ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Chupa stars Christian Slater, Demián Bichir, and Evan Whitten about Netflix’s action-adventure movie. The trio discussed lucha libre and the depth of the movie’s characters. Chupa is now streaming on Netflix.
“Shy 13-year-old Alex flies from Kansas City to Mexico to meet his extended family for the first time. There he meets his grandfather and former lucha libre champion Chava, energetic, wrestling-obsessed cousin Memo, and fearless, hip cousin Luna. But just as Alex begins to get his bearings, he discovers a mythical creature living under his grandfather’s shed: a young chupacabra cub, which he recognizes from stories of the feared, full-grown chupacabra, fabled to feed on farmers’ livestock,” reads the synopsis.
“Alex soon learns that his new friend ‘Chupa’ has a secret history with his family, and that dogged, dangerous scientist Richard Quinn (Christian Slater) is hunting the misunderstood creature to try and harness his powers. To protect Chupa from impending danger, Alex sets off on the adventure of a lifetime, one that will push the bonds of his newfound family to the brink, and remind him that life’s burdens are lighter when you don’t have to carry them alone.”
Tyler Treese: Christian, the Chupacabra is a more modern myth, being born out of the ’90s. How familiar were you with this legend and how fun was it learning all about it for this role?
Christian Slater: Truthfully, I wasn’t that familiar with the Chupacabra, so reading the script was eye-opening and insightful. I mean, I’d heard certain things about it — the interpretation was that it was a very scary, mystical creature that not a lot of people knew anything about. So I was happy to read the script and see that they had kind of flipped that on its head and turned that legend into something more family-oriented. It really is about a lost creature that needs help and needs support to get back to his family. I think Evan can speak very well to the similarities between what Chupa’s journey is and what his character Alex’s journey is.
There’s such a great Amblin feel to this movie. Demián, you play a Luchador in this movie. I was curious if you were a fan of lucha libre because you beautifully performed a suplex later on in the film.
Demián Bichir: Oh, well thank you so much! Yeah, I warned that guy about it. He didn’t listen, so …
Christian Slater: He did! He did it for real [Laugh]. I mean, this guy really practiced. We rehearsed — and he was much more gentle in the rehearsals.
Demián Bichir: Oh yeah.
Christian Slater: Then when it came time to shoot, he really let me have it. But let’s not spoil that.
Demián Bichir: It was Christian flying all over the place.
Christian Slater: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Demián Bichir: It’s part of our culture, and I grew up loving lucha libre and wanting to become a real luchador one day. I used to go to las luchas back in Mexico, and my brothers and I used to jump into the ring after the show and just pretend that we were doing it for real. So when Mariana Guerrero Dingler [costume designer] showed me those beautiful costumes and when we were discussing which one would be the best to portray Relampago Azul … that was a joy. It was just the cherry on the cake because everything around this project was so appealing and I just wanted to do it. Yes or yes.
Evan, you’re fantastic in the movie. What do you like most about the bond that Alex and Chupa form? As Christian said, they do have a very similar journey that they go on.
Evan Whitten: Yeah. I mean, of course Alex is going through a lot because his father … he lost him, and he’s getting bullied. When he meets Chupa, he kind of relates to him because his family’s gone too, but not completely gone like his dad, so he knows he can do something about it. Not only is he Chupa’s best friend, but he is also just feels a desire to help him.
Christian, I love your character in this because you’re the antagonist, but he’s a researcher. You don’t play it too over the top, but you still have a lot of fun in this role. What did you like the most about Richard Quinn and him being a layered character that wasn’t a supervillain, but had realistic motivations for his actions?
Christian Slater: I’ve always been a huge fan of action-adventure movies and this was an opportunity to design a character that’s an explorer, an adventurer, a researcher — like you said — and somebody who’s in pursuit of something fantastical and mystical. So all those aspects were, were a lot of fun. And Jonás [Cuarón, director] was extraordinarily collaborative in creating all of our characters and not just making everybody stereotypical characters that we’ve seen before, but giving us all our individual layers and a little bit more understanding and insight into who these people were.
Evan Whitten: Yeah. Like depth and stuff.
Christian Slater: Yeah depth! Exactly! Like an onion! Peeling the layers!
Evan Whitten: Yeah!
