|
Eduardo
Verástegui's New Image
 
A
playboy actor finds faith and, finally, a role his mother
can be proud of.
March/April 2008, No. 2
by Mark Moring
For
much of his adult life, Eduardo Verástegui lived for women.
A strikingly handsome Mexican pop idol and soap opera star,
Verástegui was the stereotypical Latin lover, with girls,
girls, girls clamoring for more than just his attention.
And he loved that lifestyle, with its pursuit of forbidden
fruit and pleasure at every turn.
"I
was the stereotypical Casanova," Verástegui says today.
"I was a womanizer and a liar."
It's fitting, then, that a couple of women would turn his
life around.
First
was his mother, a devout Catholic who faithfully prayed
for her prodigal son to come to his senses and return to
the faith and the morals in which he was raised.
"There
is nothing more powerful than the prayers of a mother,"
says Verástegui. "When I was pursuing fame, pleasure, and
success, my mother started going to her prayer groups and
saying, 'Okay, if my words don't touch his heart, one day
my prayers will."
Then
came another woman whose words would touch Eduardo's heart,
a woman who would be the answer to his mother's prayers.
Ironically, Verástegui would meet this woman while in full-fledged
Casanova mode-or at least playing the role.
It happened almost six years ago on the set of Chasing Papi,
a forgettable film in which Verástegui played the role of-yep-a
Latin lover who is three-timing a trio of gorgeous girlfriends
in three different locations.
Even
though Chasing Papi featured Hispanic actors, the filmmakers
wanted them to speak English-a skill the multi-talented
Eduardo lacked. So he was paired with an English teacher
on the set, a woman who would teach him far more than just
a new language.
"She
was a very wise lady who not only taught me English, but
questioned a lot of things in my life," says Verástegui,
now 33. "Like, 'How are you using your talent? Who is God
in your life? Why are you playing the stereotype of Latinos
instead of using your talents to do something positive?"
Verástegui
says that after six months of conversations, "I realized
she was right and I was wrong. I realized that the reasons
I went into this career were very superficial reasons, because
I was superficial too. I had started out at 18, and I was
seduced by the entertainment environment, by the fame and
the money.
"We
[Latinos] have been stereotyped in movies as banditos, drunkards,
prostitutes, criminals. And if you're good looking, then
you're a Casanova, a womanizer, and a liar. And that's the
person I had become. But this woman opened my eyes to the
grace of God."
Verástegui
clearly remembers the day that "God changed my heart and
I had to repent of my past. And from that day on, I promised
that I would never do anything to offend God or my Latino
heritage. I would never do anything to compromise my faith.
That's the moment I realized that the purpose of my life
was to know and to love God."
"
I may never work again "
That was also the moment that ultimately led Eduardo to
commit to making only the kind of entertainment that would
be considered wholesome and God-honoring-entertainment his
mother would certainly be proud of.
No
more Casanova roles. No more sexy soap star. No more J-Lo
videos, playing the studly hunk. No more Calvin Klein underwear
ads.
For Verástegui, the decision also meant no more work for
a long time, a costly choice that almost rendered him homeless
at one point.
For
four years, he turned down numerous offers, but they were
"all for the same negative stereotype," Verástegui says.
"I got to the point where I didn't have any money to pay
my rent. But I was going through a purification process
of changing my past and trying to follow Christ, and I knew
that because of that, I may never work again. But I was
fine with that.
"I
wasn't born to be a movie star. I wasn't born to be a producer,
or to be famous. I was born to know and love and serve our
Lord Jesus Christ, and that's my only goal right now."
God, in his timing, ultimately honored Eduardo's commitment
with an opportunity to make a movie that perfectly fit his
worldview: Bella, which played in theaters last fall and
comes to DVD in May, was one of 2007's most redeeming movies.
(See "Beautiful to Watch" below.)
While
Verástegui was recommitting his life to God, his best friend's
younger brother—back in Mexico City—was experiencing a conversion
of his own. Alejandro Monteverde, a promising young filmmaker,
had also been pursuing life in the fast lane when God got
ahold of him and turned things around. It wasn't long before
he was writing the story of Bella-specifically with Verástegui
in mind for the lead role.
Without
a dime between them, Verástegui and Monteverde decided to
form a business partnership with the goal to make wholesome,
God-honoring films. "We didn't have any money," Verástegui
says. "Just a cell phone and a big dream."
"
A beautiful experience "
The two men soon met Leo Severino, who had quit his job
as a business manager at 20th Century Fox because, like
Verástegui and Monteverde, his religious convictions were
driving him to desire to make redeeming films. The three
men formed Metanoia Films; metanoia is Greek for "conversion"
or "repentance."
Shortly
after forming their partnership, Severino invited Verástegui
to join him on a trip to Rome, where he arranged a meeting
with Pope John Paul II just a few months before his death.
"It
was a beautiful experience," Verástegui says. "I asked him
to please pray for us and for Metanoia Films, so we can
do movies that will bring people closer to Christ and elevate
the dignity of Latinos. And just ten days later, we met
Sean Wolfington . . ."
Which
leads to how they funded the film. When Wolfington, a wealthy
Miami-area entrepreneur, heard the pitch from the Metanoia
partners, he decided to finance the $3 million project,
which was shot in New York City in just over three weeks.
