{"id":2605,"date":"2026-10-11T22:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T22:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/?p=2605"},"modified":"2026-10-11T22:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T22:52:09","slug":"how-ben-affleck-cast-luis-gerardo-mendez-in-animals-after-spotting-him-in-narcos-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/?p=2605","title":{"rendered":"How Ben Affleck Cast Luis Gerardo M\u00e9ndez in \u2018Animals\u2019 After Spotting Him in \u2018Narcos: Mexico\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

When acclaimed Mexican actor Luis Gerardo M\u00e9ndez received a phone call from his representatives informing him that Hollywood star and Oscar winner Ben Affleck wanted him to join the cast of his upcoming directorial project Animals<\/em>, his immediate reaction was one of pure astonishment. M\u00e9ndez found it hard to believe that an industry heavyweight like Affleck even knew who he was, let alone wanted him to play a pivotal role in a major motion picture.<\/p>\n

That initial disbelief quickly turned into validation when M\u00e9ndez received the project’s draft along with a deeply personal touch from the filmmaker himself. <\/p>\n

"They sent me the script, and it had a very beautiful note at the end from Ben, just saying like, ‘Hey, Luis, I really want you to be in the movie. This script is not ready. I\u2019m gonna do a rewrite specifically about your character, so I\u2019m gonna call you around Christmas because I would love to hear your thoughts,’" M\u00e9ndez recalls of the unexpected overture. <\/p>\n

Despite the early creative collaboration over the phone and the script notes, the two men did not actually meet in person until the very first day of table reads and rehearsals on the production. That first encounter proved to be both theatrical and intensely memorable. <\/p>\n

"Ben saw me and he came to me with his massive Batman back and hugged me, and he started screaming to everyone like, ‘This guy is the best actor in Mexico. He\u2019s incredible!’" says M\u00e9ndez, who first established a massive fan base in his native country with his unforgettable starring role in the breakout 2013 comedy hit The Noble Family<\/em>. <\/p>\n

The enthusiasm did not stop in front of the cast and crew. According to M\u00e9ndez, Affleck pulled him into his private office and spoke with relentless passion for an entire hour, explaining his admiration and how thrilled he was to finally collaborate. Toward the end of the enthusiastic monologue, M\u00e9ndez finally seized an opening to ask the question that had been lingering in his mind since day one. <\/p>\n

"At the end I was like, ‘Ben, can I ask you something? Why are you so excited to work with me?’ And his answer was immediate: Narcos: Mexico<\/em>. ‘Your character is incredible. I was watching Narcos<\/em>, and I called Matt [Damon, who was originally supposed to star in the film] and said, "Hey, dude, are you watching Narcos<\/em>? The cop. We need to get the cop."’"<\/p>\n

M\u00e9ndez’s gritty, acclaimed performance as the conflicted and ultimately doomed corrupt police officer Victor Tapia in the third season of Netflix\u2019s hit crime drama series Narcos: Mexico<\/em> in 2021 had left a lasting impression on the Hollywood creator. <\/p>\n

In Animals<\/em>, Affleck pulls double and triple duty as the star, director, and co-writer of the screenplay. The narrative centers on a high-profile Los Angeles businessman\u2014who is actively running for mayor of the city\u2014whose life is upended when he and his wife, played by Kerry Washington, receive a terrifying phone call informing them that their son, Denny, played by Christopher Woodley, has been abducted. <\/p>\n

M\u00e9ndez takes on the role of Ramon, the undocumented Mexican boyfriend of the family\u2019s housekeeper, portrayed by Adriana Paz. As the high-stakes thriller unfolds and the situation spirals out of control, Ramon finds himself unexpectedly thrust into the dangerous center of trying to help resolve the kidnapping when the plot takes a series of drastic, unforeseen turns. <\/p>\n

\"\u2018Animals\u2019<\/figure>\n

Reflecting on how Affleck implemented his feedback into the screenplay, M\u00e9ndez expresses a deep sense of appreciation for the collaborative environment the director fostered. <\/p>\n

"It was so magical because it was like if Ben had read my mind, like all the things that I thought about the character that were missing, about the proper representation, about the proper way of speaking of the characters… everything was there," M\u00e9ndez notes. <\/p>\n

While Animals<\/em> is fundamentally designed to grip audiences and deliver high-octane cinematic entertainment, M\u00e9ndez hopes that the gripping narrative will also serve as a catalyst for deeper, more empathetic conversations surrounding immigration, systemic inequalities, and the human cost of political policies. <\/p>\n

"What I want the audiences to think about for a second is: no one leaves their homes because they want to," he states candidly. "They leave it because they\u2019re running away from violence, from political persecution. We need to understand that. The vast majority of the immigrants, not just in the U.S. but in the whole world, they just want to work and they\u2019re very hard workers. They just want to do the right thing like our characters in the movie. They\u2019re taking the biggest risks with the least protection. They\u2019re doing the right stuff in a system that won\u2019t allow them to shine or to be heroes."<\/p>\n

These themes resonate deeply with M\u00e9ndez\u2019s life away from movie sets. Dividing his time between his residences in Los Angeles and Mexico City, he frequently travels across the globe in an advocacy capacity as a goodwill ambassador for the UNHCR, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, bearing witness firsthand to the devastating realities displaced populations face daily. <\/p>\n

The emotional toll of these issues becomes palpably clear when the conversation turns to the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the ongoing humanitarian crises at borders. M\u00e9ndez visibly chokes up when discussing the topic. <\/p>\n

"To hear about these families getting separated, it\u2019s really hard for me to speak about it, especially with what happened yesterday here in New York," he says, referencing the shooting incident involving 28-year-old Oscar Belgal. "I feel like no matter what your immigration status is, no one should lose their dignity. It\u2019s as simple as that."<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, M\u00e9ndez also issues a solemn warning about the intersection of immigration and global environmental crises, pointing to climate change as an accelerating catalyst for mass human displacement in the coming decades. <\/p>\n

"We\u2019re going to see massive amounts of people moving, leaving. We\u2019re seeing it already in California," M\u00e9ndez explains, drawing a direct line from ecological shifts to geopolitical instability. "We don\u2019t know if tomorrow we\u2019re going to be the ones migrating. No one has any certainty about that. We must understand that. We must be welcoming because we don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen in the next 20 or 30 years. It\u2019s about empathy and also about you could be next, we could be next."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When acclaimed Mexican actor Luis Gerardo M\u00e9ndez received a phone call from his representatives informing him that Hollywood star and Oscar winner Ben Affleck wanted him to join the cast of his upcoming directorial project Animals, his immediate reaction was one of pure astonishment. M\u00e9ndez found it hard to believe that an industry heavyweight like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[728],"tags":[1233,1241,729,2893,275,3765,3764,3769,730,3768,3766,731,3767],"class_list":["post-2605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asian-cinema-and-performing-arts","tag-affleck","tag-animals","tag-asian-cinema","tag-cast","tag-culture","tag-gerardo","tag-luis","tag-mexico","tag-movies","tag-narcos","tag-ndez","tag-performing-arts","tag-spotting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orientalplaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}