to see this. People really want this to be good and they're expecting the best out of you and you have to bring it.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 it had that kind of like, that sense of like, okay, we're working for a vision, you know, from beginning to end. And

Speaker 1 I was really pleased. And then many people, many people like think your life changes because of being part of a project like that.

Speaker 1 And it's true, but not in the way probably that people imagine, you know, it changes because like I'm a different person. I went through a revolution myself with this project.
I'm part of a community.

Speaker 1 I got to work with people that are. as talented as it gets and I got to learn.
But then you go back to your life and your life is the same. Yes.
You know,

Speaker 1 I go back and I want to do a tiny little film about this particular event or character. And I don't go out there and find money to do it.
And, you know, they're going like, oh, no, that one.

Speaker 1 no, not for that one.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it doesn't change

Speaker 1 in a way that's refreshing.

Speaker 1 It is, because you can still be yourself and you can go through an experience like this and be transformed in the best possible way, but then also go back to who you were without having to,

Speaker 1 yeah.

Speaker 1 to leave something behind or or don't yeah, to avoid being

Speaker 1 back, you know, as if it was a bad thing. To me, it's the opposite.
So that's great. I've always found it very, in a way, refreshing that I'll have a moment.

Speaker 1 I'll have a moment that's supposedly like a big moment or something in my career.

Speaker 1 And then the next day, someone will say, Oh, I saw you, you know, host the Oscars last night, and then you did a really good job. Oh, you did a good job.
But I'll say, Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 And they'll say, And you can't park there,

Speaker 1 except me.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I go, Oh, oh, I'm sorry. And you're like, oh, good.
Nothing's it's gravity. Gravity is always acting on you.

Speaker 1 Uncrustables are the best part of the sandwich. I mean, we've been thinking that.
Why does hell say it, right, Sona? Yeah. Like, who needs a crust?

Speaker 1 You've been saying that since the day I met you 15 years ago, Sona. You said, who needs the crust? And I said, first of all, my name's Conan.
You know,

Speaker 1 anyway, it's the perfect grab and go for all of life's moments with unbeatable soft bread and a variety of flavors like, well, peanut butter and grape jelly, peanut butter and strawberry jam.

Speaker 1 Hello, peanut butter and raspberry spread and so much more. No mess, no prep, just thaw and eat.

Speaker 1 Yep, get them in the freezer aisle today.

Speaker 1 The holidays are nothing, nothing. without family, friends, and flannel.
The flannel you can always count on? Well, for my money, that would have to be from LL Bean.

Speaker 1 It's the shirt you wear when you pick out the tree or you eat a candy cane. It's the shirt when you come down and you look at all those presents under the tree.

Speaker 1 You've got that shirt on from LL Bean, that flannel. All those holiday traditions, I'm going to get on a toboggan and roll down this hill.
Yeah. I've got to wear that shirt.

Speaker 1 I've got to wear that LLB flannel. Oh, look at Santa Claus.
Hello, Santa. I hope I'm wearing that LLB flannel.
It's all things cozy. Ah, it's effortless.
It's made to last. LL Bean.

Speaker 1 They know what they're doing and they have for a very long time.

Speaker 1 Go check out LL Bean Flannel. Invited to the holiday since 1912.

Speaker 1 Well, I want to cede the floor to Matt for a second because Matt is a huge. He's falling asleep.
No, no, no.

Speaker 1 I was just so relaxed listening to you guys talk. I'm serious.
I couldn't. No, I don't know that you should.

Speaker 1 But I just, it's only fair and right because Star Wars and the friend and all of it means so much to you. And this is,

Speaker 1 I know that you have raved about, you mean, when you saw Rogue One, just you thought that, oh, they've really, they've really, it's, they've made a beautiful, beautiful movie. Um,

Speaker 1 particularly Andor and Rogue One and what you and Tony Gilroy and all the other actors are doing is so damn enjoyable and so good.

Speaker 1 I mean, it's just, that's all I have to say. No, but I mean, you were,

Speaker 1 you were in a very happy place today

Speaker 1 because Diego was coming in. And I know what what I've noticed about Andor is that I don't, again, there are some

Speaker 1 shows that are part of a big franchise that kind of demand you know X, Y, and Z.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I remember going to see when I was a kid, my brother Luke and I went to see the movie Dune with Kyle McLaughlin in whatever it was, 1980 or something, at the Hearthstone Plaza Theater, which isn't even a theater anymore.

