| | Nach Libre trailer now online
For a few years now, myself and some other professionals close to the lucha scene have speculated on when the first Hollywood lucha movie would be coming. To be honest, we've feared it.
Lucha's invaded the art scene, music videos, indie documentaries, and found both abysmal failure and true success on Saturday morning kids TV. The two frontiers left to conquer are mainstream television (there are several lucha-related shows in development hell right now, but with American pro wrestler so in the shitter, none are a huge priority), and movies.
So here we go... Nacho Libre.
This is a case of a GREAT creative team (the minds behind Napoleon Dynamite, School of Rock Tenacious D, etc.) with knowledge and respect for the craft, and two corporate studios (Paramount and Nickelodeon) wanting the next big comedy.
In the case of a similar relationship - ¡Mucha Lucha! - where the creators were thoroughly knowledgeable in lucha and assembled a great crew, only to be continually frustrated by the ignorant network above them - results were mixed. Some GREAT stuff came from ML, especially later in the series, and it was hugely successful both here and abroad (and in Latin America, the ultimate testament).
This was, after all, the show that produced lucha's finest moment in American mass media - the Blue Demon episode rating higher than that morning's Batman. But notice the "was" - the imbecilic corporate chain never understood what it had, never comprehended the growing Latino population in the US, and the massive global appeal. When a related toy line didn't perform up to Pokemon standards, they bailed. BAILED! Idiots...
So what do I, and many around me fear then? We fear lucha being used as a big joke. We fear lucha as the frosting on just another Frito Bandito/Speedy Gonzales joke. We fear American corporations trying to mutate lucha into something they think will be palatable for the "American mainstream."
We fear this because we know lucha, and we know how amazing and appealing it is in it's native form. Lucha should be "the next big thing" as is. It doesn't need 300 suits and 50 consulting firms retooling it with an onboard ignorance and cultural bias.
And one of the things that always seems to be compromised in these American corporate lucha projects is the core icon of the art form, and what I and many others love most about lucha - THE MASK!
So when I see the above image of Jack Black in full hood, it does my heart good. The mask is intact, and the trailer is full of hoods, and lucha that looks like lucha, and REAL luchadores and real Mexican crowds as extras. The creative team seems to have gotten it right!
So now it's what the damn studios do with it. The trailer is reassuring. It's not ashamed of it's wrestling roots, not ashamed of Mexico. They're not hiding anything, not dodging the issue at all. So far so good...
Official Nacho Libre site
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| | Posted 2/5/2006 1:14 PM - 14 views - 1 comments
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