'Cassandro' director on the true story behind gay luchador film
Roger Ross Williams, writer and director of "Cassandro," joins Yahoo Entertainment's Kevin Polowy to discuss the true story of Saúl Armendáriz (aka Cassandro), the openly gay wrestler who defied Mexican lucha libre culture. Williams shares how his experience as a documentary filmmaker informed his narrative debut and how pop star Bad Bunny joined the cast.
Video Transcript
KEVIN POLOWY: I loved this movie so much. It is so charming. It's so triumphant. How do you describe the story of Cassandro to someone who's unfamiliar?
ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS: "Cassandro" is a true story about a openly gay, effeminate man who basically takes on the world of Lucha Libre and conquers that world and becomes a star of it on his own terms. And because he's fearless and because he's so embraces who he is and because he's such a good wrestler, he earned the respect of this macho community.
- Cassandro. Cassandro.
ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS: So there was so much that is the real Cassandra experienced, that yearning for acceptance from his father and then learning to accept himself, Cassandra's relationship with his mother, that friendship, that special relationship between him and Hijo de Santo and the real. He played himself in the movie.
KEVIN POLOWY: You are a veteran documentarian. I mean, why do you think this was a story that needed a narrative retelling?
ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS: You can do so much in a-- in a scripted world. You can dramatize things, and working with actors, you can just paint a broader portrait. And it was a big challenge for me, you know, coming from documentary to make that transition, so that was really exciting.
- I've been doing real fights since a couple of years ago.
- Were you always cast as a runt?
- They don't see nothing else.
ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS: Gael threw himself into it completely. He learned to wrestle. Not only you have to learn the physicality of it, but you have to be acting on top of that, you know. And the-- you have to learn the emotional because each wrestling match is an emotional, you know, arc to it.
KEVIN POLOWY: There's a very memorable supporting turn from Bad Bunny. How did he come into the picture?
ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS: Bad Bunny contacted us and said I want-- he loves wrestling. He loves Lucha Libre. He wanted to be in the film, and I was like wow. Like, you know, you get a call from the biggest pop star in the world who wants to be in your movie, you jump at the chance, and it was a dream to direct Bad Bunny. He was so great. He's such a good actor. He's just the most down to earth great guy.
KEVIN POLOWY: Roger, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate your insights and appreciate your film. It's just-- it's just so lovely. Thanks again.
3 Thank you so much. It means a lot. Thank you.
