La Maquina streaming on Hulu Diego Luna Gael Garcia Bernal

LOS ANGELES – Their friendship goes back to childhood, but it’s not often we see Emmy winner Diego Luna and Golden Globe winner Gael García Bernal working on a project together.

In 2001, the two worked on Alfonso Cuaron’s “Y Tu Mama Tambien” and in 2008 the two friends teamed up again with Cuaron in “Rudo y Cursi”.

Now, 16 years later, García Bernal and Luna are teaming up for Hulu’s first original Spanish-language series, La Máquina.

In the six-episode limited series, Esteban (García Bernal) is a Mexican boxer at his lowest point. After a devastating defeat, Esteban is determined to get back on top with the help of his manager and best friend Andy (Luna), but a nefarious organization rears its head and turns the rematch into a life-or-death event.

It’s a complicated friendship that benefited from the real-life relationship between the two actors. García Bernal said in their friendship that they can be honest with each other, especially when it comes to their work, be it individual projects or collaborations, as they do in “La Máquina.”

“Love plays a role in everything we do,” Luna told Spectrum News. “There are so few friendships that are important in my life [like the one with Garcia Bernal].”

Both actors understand the importance and responsibility of starring in Hulu’s first Spanish original series – a series that began as an idea years old and had its origins in a drunken conversation between García Bernal and Luna in Berlin. That’s when they both decided to do a project in which García Bernal would play a boxer and Luna would play his larger-than-life nativity scene.

“We are very grateful that they have supported us so much,” said García Bernal. “They let us do whatever we wanted. It’s fantastic. It really is like a dream.”

But it’s not just a story about boxing, because if viewers like boxing, they’ll enjoy the show, Luna said. It is also a story about friendship, popularity and the end of one’s career.

“We are privileged to be entrusted with this and hopefully it will be the first of many shows in Spanish on Hulu,” Luna said. “It’s a show where they’ll see Mexico from an interesting perspective. You will have fun.

For those who grew up listening to Mexican pop music in the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s, the series’ soundtrack will be nostalgic. Featuring songs from artists such as Kabah, Cristian Castro and La Union, show creator and writer Marco Ramirez told Spectrum News that the music chosen for “La Máquina” gives the series its special flavor.

“There were many WhatsApp threads where actors, writers and directors discussed filming ideas. “All the ideas and songs, even the ones that weren’t included, took us back down memory lane,” Ramirez said. “From the songs done at karaoke to ‘Lobo-Hombre en Paris’ by La Union, all of these songs feel like they have a certain flavor to them. It really helped set the tone of the show.”

Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna and Eiza Gonzalez. (Photo by: Cristian Salvatierra/Hulu)

Ramirez told Spectrum News that “La Máquina” is not like other boxing or crime stories. It’s a story about reaching the end of your career and finding a way to let go.

“It speaks its own language and has its own rules,” Ramirez said. “I think the music is just unexpected enough. It’s vintage pop that’s so specifically Latin. Culturally, the show is its own thing.”

García Bernal told Spectrum News they worked to create an anti-fable about how losing can mean winning, how losing is about gaining your freedom and escaping success.

“La Maquina” also stars Eiza González and Lucia Mendez, one of Mexico’s greatest soap opera actresses.

All episodes of “La Máquina” are now streaming on Hulu.

Click the arrow above to watch the full interview.