Demián Bichir interprets the “bravery” of Mexican migrants in Black Phone 2

Diego Cubillas

Mexico City, Oct 17 (EFE).- Playing a Mexican with a turbulent past and rehabilitated in society, actor Demián Bichir stated this Friday that his role in the second part of the horror film “Black Phone 2” represents the “bravery” of Mexicans who “risk their lives, leaving everything they have behind” to reach the United States.

Playing Mando, a “brave” winter camp monitor, Bichir stated that he accepted the role because of “that analogy” that exists between his character and those who migrate to the North American country to seek a better future.

“It is a way of making it clear exactly who we are, those who dare to cross the border (…). That is what we are made of and that is the blood that has reached American society,” the actor stressed during an interview with EFE.

Bichir stated that in the US there is a “double standard that constantly says: ‘Go away, but we need you,’” while criticizing the “absurd, obtuse and completely useless political speeches” based on these messages.

“This community of human beings is there to make life better for everyone, and we are not going to leave,” said the man who was the second Mexican in history to be nominated at the Oscars in the category of best actor, for his role in ‘A better life’ (A better life, 2011).

In addition to the character, the Mexican explained his interest in the film because “it is not the typical horror film (…), it is cinema at the highest level.”

Directed by Scott Derrickson, ‘Black Phone 2’ tells, three years after Finn (Mason Thames) managed to escape from his kidnapper, how he and his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) once again face the supernatural threat of the murderer Grabber (Ethan Hawke) during a winter camp for children.

Thinking back, Demián remembers thinking when he saw the first part that he wanted to “be part of something like that, and when I read the script and I found this transportation that they have made of the characters from the first part to this completely new world, it seemed brilliant to me.”

Contradicting the expression that the second parts were never good, Bichir confirmed with a laugh that “there are two examples that destroy that saying: ‘The Godfather and ‘Black Phone 2’.”

The “moving” film, as the actor described it, premiered this Thursday in movie theaters with the aim of repeating the success of its predecessor.