Reporta From The East Coast
We’ve watched Luna Vélez – many of you know her as Lauren Vélez – on seven seasons as María LaGuerta on Dexter and currently on Thursday nights on ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder as the President of Middleton University. For the past 30 years her career has spanned from a high school production of Fiddler on the Roof to theatrical productions, such as Dreamgirls, and singing in Spanish in the one-woman, biographical play based on the Cuban siren La Lupe; as well as her most memorable role in film alongside Rita Moreno in I Like it Like That.
Veronica Caicedo, Founder of Int’l Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival presents to Lauren Luna Velez
Recently at the 6th International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival in NY Vélez was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award after presenting the world premiere of her latest film. She produces and stars in, Adrift in which she gives a stunning performance as a mother ferociously protecting her cubs. The film centers on the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation, while portraying a Latino family in middle class suburbia. She plays a driven college professor mad for opera, but also a mother to three young men as she tries to free one from the grips of drug addiction as she desperately juggles to keep her life and family together. Here is my interview with Luna as the film prepares for a Thanksgiving weekend blockbuster screening and premiere in LA.
TIO LOUIE: In this feature film you played the mother of a drug addict when so many are pathological liars and his character constantly denied being on drugs. But your character, by many would be perceived as an enabler who was always there for him in spite of his destructive behavior. How did you see this Latina mother and what did you tap into as an actor in channeling a mother’s unconditional love for supporting a challenged child?
Luna: Ultimately the movie is about a mother’s undying love for her son and entire family. I am a stepmother and I have 18 nieces and nephews. I have a strong maternal instinct, which always draws you to the most in need. This woman, like so many is juggling work, family and lifestyle. She can’t see that she’s enabling her son, Cameron (Angel Curiel) – it’s like she’s got blinders. Seeing him sink makes her feel like a failure as a mother. She tries to do it all by herself. But she always had this drive. Her parents were immigrants, she raised three boys and is a college professor. She feels she can fix it by giving him all her love, but it ends up being her undoing and that of her family.
Drug-addicted son played by Angel Curiel
This film is about what drugs do to a family and this is what drew me. And one of her other sons Sam, played by Davi Santos becomes the most important to her for support – even more than the relationship with her husband, performed by Tony Plana who had suffered a stroke. It’s this cultural pull with this professional Latina who has an incredible career and here she is trying to make the four men in her life happy. And how do you navigate this with a son that is an addict? These variables would send anyone into a tailspin. What usually happens, after extensive research, is that the addict, my son, Cameron usually loses the family. An addict has to lose everything before going clean or hit rock bottom. He was this young kid with so much promise and this is how the mother saw it. And any of these prospects are ruined when the son is murdered and she undergoes a downward spiral.
Producers (l-r): Taso Mouhteros, Luna and James Manos, Jr. (creator of Dexter)
TíoLouie: What surprised you most about your role as Producer in making “Adrift?”
Luna: That I survived (said with a good hearty laugh). I had moments and I am still doing it. Thank goodness for the entire team. Thank goodness for producers like the creator of Dexter, James Manos, Jr. and Taso Mouhteros. I learned a lot. Once it was in the can that’s when I started learning how to produce. It’s not just the end result. Now it’s what do we do with it and where do we take it? That’s a whole other ball of wax. I have never been in this role when producing, but it is extremely challenging and rewarding.
TíoLouie: Talk to me about the film’s social message dealing with drug addiction in the midst of a national war on opioids?
Luna: We do have a heroine epidemic. There are a million heroin addicts in the U.S. The DEA says that opioids are an expanding national health crisis. There are now safe sites for people to go and shoot up to mitigate the numbers from people shooting up in the streets or leaving needles everywhere. If this message through the film can bring awareness and the effect that it has upon a family, I would feel fulfilled. At my NY premiere at the Puerto Rican Festival I had an 18-year-old nephew in the audience who lives in Long Island where the film is set, in a middle-income suburb, and my sister fears for her son because Long Island is now considered the heroin highway.
TíoLouie: Considered by many who see you as successful by virtue of seven seasons on “Dexter” and now on “How to Get Away with Murder,” why do you get involved with independent projects?
Luna: The day after I received the Lifetime Achievement award at the International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival in NY, I did a reading for the Victims of Orlando. These were various playwrights who are doing projects all over the country and this was the one in NY. Plus, I was moved with a feeling of helplessness in the current political climate we are currently undergoing. We can get involved and be part of a movement.
Many times it is not about making money or worldwide recognition – which are often pomp and circumstance, but at the end of the day, I love to act. Though being producer and an actor on this project, it gave you control and also a kind of spontaneity of living in the moment. When you’re putting it together yourself with a group of people who you don’t know – and sometimes a dysfunctional family – it comes together and you make magic.
This young Director, Christopher Lopez came with this personal story and said he wanted me to take the lead. When these opportunities arise, you take them. Hollywood is the antithesis of that with lots of people involved. Actors are often relegated to just playing a role as someone for hire and as part of a big machine. But here, you have a say in what you put forth and with what you end up ultimately. That’s an experience that reminds me that I just don’t want to be an actor for hire. I want to have a role in what you see and experience. It’s not always great, because you are dealing with a budget of only $100K and that is no easy feat in this day and age and this was actually a miracle. Not only did we have Chris involved as a director and writer, but also we had James Manos, Jr. who brought with him his expertise and knowledge on how to get this project done. He also brought Tony Plana and Elsie Stark to do the casting. Christopher brought on Laura Gomez, as well as bringing in one of his producing partners as one of the producers, but also Taso Mouhteros brought in two investors and closed the gap financially and got us what we needed when it came to post-production. Both James and Taso worked for a year on this project and with no compensation.
TíoLouie: What has given you the most satisfaction professionally about being involved with “How to Get Away with Murder?”
Luna: Acting with Viola Davis. The show is tremendous and she is a brilliant actress. Any time you get to work with a master at their craft, that is a happy day and I am always grateful for that opportunity.
TíoLouie: Though a young woman, you were recently given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the 6th International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival in NY because of your body of work in film, theater and TV over the 30 past years. How did it feel and what special significance did the award have for you?
IPRHFF Curator Louis E. Perego Moreno, Director Chris Lopez, Veronica Caicedo, Velez Prod, Producer Mouhteros
Luna: I was incredibly honored and it was really interesting, because it made me pause and question to myself, ‘Aren’t awards like this given to someone when they are much older?’ I feel I have so much left to do. I received it as a marker for where I am now in my career, for what I have accomplished and made me hungry and optimistic for what lies ahead. I was like, ‘Wow if I can receive this now, what will it look like in 20 years?’ Beyond being an honor, it was a moment to reflect on what I have done and what I would like to do in the future and what projects I want to take moving forward.
ADRIFT
LA Premiere
Friday, November 25th-Thursday, December 01
Downtown Independent Theater
For show times & tickets:
Luna Vélez in LA LUPE:
@TIO LOUIE/Louis E. Perego Moreno Louis E. Perego Moreno/@TioLouie Founder & Executive Producer of PRIME LATINO MEDIA, the largest East Coast network of Latino multimedia-makers, actors and musicians in bilingual Latino and mainstream media, digital and entertainment. An interactive Content/Impact Producer and Educator who for the past 34 years has owned Skyline Features, a bilingual multimedia and educational production company developing documentaries, television programming and advertising commercials featuring Latinos, Blacks, Women, Urban Youth and LGBT. Facebook (personal page): Louis E. Perego Moreno
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