Speaker 1 I think it's a pot dispensary because everything that I grew up with is now a pot dispensary.

Speaker 1 Except the pot dispensary is now an ATM.

Speaker 1 But I remember we got there and they handed you a little booklet that you had to read before you could watch the movie that explained, okay, this is the spin. And I thought, what the fuck is this?

Speaker 1 I think that's just because what David Lynch did to that story. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 God bless his soul. But anyway.
I like him. Don't get me wrong.
Yeah, yeah. Don't get me wrong.

Speaker 1 You and your anti-David Lynch propaganda. I won't have it.

Speaker 1 But what I love about Andor is you can know absolutely nothing.

Speaker 1 And it's just great storytelling, really great storytelling and terrific acting. And then,

Speaker 1 man, you get to sit in a TIE Fighter. What's that like? Oh, boy.
Yeah. Yeah.
We got to that. You be quiet.

Speaker 1 The TIE Fighter. Yeah,

Speaker 1 it's a special prototype, right?

Speaker 1 It was fascinating because

Speaker 1 actually work.

Speaker 1 You guys can go. We got this.

Speaker 1 No, I want to hear it. So, when you say things actually work, what do you mean? You turn on

Speaker 1 a button and a light. comes on.

Speaker 1 The screens are showing you, you know, the information you can relate and communicate, you know, with the

Speaker 1 object. Like, no, it's, it's, we, and, and I don't know.
I mean, I'm not sure how they do every

Speaker 1 Star Wars show, but uh ours is very mechanical it's very much like um

Speaker 1 a homage to to the filmmaking that started the whole thing you can feel it you know and so we're interacting with props with real pieces of of of yeah of uh the stage is is real is built uh you you have to wait till it's built you have to use it and then they bring it down you know there's a whole process and there's a whole design behind things you things don't get decided later you know they don't tell you, like, just turn buttons and pretend you're flying, and then we'll figure it out.

Speaker 1 No, there's a reason. There's things on the right, things on the left.
If you move this forward, it has to be like this. And also,

Speaker 1 there's someone behind the design. So there's someone defending the design and telling you and walking you through what you are about to use.

Speaker 1 Therefore, it's like actually happening. And you're in a platform that actually moves.
So you turn right and the thing moves right, left, down, up. You know, if you're hit, it shakes.

Speaker 1 So over like your father, where you're just like, oh, he's messing up my designer.

Speaker 1 Many times. I'm sure that happened.

Speaker 1 Many times. And sometimes you have screens in front of you.
So you are looking at what's... what's going to be there, you know, somehow.

Speaker 1 So it is a putting together of the show takes a long time because there's a lot of work behind everything. And

Speaker 1 that again is because it has to do with the vision. The way Tony writes is very special.
You'll be interested in this.

Speaker 1 Like, he doesn't write a scene where they go, like, okay, they're doing a podcast in a studio. And

Speaker 1 he sits down with the set designer and says, Okay, how big is the studio?

Speaker 1 Okay, and they design a studio and a piece of paper, you know, and they go like, Okay, they'll have a table with four microphones.

Speaker 1 So, over there is going to be the computer, there's three seats there. So, when he's writing the scene, he's describing a space that already exists and that is being designed for this.

Speaker 1 Therefore, everything has a reason, everything has a purpose, and things are already designed when he's writing.

Speaker 1 And he's the master, I believe, of collaboration because somehow in that moment, it's not just his material, it's also the production designer's material because his vision is already in the page.

Speaker 1 Yeah, you know. So, when you get to the place and you read a line and a direction, it makes sense.
You go, Oh, okay, I get it. Now I get it.

Speaker 1 But it informs, it informs, it's a collaboration between, because your acting then is a, it's a collaboration between all this work that's happened before you even show up to set. Definitely.

Speaker 1 And, you know, one of the things that

Speaker 1 always,

Speaker 1 because I'm old enough to remember what it used to be, science fiction used to be shiny and clean, meaning spaceships always were kind of shiny

Speaker 1 and Buck Rogers, everything. And people wore these immaculate spacesuits.
And that was what we knew as science fiction. And if you watch 2001, that's how it is.

