WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif.. (AP) 鈥 Director 脕ngel Manuel Soto didn鈥檛 think too much about the 鈥淟atino side of things鈥 when visually crafting DC鈥檚 鈥淏lue Beetle鈥 alongside Mexican screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer.
The film 鈥 starring 鈥淐obra Kai鈥檚鈥 Xolo Maridue帽a as Jaime Reyes, aka Blue Beetle and DC鈥檚 first Latino superhero 鈥 oozes with Mexican references and elements of other Latin American cultures through almost every scene. Still, the Puerto Rican director says that all of this came naturally due to his and Dunnet-Alcocer鈥檚 backgrounds.
鈥淲e never were like, 鈥極kay, so how are we going to make this Latino?鈥 We cannot hide who we are. If we have the opportunity to tell our collective experiences because we are Latino, they鈥檙e going to come out Latino.鈥
In 鈥淏lue Beetle,鈥 Reyes finds himself in possession of an ancient scarab named Khaji Da made of alien biotechnology that chooses Reyes as its symbiotic host. In a hilarious scene, the scarab attaches itself to Reyes, transforming the hesitant young adult into a superhero.
Soto is promoting the film by himself due to the ongoing , which prohibit actors and screenwriters from promoting work under television and theatrical contracts. Still, he made sure to bring his cast along for the ride via a culturally relevant white shirt with illustrations of his lead cast as Mexican Loteria characters during the Los Angeles leg of the press tour. The game is similar to bingo and is popular in Mexican and Mexican-American households.
鈥淚 know they鈥檙e sad that they cannot be here, but they understand that what they鈥檙e doing is important for the future generations, and they have my full support, so the least I could do was bring them with me,鈥 said Soto. 鈥淚 know they鈥檙e here in spirit.鈥
Soto hopes that audiences will still show up to support the film when it opens Friday.
鈥淗opefully, people will watch the movie because it is a good movie, and our cast killed it and they鈥檙e going to fall in love with them,鈥 said Soto.
The Associated Press sat down with Soto to chat more about the film's seamless Mexican and Latino cultural references and why he was initially hesitant to take on the project.
Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: What has it been like being on this press tour, having to promote it on your own?
SOTO: I love talking about what I love. I think as exhausting as it might be, because it鈥檚 a lot for one person to do, connecting with fans and having experiences with people from other cultures, from other countries definitely fuels the energy cause I鈥檓 learning a lot. I learn a lot when I talk to people. I get reassurance, I get empowered. So any depletion of energy caused to forced nights of sleep and constant travel are immediately replenished when interacting with beautiful people.
AP: I read that you originally wanted to pitch a Bane origin story, but instead, DC presented you with this film. What was it like for you mentally having to pivot from wanting to tell a supervillain origin story to this coming-of-age superhero one?
SOTO: I had no idea they were working on something like 鈥淏lue Beetle.鈥 Coming out of the success of a film like 鈥淭he Joker鈥 and understanding there鈥檚 other characters that might have so many things to explore, I wanted to pitch that Bane idea. So they came in and was like, 鈥榊eah, that鈥檚 a great idea. But we got this product here, and it鈥檚 鈥淏lue Beetle.鈥 I knew a little bit about Blue Beetle. I knew that Jaime Reyes was in it. My first reaction was that I didn鈥檛 want to brownwash something, you know, that already existed. It鈥檚 okay if there鈥檚 familiarity with certain things, but I didn鈥檛 want to be that person that my Latinidad had to conform to somebody else鈥檚 expectations of Latinidad. I wanted to be able to be free, and I wanted the actors that I hired that are Latino to be authentically themselves.
So when I said that, they were like, 鈥極h, no, no, don鈥檛 worry. Our writer is Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. He is a Mexican from Quer茅taro and just read the script. Let me know what you think.鈥 And when I read the script, I could see that the person who wrote it not only is Latino, but he wrote characters that he knows and they were so relatable because we鈥檝e realized that even though we鈥檙e both from different countries, we鈥檙e so similar. Our families are so similar. The music, the TV shows, we grew up exactly the same, just in different countries. And we鈥檙e like, 鈥橭h my gosh, this is special because not only Mexicans are going to connect. I think all Latinos are going to connect. And consequently, all the people that are not Latino also are going to connect if they鈥檙e open and curious.
AP: Can you talk more about how you and Dunnett-Alcocer settled on the story? I love how you found a way for the women to all be strong figures and also to blend all of these Latino cultures in the film.
SOTO: We know the tropes, right? We know the hero鈥檚 journey, and we all know the superhero genre, how it works. We didn鈥檛 want to miss the opportunity (to) tell the story through a different lens. For us, it鈥檚 hard to keep a secret from your mother or family because they鈥檙e always in your face, always up your nose. And we wanted to like, 鈥極kay, that鈥檚 going to happen, then let鈥檚 just keep them in from the beginning.鈥 They were in the transformation. They鈥檙e still going to be their family, and they鈥檙e going to bully him because he is a reluctant hero. Not reluctant for a moment, the whole film, he just wants this (scarab) out and then he ends up understanding that that鈥檚 his destiny and that could not have happened without his family.
And we wanted to create this love letter to the people that came before us, to our ancestors, especially to the women in our life. None of my family are damsels in distress. They鈥檙e tougher than I can ever be. And we wanted to honor that. They paved the way and they are heroes in their own right. So we wanted to give them heroic arcs because it is important to see the women in our lives differently than society has pushed them to be.
AP: The soundtrack seemingly includes every Latino music legend. Why was it important for the soundtrack to be mostly Latinos?
SOTO: You know, the movies that you have seen, every time they go to a Latin country, if they go to Mexico, its always the same music. If they go to the Caribbean, it鈥檚 always the same music. And the truth is that, yeah, we listen to that, but we also listen to other stuff. Not only do we consume stuff from the U.S., but we also have great rock bands in our countries. Just because other people have not heard it doesn鈥檛 mean that they鈥檙e not great. So the same way that I鈥檝e been introduced to other music from the U.S. without any complaints, I wanted to introduce to the world, to the music that I grew up with, hoping they don鈥檛 complain about it either.
