LOS ANGELES (AP) — Diego Boneta had grown tired of Hollywood’s obsession with narco storylines for Latinos. The actor decided he would provide some new source material with his debut novel, out Thursday, a self-described “murder mystery, sexual thriller” set around a fictional business dynasty.
“As someone who’s from Mexico City, seeing all these stories that are Mexican stories, most of them have been about narcos or border crossing. And that is part of our culture. But that’s only this,” the actor said, gesturing to indicate it only makes up a small portion of Mexico. “So why don’t we show the other stuff?”
Boneta, best known for portraying Latin pop icon Luis Miguel in Netflix’s 2018 biopic series and co-starring in “Rock of Ages,” is now fighting against these stereotypical portrayals by unveiling his debut novel, “The Undoing of Alejandro Velasco.” The Amazon Crossing book is publishing in English and available in Spanish on digital and audio formats. It is also slated for a television adaptation.
“I feel weird calling myself an author. I feel like I’m a storyteller,” said Boneta, 34, who is also a producer and a musician. “It’s the most personal thing I’ve ever done, so it’s really close to my heart.”
The novel centers on a mysterious man named Julian Villareal, who sets out to solve the mystery behind his friend and tennis rival Alejandro’s sudden death but finds himself in a series of twists and turns thanks to the Velasco family’s wealth and business ties.
“It’s in the vein of ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ meets ‘Match Point,’ set in San Miguel de Allende, full of plot twists,” Boneta said.
Boneta says he wanted to set the novel in San Miguel de Allende to showcase a different side of Mexico to mainstream audiences. He grew up visiting family in the historic city and calls it the “Florence of Mexico.”
“I really wanted it to feel like it was coming from my heart. So, I had to write about things that I was really passionate about, and San Miguel is one of them,” he said. “It’s truly a magical town.”
Boneta did not plan on adding author to his list of attributes, until his sister and producing partner, Natalia González-Boneta, suggested that they create their own intellectual property. Boneta will star as Julian in the Amazon Studios MGM series adaptation, which is currently in development. The actor and his team developed the novel and the series in tandem, though they put a pause on the series during the 2023 Hollywood strikes. Boneta says that he crafted the character to challenge himself when bringing the story to the screen.
“I love transformative roles. I love the chameleon aspect of acting,” he said. “That’s what we tried to do with Julian and having the con man not be the introvert, but be like this like bon vivant guy. He’s so worldly and says he has so much money, but is he really who he says he is?”
Julian is a role Boneta dreamed about as a kid when he failed to see himself represented on screen. He still remembers growing up and wondering why Batman wasn’t someone who looked like his family members.
“To me, that’s the most powerful way of creating an exclusive environment,” he said. “If you’re like, ‘Oh, we’re doing the Latin Batman, and he’s gonna have a mariachi, sombrero and a lucha libre mask and maracas.’ I’m like, ‘Dude, I don’t wanna see that.’ I want the real Batman to happen to be a Latin guy. You don’t even have to make a thing out of it.”