Boxing, in the most general terms, is a poor man’s sport. All you have is your hands to make a living. – Edgar Ramirez
I met Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu years ago during my college days, and I was in charge of international promotion of this movie festival he was invited to as part of the jury, and then he saw my work on a short film that was directed by a friend of mine. – Edgar Ramirez
I think, for an actor, the whole world is a place of work because if you focus on characters and on stories, they are everywhere, so yeah, I feel very privileged to have had this great opportunities in the international cinema and especially in the American cinema. – Edgar Ramirez
In boxing, there are no bad guys or good guys. Just people trying to make a living and trying to live up to their pride and to try to become someone. – Edgar Ramirez
Whenever someone comes up to me saying, ‘I saw you in ‘Carlos’ and then I saw the rest of your movies,’ for me, it’s an expression that we might be doing something well. So my life hasn’t changed that much. I just try not to go to very crowded places if I’m not in the mood. – Edgar Ramirez
I believe in the will. I believe in discipline. I believe in the organization. I believe in the rigor that gives us work. I believe in love as an engine of all things. I believe in the light. I believe in God. I believe in kindness. – Edgar Ramirez
Panamanian boxing is unique – it’s very musical. It’s almost like a dance. It has a lot to do with being in the Caribbean and with salsa. When you see a Panamanian boxer, there’s a style. There’s a playfulness in the way you throw the punches. – Edgar Ramirez
I belonged to the ‘Point Break’ generation – I watched the original when I was 13 years old. It’s basically the story of the rescue of the human spirit, and we continue to fight that same spiritual battle, but with a political expression. – Edgar Ramirez
I think there’s no creative process that goes without injuries and scratches and punches. You get beat up somehow, and that’s part of the commitment. You have to be open to that. – Edgar Ramirez
I’m restless. I’m all the time here and there and trying to get myself busy and creative. It’s something that’s part of my personality since I was a kid. – Edgar Ramirez
That’s what happens in a good horror movie: there are always metaphors of greater subjects like humanity and empathy and compassion. It’s not about the action and scary moments: You really care about these characters because they’re mirrors of our own reflections. – Edgar Ramirez
We all have very personal relationships to what happened on 9/11 and the events after tracking Osama bin Laden. Nobody can escape from the influence of that. – Edgar Ramirez
My father was military, so I traveled a lot, so I had 13 to 15 first days in new schools. Bullies transcend culture, unfortunately, and I had to deal with them wherever I went. I knew how to defend myself. But I didn’t know how to fight. – Edgar Ramirez
Everything goes in waves. Evolution goes in waves. The ocean goes in waves. Energy goes in waves. Sound travels in waves. – Edgar Ramirez
There’s no way to reconstruct reality. It happened once. What you do is reinterpret and recreate. Even if you have the person who lived it and did it next to you, the event happened just once. – Edgar Ramirez
The tale of ‘Point Break’ is about doing what you love and committing to what you love. It’s relevant to me as a Venezuelan, to you as an American, to any Chinese person watching the film. – Edgar Ramirez
Carlos, on paper, and Carlos, the guy who was in jail, is known to be a cultivated guy, the guy who handles big amounts of information, and for me, that was very important. – Edgar Ramirez
I’m definitely interested in exploring human contradictions. Contradictions are what make us human – it’s what defines us as human beings. Contradictions are what make characters interesting, and I’ve been lucky to be presented with characters who have a lot of contradictions. – Edgar Ramirez
We use the term ‘fight’ very lightly – ‘I’ve been fighting so hard to get my car, I’ve been fighting so hard to get that job, I’ve been fighting so hard to get that girl.’ But the reality is boxers do fight bitterly to get whatever they want or whatever they need in life, and most of them come from nothing, which is the case of Roberto Duran. – Edgar Ramirez
I come from Venezuela, from the independent film arena, and you work with one camera. – Edgar Ramirez
Imagine stepping into the shoes of Roberto Duran, one of the most legendary boxers in the history of the sport, and definitely the most legendary Latin American boxer, and then having ‘Raging Bull’ in my corner. I mean, imagine that? Just having Robert De Niro to play the trainer in the movie, that was fantastic. – Edgar Ramirez
I think that, in the end, the military behavior and intelligence services are not very different from each other. It’s an attitude of hunters; they’re observing the prey. – Edgar Ramirez
Duran is a mythological figure in Latin America. He grew up in a time of turbulence because Panama was basically occupied by the United States. So he felt obliged to fight Americans in the ring. He felt the whole pride of his country and the need for cultural and political emancipation in his hands. – Edgar Ramirez
Bolivar’s legacy has always been a part of the Venezuelan/Latin American imagery, especially in the countries that he liberated or he helped to liberate. He’s been a very prominent figure. – Edgar Ramirez
Feminism is nothing but equality, and actually, feminism benefits men because it liberates us and it releases us from many stigmas imposed by the macho culture on us as well. So if more of us could understand that it’s nothing but equality, I think many agendas in terms of equality would have advanced quicker because it really helps us as well. – Edgar Ramirez
