Andy Garcia, the new "Godfather from Hollywood"

After having played in at least 10 movies, Andres Arturo Garcia-Menendez (Andy Garcia), can finally say that he's one of the big Hollywood stars. The movie-theaters, as well as producers and filmmakers, see him as a great actor, with a lot of talent. The public, and the critics describe him as the next Al Pacino, or Robert de Niro. Heroe, and Jennifer 8, his latest movies, show the diversity in the caracters that he plays. To continue....

By Isabelle Aithnard

From Tucker

Translated from French by: Leticia Martínez del Moral and Lieselot Booj

Hey Andy! Hey Andy!

Was it a friend of mine who told me that your name was Andy? Hey Andy, tell me that it's true! Forgive me for this familiarity, it's just an effect to keep the attention of those who could imagine for a while that him and me… The thing, which is good about having the same name, is that we are sure that somebody with his personality carries the same. It doesn't matter if we are from Rio, Mexico, Cuba, Madrid, Paris, or anywhere else! Like Zorro, who is always followed by his García, the French Film Industry has got their García (Nicole), the Colombians have got their García (Marquez), the Spanish literature has got its García (Lorca), why shouldn't we have got ours? Anyway, everyone's got a García, and the Garcías will be well kept. Andy is being watched rather than kept! First by God, then by his mother, and, last but not least, by his wife Marivi, following all the good principles that a good Latino must always respect.

Brown, like the tobacco of a Havana cigar, which is, by the way, his hometown, Andy García is currently the actor every actress and woman dreams about. 1.80 Mt. tall, 37 years old (on April 12), Andy spent almost 7 years making Hollywood producers and directors believe he could be an actor. You cannot pretend to be an American actor when you have black hair and eyes and a sun burnt complexion. In a few words, the typical "Latin lover" is condemned to play gigolos, drug dealers, criminals and other second-rate roles.

Add to all this a strong Cuban accent and you can imagine how the Hollywood Studios received him when he presented himself to his first castings. "Too short", they kept on saying, "Too stereotyped"!

First deception, people didn't like the young Andy, escaped from his country at the age of 5 with his family. He has the education, the charm and the elegance of a boy coming from a wealthy Latin family. His father Roberto was a well-known lawyer in his homeland, before it became a land of pain, before the great escape to Miami. Mother Amelie was an English teacher. Sun, fun and pesos, everything was quietness and luxury for the young Andy.

After the Revolution, the Garcías were obliged to leave Cuba on the day they understand that their sons, their money, their ideas… and themselves, would be devoted to the Revolution's cause. They left everything and moved to Florida, where the climate reminds them of Cuba. The first years, Andy experienced many moments of loneliness. "I didn't speak a word of English. And because I didn't understand what the other kids said, I always thought that they were making fun of me. So I was fighting all the time!" That was the moment when the battle began. During playtime, Andy wanted to prove himself as a good American. First, he tries to integrate himself by becoming a professional basketball player, but his 1.80 Mt. is not sufficient. Too short, my friend! So, Andy goes to the University, just in time to realize that his life is somewhere else. That "somewhere else" is the Hollywood mirage, to which he ran to in 1979, when he was 23. He is sure: he will become an actor. He starts at rock bottom, like all actors do. He plays small parts and in the meantime he works as a waiter and a salesman. He realizes soon he is not welcome in this town, where the "vaselinos" (nickname given to all Latino people who are in the habit of using grease) are not welcome.

For seven years, he goes on and plays small parts, just to fill up his CV. People say he is too little (has Hollywood forgotten that Clark Gable was a midget?); people say that his teeth are not perfect (has Hollywood forgotten that Clark Gable changed every tooth in his mouth?); people say that he is not aggressive enough (would he like to play roles like Rambo, Rocky, or other Terminators?). And the worst insult: people do not like his accent. So now they know to what image he belongs in their minds: dark = stereotyped = Caribbean = Mafia & Co.

