Exclusive: Kate Del Castillo Talks Netflix’s IngobernablePosted by Wilson Morales
March 23, 2017
Premiering this week on Netflix is the Spanish-language series Ingobernable starring Kate Del Castillo as Mexico’s First Lady Emilia Urquiza. The 15 episode first season will hit Netflix on March 24, 2017.
Emilia Urquiza is on the run after the murder of her husband, President Diego Nava, played by Erik Hayser. Emilia has been working for peace in her country and things aren’t going well with her marriage to the President. She files for divorce, but before anything can be finalized, President Nava is murdered. Emilia goes on the run, trying to figure out what happened and prove her innocence.
Other cast members include: Erendira Ibarra, Luis Roberto Guzmán, Fernando Luján, Marina de Tavira, Marco Antonio Treviño, María del Carmen Farías, Aida López, Alberto Guerra Ramos, Harold Torres, Maxi Iglesias, Alvaro Guerrero, Diego Cadavid , Tamara Mazarrasa Lopez, Marianna Burelli, Hernan del Riego, Jeirmarie Osorio Rivera, Mitzi Mabel Cadena, and Pablo Astiazarán.
Ingobernable is produced by Argos and created by Epigmenio Ibarra, Veronica Velasco and Natasha Ybarra-Klo.
For Castillo, who is best known for her roles on numerous telenovelas and films such as Under the Same Moon, K-11, and No Good Deed with Idris Elba, this is her first venture with Netflix and doing a new form of series.
Blackfilm.com spoke with Castillo about her role as the First Lady of Mexico and doing with politics.
What was the attraction to doing this?
Kate Del Castillo: I’m playing the First Lady, who would say no? That’s attractive already and especially the Mexican First Lady. We don’t know nothing about them. There’s never been a show or a movie about them, so I’m already curious as a Mexican, and as an American because I’m American as well. To see a little bit more about my neighbors, and because she’s a strong, driven woman, who is going to do anything that is in her hands to make things right, even doing things wrong. She’s struggling the entire show, but she’s a powerful woman.
That being said, just from the episodes I’ve seen, how would you best describe her? Is she a spoiled rich girl who got in over her head? Is she someone who’s now figuring out what’s right and trying to find justice for whatever the situation may be? How would you best describe her?
Kate Del Castillo: The first thing you said. She is a spoiled, rich girl, but that was when she was young. Then she gets kidnapped, and this you will see during flashbacks and whatever, so everything changes for her. She goes to Europe and she gets tattoos, but some things go wrong there with her little brother. She has that in her head and she tries to do better in every single way because she comes from this. She can’t help it. She was born in this wealthy Mexican family, but then she learns to do things right. She falls in love with this guy, really in love, and as soon as they get the presidency, she starts seeing this change in him, that I think all politicians at certain point have. They just turn the other way around. They don’t follow the way they wanted to be when they started being President or whatever, so they start bending and bending and bending until they get totally corrupted.
She starts seeing that and she gets just disappointed. She still loves the guy, but she’s disappointed about how he’s not catching up with the promises that he made. She’s Mexican, and she loves Mexico, and she will do everything to make things right again, and to do all those promises that he didn’t back for Mexico.
You’ve done other series before, so how different is this? Even though you’re playing the First Lady of Mexico, how much more challenging is this for you, compared to the other rolls you’ve had in the past?
Kate Del Castillo: It’s very challenging in every single way. I wouldn’t do a project if it was not challenging, if it as in my comfort zone, because I wouldn’t learn anything. It is challenging also because it’s a lot of responsibility. I, as a Mexican, I would expect, from Netflix especially, that they have no censorship. To say all the things that I want to hear about my country. I’m talking about the good ones and the bad ones. That’s what’s going to happen, and also appealing for Americans because they’re going to learn a lot about Mexico. They’re going to see the powerful, beautiful, wealthy Mexico, as well as the poor, poor, poor part and scary, and dangerous part of Mexico. We have no middle class you know. That contrast is very appealing, I guess, for anybody. Then of course, all the corruption that is inside.
Because this is going to be on Netflix, and is going to air all at once, how different is it from those telenovelas on Univision? Is it structured differently even though it’s going to be streaming?
Kate Del Castillo: Totally.
Could this series be on a regular television channel?
Kate Del Castillo: Oh no, and thank God. Sorry. I’m not saying that they’re bad, they’re just telenovelas. I’ve don’t a bunch of telenovelas, and I’ve learned a lot; it’s just this is completely different. It’s a different format, it’s a different way. Even the way we shot the whole series is completely different. It’s only 15 episodes. Things happen really, really fast. If you don’t see one episode then you have no idea for the next one. Telenovelas you can be there, and not watch in two weeks and still you can get it. They’re slow. It’s stupid really. They’re really, very lame in what they say. Most of them, I’m not saying all of them. This is completely different format. Epigmenio Ibarra is one of the best producers in Mexico for television. Plus, Netflix just puts it in another platform. Quality-wise also. When you see the show, it’s like “Oh Wow! This is really cool.”
What was the fun part about doing it?
Kate Del Castillo: The fun part about doing it is that she’s on the run most of the show. Actually, yeah, most of the show, and it’s just hard to cover your face the entire time. It’s fun because as actors we do that a lot. You don’t want anybody to notice if you look like shit or whatever. You just don’t want, so you just do things, and really they don’t see you. We would think that it’s not that easy, but it is easy if you want to blend in. That was a fun part to do because I could relate to myself, and also the challenge of shooting my scenes here, in San Diego, while all the cast was in Mexico. We were shooting simultaneously in San Diego and Mexico. All the poor actors had to come back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
The series is dealing with the politics of Mexico. Is it something that can be relatable, or is this something just totally fiction?
Kate Del Castillo: No. It is relatable because we talk about the serious problems that we have in Mexico, and I love that about Netflix. We have to. I mean, come on. If I’m expecting to see a story about the Mexican First Lady, I’m expecting to see much more about what’s going on in my country. I am Mexican, but if I’m not Mexican, I still want to know what’s going on inside that corrupted government. We all are corrupted. We all have corrupted governments, just some know how to live better.
How was it working with the rest of the cast?
Kate Del Castillo: Amazing. I didn’t work with a lot of them because we never come together, and I was never in Mexico. The people that I worked with, they’re amazing actors, and I had a lot to do also with the cast. We all wanted great, amazing actors, that are responsible and really enjoy and love what they do, and that they’re going to be hard workers. It was challenging for them to be coming back and forth, back and forth. They’re all stage actors, movie actors, and they’re Amazing, I had a blast. Our work, it was so easy.
When you’re not doing this, what keeps you humble? Are you going back to do any more films lately?
Kate Del Castillo: I think when I don’t work, that keeps me humble. It’s like, “Oh my God. I forgot, I’m struggling still.” You have to keep it going because that’s all I know. That’s all I’ve done since I was nine. My dad is also a big actor so that’s all I know. I have much respect for actors, and for the industry, so for me to be on-set, it’s a privilege, so that keeps me humble. When I work, just to be in touch with yourself. That’s all I have.
With so many TV shows on, with Netflix, all these other channels, what’s a good reason to see Ingobernable?
Kate Del Castillo: I think it has something that none of them have, because it’s has the Mexican thing. You look at it and it looks American, like an American series. It has that quality, but still has this Mexican thing. We’re going to learn a lot about Mexico, and a lot about slang. You Americans are going to have to read subtitles, which I think is awesome. I think it’s about empowerment, about women, about family, about these warriors that we all have inside, and about doing the right thing.
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