‘Cassandro’ director Roger Ross Williams on the importance of telling a positive queer story – Contenders Film LA

Roger Ross Williams, the director of Cassandroexplained why it was important to portray a positive queer story in the biopic based on a real-life gay amateur wrestler who became Mexican fight free upside down.

“It was really important to tell a positive queer story about someone who inspires – someone who inspires me,” Williams said during a panel discussion of the MGM Amazon Studios film at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles.

Williams said he made a short film about the wrestler and when he saw it luchador He said, ‘It’s you!’ You are my first scripted film.”

“I fell completely in love with his energy, his positivity and the power of his story that he took and reclaimed his power in this macho, completely macho, male-dominated, homophobic world,” he said. “He took all the negativity and turned it into something positive that gave him energy, made him a superhero and took over the world. fight free.”

Cassandro is played by Gael García Bernal, who costume designer María Estela Fernández describes as a “very generous actress”. I’ve seen him dressed like that before exotic “Wonderful for everyone,” Fernández said during the panel discussion.

“He was so happy to be there in those moments,” she said, and Williams added, “It was his. He owned the spandex.”

Williams also revealed that although Cassandro was still alive, he suffered a stroke shortly before filming began and is now paralyzed.

“He came, sat in a wheelchair and cried when he saw Gael playing him,” Williams said.

The director also said he had the “greatest performance of my life” watching Cassandro watch the finished film as he “replicated the action on screen” while seeing his mother and his big match with Santo.

Come back on Monday for the panel video.

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