Like many people, the Mexican actor Alfonso Herrera suffered mentally and emotionally during the Covid-19 pandemic. He began therapy while shooting the Netflix series “Ozark” in Atlanta, and during one session the therapist asked him to restate in Spanish something he had just said in English — even though she didn’t speak Spanish herself.
“I asked her, ‘Why do you want me to say it in Spanish?’” Herrera recalled recently. “She replied, ‘Because what you just expressed is something deeply important to you, and speaking it aloud in your mother tongue will resonate with a much stronger echo within both your conscious and your unconscious mind.’”
Herrera, 42, believes that link between language and identity will infuse “The House of the Spirits,” a new series adaptation of the seminal Isabel Allende novel, with a powerful feeling of cultural and emotional connection. That connection stands to be more powerful, certainly, than that of the widely panned English-language film from 1993, in which Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep led a mostly white cast in portraying a Chilean family.
The show, the first three episodes of which arrive Wednesday on Amazon Prime Video, will be the first Spanish-language screen adaptation of the novel, which was first published in 1982. Allende is an executive producer with Eva Longoria, Courtney Saladino and others, and the series also stars Nicole Wallace and Dolores Fonzi. It was shot entirely in Chile.
“The fact that this version was filmed in Chile, in Spanish and with Ibero American talent generates a very distinct DNA,” Herrera said.
American viewers might know Herrera, who lives in Mexico City, from “Ozark” — he played the ruthless drug lord Javi in Season 4. He was also in the sci-fi series “Sense8,” by Lana and Lilly Wachowski, and the TV version of “The Exorcist.” But he has been a star in Latin America for decades, having broken out in the early 2000s as part of the hugely popular pop group RBD. Mexican films like the queer period drama “Dance of the 41” and the acid political satire “¡Que viva México!” expanded his dramatic résumé.
“The House of the Spirits” is a multigenerational tale steeped in magical realism that chronicles life in an unspecified Latin American country (that resembles Chile) across most of the 20th century. Herrera plays Esteban, a determined landowner who embodies outdated patriarchal and conservative ideals with a ferocious personality.
The decades-spanning story depicts political violence that mirrors the 1973 coup d’état in Chile that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende, a cousin to the author’s father, and installed Augusto Pinochet in power. Herrera first read the novel as an assignment when he was in high school.
In a video interview, Herrera discussed the series and his career on both sides of the border. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Esteban is simmering in grief and fills the void with material success. He’s an authoritarian who is willing to use violence to maintain power, not unlike figures in our current political reality. What does the character mean to you?
Esteban symbolizes the Latin American political system, which is rife with injustice, completely unbalanced and devoid of emotional conscience. This story is tremendously relevant because it depicts social polarization, like what we are experiencing today in many countries, including the United States.
To speak of “The House of the Spirits” is to speak of what’s happened in the region that stretches from the Rio Grande to Patagonia. There are many sorrows, many wounds and many scars that we all share throughout Latin America. Take, for instance, the dictatorships in Chile, Argentina and Brazil. And as the writer Mario Vargas Llosa put it, Mexico too was a “perfect dictatorship,” having been ruled by the same political party for 70 years. The story is a mural of who we are as Latin Americans, for we also share the legacy of colonialism, which cemented the ways in which we communicate, how we coexist and our social structures.
Was the role physically demanding? You had to speak with a Chilean accent and undergo a physical transformation as the character ages.
I had to juggle several things at once. The Chilean accent differs enormously from the Mexican accent. At the same time, I portrayed Esteban from the time he was 30 right up to his death, which meant there was extensive use of prosthetics.
While we were filming, Pepe Mora and Jordi Morera, the makeup artists who created all the prosthetics, and I were watching “The Penguin.” I recall Colin Farrell saying in interviews, “We spent three and a half hours [in the makeup chair].” I remember us hearing that and thinking, Hold my beer. We were clocking in six and a half hours just for the application process. Obviously, I say this in a playful manner, but if you do the math, I actually spent over 240 hours sitting in that chair.
I would place a photo of my children on the mirror and tell myself, “We’re going to get through this.” Then I would look at the meticulous work Pepe and Jordi were doing and think, Wow, this is worth being patient for. And it paid off.
You’ve been working in Hollywood productions for only the past decade or so. How did that begin?
I first received a casting call [for “Sense8”]. I landed the role, and after that I returned to Mexico and continued working there. Then more opportunities to audition started coming in from the United States, and I landed some of those as well. At a certain point it wasn’t just invitations to audition anymore, but rather direct job offers, which fortunately were for interesting projects such as “Ozark” or “Queen of the South.” You are always appreciative when you get invited to join a project.
Considering you’ve had multiple films in Mexico in the past few years, you don’t seem to be actively chasing Hollywood stardom.
Working here in “el Norte” is not something I lose sleep over. I’ve had the opportunity to work in the United States, and I’ve met fantastic people, but what matters to me is simply to keep working, and that means working in my country and throughout Latin America. But when they invite me to work in the United States, I’d be delighted to do it again.
For many Latin American actors, working in Hollywood represents the pinnacle of success.
With streaming, a click is worth the same whether it comes from the United States or France or Mexico. The Spanish series “Money Heist” had a significant global impact, and there have been other shows from Latin America with a global reach. I find it fascinating to think that a click holds the same value now, no matter where in the world you happen to be.
Streaming’s global subscription model also makes it possible for books like “The House of the Spirits” to be adapted with lavish production values but still in their original language.
That also has to do with the importance and the sheer power of the novel. I was in Switzerland to watch the Women’s Euro tournament, and I popped into some bookstores. Isabel Allende’s books were consistently on the stores’ best-selling lists. “The House of the Spirits,” arguably her most significant work, has been a best seller in Japan, France and Germany alike. Regardless of the fact that the series is in Spanish, I believe it will successfully cross over into other markets, in great part because the novel remains as relevant as ever.
