The Affair: Catalina Sandino Moreno Breaks Down Season 4s Timely Immigration Plot

Celebrities

In the second episode of The Affairs thrilling fourth season, Luisa (played by Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno) gets pulled over for a busted taillight while driving her husband Coles (Joshua Jackson) Jeep. The police officer asks for her drivers license, but Luisa replies that she left it at home. As he radios the station, Luisa waits, her hands trembling in fear. Cole tries to comfort her: “Were married,” he says. “It doesnt matter, Cole. They dont care,” she replies, almost hyperventilating.

Lucky for her, the cop gets called away, and Luisas off the hook—for now. You see, shes an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador—and even though shes married to Cole, shes unable to obtain a green card because she came into the country illegally.

“The situation of Luisa is the situation of thousands of people right now,” Moreno said ahead of this seasons finale on Sunday. “She cant apply for DACA, because she is too old. She cant show [that] no one depends on her. Its a tough spot for her. I thought the timing [for this story line] was perfect. Theres still many people going through the same things shes going through.”

Moreno joined The Affairs cast in 2015, during the shows second season. Her characters immigration status initially went unmentioned on the show, at first; all she told Cole initially was that shes from Queens and is trying save money for college. Now its out in the open, and though the immigration story line hasnt become The Affairs main focus—as ever, the show is centered on Coles relationship with his ex-wife, Alison (Ruth Wilson)—its been quietly thrumming in the background all season.

“She cant have independence, because she depends on using everything thats his,” Moreno says. “Just seeing it as a woman, just as a person, it has to awful to depend on anyone. She doesnt like to depend on anyone. The first time we meet Luisa, shes working in a bar. She wants to get some money so she can go back to school. Shes a driven, independent person who wants to provide for herself. But when these things happen, its a reminder that youre not as independent as you want to be.”

Moreno herself emigrated from Bogotá, Colombia to New York City in 2005, but she says her own immigration story is “boring.” She came to the U.S. after starring in 2004s Maria Full of Grace as a pregnant drug mule; her performance earned her a best-actress Oscar nomination in 2005. (Since then, no Latina actress has been nominated for best actress.) HBO Films produced the movie, and needed her to be able to travel in the States to promote it—so she says she “got an easy way in.”

“But I can imagine how if youre desperate, if youre looking for asylum from your country . . . thats the way we receive these kind of people,” she said. “Its scary whats happening. And these people arent coming to this country just to have fun. They have reasons to risk their lives and be apart from each other.”

At the time of our interview, hundreds of children still hadnt been reunited with their parents after being separated at the border by the Trump administrations much-criticized, since-halted policy. Moreno has a nine-year-old son, and related to that fear. “As a mother, I can tell you that I am aware of where he is all the time and what hes doing, whats hes eating,” she says. “I dont know how many are lost in the system. The parents have no way of finding their child. It has to be the worst nightmare of every parent to not know where he is, if hes happy or safe. I feel like as a human, not just as a mother, its barbaric whats happening. Its awful.”

The Affair and Maria Full of Grace arent the only times Moreno has played an immigrant, or participated in a politically charged project. In Richard Linklaters Fast Food Nation, she played an undocumented immigrant from Mexico; she played an immigrant again in a segment of the 2006 anthology film Paris, je taime. In fact, shes “obsessed” with portraying people like Luisa: “I love them,” she said. “Im very attracted to real people, and I connect with them very well. I can get very much into who they are, and why theyre there and the decisions that theyve made. Before Maria Full of Grace, I remember thinking these people [smugglers] are crazy. Why are they going to put themselves in the line to get caught or get killed? Its very easy to judge them. But when you portray one you feel for them, and youre rooting for them, and you hope they get their American dream . . . they dont have a fairy-tale story, so I think theyre very brave to embark themselves and their families on this journey.”

Moreno stars on Showtime's The Affair.

By Christopher Saunders/SHOWTIME.

As much as she enjoys these dramatic roles—and doesnt feel typecast—shed love to pivot into something else. Moreno had a small part as the vampire Maria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse; shed also love to play a superhero because “I guess youd have a lot of fun,” she said.

The Affairs August 5 episode revealed a shocking twist that set up Sundays ominous season finale: we learned that Alison has supposedly committed suicide by drowning in the ocean. The following week added another twist: Alisons lover, Ben (Ramon Rodriguez), may have killed her, though theres speculation that a third party was involved.

With Alison out of the way, what will this mean for Luisa? Will Coles daughter, Joanie, become her dependent, clearing a path for Luisa to become a U.S. citizen? Will she decide to leave Cole? Or could it be that she actually had something to do with Alisons untimely death?

“I think Luisa is in a desperate situation—not just the immigration stuff, but her emotional state,” Moreno said. “Everything with her is a struggle: to have Joanie and to fight with Cole and deal with crazy Alison. This is the season where she realizes shes not part of the family, and she takes care of a couple of things, and the struggle is done. She decides for herself whats best for her and for Cole and the kid. Youll see.”

Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:An Ode to The Americans Many-Splendored Wigs

[contf] [contfnew]

Vanity Fair

[contfnewc] [contfnewc]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *