Skin care is a psychological thriller that plays with the ideas of fame and beauty that film fans have. Famous beautician Hope Goldman receives threatening letters, her email account is hacked, and she is stalked. All of these things happen when Angel Vergara (Luis Gerardo Méndez) opens his salon across the street from hers. Driven to paranoia, Hope decides to take matters into her own hands – and the consequences are deadly.

In this interview with CBR, Luis Gerardo Méndez talks about his experiences on the set of Skin careHe talks about his friendship with co-star Elizabeth Banks and the film’s subtle social commentary on fame and obsession. Plus, the actor reflects on the constant pressure to stay new and relevant in Hollywood and reveals the meaning behind Angel’s dyed hair.

CBR: Your character Angel Vergara is a stark contrast to Hope Goldman. He’s the new kid on the block and knows about new technologies and trends. How did this rivalry between you and Elizabeth Banks, who plays Hope, come about?

Luis Gerardo Mendez:
It was pretty easy because we are very good friends! She instructed me
Charlie’s Angels

a few years ago and we became good friends. She’s a producer and director; I’m also a producer and director. We like the same kind of comedy. I feel like we speak the same language in terms of what we do.
Therefore, it is really easy to say horrible things to the people you love because it is a safe place and professional intimacy.
You can be much braver and more outspoken. And I think that was very important for the film because my character is the catalyst for Elizabeth’s character development.

I don’t know why, but I called the director a month before we started shooting and said, “Hey, Austin, you know what? I think I want to go blonde for this.” And he said, “Oh yeah, I like that. Why?”

I told him, “I don’t know. I just have a feeling.” And when I got to the set and Elizabeth came in and saw me with blonde hair, she said, “Oh, of course, yes!”
It’s the same color on both characters, just to make it even more irritating for (Hope).
(Laughs.) So it was very interesting to do that too.

Skin care uses social media as a weapon, which was new at the time of the film. Today, it is part of everyday life for most people. How would you compare your experiences with social media to Angel’s?

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It’s interesting… When Netflix launched, I made the first Spanish-language Netflix original series in the world. So at 32, I was the cool guy because it was new at the time to work at Netflix and make a TV series. And now everyone is doing it. And now we’re facing ChatGPT, artificial intelligence and all these things. I feel like there’s a new wave coming that I don’t know about. I feel like Hope Goldman.

In the movie, she’s trying to sell her products, and there’s this guy who has skincare technology from NASA! So it’s scary – it’s hard to stay relevant that way. And that’s also very characteristic of living in Los Angeles. I feel like this movie is a love letter to Los Angeles in some ways. That’s something the city does.
It kind of forces you to stay relevant, look better, be more successful, all those things.
It’s exhausting.

Your character benefits from the digital world, but he also pays the price for his actions. Is there something in Skin care that you found particularly scary?

I think the film is about how do you balance your ambitions with your sanity? To me, that’s Elizabeth’s character’s journey. She goes crazy because she wants it so badly, and she doesn’t think about what the consequences of her actions are.
I find it scary not to be able to recognize your own limits and get what you want.
That’s the most human thing about the film, and it’s something I really liked from the first minute I read the script. Where are those limits? What are you willing to do to get what you want? I think that’s something we should constantly ask ourselves.

In this context, was there anything your character Angel did or experienced that really surprised you?

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This film is loosely inspired by true events. Things like that happened. And as an actor, when you play some of these characters, there’s a special energy on set because you know you’re playing something that actually happened in some form.
You are playing with an energy that you only become aware of later.
That was interesting.

How did you ultimately see Angel, given everything he does – and goes through – over the course of Skin care?

Elizabeth Banks’ character is a white woman in her 40s, but my character is this Latino guy. We don’t know where he’s from. (He’s) probably from Mexico. Even if he has blonde hair, he could be Mexican, and he could be gay.
So it’s very interesting to see how this guy from a minority group – gay, Latino – suddenly became some kind of threat in the eyes of the woman because he was just doing his job.
He just wants to do a good job and that’s all. And this woman is going crazy because she gets the impression that this guy wants to kill me, this guy wants to hurt me.

I think that’s a very interesting commentary on how the United States works – in terms of (people) seeing people who are different from them. Not all of them, of course! But there’s still a large percentage of people who think that way – (who believe) that the people who are different from me are going to hurt me. They’re going to take my work, my jobs… There are so many layers to this movie that I thought it would be a very interesting story to tell.

IFC Films’ “Skincare” is in theaters now.