“I’m done with this.
I’m done with this.
I want to go to bed,” Mendez remembers thinking.
Credit: John Golden Britt/Focus Features
“One day he ate a whole barrel of his food because someone left it there.
Like, four times more than he was supposed to eat.
The next day on set, he was inflated.”
John Golden Britt/Focus Features
Like George, Mendez’s character inHalf Brothersis a charming straight shooter, at times to a fault.
Mendez’s star began to rise in his home country of Mexico in the early 2010s.
To prepare for his breakout role Stateside, Mendez worked with A-list acting coach Larry Moss.
He also drew from his own memories.
“)Half Brothershas multiple scenes depicting detention centers near the border.
“I remember my father losing his apartment,” the actor says.
“The only property he had at the moment.
He lost it because of the crisis…
It’s not like Mexicans want to go to the States because they like the better weather, right?
It’s because they didn’t have opportunities in Mexico.
No one wants to leave their home.”
That question crystallizes the movie’s message.
But rest assured,Half Brothersis no grim drama; it’s often broadly comic.
And you know what they say:La risa es el mejor medicina.
Laughter is the best medicine.
