In the new film Cassandra, Gail Garcia Bernal plays the real life Mexican American wrestler who came to international

stardom by adopting the persona of the flamboyant

Cassandrao, the Liberace of Luce lebray.

It's the story of a queer man who decides to challenge a macho and

homophobic system through sheer showmanship, and in so doing steadily earns the respect

of his fellow wrestlers and wins over the hearts and minds of his audiences.

I'm Glenn Weldon and today we're talking about Cassandra on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

Joining me today is switched on pop producer,

Riana Cruz.

Hey, Riana.

Howdy.

Howdy, and making her Pop culture happy hour debut is Isabella Gomez

Sarmiento. She's a producer on NPR's Culture Desk and the Book of the Day podcast.

Walking with the show Isabella. Thank you very much.

Let's get started.

Cassandra is a biopic about iconic Mexican American wrestler Saul Airmendaris, played by Gail Garcia Bernal.

As young man in El Paso, he crosses the border to enter amateur

luchalibre bouts, though his diminutive size means he's always cast as the

loser. Under the guidance of his wrestling coach Sabrina, played by Roberta Colindres, he decides to switch

up his wrestling persona to become an exotic call, a category of lutrelieber wrestlers who are

coded as gay and who thus traditionally lose in humiliating ways much to the delight of homophobic crowds. Saoul swipes some skin-tight animal prince from his loving mother played by Perla de la Rosa and creates Cassandrao who wins

bouts through athleticism and showmanship and quickly becomes a sensation.

...