Gael Garcia Bernal: Penn's El Chapo article was a failure

NEW YORK (AP) - Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal said he and Sean Penn agree on something: Penn's Rolling Stone reporting about Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman failed in its mission.

In an interview this week, the Golden Globe winner said Penn did not generate discussion about drug criminalization and legalization, wrongly put Guzman further in the limelight and should have interviewed others more deserving of the attention, such as "people that are changing things for the better."

Bernal explained: "It's better to talk with some like the people who help the migrants, for example, the people that are the victims of this drug war."

Penn recently told CBS' "60 Minutes" that he failed in his intention to kick-start a conversation about the U.S. government's approach to the war on drugs when he tracked down Guzman to write an article for Rolling Stone.

Bernal's comments come less than a month after Golden Globe wins for him and his Amazon Prime comedy "Mozart in the Jungle," which follows the lives of members of a fictitious orchestra. Bernal, who won a best actor award for his character Rodrigo, plays the conductor.

Bernal declined to respond to questions about the "El Chapo" article at the Golden Globes because reporters who asked him about it didn't take the situation seriously enough.

"We're talking about a drug war that's been killing people all over the world for years and years and years and I've been very close to it. Living in Mexico, I suffer a lot from what's happening in my country."

Bernal said his next film, "Desierto," due out in March, also hits close to home. It's about a group of migrants who come under attack as they try to cross the border from Mexico to the United States. He said it was an action/horror film with a "deep, deep, deep political discussion" within it.

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You can follow Lauri Neff on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lneffist

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