The small roles he obtains in "Blue Skies Again" by Richard Michaels and "A Night In Heaven" by John Avildsen (1983) are not even sufficient to settle him among the actors "in view". It's Hal Ashby the one who will send him in orbit in 1986, giving him a role in "8 Million Ways To Die". Even though the movie was not a big success, it at least had the merit to give the young actor some credits. On the other hand, Brian De Palma was not wrong when he calls him for the role of Frank Nitti in "The Untouchables" (1987). Andy meets De Palma and lets De Palma understand that he is ready to play characters other than those despicable little Mafia members, that this association between his physique and Nitti's role is the same caricature he would like to escape. De Palma appreciates his frankness and spontaneity and he puts him on the site of that gentleman called Elliot Ness, who is no other than Kevin Costner.

In 1988, he is again on the screen with "American Roulette". The image of the cop is glued to his skin. He cannot part from these two archetypes of the action movies: cop or rascal. Anyway, this image suits him so well that Ridley Scott called him in "Black Rain" (1989) by Michael Douglas's side to play… guess what? A cop! Sincere and touching, but always a cop. Would the Latinos be good enough only for striking, shooting, prostituting, breaking out in mambo and sending ladies to Seventh Heaven?

Even when he played the same roles, people begin to remark on the different facets of Andy's acting and his great attitude for composing. Despite all this, clichés have a hard life and it's the role of a cop, which falls in his hands in "Internal Affairs" by Mike Figgis. He plays a Latino detective elevated to the service of the policemen's police, in charge for an investigation on another cop, played by Richard Gere. Despite the omnipresence of the previous American Gigolo, remarks are for García's play, all in finesse and shades, with "that thing" which comes together with the greatest: the presence. A peculiarity that will allow people to say he is worthy of being an heir to Pacino and De Niro. Those compliments make him smile. To him, those two Latinos, who succeeded in becoming more American than the Native Americans, are two untouchable myths. Even if he secretly dreams about acting with them, he didn't believe it possible.

Chance knocks on his door on 1990, when he finishes "A Show Of Force" by Bruno Barreto. It is Francis Ford Coppola, in person, behind the door. He asked Andy to become a part of his great family: the Corleones, who resuscitates in the "Godfather, Part III"; which De Niro and Pacino are a part of. Papa Coppola will teach him how to prepare gnocchi, the final proof that little Andy is a part of his clan by now. His composition on the "Godfather, Part III" will bring him an Oscar nomination as Best Actor. When he learned about his nomination, he told the press if he won the Oscar, he intended on giving his prize to Al Pacino. But his real triumph arrived in 1991-92, when he acted remarkably in three important movies: "Dead Again" by Kenneth Branagh, where he played an effective and solid support role; "Hero" by Stephen Frears, where he diverted the attention of the audience from Geena Davis and Dustin Hoffman. And "Jennifer 8" which is to be shown in France in a few weeks. Andy García is — guess what? — Sgt. John Berlin, a cop who leaves the Los Angeles Police in consequence of a romantic betrayal. Transferred to North California, he is charged with one of the most gruesome cases of his career. Investigating the death of an unknown young woman, whose mutilated body has been found in a public dump, he quickly matures the conviction that she could be victim no. 8 of a serial killer, who takes blind young women as his target. His research lead him to a beautiful young blind girl, Helena Robertson (Uma Thurman), the only witness of the disappearance of the woman he has dubbed "Jennifer 8"…

American critics are dithyrambic towards García, at his first real leading role. "The script was of perfect accuracy", he will explain later, "So well written. That complicated role abounded with contradictions and demons." This new cop role makes us lose all hope of seeing the handsome Andy play another type of character, but at least it has the merit to show him under his most beautiful light: not only handsome, but credible also. In a word: brilliant.

Let producers propose other cop or Mafia member roles and Andy will have the strength to pass behind the camera to carry out the project which has been tickling him for the last few years, but which he was not able to finance: "The Lost City", or the story of his homeland before Castro came to power. That day, we will see how he describes his Latino brothers!

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