Getting the Accent Right: Gael Garcia Bernal had to perfect the accent as well as find the right nuances of the language, all while finding the emotional depth of the character. Bernal said, “It was incredibly hard to work for it. There were moments that it just wasn’t going to get there in a sense. Why? Because it’s difficult to do an accent amongst American people, you know? But I guess the only thing I can say is it’s just preparation. I worked hard on it, and for it not to become a burden because that’s the worst thing that it could become. It can make you very self-conscious.”
Over time the accent did come easier. “After a while it becomes a bit, not automatic, but it becomes organic.”
Sticking It Out Over the Years it Took The King to Get Made: “It took a while. It took four years, more or less. It was like four years ago that I signed on to it,” explained Bernal.
Bernal says he stuck with it because “it was an interesting project to do and also because I had made my commitment and I don’t like backing off. And also because I really wanted to play with it. It took a long time because I was in the middle of The Motorcycle Diaries when they offered it to me. I told them, ‘In the meantime I have to do Bad Education. I did Bad Education and took a five month holiday, six month holiday and then when we did it.”
Choosing Which Films to Do, Which to Pass On: Bernal explained his strategy. “I think of the whole picture in general. I think of the meaning of the film. If I’m interested in telling the story, ‘This story is necessary. This story moves me.’ If a character is interesting. If the character is a challenge to do. ‘Is it complex? What am I going to learn from it? Where am I going to go with it, you know?’ All those questions.
At the end, it’s your intuition or your instinct that tells you to do it. Then the whole project grabs a sense of urgency and it becomes a necessity for you to be in it. That’s how I make a decision. That’s when I decide them. Fortunately that’s when it’s easier to make a decision because that’s when you go for what’s necessary and not the others.”
The size of the budget or whether it’s an independent film or a big studio production doesn’t play a part in Bernal’s decision process. “No, never. It never plays a part. (Laughing) I’m Mexican, you know? I’m a Mexican actor. I’m not used to doing independent or non-independent films. I do films and most of the films that I do are really small because they’re not from the United States and they’re all small.”
The Directors Who’ve Influenced Him: Bernal has The Science of Sleep and Babel hitting theaters in 2006 and will be taking a turn behind the camera when he makes his feature film directorial debut with Déficit. Bernal’s worked with a wealth of critically acclaimed directors over the course of his young career and will carry what he’s picked up from watching them into his own project.
Asked which directors have influenced him the most, Bernal came up with a handful of names. “I think there’s five I can mention. Fortunately the names fill one hand. I hope there’s another hand in the next years (laughing). Alexander Gonzalez Inarritu is a great director. He’s the one I first worked with. He’s amazing and I just finished a film with him as well recently. He taught me a lot along with Alfonso Cuaron who I think is the most incredible director on earth. And then Walter Salles who is, apart from a great craftsman and great storyteller, a really good friend. Also Michel Gondry who is a wonderful, wonderful, very exciting friend to be close to. And Pedro Almodovar.”
