ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Skincare star Luis Gerardo Méndez about the movie directed by Austin Peters. Méndez discussed his character, working with Elizabeth Banks, and more. The IFC Films thriller is now playing exclusively in theaters.
“Famed aesthetician Hope Goldman (Elizabeth Banks) is about to take her career to the next level by launching her very own skincare line, but her personal and work lives are challenged when rival facialist Angel Vergara (Luis Gerardo Méndez) opens a new skincare boutique directly across from her store. She starts to suspect that someone is trying to sabotage her reputation and business, and together with her friend Jordan (Lewis Pullman), she embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery of who is trying to destroy her life,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: I love hearing about how actors prep. So, how much about the world of skincare and owning a facial salon did you know before Skincare and did you learn much about that?
Luis Gerardo Méndez: A little bit. Some of it is because I’m an actor, and I have a lot of actress friends, and I’ve been in this world for like 20 years. So my girlfriends tell me everything about the new treatment they’re doing, about this crazy new trend, about this stupid thing that they injected in her faces. So yeah, I’ve been around those conversations. That wasn’t that important for me for this movie. I think it was way more important for me and for the director for Austin to build this scene. When you see the character singing and dancing in his house because this movie is about presenting the way these characters show to the world, like the way they present themselves to the world, but then in a very subtle way show the cracks, you know?
In a way, my character is the successful one. He is the one who has the newer technology for skincare. He’s on TV. He’s successful, he’s relevant, but at the same time, when you see him in his intimacy in his house, you can see that he’s not that okay. For me, that’s very LA. That’s like a love letter to Los Angeles. You know how the city demands so much of the people that we live in here, and it’s never enough. You need to stay relevant, you need to look better. There’s always a wave coming behind you, so you need to stay on top of that. That scene was very important for me because we wanted to show this character that probably wanted to be a dancer or probably wanted to be a singer, but he ended up working in the world of skincare because he couldn’t do that, you know? So even if he looks like a successful guy, he doesn’t feel that way. He doesn’t feel enough. That was something we wanted to talk about.
You had worked with Elizabeth Banks on Charlie’s Angels, which she directed, so you were familiar with each other. In Skincare, you have some very tense exchanges. What stood out about her as a scene partner?
Oh, I love her. It’s really easy to be mean to an actor that you love. When there’s this professional intimacy, like we love each other. She’s a good friend to me in the industry. She’s also a producer and she’s also a director. So every time I have a question about something I’m developing or doing, I always talk to her. Like, when we were shooting Skincare, I was about to start the pre-production of my first movie as a director. So, between takes, I was like, “Elizabeth, how should I do this? How should I do this scene? And now?” Se was so generous all the time. It’s really easy to work with someone like her. And again, to say these horrible things to someone who loves you, it’s way, way easier.
That’s wonderful that you both have that relationship where she’s happy to give advice and help you. Is it odd when you’re working with somebody who previously directed you as an actor now? Because she went from being very much your boss in that situation, to being partners.
The first time that we did the first scene in Skincare, yeah. It’s inevitable to think like she’s acting with me, but she’s also directing me, like in the last movie. But no, she’s not. She was like so generous and so like, “Okay, now I’m just your acting partner, and that’s it.” But she makes the work so easy. She’s perfect.
The director for this film is Austin Peters. What really stood out about getting to work with him>
He did a documentary about this band, and I saw his documentary before doing this movie, and I really liked it. I love the script, and I think the moment I read the script, I was like, “This guy really gets the city, and he really gets LA and this universe.” I could see that he had a voice, and that’s very hard when you’re gonna do your first movie [to] find your voice. It’s tricky. It’s very easy that your script sounds like someone else. It sounds like something that you saw before, and this was pretty unique, and that’s the reason I jumped in. It was a pleasure working with him.
You mentioned directing your first film. How did you find your voice and make sure you were doing that as well?
Tyler, I hope I did. I don’t know. You’ll tell me when you see the movie. It’s called Technoboys, and it’s a movie that I did with Netflix that is gonna come out pretty soon.
This is based on a true story. Did you do any research into that, or did you want to just build your own character?
Yeah, it’s loosely inspired by true events, which is always cool as an actor to think that, “Oh, some, something like this happened.” You are always very rigorous with the work you’re doing, but when you know that someone like that actually happened, it makes you be more serious about the work. I did want to create my own version of this character, and I worked a lot with Austin about that, but just the idea that someone experienced something like that makes being on set more magical. it’s the way energy works when you’re in set. When we were doing the scene when I get attacked in the house, I was just standing there and just the idea that that thing happened to someone just gives you the chills, you know? It is electrifying to be playing something like that.
Thanks to Luis Gerardo Méndez for taking the time to talk about Skincare.
