Edgar Ramirez Quotes

I look for roles that allow me to immerse in different worlds, immerse in worlds that are different from mine. Then, when you finish a film, you’re a different person. I look for that. I look to be impacted, to be transformed, changed by my roles. That’s why I do this.

I majored in political communications, so I intended to be a diplomat.

Boxing, in the most general terms, is a poor man’s sport. All you have is your hands to make a living.

I’m acting for the same reasons I wanted to become a diplomat. I’ve thought about it a lot and concluded that I wanted to become a diplomat because it was a way to explore human nature. For the same reason that at one point in college, I wanted to be a sociologist.

I think that, in the end, the military behavior and intelligence services are not very different from each other. It’s an attitude of hunters; they’re observing the prey.

I think, for any actor, dealing with the paranormal is intriguing.

Whenever someone comes up to me saying, ‘I saw you in ‘Carlos’ and then I saw the rest of your movies,’ for me, it’s an expression that we might be doing something well. So my life hasn’t changed that much. I just try not to go to very crowded places if I’m not in the mood.

For me, no ideological or political conviction would justify the sacrifice of a human life. For me, the value of life is absolute, with no concessions. It’s not negotiable.

There’s never a dull moment on a David O. Russell set. But that’s the beauty of it. That’s the magic.

My father was military, so I traveled a lot, so I had 13 to 15 first days in new schools. Bullies transcend culture, unfortunately, and I had to deal with them wherever I went. I knew how to defend myself. But I didn’t know how to fight.

I’m very physical. I love to work out; I’m very athletic. It’s a great therapy, not only for my body, but for my mind.

I’m restless. I’m all the time here and there and trying to get myself busy and creative. It’s something that’s part of my personality since I was a kid.

Panamanian boxing is unique – it’s very musical. It’s almost like a dance. It has a lot to do with being in the Caribbean and with salsa. When you see a Panamanian boxer, there’s a style. There’s a playfulness in the way you throw the punches.

Duran is a mythological figure in Latin America. He grew up in a time of turbulence because Panama was basically occupied by the United States. So he felt obliged to fight Americans in the ring. He felt the whole pride of his country and the need for cultural and political emancipation in his hands.

If you get conquered by ego, then you are losing the fight.

I belonged to the ‘Point Break’ generation – I watched the original when I was 13 years old. It’s basically the story of the rescue of the human spirit, and we continue to fight that same spiritual battle, but with a political expression.

To portray not only a boxer but a boxer like Roberto Duran, I needed to understand all the difficulties and the pressures of the sport itself.

I believe in the will. I believe in discipline. I believe in the organization. I believe in the rigor that gives us work. I believe in love as an engine of all things. I believe in the light. I believe in God. I believe in kindness.

I always try to look for the hidden face of the character, the hidden face that we all have.

The reality is that not only were we massively hit in 2008 when the bubble burst, and then we realized how deep the social gap, the economic gap in the world is between the super rich and the poor; also, we realized how impacted the environment has been. So there’s been a physical consequence of that.

Imagine stepping into the shoes of Roberto Duran, one of the most legendary boxers in the history of the sport, and definitely the most legendary Latin American boxer, and then having ‘Raging Bull’ in my corner. I mean, imagine that? Just having Robert De Niro to play the trainer in the movie, that was fantastic.

I’m just the second Bodhi. I think there will be more. I have the feeling this is only the first re-imagination of ‘Point Break’.

Everything goes in waves. Evolution goes in waves. The ocean goes in waves. Energy goes in waves. Sound travels in waves.

It’s been a teenage fantasy of mine to play Bodhi.

You get to a new school, and you’re the new guy, or you’re the foreigner, or you’re the guy with the funny accent. That first day at school was a whole new opportunity to create a new persona.

Carlos was a character, a character fabricated by Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, fabricated by the secret services of the epoch, fabricated by the governments of the epoch, by the radical groups of the epoch, by the communications media.

I have a huge promotion: you’ve heard from me on ‘Vantage Point’ and also with ‘Cyrano Fernandez’ – that is a Venezuelan movie that I star in and co-produced, and it’s based on the romance of Cyrano de Bergerac. And it’s set in a Venezuelan slum. It’s a free version of the French play.

I’ve never lived in an English-speaking country, ever, but I lived in Austria. So, my second language is German. And when I went to school, I had a lot of classes in English.

We are all seduced by charismatic people, whether it’s in your office or in the bus or in the train. There are people who just, like, come through the door, and everybody turns around and looks at them and feels drawn to them.

I’m not an aggressive person at all. But I know how to fight.

Bodhisattva is enlightened in the Buddhist philosophy, religion, tradition. He’s enlightened. It’s fine – I don’t really fight it – but many people use the term ‘zen’ and terms like ‘nirvana,’ ‘enlightenment’ in an almost superficial way. It’s not that complicated.

You can’t judge your characters or otherwise; it’s not about you, it’s about them.

I remember I would always joke among my friends about a remake of ‘Point Break’. I would say, ‘You know what? Whenever there’s a remake of ‘Point Break’, I’m going to do it.’

I remember when I first met Katherine Bigelow for ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ – actually, we met for another movie, and that never got made, and then she called me and invited me to ‘Zero Dark Thirty’.

There’s no way to reconstruct reality. It happened once. What you do is reinterpret and recreate. Even if you have the person who lived it and did it next to you, the event happened just once.