After its successful world premiere at the last Sundance Film Festival, Prime Video prepares the premiere of Cassandrothe new movie starring Gael Garcia Bernal, whose plot revolves around the life and professional career of the famous Mexican-American exotic wrestler. Here we tell you the details:
Who is Cassandro?
Saul Armendariz He was born on May 20, 1970 in El Paso, Texas, but spent much of his childhood in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. At the age of 15, he decided to gamble everything to pursue a dream: to become a professional wrestler. Half a year after his debut in the late 1980s, he began impersonating exotic wrestlers, that is, those male wrestlers who wear drag clothing in the national pankration. However, Armendáriz would be one of the first to openly declare himself homosexual, something that was not initially well received in a conservative and macho context.
Over time, “Cassandro”, the character who catapulted him to stardom, earned the respect and admiration of the guild. By 1992, he became the first exotic wrestler to win a wrestling championship: the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) World Lightweight Championship. But some time later his career began to suffer as he fell prey to drugs and alcohol. In 2003, he decided to enter rehab to overcome his addiction and, in 2011, he returned to the top as the NWA World Welterweight Champion.
What to expect from the movie?
Cassandro is a biopic in shape, with all that that entails, about Saúl Armendáriz. The man who revolutionized not only the field of wrestling in Mexico, but also the image that existed of “the exotic”.
Prime Video offers the following synopsis for the film:
“Saúl Armendáriz, an amateur gay wrestler from El Paso, rises to international stardom after creating the character of Cassandro, the ‘Liberace of Lucha Libre.’ In the process, he not only changes the world of men’s wrestling, but his own life as well.”
However, this fiction feature film is not the first audiovisual project dedicated to Saúl Armendáriz. French director Marie Losier premiered the documentary Cassandro the Exotic in 2018. For it, she earned a nomination in the Queer Palm category at the Cannes Film Festival.
You might also be interested in: Cassandro – Review of the film with Gael García Bernal.
Production team and cast
roger ross williams he was in charge of the project, which represented his first work of fiction. The sixty-year-old filmmaker won the Oscar in the category of Best Documentary Short Film thanks to Music by Prudence (2010). Other projects in her filmography include documentaries God Loves Uganda (2013), lively life (2016), Traveling While Black (2019) and Love to Love You, Donna Summer (2023).
Gael Garcia Bernal (werewolf at night) stars Cassandro and share screen with Roberta Colindrez (Life), Joaquin Cosio (Hell), Raul Castillo (looking) and Pearl of the Rose (A thousand clouds of peace surround the sky, love, you will never finish being love). The fighter will also make special appearances The Son of the Saint (Saint: The Legend of the Silver Mask) and the musical star Bad Bunny (Bullet train).
Before the criticism that the protagonist has not been played by a homosexual actor, this is how García Bernal responded in an interview with indiewire in the framework of the Sundance Festival:
“It is quite dangerous to think that we can only represent people who are like us,” reflected the Mexican actor. “I’ve never played myself, you know? And who I am is always someone who changes. I have a bisexual character, a homosexual, a trans character, all within me in some way, and I took advantage of them to play different people. It’s very complex and also really great that we can do that. It is a triumph of humanity.”
Saúl Armendáriz himself served as a consultant for the film, which featured a script co-written by director Williams and David Teague (lively life). The Argentinian Matias Penachino (halley) was in charge of the photography, while the Brazilian Marcel Zarvos (fences) composed the music.
Paula Amor, Gael García Bernal, Mariana Rodríguez Cabarga, A. Müffelmann, Matías Penachino, David Teague, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch are credited as producers of this title covered by Panorama Global and Escape Artist.
When is it released and where to see Cassandro?
The film starring Gael García Bernal arrives on September 22, 2023 to Prime Video.
official poster
Trailer for Cassandro
Staff Cinema PREMIERE This text was conceived, created and developed at the same time by a team of experts working in harmony. All together. One letter each.