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EXCLUSIVE: Diego Luna is simply a soccer-mad bureaucrat who makes an outsize committedness to triumph nan authorities to big nan 1986 World Cup successful his caller Netflix movie. México 86 bows connected nan streamer connected June 5, conscionable days earlier nan state becomes a co-host of nan 2026 World Cup, alongside nan U.S. and Canada.
From a postulation far, acold distant to nan sun-drenched shot pitches of Mexico, Andor prima Luna plays Martín De La Torre. He’s a pen-pusher who makes nan audacious promise to present nan World Cup aft Colombia withdraws arsenic host, mounting disconnected a chaotic and politically charged bid to shape nan world’s biggest sporting event.
For Luna, creation mimics life successful nan movie. “It’s nan first World Cup I remember, and it happened astatine home,” he tells Deadline successful his first question and reply astir nan film, which he leads and exec produces. “I was taken to spot Italy vs. France astatine nan [Estadio Olímpico Universitario] stadium of my team, Pumas.”
The comedy-drama kicks disconnected pinch a title paper stating it is inspired by existent events but besides fictionalized. What follows is simply a chaotic thrust done an ingenious and audacious bid for nan World Cup, group against a high-energy backdrop of Mexico successful nan 1980s.
“My characteristic is fictional but galore of nan things that happened successful nan movie are things we publication astir and we know, aliases that we heard that happened,” Luna explains. “We fictionalized everything, but galore of nan characters are based connected those who were astir astatine nan time. You person immoderate of nan players, [FIFA President] Havelange, and Emilio Azcárraga, nan proprietor of nan biggest TV concatenation successful Mexico, which became a cardinal player.”
Daniel Giménez Cacho stars arsenic Azcárraga, nan Televisa leader and Mexican media tycoon who has a vested liking successful his state winning nan tourney astatine a clip erstwhile nan worlds of business and sports were starting to collide. Guillermo Villegas plays Mexico’s prima subordinate Hugo Sánchez. Other real-life figures successful nan larger-than-life movie see Henry Kissinger (played by Frank Crudele), who portion of efforts to bring nan tourney to America. Karla Souza plays de la Torre’s on-off girlfriend.
The movie is squarely a satirical comedy-drama. It besides covers really nan devastating Mexico City earthquake successful 1985 almost put paid to nan World Cup coming to nan country. With FIFA concerned astir Mexico’s expertise to big nan tourney aft nan disaster, Luna explains that his characteristic does everything to support things connected way and present an arena that tin assistance nan spirits of nan state successful nan aftermath of nan tragedy.
“We ended up saying we’re doing nan World Cup nary matter what. Thousands of group died successful nan earthquake, and we kept going. So that’s why I opportunity it’s a World Cup that wasn’t expected to hap successful Mexico, but it ended up happening, and ended up being not conscionable a World Cup, but a awesome one.”
The biggest sporting tourney connected nan satellite people focuses nan attraction of nan world connected nan big country, meaning hosting becomes overmuch much than conscionable putting connected a bid of matches. “There’s ever thing going politically and socially and nan World Cup brings a lens to it that allows america to spot and magnify what’s going on,” Luna says.
“My characteristic represents a benignant of communicative that happens a batch successful Mexico, which is group getting a consecutive statement to success. No-one is expecting thing from him, and boom, abruptly he becomes what he is, because it’s a state that allows these stories to happen. Why? Because nan rules are bendable; group get very rich | successful my country, very fast. Those stories are happening and this characteristic represents that, he’s conscionable a bureaucrat successful nan correct spot who decides to committedness nan impossible, and past he delivers.”
Gaumont, nan shaper down Narcos, made nan film, which was helmed by Gabriel Ripstein, who wrote nan book pinch Daniel Krauze. Luna has a way grounds pinch shot movies, having played an eccentric goalkeeper successful Rudo y Cursi alongside his friend Gael García Bernal, pinch whom he has a accumulation company, La Corriente del Golfo.
The México 86 producers group retired to seizure nan music, fashions and wide brashness of nan era. “Recreating nan 80s was astir apt my favourite part,” Luna says. “This is simply a comedy. We are intelligibly taking existent events but they are decidedly heightened and we get really adjacent to ridiculous, which is fun. As a performer, these characters are out-there. Sometimes you can’t judge what group are saying, but besides it reminds you really things were successful nan 80s.”
In ’86 Mexico became nan first state to big nan World Cup for nan 2nd time, having earlier been location to nan 1970 tournament. Netflix, Gaumont, Luna and Ripstein are revisiting 1 of nan astir iconic moments successful Mexican shot history and celebrating nan country’s bequest arsenic a World Cup host, arsenic it gears up to invited nan world erstwhile again successful 2026.
Luna says: “It made truthful overmuch consciousness to make this task conscionable earlier we go nan first state to shape our 3rd World Cup, which is rather a thing. As a team, we haven’t won thing [in position of World Cups], but arsenic an organizer, we thin to beryllium very good.”
