In Lav Diav’s Magellan, Ferdinand Magellan (Gael García Bernal) sets out to cross the Pacific Ocean from Portugal but finds his multiple voyages undone by a crippling paranoia and brutal desire to oppress others, both his crew and the natives he meets and attempts to quell and convert along the way.
Awards Buzz spoke to García Bernal about what he knew – or thought he knew – about Magellan going into the project:
“I knew very little because that’s what we all know. We know very little about the character, the insight of the complications of how he made the journey and how he managed to convince the Spanish crown to do the expedition. But I knew very little, maybe just the highlights, let’s say, of the historical figure, but thanks to this film I started to definitely investigate much more, and do work that that was quite interesting. It’s perhaps one of the reasons why I wanted to be an actor also, because these types of experiences allow you to get into worlds that you never thought you were going to be so deep into.”
“Here, not only was it Magellan’s life, but also the time, the geopolitical ecosystem that occurred in those days that was happening. What were the expectations, how did they describe things, the words they used. Just everything that comes together and starts to build the world and the character. That’s what was exciting. Thanks to this film, I learned much more and started to bring in, with this film, a kind of a thesis, a hypothesis of what could have happened in those days and a better understanding of what happened, and what’s happening now also.”
Watch the video above to hear about his collaboration with Diaz and his reflections on past projects like Ema and The Science of Sleep.
Magellan was the official Oscar submission for Best International Feature representing the Philippines and is currently playing in theaters.
