Diego Luna The Guy Behind Cassian Andor: A Rogue One Interview

One thing among the many things to love about Star Wars is that anyone has the opportunity to be part of Star Wars. The cast is very diverse and full of energy and Diego Luna brings his amazing energy to the big screen in his new character Cassian Andor. Cassian Andor is part of the Rebel team along with Jyn who pair up to save the galaxy by finding those death star plans. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is going to epically tell us the story of how the Rebels get their hands on the plans for the planet killer, the Death Star. We had the opportunity to sit down with Diego and ask him some questions. So far, no one has seen the movie so we asked him to tell us as much as he could about his character.

“he’s a captain; it’s an intelligence officer for the rebellion. It’s a pretty damned good rebellious captain, you know? He’s in charge of the most important mission for the rebellion and, he has to make sure this thing works together…But he’s a spy, so he’s quite a mysterious man. He has a lot of information he would like to forget, you know? He doesn’t like war, but he believes in the cause and would, would do anything for the cause. He’s ready to sacrifice, everything and, uh, he’s a true hero. He’s, like the kind of heroes we could be, right? He doesn’t have special powers; he’s no Jedi, no. He’s just a man with conviction and, that knows that working together as a team makes you stronger. So that’s, that’s Cassian.”

Diego Luna is very handsome in person and his personality was quite charming and humorous. He filled up the room as he told us about his role in this movie. He said he would have accepted even the part of a storm trooper to be in this movie, but was very glad to be given the part he received. Diego said that Gareth and he talked about the underlying theme of the film and he just had to be part of it. This story is about taking charge of your destiny or your own reality. He also shared with us how he fell in love with Star Wars and how important it was to have his 8 year old son involved in his process and be a fan of Star Wars too. Of course his son already knows the world of Star Wars better than Diego does. (I think my son who is also 8 knows more about Star Wars than I do as well)…But there is also a connection of family in Star Wars and how he can share this with his son. It’s a movie his son can watch with him.

At seven years old, six years old, I saw the, A New Hope, you know? A New Hope and, I saw it because I wanted to belong to the world of my cousins, you know? All of my cousins were playing something I didn’t get. I wanted to be part of that universe and, and be able to, to be able to be part of that gang, you know? And, and, yeah, belong to that. So, but it also connects me with my kids as a parent, you know? And as a fan, it connects me with my son, you know? …..I share the excitement, with him. When we were watching The Force Awakens, we were there holding hands, and enjoying the moment, you know? It wasn’t me, like, okay, let’s, watch this cartoon, and let’s talk about what they’re saying, and like, I wasn’t the dad there. It was two pals watching a film, and that was very sweet. My work is something that, it has always separated us, you know? It represents something very negative to my kids. It’s what keeps me away. It’s that thing that I go do that they cannot be part of. And then I finish the films, and they cannot watch them, you know? None of my other films- I mean, I did show my son Cesar Chavez, um, but he just didn’t wanted to watch it. He fell asleep. But, my stuff is not meant for them. Until I did The Book of Life, that’s the first film I could actually share with my kids. So this is a special because, I am telling them, I’m going to work, and my son, instead of crying goes, like, yeah, yeah, go, go. I mean, you’ve gotta be on time, Dad, and make sure you do it right, please, uh, you know? Do what Gareth says. Don’t mess up. Yeah.

Another thing Diego talked to us about was how different filming for TV was compared to an epic movie like Star Wars.

In television, you’re shooting something one day, and it airs the next day- the reaction hits you two days later, and then people forget the next Monday because there’s someone else in TV, you know? It’s, so it’s a weird thing to digest, and then when you’re getting used to it, it’s gone, and you go like, what? Oh, now you don’t care? No, there’s a new one- move, move away, there’s someone else. And, and …I don’t find that healthy. Uh, but cinema, it’s different. Cinema, is different, and it stays there, you know? You can always go back to that and, and remember where you were. It leaves a stamp, …I feel just very lucky to be doing what I’m doing now.

This movie has a lot of action in it, at least from what I saw in the 28 minutes I was allowed to watch. Knowing the basic plot, I’m pretty sure I’m right. So there was a lot of stunt work and the actors had to be in great shape. We asked Diego what he had to do to prepare. He of course said he had to hit the gym a place that is not his favorite. He said on set every day was something else, running, jumping, it was “hardcore”. Diego even went to a two week military training. He said Gareth expected him to come back a military officer but it didn’t quite work that way. I thought that was kind of funny. I also found it interesting that Star Wars seems to be pretty collaborative as far as how everyone works together. There is a certain amount of improv allowed in while also just reacting to how things fall into place.

Rogue One is in theaters December 16th.