“La Máquina” is an ambitious Hulu limited series 15 years in the making, and not just because it’s the platform’s first Spanish-language original.
Born from a concept by frequent collaborators and longtime friends Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal, the show follows an aging Mexican boxer’s journey back to the top of the sport as he juggles familial responsibilities, a kooky manager with a plastic surgery problem and an underlying mystery about the criminal underworld that seems to control his surroundings. Bernal plays boxer Esteban “La Máquina” Osuna, Luna is nearly unrecognizable as manager Andy Pérez.
“Boxing is a great metaphor to explore what success actually means, and how it can become a trap,” Luna told TheWrap about the themes behind the collaboration.
The show balances many story threads through its premise, including the friendship between Esteban and Andy, their respective family drama at home and a race to keep everyone safe when a deal with a dangerous crew goes wrong. It also mixes in some hyperreal elements, diving into the decades of brain trauma Esteban has experienced in his profession, and how it’s impacted his personal relationships.
Beyond the boxing narrative, the show also pays homage to Mexico as a cultural epicenter for boxing and the community that lives within that, which also made the show being presented globally in Spanish undeniable. Marco Ramirez (“Daredevil,” “Orange Is the New Black”) served as showrunner on the six-episode series, while Gabriel Ripstein directed the entire production in Mexico City.
“(Diego and Gael) were imaginative and wonderful improvisers and great partners, and everything I could have ever dreamed or wanted out of this relationship. If I had to equate it to anything it’s like being the coach of a team with two superstar players on it,” Ramirez told TheWrap. They have wonderful careers, but we know and love a specific thing that happens when they’re both on screen together.”
Indeed Luna and Bernal’s chemistry propelled their rise in Hollywood, starting with the 2001 Alfonso Cuarón film “Y Tu Mamá Tambien.” Since then, the duo launched two production companies, Canana Films in 2005 and La Corriente del Golfo in 2018 — a co-producer of “La Máquina” — and shared the screen in the 2008 sports movie “Rudo y Cursi” and the 2012 Western comedy “Casa de mi Padre.” And they’ve both branched out to stardom on their own, with Luna headlining the critically acclaimed Star Wars spinoff “Andor” and Bernal starring in Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle” and films like “Cassandro.”
Yet their on-screen chemistry remains as strong as ever, with both Bernal and Luna noting how both of their performance skills have evolved in their time apart.
“Apart from the obvious joy and energy that [Diego] has with this character of Andy, but also the moments where he collapsed from anxiety or panic. They were really wonderful to witness,” Bernal said, while Luna said that he was moved by scenes in which Bernal interacted with his on-screen family, including ex-wife played by Eiza Gonzalez — but especially Esteban’s children.
As for Luna’s transformation to become Andy, which involved plenty of prosthetics to showcase his various procedures to hold on to his youth.
“The process of getting there to the right level of prosthetics took time… you have to be very patient to get there,” Luna said. “It wasnt until we were doing camera tests and I came out of the trailer with everything on and I saw everyone’s reaction that made me say ‘OK, we found it.’”
“La Máquina” tells a complete story, but both Luna and Bernal said they’d be open to revisiting the characters should Hulu and production partners 20th Television and Searchlight Television be interested in a potential Season 2 — as so many “limited series” have done in recent years.
“We’d say yes because we love the characters,” Bernal said.
“At the same time, if it doesn’t happen, we did work on this show as a unit,” Luna added. That doesn’t mean we can’t go back to those characters, but this story has a beginning and it has an end.”
“La Máquina” is streaming now on Hulu.
