He was the glory of Mexican film and created a style of humor that no one has been able to replicate. Although it has been 32 years since the release of El barrendero, the last of the 38 films in which he starred in Mexico, his movies still leave Sony millions annually in royalties. In the 1950’s Mario Moreno, better known as Cantinflas, was the king of the box office in Latin America and Spain due to his simple humor, contagious smile, and complex tongue twisters that not even his fellow countrymen could decipher. However, he was not very popular in the United States, even though he started his work in Hollywood in the best possible way. In Michael Anderson’s film Around the World in 80 Days, an ambitious Technicolor blockbuster in which he shared the spotlight with David Niven and Shirley McLaine, various other stars such as Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, Buster Keaton, the bullfighter Dominguín, and French legend Fernandel tagged along playing smaller roles. The film ended up being extremely successful, winning a total of 5 Academy Awards, including Best Movie. Cantinflas’ exquisite work was ignored by the Academy, but was recognized in the 1957 Golden Globes, where he went on to win in the category of Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical, beating no less that Marlon Brando, Danny Kaye, Yul Brynner, and Glenn Ford. Oddly enough, the film also ended up winning the very crucial Golden Globe for Best Picture, Drama (The King and I won the Golden Globe for Best Picture in Comedy or Musical). The romance between Cantinflas and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s esteemed award continued for a few years. He was nominated for a Golden Globe once again in 1961 in the category of Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for Pepe, the last Hollywood film in which he starred. Even though Jack Lemmon won the Golden Globe for his work in The Apartment, he did not go home empty handed: the HFPA awarded him a special Golden Globe for his career in comedy. Although his legacy is fading among new generations, a movie is trying to revive his legacy for modern day audiences. It’s called Cantinflas, a film directed by Sebastián del Amo (who started his career with El fantástico mundo de Juan Orol), a biography that has the support of Moreno’s family and whose strongest suit is the performance given by the Catalonian Óscar Jaenada, best known in the United States for his work in The Losers and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The Barcelona native has already shown in his country that he can do. In fact, Jaenada has already won a Goya (considered Spain’s Oscar) for another remarkable role, when he transformed himself into the famous flamenco dancer Camarón de la Isla for the film Camarón. In Cantinflas, the Spaniard is able to fully capture the grace and spirit of Moreno, both in front and behind the camera. He had no problems acquiring a perfect Mexican accent in order to complete a wondrous characterization, obviously helped by his physical similarities with the actor. In fact, Jaenada waited many years hoping for what seemed like an impossible dream to come true, a time he used wisely by familiarizing himself and studying the actor in depth.
The film, which will be released on August 29 in the United States, and on September 19 in Mexico, tells the story of Moreno from his humble start in the shantytowns of Mexico City in the early 20th century to his recognition as Mexico’s biggest movie star, yet it still finds the time to show his personal life, particularly his relationship with his only wife, Russian Valentina Ivanova (with whom he stayed married for 30 years, until her death in 1966) who is played by Ilse Salas, as well as his union fights in Mexico’s complex political landscape. The main supporting role of producer Micheal Todd, the man who made “Around the World in 80 Days” possible, is portrayed by American actor Michael Imperioli, whose character’s constant battle to finish the movie narratively intersects with Moreno’s life, reaching the film climax by recreating the comedian’s historic Golden Globe win.

Gabriel Lerman