Tonatiuh on Finding the Heart and Emotion in Kiss of the Spider Woman
Tonatiuh first connected with the project for Kiss of the Spider Woman through a self-tape. “You never really know where those go,” he admits. “You just send it out and hope someone on the other end sees what you were trying to do.” He didn’t expect much beyond that, but soon came a callback and a challenge that would test his instincts.
“In the room, they started asking me to do certain things differently, to explore new emotional layers,” he recalls. “That’s when I realized they weren’t just looking for someone to deliver lines. They wanted someone who could navigate this very delicate space between fantasy and reality.”
It’s that space that Kiss of the Spider Woman lives in, a story that demands both vulnerability and precision. For Tonatiuh, stepping into it meant trusting his instincts, even when they ran counter to what he thought casting might expect. “There’s a temptation to perform, to show range,” he says. “But in this, I had to remind myself that stillness can be just as powerful.”
Tonatiuh speaks about his preparation less like an actor chasing perfection and more like someone seeking connection. “It’s about understanding the why behind every choice,” he says. “You can’t fake that intimacy on screen.”
The set, he adds, was a masterclass in collaboration in learning from everyone includin Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez. “Everyone was so committed. It wasn’t about star power, it was about storytelling. When you have that kind of trust around you, it frees you up to take real risks.”
In he hopes audiences take from the film, Tonatiuh hopes that it’s “Empathy,” he says simply. “It’s a story about seeing someone fully even when the world tells you not to. That’s what makes it timeless.”
