The concept of monogamy is an inheritance of a medieval time, when family would carry the tradition of the name and certain privileges. It’s a way of organizing society, perhaps. – Gael Garcia Bernal
In Mexico, theater is very underground, so if you’re a theater actor it’s very difficult to make a living. But it’s also a very beautiful pathway to knowledge and to an open education. – Gael Garcia Bernal
I didn’t know I wanted to do films until I started to do them. Very few films are made in Mexico and film-making belonged to a very specific group, a clique. – Gael Garcia Bernal
The type of music we know as classical music began with rich people hiring musicians or owning them in a way. Without funding, it’s very hard to have this experience. Be it state money or private money, there has to be someone dedicated to raising the money. – Gael Garcia Bernal
In Mexico you have death very close. That’s true for all human beings because it’s a part of life, but in Mexico, death can be found in many things. – Gael Garcia Bernal
Music is really nothing if you think about it – it only becomes something when somebody listens to it. And then it becomes uncontrollable. – Gael Garcia Bernal
We think that democracy can change a lot of things, but we’re being fooled, because democracy is not the election. We’ve been taught that democracy is having elections. And it isn’t. Elections are the most horrendous aspect of democracy. It’s the most mundane, trivial, disappointing, dirty aspect. – Gael Garcia Bernal
When it’s good, cinema can be one of the most important things in a person’s life. A film can be a catalyst for change. You witness this and it is an incredibly spiritual experience that I’d never lived before; well, maybe only in a football match. – Gael Garcia Bernal
Texas is a country in its own. It’s made up of half Mexico/half United States but completed mixed. I don’t mean to draw a generalization but it is a place, a territory, that’s really made up of all these encounters, you know? – Gael Garcia Bernal
Every decision that you make you have to be incredible congruent. It doesn’t mean that you have to starve. If you need money, you do something that gives you money, that’s normal. – Gael Garcia Bernal
Recently I’ve been doing risottos. Some of them have been amazing. Some of them, not all of them. – Gael Garcia Bernal
Every democracy is constructed day-to-day. And the electoral process reduces and minimalizes every single aspect of human complexity. We’re putting it into pamphlets. We’re doing a publicity show. We’re becoming symbols. – Gael Garcia Bernal
In a comedy, after the day is done, you can figure out ways of how to make it even funnier for the next day. In dramas, it’s very different – the mindset that you’re in. – Gael Garcia Bernal
I think the water dictates how food will taste in a country. In England the apples taste unlike apples grown in any other place. England is an island, there’s a lot of salt in the air and in the water. I think that has something to do with it. – Gael Garcia Bernal
My mom had me when she was 19 or 20. And my father was 22 or something. They were working on whatever they could, both of them aiming to be actors in theater. – Gael Garcia Bernal
In English, I’m a little bit limited. I speak English as a second language, and that’s a little limitation that I have to work around and I have to use it to my favor. So, yes, that’s why I end up wanting to do more things in Latin America. – Gael Garcia Bernal
It is quite common to meet people that live a few kilometers away from Mexico and that have never been there. We need to revive on many levels an illustrious desire to get to know the world, to learn another language, to understand and create empathy with people that live a few kilometers away from us. It’s never late to do this. – Gael Garcia Bernal
I always laugh a lot when I see the dramas that I end up doing. I see myself behaving very seriously and I’m like, ‘What is this?’ – Gael Garcia Bernal
I’ve never cared for the idea of a career path, or where a film might ‘take me.’ My love is for acting not money, so I only take on roles that I find challenging, in stories I find interesting. – Gael Garcia Bernal
I was brought up the Mexican way, where actors are paid very little and every part you take is an act of faith. If people respect that, then great. – Gael Garcia Bernal
In terms of work, obviously acting is such a job that is very in the flesh kind of thing. It’s your work, but it’s your life, in a way. You can get so mixed up. – Gael Garcia Bernal
Let’s not give the electoral process so much importance. We have to be cynical about it. Let’s give importance to the real democracy that’s constructed on a day-to-day basis. That’s my hopeful perspective on it. – Gael Garcia Bernal
In Mexico we have a trick – add a crystal of salt to the kettle and the tea tastes better, almost English. But after four pots, your kettle’s broken. – Gael Garcia Bernal
Little remnants from everywhere I’ve been are scattered around my home. I collect rocks in a weird way, with stones from around the world as mementos. I’ve also got three haranas, which are little guitars. – Gael Garcia Bernal
We have a documentary film festival in Mexico. It’s really original. It’s called Ambulante, and it’s a film festival that travels around several cities in Mexico. – Gael Garcia Bernal
In general, I hate films that are overtly either very masculine or very feminine, you know? The same way that I don’t like a war movie about soldiers smashing people’s heads. But a chick flick I like would be Cassavetes’ movies. ‘A Woman Under the Influence,’ ‘Husbands.’ – Gael Garcia Bernal
