In ‘Forever Purge,’ Ana de la Reguera sees life imitate art
“The Purge” franchise has scared up big box-office returns with its violent fables of population control.
The premise is simple. In the near future, the Purge is a national holiday during which all crime, including murder, is legal for a 12-hour period. It has spawned five movies, including the newly released “The Forever Purge,” and a two-season TV series. The films have earned $480 million against a combined production budget of $53 million.
Themes of wealth and poverty, morality and politics are woven throughout the “Purge” storylines. The new film zeroes in on immigration and racism for a plot that’s an eerie reflection of reallife headlines. It’s that urgency that persuaded Mexican actress Ana de la Reguera, known for her role as Sister Encarnación in “Nacho Libre,” to take a role in the film.
“I just feel like the concept of the movie is incredible. Especially this one because it talks a lot about our culture, and it breaks with a lot of the things that people usually expect from the rules of ‘The Purge,’ ” de la Reguera says. “I think this one is especially relevant because of what happens in the story.”
In the film, Mexican couple Adela (de la Reguera) and Juan (Tenoch Huerta) flee a violent drug cartel in their home country for a fresh start in a Texas border town. Adela works in a fancy restaurant and urges Juan, a ranch hand, to speak English. They survive the 12-hour Purge without incident but are horrified when it continues indefinitely by groups of people espousing the “Ever After Purge.”
It soon becomes clear that a large number of people have given the ongoing Purge a new meaning as a way to “disinfect” the country of people they consider non-American.
“We shot this movie in 2019 and after, I was looking at real images that looked like what I just shot. Everyone will know what I’m talking about when they see the movie,” de la Reguera says.
And indeed, there are scenes in “The Forever Purge” that mirror real-life protests that turned violent across the country and the Capitol insurrection in January.
“That’s the scary thing about movies. I feel like filmmakers and writers are visionaries. That’s why it’s an art, and that’s why it’s called the seventh art, el séptimo arte, because movies always portray what’s happening in society, and many times, before things happen, they’re already in the movies. Sadly, in this case.”
In an ironic twist, the violence throughout the U.S. sends people fleeing to Mexico and Canada, whose borders will be open to refugees for six hours. Adela, Juan and the family he works for band together to make the dangerous trek to Mexico, battling Purgers at every turn.
De la Reguera is well versed in action and horror. She had recurring roles in “Narcos” and “From Dusk Til Dawn: The Series” and starred alongside Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in “Cowboys & Aliens.” She spent weeks in weapons training for “The Forever Purge” and the Netflix film “Army of the Dead.”
“I knew what I was getting into. I’ve always been a fan of terror, horror,” de la Reguera says. “Especially Latinos, we love horror movies. We love scary stories. It’s part of our culture. Between that and our relationship with death, I think that’s why we like them so much. The aspects are very sangrientos (bloody). I think it’s part of our DNA.”
A big part of de la Reguera’s own history is decidedly less violent. She made her U.S. film debut in “Nacho Libre,” the 2006 cult classic about a wrestling monk. (It’s currently streaming on Netflix.) As Sister Encarnación, she played the straight (wo)man to Jack Black’s comic luchador and inspired a hilariously awkward serenade.
And where would Sister Encarnación be today?
“Oh, my God. I think she probably left celibacy. She’s with Nacho, I think,” de la Reguera says with a laugh. “It took her maybe another year just to decide between God and Nacho. He’s such a special man that I think they’re in love, and they probably have two little wrestlers, already, and she trains with them. As a flying nun, of course.”