To say that the planets aligned when Raúl Juliá and Marcos Zurinaga met might be a good way to describe what happened when the father of the deceased introduced the actor and the filmmaker to each other in San Juan in the late 1970s.

From that meeting was born a commitment that saw its first manifestation in the memorable film “La gran fiesta”, which takes place during the last party held at a casino in San Juan in 1942, before it passed into the hands of the U.S. Army. At the celebration, various characters representing Puerto Rican politics, society, and culture come together, each from different perspectives, to embrace the country's new path. This film would mark a turning point for both Zurinaga and Juliá, and simultaneously, for Puerto Rican cinema.

To sit down and talk with Zurinaga about Juliá is to turn on a projector and let yourself be enveloped by a beautiful film about the power of friendship and the commitment and dedication to art.

“Before 'La gran fiesta,' we had already made a commitment to work together because Raúl's father brought him to our offices one day, where we were already producing documentaries and providing services to both American and Mexican films. He introduced us and said: 'I would like you to collaborate one day because you are both doing good things for Puerto Rico. So when I started to shape 'La gran fiesta', I contacted Raúl, knowing that there was no character for him in the script. I send it to him and he calls me and says: 'You're right, I don't see myself in any character'; and I assure him that on the next occasion we would work together. Then, about a week later Raúl calls me and says: 'I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm going to Puerto Rico to work on the film. Make up your mind, but I'm going there,'” says the filmmaker, underlining Juliá's charisma and confidence, qualities that were virtually impossible to resist.

“Then he called Ana Lydia Vega, my partner in the creation of the script, and she created the scene of Raúl, who appears in the film as her son who comes to the party to recite a ‘décima’. It is a very important scene because it represents the only dissident voice in the story that reflects the idiosyncrasy of the Puerto Rican people in the face of what was happening at that party. Then Raúl told me why he called me to say he was coming to be part of the film, and before shooting began, Ivonne Coll, Sully Díaz, Raúl Dávila and Carlos Augusto Cestero, who were working in New York at the time, arrived at his house in New York and told him that they were going to Puerto Rico to work on 'La gran fiesta', and that he had to go because the film was going to be something historic for Puerto Rican cinema, a tribute to our culture,” he recalls.

The excellent reception that “La gran fiesta” received, both in Puerto Rico and internationally, solidified the friendship between Zurinaga and Juliá as they envisioned the value of making artistic projects like this one; that it was a responsibility to make film projects that projected the talent and essence of the country.

“For Raúl and me, it meant not only fulfilling the promise we had made to each other, but it also strengthened our creative relationship. Raúl attended the premiere at the Metro Cinema, and was surprised not only by the quality of the final product, but also by the way the audience embraced the film, how they felt proud of what they saw on the screen,” he says.

“La gran fiesta” would be presented at important film festivals, such as Sundance, where both Zurinaga and Juliá would receive the rewards of their work. There, for example, Robert Redford, creator of that film event, recruited the Puerto Rican actor for his film “Havana” (1990).

After “La gran fiesta”, Zurinaga and Juliá collaborated again in the film “Tango Bar” (1987), with the actor as the main character. For the filmmaker, this film exemplifies the vision they both shared about the role of the Puerto Rican artist before the world.

“‘Tango Bar’ is a Puerto Rican film because it was written, directed, produced and photographed by a Puerto Rican and starred another Puerto Rican. The fact that it was filmed in Argentina and was about tango did not make it any less Puerto Rican. In fact, Juliá's character is a Puerto Rican who arrives in Buenos Aires because of his fascination with tango, something not far from reality, since by the 1940s singers like Felipe ‘La Voz’ Rodríguez became famous singing tangos adapted to the bolero rhythm. We are used to the fact that for it to be Puerto Rican it has to be the local thing; that reduces our cultural potential and our participation in the world to a minimum. I, since the first film I made, have had a Puerto Rican and international vision. My first film was the documentary ‘A Step Away’ (filmed during the VIII Pan American Games held in San Juan in 1979), and it was narrated by none other than Orson Wells and had a worldwide projection,” he recalls.

According to Zurinaga, Juliá shared that vision: “He entered everywhere with confidence, with his head held high, as an equal with the rest of the world. From him I learned that I don't have to envy anyone anything, that I don't have to let myself be ignored by anyone. I have been able to make films in Argentina, Cuba, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Los Angeles, Romania, because I feel I have the strength, the character and the artistic responsibility to stand next to anyone in the industry and present my films in Cannes and London.”

—Based on that mentality that you and Juliá shared, what do you consider to be Raúl Juliá's legacy, as well as his advice for the new generations of artists?

