Bangkok Post

ART IMITATES LIFE

Andy Garcia is the father of the bride in more ways than one

- CARLOS AGUILAR

Andy Garcia still believes in the American promise of prosperity for all. “If you come here and you work hard, there’s a future for you,” he said. “There will always be obstacles, but the opportunit­y is there.”

In more ways than one, the Cubanborn Garcia, 66, understand­s the worldview of Billy Herrera, the patriarch he plays in the new Latino-centric take on Father Of The Bride, streaming on HBO Go. The poignant reinterpre­tation highlights the generation­al plight that immigrants and their American-born children face as they try to communicat­e with one another. The comedy, from director Gaz Alazraki and screenwrit­er Matt Lopez, also manages to avoid depicting Latinos as a monolith.

For his latest lead role, the veteran actor best known for his turns in The Untouchabl­es, The Godfather Part III and Ocean’s Eleven, portrays a proud, self-made Cuban architect whose oldest daughter is about to marry her Mexican sweetheart.

At the same time, Herrera’s wife, Ingrid, played by singer Gloria Estefan (Garcia’s longtime friend and fellow Cuban exile), announces she wants a divorce, leading Billy to re-examine his inflexible beliefs about masculinit­y, the work ethic and marriage.

On a recent sunny afternoon at a golf club in the Toluca Lake neighbourh­ood of Los Angeles, Garcia looked appropriat­ely casual chic in a light-blue button-down shirt and beige slacks. Occasional­ly enhancing his anecdotes with words in Spanish, he spoke about his father’s thoughts on his profession, breaking ground before inclusion was a Hollywood priority, and staying on the entertainm­ent industry “menu”.

You achieved substantia­l success long before conversati­ons on representa­tion were as prominent as they are today. What was it like for you at the onset of your career?

It was very difficult for someone with a Hispanic surname because you were never considered. There were exceptions to the rule like Raul Julia, and José Ferrer before him. But for people who weren’t establishe­d, it was very hard to be considered for anything other than a Hispanic part. When I started in 78, there were only about five studios, three networks and PBS; there was no cable. You were typecast and the parts they were writing for Hispanics were predominan­tly gang members and maids. But they wouldn’t consider me for the gang member roles because I wasn’t physically right. In their minds, gang members were only, in the case of Los Angeles, Chicanos.

When did it feel like you were starting to break through despite the roadblocks?

I was lucky to begin getting some work because I was a member of an improvisat­ional theatre group. Casting directors would see me there, and I would land a little thing here and there. But it was very hard to get it going. It took a long time, from 78 to 85, to get a part that was integral to the story. When I got The Untouchabl­es [1987], I didn’t have to work as a waiter anymore. Before that I was also doing walla groups, which provide all the incidental dialogue in movies. That was my first post-waiter job. It kept my only child back then in Pampers.

Were your parents encouragin­g or concerned by your choices?

My father was very concerned about me leaving the family [fragrance] business, which I had worked in all my life and was growing rapidly. As a lawyer by trade and a farmer who worked hard all his life to give his kids opportunit­ies and trained his children to take over the business, it was very difficult for him to see that I was going off in another direction.

There’s a scene in Father Of The Bride where your character and Gloria’s talk about the difficulty of passing along your native language, Spanish, to your American-born children. Did that dialogue speak to you personally?

Yes. Growing up we spoke Spanish at home, but we also grew up in Miami, where everybody spoke Spanish. My children have had a harder time with it because no matter how much Spanish we spoke, they always favour English because of the environmen­t. They become more Americanis­ed. They can understand and speak it, but they’re not as fluent. If you’re not on top of it every day and practising it, the language suffers. We as parents are as much at fault for not ingraining it as much as we should have, because we fall into the pattern of speaking English. We could probably be doing this interview in Spanish, but we’re talking in English.

Have you become the father of the bride in your own family?

Two of my daughters are getting married. [There was] a wedding on June 11, then the movie, and I had another wedding on July 9. I’m the father of the bride three times within a 30-day period. When we saw the movie together, my youngest daughter said, ‘Dad, you’re nothing like this guy in the movie.’ And I go, ‘Really?.’ That was her impression.

Do you agree with her or does Billy and his mentality remind you of yourself?

He’s an amalgamati­on of everybody I’ve ever known, including myself, and the traditions of people who come from a conservati­ve background. There’s a psyche that happens with the immigrant population­s — in our case we’re political exiles — that you come to this country with a basic understand­ing that it is a place, with all its flaws and warts, where you’re free to express yourself and to pursue your dreams. We fled, with my parents, like many Cubana to this day fleeing, to seek freedom and opportunit­ies for their families. And when you come here, there is a certain responsibi­lity that you have to honour that freedom and have a strong work ethic and better yourself and your family. That is prevalent in all immigrant stories.

That’s a heavy burden to carry.

‘‘Billy is an amalgamati­on of everybody I’ve known

My brother René and I, we always kid that because we come from this situation where everything was taken away from our family in Cuba there’s a part of us that always says, ‘We have to work hard and save because one day they’re going to come and take everything away from us again’. We all have these trigger points subconscio­usly that become behavioura­l patterns. They’re ingrained in you since childhood depending on your journey.

You are a prolific performer, playing leads, as in Father Of The Bride, as well as numerous supporting parts. What’s your philosophy on longevity?

I had a conversati­on with Tom Hanks at an event one time. We were talking about the business and I said, ‘Tom, I just want to stay on the menu.’ When you open the menu, just let me be one of the choices: an appetiser or a main course. If you can stay on the menu, then you can provide for your family and explore your art form. If you’re off the menu, it’s hard to get ordered. If you’re fortunate, you might be the flavour of the month for a moment, but then you’ve got to keep yourself on the menu. Be there for the long haul, for a body of work.

 ?? ?? From left, Andy Garcia, Adria Arjona and Gloria Estefan in Father Of The Bride.
From left, Andy Garcia, Adria Arjona and Gloria Estefan in Father Of The Bride.

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