Alice Braga stars in ‘Hypnotic,’ directed by Robert Rodriguez. (Hypnotic Film Holdings)
Brazilian actress Alice Braga —perhaps best known as the titular character in USA Network’s Queen of the South— stars in a new film, Hypnotic, directed and co-written by Mexican American film auteur Robert Rodriguez, whose wide range of films spans from Spy Kids to Machete and Sin City.
Oh, and Ben Affleck is in the movie too.
“I’ve always wanted to work with Robert,” Braga told Latino Rebels. “He’s a Latino director that really, really believes in representation. And he supports a lot the Latin community. He brings Latin actors like myself to work on his films.”
Braga is grateful for her time as Queen of the South’s Teresa Mendoza, but she’s also clear she doesn’t want to be pigeonholed into stereotypical, Latina roles.
Of her character Diana Cruz, Braga says: “She didn’t have to be Latina. But (Rodriguez wrote her) as a Latina, probably, because of his culture, his background. And… it doesn’t change the story. It is not a piece of the story that she’s Latina. But I think that’s the best way of representing. We’re not put in a box to just do characters that (are) like, ‘Oh, it’s the immigrant.'”
In addition to the Latinx cast, this trippy thriller shows Rodriguez’s touch in other ways, from the visuals to the script. And audiences should expect a wild ride, with Braga calling the film “a journey of itself,” and the plot twists just keep coming.
There’s also a gender flip in the way parenting is typically portrayed, building in another element to keep the film interesting.
Watch the full interview with Braga below to learn more about Braga’s experience filming Hypnotic.
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Hypnotic opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, May 12.
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Cristina Escobar is the entertainment reporter for Latino Rebels. She is also the co-founder of latinamedia.co, uplifting Latina and gender non-conforming Latinx perspectives in media. She’s a member of the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association and writes at the intersection of race, gender, and pop culture. Twitter: @cescobarandrade
