On this edition of SNAPSHOTS, Dean delves into the crazy world of beauty and competition with the new IFC Films Skincare, coming this Wednesday, August 14th! Famed aesthetician Hope Goldman is about to take her career to the next level by launching her very own skin care line. However, she soon faces a new challenge when a rival opens a boutique directly across from her store. Suspecting that someone is trying to sabotage her, she embarks on a quest to unravel the mystery of who’s trying to destroy her life. I recently sat down with Hope’s rival!
Let’s welcome to SNAPSHOTS, actor/ film producer Luis Gerardo Méndez!
Tell us about your role as Angel Vergara, the rival to Hope Goldman played by Elizabeth Banks.
He’s the new kid on the block. He has this new technology from NASA to take care of this scheme, whatever that means. He’s the guy who’s doing great, apparently. And he’s the catalyzer of Elizabeth Banks’ character, she’s also a facialist, and my character happens to move just in front of her. He is this new wave, this new danger to her career and to her life.
I think it’s a really cool movie. For me, the movie is about how do we find a balance between our ambitions and our mental health because what happens to Elizabeth Banks’ character is crazy and this movie’s loosely inspired by true events. I just to think that something like this actually happened. It’s is it’s crazy.
Did you know about the wild true that this was based on?
No, I had no idea. What brought me into the movie was the script. I thought the script was very powerful. And then in one of the meetings with the director, he told me, “well, this was loosely inspired by this.” And I was like, “No way.” I couldn’t believe it, because it’s just so wild. But at the same time, it didn’t surprise me that much, because it’s crazy the things we do for the things we want, and this, this movie, in a way, is a love letter.
Its a love letter to the city of Los Angeles, of the beauty, of the crazy characters we can find in the city, but also points at all the flaws that this culture has. No like this, crazy demands of you need to stay relevant, you need to look better, you need to be more successful. You need to present yourself in this way or the other, and it’s exhausting. This exactly what happens in the universe of the skincare, but it could also happen in the movies. It could also happen in Wall Street or in the any other business, because this is just the world we’re living.
I just think the juxtaposition of that with the world of the skincare – the perfection, the no wrinkles and no imperfections is so accurate because it’s so wrong. To be concentrating all your energy in what’s outside and not have a minute to think what’s going on inside, which I don’t know it’s something that it’s been on my mind for the past year. I think that’s one of the reasons I wanted to jump into the script.
After being in this movie, did you change your perception on the life of celebrity aesthetician?
Not really, because I’ve been in this business for 20 years. And I have a lot of friends are actors or actresses and I’ve seen crazy shit Dean. The things they do sometimes is like, “why are you doing this? Why are you injecting this thing on your face? Why like this obsession of staying perfect or looking the same way that you look 20 years ago.” It’s just not sustainable and again, that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what’s going on with this human being. And that’s why this business is so big and so dangerous. I didn’t change that much, because I know this business good enough.
I saw on your Instagram that you were in Paris and part of your journey is not only you ran into you co-star Elizabeth but you got to experience the Olympics. Tell us about it!
Oh, it was so cool. Dean, it was so cool. Yeah, they invited me for the opening ceremony. And I also had a chance to see the Simone Biles doing the gymnastics. She’s absolutely electrifying. And I saw the beach volleyball, the boxing and all that stuff. Yes, it was really refreshing and beautiful.
Why people should see this film, even though it’s based on skincare & loosely based on a true story?
I think it’s is highly entertaining. You know, it’s like a very interesting, emotional thriller that I found myself watching the movie with my mouth open the whole time. I couldn’t believe what I was watching, and I read the script before I knew what was happening. But I just think the performance of Elizabeth Banks is so good that it’s so powerful. The journey of this character is just wild, and knowing that this somehow happened adds a lot of weight to the story. I think people are gonna enjoy it absolutely.
Follow Luis on his Instagram @luisgerardom
Skincare – opens up in theatres August 16th from IFC Films
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