John Leguizamo knows all about the mojo.
The Colombian-born actor stars in Jon Favreau’s latest indie comedy “Chef” as Martin, a witty and coolheaded Cuban cook. Recently, Leguizamo sat down with The Huffington Post to talk about what it was like to bring a whole lot of Latin flavor to a film that was all about, well, Latin flavor.
With plenty of delectable scenes for food porn addicts, “Chef” gives audiences a glimpse into the culinary world. In the film, Chef Carl Casper must find a way to reignite his creative spark after he is suddenly forced to quit his job at a prominent Los Angeles restaurant.
As Carl takes a leap to reconnect with his roots, Martin (Leguizamo) jumps in behind him. The actor said he enjoyed giving Favreau a hand both on and off the screen.
“It was great teaching Jon a lot of Spanish words, like Mojo is a Spanish word,” Leguizamo told HuffPost. “Nobody knows that but mojo is like Cuban for [a] special magic sauce, so that’s why people get their mojo on.”
In one scene, Martin also gives Carl a hand connecting with some Latino workers by breaking out some Spanish. The “Ghetto Klown” star explained why it’s so important that Non-Latinos find a way to connect with the Hispanic community.
(Check Out The Full Interview Above)
While “Chef” focuses on a character’s literal journey to reconnect with his creativity and his son, the film also spotlights the power of social media.
“I only Twitter, I instagram every blue moon, I don’t really Facebook that much but Twitter I like,” Leguizamo said when asked about his online habits. “I just think it’s an important dissemination of intellectual knowledge or you can start political movements, social movements. I think it’s a really powerful instrument. And I like that Jon in the movie plays this sort of paleolithic [guy] in social media, until he gets educated by his son and then all of a sudden he doesn’t know how dangerous it is and it all goes awry.”
“Chef” opens in theaters nationwide on May 9.
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