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"\n\nDemi\u00E1n Bichir is one of the most celebrated actors in Mexico. Though if you recognize him at all, it's probably from \"Weeds,\" where he plays the shady mayor of Tijuana. It's a curious double-life: Famous in one place, unknown in the other. That may all change for Bichir with A Better Life, a low-budget, high-impact story about an illegal immigrant gardener in Los Angeles just trying to raise his teenage son. While the film, directed by Chris Weitz (About A Boy), sometimes teeters on the edge of saccharine, Bichir's performance is a standout, leading to talk of gold statues. On the eve of the film's release, the 47-year-old actor speaks:\n\nGQ: I heard that you hung out with some gardeners in L.A. to prepare for the film. Were they eager to talk with you?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: I stopped by a couple of places in Beverly Hills, just wherever I saw a crowd working. I waited for their break and talked to many of them. The real guys\u2014they're everywhere in the city and they're all paesanos. I know exactly what the situation is in Mexico, why they come over here and try to improve their lives. Maybe what struck me the most was how happy and wiling to keep fighting these people are\u2014all of them. But it's a really, really hard life when you don't have a document that actually gives you a name and a face.\n\nGQ: You told them you were working on a film?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: I stop and talk to some gardeners and I tell them, \"Listen, on June 24th, a film about you will come out in theaters.\"\n\nGQ: How did they respond?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: They look at me, like, \"What the fuck is this guy talking about?\"\n\nGQ: Do you think the film can affect the public's views on immigration?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: It will make you aware of the human aspect of this immigration problem. This is something that needs to be solved, and you're not going to solve it by sending 11 million people back home.\n\nGQ: The director, Chris Weitz, is the man behind the American Pie films. He is of Mexican descent, though nothing about that guy screams Mexico.\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: The weird thing is, when I first met him, it was because they called me to audition for New Moon.\n\nGQ: The Twilight movie? Right, Chris Weitz directed that movie, as well.\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: Yes\u2014they called me to play an Italian vampire. And then I hear this voice behind me, \"Buenas tardes.\" So I turn around and I'm looking for a Mexican guy, and I don't see anybody. I only see these American guys. I keep looking and Chris goes, \"Hola. Que tal?\" We started talking about a film that he had in mind that he wanted to do for many years about these undocumented gardeners. We talked about it for half an hour, and I was like, \"Yeah, OK. That's a gardener, but he's also a vampire? Where are you going with this?\"\n\nGQ: You thought he was still talking about New Moon?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: Exactly.\n\nGQ: You and your brothers are all famous actors in Mexico. Is it really true that at the MTV Movie Awards in Mexico there is a special category for Best Bichir in a Movie?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: It was only one year\u2014that my brothers and I were in several films that year. Only MTV could come up with that.\n\nGQ: I heard you won. Were your brothers angry?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: No. We've gone for the same role many, many times in our lives and we're happy when the other one gets it.\n\nGQ: Are you recognized often in L.A.?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: Since I started working in Weeds, a lot of people started talking to me the same way my paesanos did in the past, and that's a really nice feeling.\n\nGQ: I always wonder watching Weeds: What is the fake marijuana made of?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: (laughs) It's lettuce!\n\nGQ: Lettuce?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: They taste horrible though. It's really bad, but its good and its clean, and it doesn't go against the laws.\n\nGQ: You lived in New York for a time. What was your first job?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: I left my parents' home when I was 22, I moved to New York with my ex-girlfriend. We did a film together with Raul Julia. She was playing the lead and she was living in New York, so I said, 'Ok, that's it, I'm out of here!\" I worked at Rosa Mexicano.\n\nGQ: Dude, you came to New York to work at a Mexican restaurant? Was it authentic?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: I think it's the closest to whatever real Mexican food is. That's where I learned to make guacamole. I never fid guacamole in my life.\n\nGQ: A Mexican guy has to come to New York to learn how to make guacamole?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: At Rosa Mexicano, it's the busboy who makes the guacamole\u2014right in front of your eyes. I became the king of guacamole, I'm telling you. I'm still good at it.\n\nGQ: What's the secret? \n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: The owner put this note on the menu: In order to maintain the real Mexican cuisine in this restaurant we don't Americanize the dishes. So no sour cream, no lime. A lot of people ask for lime but we could only bring it on another plate, on the side. She asked us to\u2014this is a true story\u2014if anybody asks for sour cream or lime, you bring it over on a plate and you have to tell them, \"If you want to ruin your guacamole, here you have it.\" The real secret to guacamole is that you use exactly the elements that you need, which is cilantro, onion, tomato, and jalape\u00F1os. And of course avocado.\n\nGQ: There is some early Oscar buzz on A Better Life. How does that talk make you feel?\n\n Demi\u00E1n Bichir: When you do a film, all you want is to make the best film possible. You don't think about Oscars. But it's really flattering. Please, bring it on!"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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