So, in some ways, a former Pope is partly responsible for
the making of this film!
"It's
amazing," says Verástegui, "because what are the odds? For
four years, I had no money, nothing. I was turning down
all these projects, and I just had to trust God. And the
next thing you know, I'm meeting the Pope, who was an actor
when he was very young, and he prayed for our company. And
ten days later, we meet this guy, and he gave us the money,
boom, just like that."
Losing
it all, finding everything
In Bella, Verástegui plays a José, a pro soccer star who
loses almost everything in the wake of a life-changing event.
Verástegui says José's story very much mirrors his own.
"I
like the fact that this man had everything—success, fame,
and money—and in one moment, he lost it all," he says. "But
in losing it all, he found everything that matters in life.
The film shows that there is a time in everyone's life when
a moment will change you forever, and you will never be
the same again. And if it hasn't happened to you, it will.
"I
also like that Bella elevates the dignity of Latinos. It
is a film that promotes family values, forgiveness, and
hope. It's a film I can bring my family to—my grandmother,
my mother, my sisters, and my aunts—and they don't have
to close their eyes in any scene. It's clean and pure. There's
no cursing, there's no sex, there's nothing offensive; the
actors didn't have to compromise their values to tell this
story."
Verástegui
says that thanks to Bella—and whatever films Metanoia produces
hereon—his life now has new meaning, purpose, and passion.
"This
is my career now," he says. "I'm passionate about Bella;
this is our baby. It's a small budget film with a lot of
heart, and we hope that Metanoia can do more and more films
that will honor God. Our goal is that if God were on the
set, or watching this movie, we wouldn't have to cover his
eyes at any time. That's what motivates us."
Beautiful
to Watch, Hard to Resist
Bella was a hit with audiences as it worked its way through
theaters last fall and winter, earning some of the year's
highest ratings in exit polls and online surveys. And it's
no wonder: A warm and tender film, Bella celebrates life,
friendship, forgiveness, and unconditional love—values that
any moviegoer can celebrate.
Critics
liked it too: "Beautiful to watch and hard to resist," wrote
Frederica Mathewes-Green at Christianity Today Movies. "A
heart-tugger with the confidence not to tug too hard," wrote
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times. "Rarely are crowd-pleasers
so effortlessly artful," wrote Colin Covert of the Minneapolis
Star-Tribune.
In the movie, Eduardo Verástegui plays José, a pro soccer
star whose life is changed in a tragic instant. Down on
his luck, José ends up as a chef at his brother's Mexican
restaurant in New York. At the restaurant, José befriends
a waitress named Nina, whose own life is turned upside down
when she learns she is pregnant—and decides she doesn't
want to keep the baby. She confides in José, whose compassion
for her plight plays out in unexpected, and life-affirming,
ways.
To
say much more about the film, winner of the People's Choice
Award at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, would be to give
too much away. But suffice it to say that it's a delightful
movie that Christians can embrace—indeed, so can anyone
who enjoys a good story packed with redemption.
Mathewes-Green, writing for Christianity Today Movies, perhaps
said it best: "The ending brought tears to my eyes, and
left me feeling awed and grateful for the beauty of family."
Bella
arrives on video May 6, 2008.
To
learn more, go to BellaTheMovie.com.
"
My Way to Give "
Alejandro
Monteverde turned from life in the fast lane to making movies
that make a difference—starting with Bella.
"Art
has the power to change you," says Alejandro Monteverde,
the writer and director of Bella. "It can bring the worst
out of you, and it can get the best out of you."
He should know. At 14, Monteverde saw The Doors, a movie
about troubled rock star Jim Morrison, "and it brought the
worst out of me. After I saw the film, I wanted to imitate
Jim Morrison, and if you know his lifestyle, it was pretty
bad." (Morrison abused alcohol, drugs, and women, and died
in 1971 at the age of 27, likely from a heroin overdose.)
Monteverde
says the Holy Spirit intervened, and things quickly changed:
"I felt very convicted of my lifestyle. I knew I was living
a wasted life. Then I enrolled in film school, and things
started falling into place. I was more focused on my path,
more focused on the purpose of what God had for me. I changed
my lifestyle and everything else, because everything was
new—new friends, a new way of thinking. Now I look back
at who I was before, I don't even remember being like that."
Now
30, Monteverde wrote and directed Bella because "I wanted
to use my talent to make a difference in the world, to somehow
inspire others. I believe that the only thing you can take
with you after you die is what you gave, and this is my
way to give.
"I
want to use film not only to entertain people, but to give
them a message of hope, love, and compassion without being
too preachy. While writing and shooting Bella, I was very
careful throughout the process that we'd never come across
as judgmental. If we come across that way, we lose the whole
purpose of the film."
Monteverde
wrote the script specifically with Verástegui in mind for
the lead role of José. Loosely basing some of the characters
on members of his own family, Monteverde says he set out
to write "a love story that breaks the barriers of a traditional
romance."
"I
wanted to write a love story that isn't just about the romance
between a man and a woman, but about self-sacrificial love-and
a story about how each other's pain becomes each other's
redemption. And I wanted to make a film that shows there's
always a choice that doesn't have to lead to moral pain."
by Mark Moring
|
