Andy Garcia has premiered his new film Diamond at the Cannes Film Festival after a twenty year journey to get it made.
The film, written and directed by Garcia, is a crime story set in Los Angeles. He also stars as Joe Diamond, a private investigator who solves tough cases. The film has a large cast including Brendan Fraser, Bill Murray, Dustin Hoffman and Danny Huston.
The 70-year-old actor and director said the idea for the film came 20 years ago when he was helping his daughter with a homework assignment at school in which she had to write a short crime story.
Garcia said this inspired him to create his own story. He first tried to make it into a TV series. “I started pitching an idea about creating a series to HBO and other networks,” Garcia said The mirror and other newscasts on Wednesdays.
He admitted that he pitched it to several networks, but it was not accepted. “They all said it was very interesting, but it wasn’t written, so I challenged myself and started writing”.
He later wrote a full script. “I had 60 pages for a television pilot, but no one bought it,” he recalls. “Fifteen years passed trying to sell the film. No one ever supported the film. I was never able to sell it to a studio or streamer the traditional way.”
After many years, Garcia decided to finance the film himself and sent it to Cannes upon completion. “We financed it completely independently and then sent it to Thierry saying we hope you like it.”
He said the festival accepted the film, which made him very happy after years of rejection. “We got a call back. They said we love your movie and we’d love to have you here,” the 70-year-old concluded.
Garcia said this is his third time directing a film. He previously directed documentaries and films, including The lost city. He also said he is working on another project about writer Ernest Hemingway and Cuban boat captain Gregorio Fuentes.