Speaker 1 And then I want to say Blade Runner was kind of a revelation because, as we all know, in real life, cars are rusty or dirty or banged up or dented.

Speaker 1 And then in Star Wars, you saw that things are kind of retrofitted. They're kind of holding it together with tape.
Yeah. You know, the Millennium Falcons got some problems.

Speaker 1 Some of the robots or the droids are kind of dirty. They've been banged around a little bit.
And I remember that being a real revelation.

Speaker 1 And what you really see in Andor and in Rogue One 2 is also just this idea that stuff, these are machines that get used. They have to be fixed.
They have to be repaired.

Speaker 1 People are, there's dirt everywhere. Things get fucked up.
And that informs the story a lot. Do you know what I mean? Clearly,

Speaker 1 it makes it, to me, more real. It makes it very real.
And it's different than the science fiction I grew up with. It's just so tactile, the world that you guys have created.

Speaker 1 And, you know, you just feel like all exists for real. How much of it is on location or at least exterior, right? Because the wind's blowing and it doesn't feel like a studio or

Speaker 1 something. It's all Cleveland.

Speaker 1 All of it. And you don't have to do anything to Cleveland.
It just looks like a, you know. The first season we had in mind was

Speaker 1 it was going to be a shoot that we were going to travel

Speaker 1 around the world, hoping to be in amazing locations and again,

Speaker 1 be a homage to filmmaking, you know, allow the accident of the real location to come part, to be part of the result, you know, and the creative process to be influenced by what happens when you're out there and you can't control everything.

Speaker 1 But then

Speaker 1 the COVID came and we had to... we had to adjust.
And

Speaker 1 we did a very,

Speaker 1 a show that happened mostly on studio because we had to be there, you know, and we started building things in the studio and they built Ferex completely, like the whole town and it's a town like you can get lost in ferricks i mean adria talks about getting lost in ferx and it did happen like you can it's it's it's so wonderful and but it's again it's a design that that luke hole did next to tony and tony understood the logic of that city perfectly and then started writing for the city and the city gave you everything gave you alleys big streets uh stores food you know the restaurants, the hotel,

Speaker 1 the place where you would need to hide are do exist and they're the size for you to actually play that scene there. You don't have to like,

Speaker 1 you know, you can shoot in order and allow things to actually happen.

Speaker 1 That's how we did the first season. Then we went to Scotland for a bit when we were allowed to travel and to the mountains.
And it was beautiful. And again, you can't control everything.

Speaker 1 There's a scene where we are supposed to be in the top of the mountain, seeing where we're going to hit the next day

Speaker 1 to do the big robbery, you know. And we get to the mountain.

Speaker 1 There's just a, you can get in cars to one point, and then we had to walk, and we get with all the equipment to the top of the mountain, and there's a huge cloud not moving.

Speaker 1 Oh, no. And we go like, oh, God.

Speaker 1 And it signifies those scenes. You know, you have a scene with Nemik talking about how much fear he has for what's coming.
And it adds, because yes,

Speaker 1 I'm scared too.

Speaker 1 We can't even see where we're going. This is crazy, you know.
But the scene just becomes that scene.

Speaker 1 There's no telling the cloud. Hey, this is Lucas.
Lucas Phil. I mean, come on.

Speaker 1 Exactly. Kathleen Kennedy sent a note.

Speaker 1 No, it's not.

Speaker 1 And the beauty of this is that it brings all the attention to where it has to be. Everyone is, you know, like focused on, okay, how do we tell the story? How do we tell the story?

Speaker 1 Because also, we know the story by that point. There is no, there is a secrecy, you know, out of the bubble.

Speaker 1 But for us, we are all very much invested in the same story that Tony Gilroy wants to tell, you know. That's great.
I'm just sad. This is the last season.
Well, sad, but relieved, no?

Speaker 1 Yes, I'm also, because it's hard to,

Speaker 1 but not in terms of like, oh,

Speaker 1 I want to be at home. No, it's just like it's it's it's not easy to to get something right.
Yeah, so when it happens, it's nice that you keep it that that big.

Speaker 1 Let me put it this way. I think TV is has brought great things, you know.
It's a great place for young talents to find their voices. It's uh it's wonderful.

