La Reina del Sur 3 is about to premiere and take over the nights of Telemundo. Together with Teresa Mendoza, Epifanio Vargas also returns, a character played by Humberto Zurita, one of the most important film, television and theater actors in Mexico.
In this conversation, the actor opens the doors to his creative process. He talks to us about how he builds a character that has so many nuances of the current world, that he could easily live in his own skin. Zurita also tells us how he allows these villains to have the charisma that many of the real versions of him possess, a charm that leads him to compare them in seduction with the devil himself.
Q: The Queen of the South, her character, and many of the themes that this production addresses, are undoubtedly a reflection of the reality of both Mexico and many Latin American countries. As an actor, I imagine that in this reality there are tools to arm Epifanio Vargas… How do you get out of the skin of this character?
R: We actors have a methodology to be able to interpret To our characters, I always turn first to the text, this leads me intuitively to understand a character beyond reason. The intuition in an actor is valuable… then comes the construction of the character and the analysis of the text.
At the same time, you do all this , it is also very clear to you that you are building a character that has nothing to do with you. You lend him your voice and a certain charisma of yours. In the case of Epifanio Vargas, despite the fact that he is a drug trafficker villain, I wanted him to have those things that I see in these people, they are always charismatic, they always have an angel…. They are like the devil, they are seductive; once I finish the character, well, I just put aside all those tools that I used to build it and I dedicate myself to the new character, looking for that same path.
I am not an experiential actor in that sense… I am not a person who stays with the characters in the skin, it is very clear to me that I am interpreting a character. Once I finish it I forget about it as if it was a dream.
Q: One, two and now three… three seasons of La Reina del Sur, did you ever think this would be possible?