EXCLUSIVE | 'Long Gone By' star Erica Muñoz dishes on Hollywood Latinx role depiction: 'Most of them tone-deaf'
It's a new age in television and cinema. From minorities to their struggles and the sheer bias shown towards them - nothing is hidden behind the curtain anymore. Yet what the majority of on-screen LatinX representation fails to understand is that there's more to oversized shirts, sombreros, tequila and the fiery hothead stereotype. Look at Andrew Morgan and Erica Muñoz's recent joint venture 'Long Gone By' for example. Ana, a single mother, tackles deportation and a life filled with discrimination and bias, all for her daughter and Muñoz tells MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) in a casual chat how the journey of playing Ana was a personal one. Even though most of Hollywood's Latinx representation is "tone-deaf", spills the actress.
It all started way back, just after the 2016 presidential election, Muñoz tells us. While collaborating with director Morgan on a documentary series, the duo "worked on a few stories featuring undocumented immigrants, one about a central California agriculture community, one about sanctuary churches and one about a dreamer trying to become a doctor but having a hard time finding financial aid. The seeds of a story were born from that experience," Muñoz tells us. "Andrew had me in mind and involved me very early on as a producer so I felt a certain ownership of the story and of Ana's character that I hadn't experienced before. We started asking questions about what It looks like to tell a version of this story in a way we hadn’t yet seen. Without caricatures or stereotypes but telling the story of a complicated woman who makes questionable choices in the name of her child. Ana is strong and complicated and I felt really connected to that aspect of her."
This isn't Muñoz and Morgan's first collab though, yet she gushes about how "valued" she felt as part of the project. "Working with Andrew is a really collaborative experience. He's kind and open and he has a real passion for telling stories that humanize headlines. He's really supportive and smart. He allowed for so much of my voice and opinion to be heard. I felt valued in a way I haven't in the past," Muñoz tells us about the story of Ana, whose emotional state was "not a jump" for the actress.
"The specifics of the situation were informed by real conversations and real relationships in my life but I thought a lot about my mother," Muñoz reveals, adding: "She raised 4 small children on her own working two, sometimes 3 jobs at a time. She taught me to be strong and self-reliant and to press on through hardship. Starting from there and having my two children in Warsaw with us, it wasn’t hard to connect the dots between desperation and motherhood; the desire to take care of your children, and what lines you might cross to protect them."
And overwhelming as the concept and chronicle of the story might be, Muñoz dishes on how actors are "spoiled" on the set enough for her to not take "things home with me". "I'm not the type of person," Muñoz adds, explaining: "There's obviously a moment to decompress but actors are afforded a lot of comfort on and off set. We are so spoiled. You have crew getting there hours before the first shot and staying hours after and people always ask - How is the actor? Can I get you anything? There's a lot of support and opportunity to decompress." So she keeps it simple when it comes to unwinding. "It’s a long run, time with my kids, a nap!" - all the simple things.
Things are however not so simple when it comes to the way mainstream media's representation of the Latinx community. "Honestly, I think most of them are tone-deaf," Muñoz notes. "In many ways because we aren't involved in any element of the storytelling so it’s the Latinx experience from the perspective of people who aren't living it." What's so different about 'Long Gone By' then? "This movie was conceptualized around late 2017," Munoz reflects back, adding: "So much has changed for me personally in terms of moving beyond that narrative. I'd love to see more representations of the Latinx experience. There are so many shades, so many experiences, so much to draw on. It would be so beneficial to start giving a platform to more diverse voices. That's how the industry tells the stories authentically. "
Be it the kind and patient director that Morgan is, who "trusts his actors to be in the moment" and gives them space more than offering his direction, or the way Muñoz's niece, Izzy Hau'ula, "was a complete professional and an absolute joy to work with" - Muñoz will have you believed everything just aligned right for the film. And one look at the movie will reveal how true that is. Basking in the glory of such sheer brilliance, the 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Indebted' actress has been "producing a couple of features and working on a project to bring more Latinx talent into the view of casting directors that should be ready to launch soon!" Until then, catch her riveting performance as Ana in 'Long Gone By' that originally premiered at the New York Latino Film Festival and is now streaming on all HBO platforms.