“We have everything it takes to succeed as a country, culture, society, without those fears that some politicians want to instill. The economic situation is one thing, and there will always be someone who has more than you, but as individuals we have nothing to envy anyone. I learned that with Raúl, and it has helped me in my career. Because he went to New York to do theater, but he never abandoned his Puerto Rican identity, he never even changed the way he spoke. He kept his accent on purpose so they would know where he came from. He did Shakespeare in perfect English, obviously, but with his accent. He kept his pride in being Puerto Rican, and he projected us to the world.”

The topic leads the filmmaker to offer his look at the present of Puerto Rican cinema.

“Digital technology allows anyone to have access to the medium and to make their film with fewer resources. Now, the question is why, why do you want to make films, why do you choose film language and not another to tell stories. So, they don't always have the answers to those questions. But those who have the answers are showing different looks and proposals and that is refreshing. I see it especially in women filmmakers, as in the case of Glorimar Marrero with 'La pecera'. You can see that desire to find her voice. Possibly, we are in a moment of inflection, but we have to give it a chance. That is what is missing. We see Latin American countries making many films a year, but it's because the industry has government support. In Puerto Rico, the film industry has not been a priority for any government. It's like we can live without making films. That has been a misstep of all governments. They don't understand that film has multiple internal economic impacts, that it is the means to see my idiosyncrasy, my values reflected on a screen. The film industry is not providing service to productions coming from Los Angeles, that is not Puerto Rican cinema. The film industry is made by local talent, no matter if it deals with any subject.”

Zurinaga recalls that one Sunday in 1990 he read in “The New York Times” a very favorable review for a new biography of Federico García Lorca, written by Ian Gibson. He immediately thought of the possibility of making a feature film about the poet from Granada and called Juliá to share his idea.

“Raúl was very grandiloquent, and he responded to me, 'Wonderful! I’m going to be Lorca!' And I replied, 'How can you be Lorca if you're over six feet tall and Lorca was short?' Then he retorted, 'I’m disappointed that you’re so limited'; but that was part of our dynamic and how we treated each other. And we decided to make the movie,” he said.

“We needed to put together a Latino team, and we talked to Edward James Olmos (who became close friends with Raúl on the set of “The Burning Season”), to Andy Garcia, who had just done ‘The Untouchables’, there was Rubén Blades and Antonio Banderas, who was the first one to say yes because he was crazy about acting with Raúl. We met at a restaurant in Hollywood and made a commitment like the musketeers, one for all and all for one,” he adds.

Thus began the process of working on a script and looking for the budget; and time passed until 1994, when the pieces came together to be able to film.

“In 1994, that fateful Sunday in October arrived. I was traveling to New York to meet with Raúl because we were ready to start shooting. We talked the night before, and he told me: 'When you get to the city, don't stop at the hotel, go straight to my house. And so I did, and when I got to his house, I'm met with long faces. Merel's mother tells me that Raúl had just been taken away by ambulance. I show up at the hospital, and there he is with the script of 'Desperado' in his hands. He was very excited, and we talked about that script and Lorca. That was my last moment with him. Then he falls into a coma and never recovers. I took Edward James Olmos to the hospital to see him, but we already knew he wasn't coming back. We accompanied Merel in that terrible moment. His death shocked everyone who knew him. Then we accompanied him to Puerto Rico. I remember Edward James Olmos helping to take the coffin out of the plane. That experience united Raúl, Edward and me to this day,” he recalls.

Pausing became obligatory after that story.

“Raúl is a Puerto Rican culture hero,” the veteran filmmaker goes so far as to say. “Edward and I were to some extent upset with him, that he had left us at a time when we had so many projects together to do.”

Finally, “The Disappearance of García Lorca” or “Death in Granada” was filmed and released in 1996. Andy García took the leading role. The film starred Esaí Morales and Edward James Olmos, and was filmed in Puerto Rico, Spain and the United States. The film was dedicated to Juliá.

“Raúl was a solid actor with enormous latitude. He could do drama, tragedy, comedy, singing and dancing; he had all the tools. There are a lot of Hollywood stars who can't do all that. He was at his moment of fame with ‘The Addams Family’. That's when that gemstone that he was discovered, because it allowed him to bring out all his talent. He was very respected by the stars, who knew everything he could do. It was so hard to lose him because that quality of human being and actor is not born all the time. Raúl contributed a lot in life and afterward. People need to remember him or get to know him, to see everything he represented,” he said.

—If you had Raúl Juliá in front of you again, what would you tell him?

“I'm not going to talk bad (he laughs), but I would tell him: '(...) You're already with us, let's get to work because we have a lot to do, it's about time you came back because you had abandoned us’.”