Speaker 1 It's taking all the risks cinema stop taking,

Speaker 1 you know, which is great. But there's one thing I don't like, which is things start without knowing where they're gonna end.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 You want everyone's talking about the next season, and probably there's another one, and there's an anxiety of like, how much more can we achieve? Yeah.

Speaker 1 And it's nice to start something knowing where it ends.

Speaker 1 Therefore, therefore, you throw everything in, you know, you put everything there. And if you succeed, you celebrate.
And if you don't, you learn and you try again. But, but knowing the ending of the

Speaker 1 story allowed us to, yeah, to work

Speaker 1 this tough and

Speaker 1 in detail, in all those layers that you can bring in.

Speaker 1 But I remember we sat down in the first season, half the way of the shoot in Scotland, Tony and I,

Speaker 1 and he was like, we can't do five seasons of this. Like, it takes two years and a half of our lives.
You know, I'm going to be 60 years old pretending I'm the guy I was

Speaker 1 in 2016. Impossible.

Speaker 1 So how do we do this? And he came up with the idea of doing these four blocks because our goal was:

Speaker 1 let's tell the story of the five years before Rogue One

Speaker 1 and then finish this story the moment Rogue One starts, right? That was the goal.

Speaker 1 So, he came up with this idea of like in the second season, move through four years of the life of these characters and get to the point that we promised at the beginning.

Speaker 1 And that was such a relief because then suddenly we understood that it was possible, that we had to aim for another three and a half years of work, but we were gonna make it, you know?

Speaker 1 Which is great because that's what Rogue One does, is it goes right up to the end before Star Wars, too. So they all just connect so seamlessly.
It's a prequel. Rogue One is a prequel.

Speaker 1 Then we did a prequel. And it's, yeah.
So this is the prequel of the prequel, right? A repequel.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Exactly.

Speaker 1 We got very technical now.

Speaker 1 Suddenly, everyone's like, oh, well, now we're going to be. I do think.
And this is like. And I appreciate that little tangent, by the way.
Thank you. Yeah, no, it wasn't little at all.

Speaker 1 And you're fired. You're fired.
So you'll now work with,

Speaker 1 you'll go with Diego.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 he's now, you live with him now. Okay.

Speaker 1 I do think people talk. I don't eat a lot.
People. You just work, you live with him.

Speaker 1 People.

Speaker 1 I like that Diego has no say in it either.

Speaker 1 On it said so. I'd say.
And that's in bunk beds. You're in Mexico City in bunk beds.

Speaker 1 Good night, Matthew. Just one more thing about Cassidy.

Speaker 1 Go to sleep.

Speaker 1 You know, it does.

Speaker 1 People talk about this a lot,

Speaker 1 and it can almost sound like a cliche, but it's so powerful that when you said

Speaker 1 you didn't see yourself in any of the Star Wars, in the Star Wars world when you were growing up, and it seemed like an impossibility to you that someone like you coming from where you're, you know, from Mexico City could be in that world.

Speaker 1 Think Think of how powerful that is to millions of kids who are seeing you in this franchise.

Speaker 1 And what's fascinating is that it has your role has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you grew up in Mexico. You know what I mean? It has nothing to do with that.
You're just a great actor.

Speaker 1 The more that happens in different cultures, I can't prove it, but I feel like it's the,

Speaker 1 it's, it's the answer to a lot of our problems. No, I agree with you.
I I think it's,

Speaker 1 if I think about the reference I grew up, you know, watching, following, and hoping one day I could

Speaker 1 be like them compared to the ones that are my kids are growing up with.

Speaker 1 It feels much

Speaker 1 diverse, interesting, rich today, you know, and things are changing and getting there.

Speaker 1 And I always

Speaker 1 like I always want to bring it back to where I think

Speaker 1 everything started happening, which is it's because of the audience, it's because the audience started to have a voice, you know, and now all these tools that we have,

Speaker 1 they're terrible and dangerous in many ways, but they are also very useful. And one very useful thing they do is that you can send messages.

Speaker 1 You know, you click or you buy a ticket and you're sending a message. And the industry has to listen because they want you to keep clicking, you know.

Speaker 1 And if you ignore, if you decide not to click, not to buy the ticket, you're also sending a message.

Speaker 1 So it's audiences who are somehow reshaping what the industry is talking about, what voices are there, what stories get to be made. It's still a process.
We're not there yet.

Speaker 1 But the idea, I grew up like watching those films where every decision in the movie business was made behind the desk and someone was like, this is what they want us to do. Big cigar.

Speaker 1 This is what we're going to do.

Speaker 1 Exactly. You got it right.

Speaker 1 And today it's not like that.

Speaker 1 Today is people at home you know clicking or not clicking paying attention or not paying attention so if we as audience act with responsibility uh the responsibility that this you know tool uh

Speaker 1 brings or gives you uh we we are we are having something to say on this industry that somehow for a

Speaker 1 a long time, it didn't seem to talk to us.

Speaker 1 And now it is. So

Speaker 1 I think it's cool. I think I'm part of something big.

Speaker 1 I see many people coming from where I come from, having an opportunity. You were just talking about how cool it was to travel with Javier in Spain.
I mean, it is happening. It is happening somehow.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 again, I think

Speaker 1 we can be really proud because it's a moment where you can... you can be yourself.

Speaker 1 I grew up with people telling me, are you going to work on your accent? Are you going to clean your accent?

Speaker 1 And I was like, clean your, well, I mean, why do you think it's dirty or what what's wrong with my accent my accent is mine it might not be yours but you know but when i was 20 that was the thing is like okay you're doing great what if you start working on your accent and you start sounding like these other people and you can start doing what they can do and today is a moment where that is changing i think i mean i'm i'm here because i i bring what i am you know yes and that's what got me here.

Speaker 1 I might not be there and not there, but I'm here because

Speaker 1 you're exactly where you're supposed to be and where you you should be.

Speaker 1 And that's kind of like a cool idea and message. And also things are happening where sometimes you can do something in another context that not even thinking of traveling.

Speaker 1 And that can resonate with someone here or in Europe or in Japan or whatever.

Speaker 1 And so there's also like a respect and a search for a specificity that today is really cool in the movie making.

Speaker 1 Well, I'm very proud to call you a friend. I'm honored.

Speaker 1 It was one of the great honors of my life that you came on my show in Mexico City and blessed our kooky project there. Just delighted, delighted to have you here.
And I love what you represent.

Speaker 1 You're an artist and you're a really good guy. And

Speaker 1 just a pleasure. Absolute pleasure to have you here.

Speaker 1 And thank you. So please come back and let's have an adventure together.
I'll take you to Scotland.

Speaker 1 Scotland. So much water.
It's incredible.

Speaker 1 That is not what the tourist bureau says. Scotland.
So much water.

Speaker 1 But also, I think. It's so green, man.
It is beautiful.

Speaker 1 And so I accept your invitation to return to Mexico City and appear on a telenovelo with you and live with you. I think that was mentioned at some point.

Speaker 1 That was mentioned. I get to live with you.
No, no, I'm living with you. Triple bunk bed.
Yeah, triple bunk bed. Yeah, you should come to the side.
I'm out. No, no.

Speaker 1 You're going to ask a lot of, you're going to wake us up at night to ask him questions about Andor.

Speaker 1 And that bullshit is not happening. And I'm going to ask you, and I'm going to wake you up to correct you on your accent.
Yes.

Speaker 1 Spanish. Very, very important.
No, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, this was so much fun. And come back soon, Diego.

Speaker 1 And thank you for everything. Seriously, great to have you here.
Oh, man. Thank you.
Thank you all.

Speaker 1 Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend with Conan O'Brien, Sonam Obsession, and Matt Gorley. Produced by me, Matt Gorley.
Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Frost, and Nick Liao.

Speaker 1 Theme song by The White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.
Take it away, Jimmy.

Speaker 1 Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering and Mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brendan Burns.

Speaker 1 Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Kahn.

Speaker 1 You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Cocoa Hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message.

Speaker 1 It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of SiriusXM when you sign up at seriousxm.com/slash Conan.

Speaker 1 And if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

Speaker 2 A rich life isn't a straight line to a destination on the horizon. Sometimes it takes an unexpected turn with detours, new possibilities, and even another passenger or three.

Speaker 2 And with 100 years of navigating ups and downs, you can count on Edward Jones to help guide you through it all because life is a winding path made rich by the people you walk it with.

Speaker 2 Let's find your rich together. Edward Jones, member SIPC.

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