Diego Luna is the title character in one of the most acclaimed TV series of the past few years with “Andor” — not to mention that the Tony Gilroy-created show is one of the most acclaimed “Star Wars” projects in the history of the franchise.
But that doesn’t mean Luna still doesn’t get offered roles as drug dealers. Thankfully, though, his years with “Star Wars” dating back to 2016’s “Rogue One” have resulted in drug dealers not being the only type of role he’s offered.
“Before ‘Star Wars,’ the only projects I’d get offered would be drug dealers,” Luna told The Hollywood Reporter, as part of their drama actors roundtable. “And then I could be the nice drug dealer and not the vicious one but still a drug dealer. Because the system wasn’t even sending messages of, like, ‘Yes, you could find a way to be yourself and still work in those projects that you’re looking at and hoping to see yourself reflected in.’ But I do think that’s changed, and the middleman between the audience and us is not there anymore. There’s no guy with a cigar saying, ‘You! You’re gonna be a star, boy.’ People just click now, and suddenly it’s like, ‘Shit, they’re watching a Mexican show.’ You can be as far away as you can from the system, and the system will go and search for you if there’s a need to hear your story.”
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But to clarify, Luna then added, “Oh, I still get a lot of drug dealers. It’s just I’m not looking for what they want me to play. I can look for the stuff I want to do. It’s that freedom that comes with understanding that people today care about specificity.”
Luna played the “boss of all bosses” and founder of the Guadalajara Cartel Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo for two seasons of “Narcos: Mexico” from 2018 to 2020. The actor also recalled how often he’d be told to lose his Mexican accent in order to play a wider variety of roles earlier in his career.
“I remember being asked, ‘Are you going to clean up your accent?’ That’s not part of the conversation anymore. But when I was 20, it was like, ‘Man, you’re great, and if you work with your accent, you’ll be doing what this person or that person is doing.’ And you go, ‘Why would I like to do that? This is what makes me unique.’”
Thankfully, the powers that be at Lucasfilm agreed. Hearing a Mexican accent from a member of the Rebel Alliance in “Rogue One” was quietly revolutionary in its own way. Sometimes leaning more into how you are can bring greater specificity and depth to a character. And TIME magazine certainly agreed recently, when they named Luna to the TIME 100.
