#la máquina

[gael-garcia]

Gael García Bernal as Esteban Osuna in La Máquina eps 1&2

[alexturner]

Diego Luna as The Ring Announcer La Máquina | 1.05 "Last Minute Trip"

[staticwaffles]

LA MÁQUINA Andy's transformation

[guildfordd]

DIEGO LUNA as Andy Luján in La Máquina (2024) Cassian Andor in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

[bluemoonperegrine]

Happy Together fan vid

Kinda sorta spoilers? Watch at your own risk if you haven't finished La Máchina.

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[miko-mikke]

Esteban… I love you…

[stardestroyerss]

This is too cute! ✨✨✨

[fallenrocket]

Because La Máquina marks the first time in over a decade that Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna have teamed up onscreen in live-action, it’s understandable that a lot of the marketing, and fans’ excitement, have centered around seeing them act together, with pretty much every interview they’ve done for the show highlighting their friendship. We even got to see them taking on Bert and Ernie in a battle of the best friends! (Big, big thank you to whoever dreamed up that one!)

That lifelong friendship is felt onscreen through their interactions as Esteban and Andy, but not necessarily in the way you’d expect. Because really, Andy and Esteban probably spend about 80% of their scenes together arguing. And they come by it honestly–after a 20-year working relationship complicated by money and strained by addiction issues and lies, both are also dealing with a lot of personal stuff when a gigantic bomb is dropped into their laps. As the Otras Personas extort Esteban into throwing his final fight, Andy is genuinely regretful but also doesn’t want to be blamed too directly, and Esteban is thrown completely off-kilter by this stunning, devastating revelation. It’s a lot to put on a friendship, and theirs wasn’t on the most solid ground to begin with.

So they argue. They fight over why Andy made such a reckless deal in the first place and why he never told Esteban about it, they fight over the best way to handle their dilemma, and they fight over how to keep from further antagonizing the Otras Personas. Their friendship is at the breaking point, and people looking at them from the outside don’t know why they put up with each other. Nearly everyone tells Esteban he needs to fire Andy, and Andy’s mom is insistent that keeping Esteban as a client is holding Andy back.

But that’s where García Bernal and Luna’s real-life friendship comes in. Despite all the shouting and accusations, despite the moments when Esteban itches to get Andy in the ring so he can clock him, you’re still able to feel the love between them. Just like in Y tu mamá también and their other onscreen collaborations, their characters’ relationship is different than their own, but they lend that feeling of history. The sense that these two characters go as far back together as one can go. The sense that they’ve been through it all together, and no matter how much their lives change, on some level they’re still just those two boys from Jalisco.

Andy and Esteban’s arguments cut deeply, in large part because of how much they care for each other. Andy feels sick that his dumb decisions from ages ago are now endangering everyone he loves, even as he tries to wriggle away from direct accusations. Esteban is hurt and despondent, wondering how much of his career was a lie while also thinking how this could ruin his future legacy. When Andy first tells him the news, Esteban can’t bear the realization that Andy fixed fights for him in the past because he didn’t believe Esteban could win. When Esteban accuses Andy of taking a cut from the Otras Personas, Andy sounds so genuinely affronted that his friend would think so little of him, asking, “Don’t you know me, asshole?” When Irasema and Andy are arguing over Esteban’s relapse, she tosses out the line, “My ex is Mexico’s favorite junkie,” and Andy instantly snaps back, “Don’t call him that!”

Their fights don’t lessen their love for each other. They fight so hard and land such cutting blows because they love each other so much. Each knows the other better than they know themselves, recognizing one another’s messy parts while avoiding their own blind spots. They can break each other’s hearts, but when their backs are really up against the wall, each comes through for the other in a way that matters. That’s why Luna and García Bernal’s chemistry is invaluable to the show. Two actors without the history they have together would be hard-pressed to create a connection so electric.

[filmshotsandhandsomeactors]

[gael-garcia]

"He's my best friend. And if we're doomed, we're doomed together."

Trailer for limited series La Máquina starring + produced by Gael García Bernal & Diego Luna, out Oct 9

[staticwaffles]

DIEGO LUNA as ANDY LUJÁN La Máquina (2024)

[cinemedios]

¡Todo sobre 'La Máquina', el regreso de la dupla Luna-García!

Diego Luna y Gael García Bernal son una de las duplas de actores mexicanos más queridas de los últimos años, protagonizando películas como ‘Y tu mamá también ó ‘Rudo y cursi’ se han ganado los corazones del público nacional e internacional y ahora se unen junto a Eiza González en un nuevo drama deportivo. El pasado 15 de agosto la revista Vanity Fair compartió las primeras imágenes de la primer…

[abirdie]

Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna attend the Los Angeles premiere of La Máquina at Hollywood Athletic Club on 3 October 2024, photographed by Matt Winkelmeyer

[bluemoonperegrine]

These two, I swear 😂

This is a lot of fun as well as earnest. They even talk about their roles in Andor and Werewolf by Night! Just a little, alas.