There Are No Saints’ Alfonso Pineda Ulloa Dishes On the Film’s Bloody Vengeance

With revenge movies like John Wick and The Equalizer standing as tremendous critical and commercial successes, director Alfonso Pineda Ulloa is taking the genre into the heart of Mexico for his film There Are No Saints. The film follows a former cartel sicario named Neto Niente (José María Yazpik), who is released from prison only to find his family targeted by nefarious figures. This results in the murder of his wife and the kidnapping of their young son, leading Neto to set out to rescue his son and achieve his vengeance.

In an exclusive interview with CBR, Alfonso Pineda Ulloa shared what drew him to helm the project. The director also explained several of the themes throughout the film and praised his cast and crew for bringing the bloody revenge tale to life.

CBR: Alfonso, what was it about Paul Schrader's script and this project that made you want to direct There Are No Saints?

Alfonso Pineda Ulloa: There are two things. The first is that this is the story about a man with his own moral code that has to pay the consequences. Those are the two things that attracted me. Our moral code today, Judeo-Christianity, has taught us that an eye for an eye is justice, and what happens when that's proven wrong? What happens when you cross the limits of that, and what are the consequences of doing so? I've always been obsessed with the saying that the sins of the father will be paid by the son, and when I read the script, it couldn't be any more true.

It was a chance for me to explore that emotionally and visually and, on top of that, having the urge of this character Neto, who takes all the time in the world of torturing people in getting his job done, but now, he doesn't have time because he has to go save his son. It was a paradigm shift in moral code, action, and how he used to behave. I love movies, and when I read the script, I kept seeing Al Pacino going, "As soon as I want to get out, they pull me back in." It was the story of a guy who did everything to get out, and now he's getting pulled back in because of his own fault.

At the heart of this, you've got José María Yazpik as Neto, who carries a lot of the film. How was it working with him to bring this protagonist to life?

He's a great actor and friend. We became great collaborators, and we saw the story the same way. We were clear in what we wanted to tell story-wise. We almost wanted Neto to be a John Wayne [archetype] in terms of not saying much with words but just his eyes and not even being too expressive about it. One of the first things that he said was, "I feel like if I was in jail, and I was coming out, I would be like a skeleton."

He actually lost 20 kilos to play the role because we wanted to see the consequences of being in jail for years, not only how that emotionally and morally changes you, but how that physically changes you. Just seeing how much of himself he was giving to Neto was inspiring and the fuel to make a great movie. He did an amazing job.

If José's performance as Neto is the quiet foundation that There Are No Saints is built upon, Neal McDonough brings plenty of energy as Vincent. I love the scene where Neto interrogates him.

Neal was amazing! We shot 90% of the movie in Mexico, so Neal had to travel down, and we had three or four days to shoot with him. It's only three hours from Los Angeles, but he'd always take a redeye, so I felt like he was like Vincent, always on the move and not feeling his body. Neal is a very quiet person, but he understood that Vincent is a salesman for the Mafia, running things, and his mouth never shuts down.

A lot of this film takes place in the dark, either in nightclubs or during night itself. What did you want to achieve visually for the movie working with cinematographer Mateo Londono?

I told Mateo that if we were going to go to the monster's belly, we wanted it to feel like the monster's belly. At the same time, I wanted to aesthetically be luminous within the darkness, with this sense of hope. I could never imagine how a father could feel trying to track and save his son, but you need to be holding on to some kind of hope. That's the reason why there are neon lights on all the time, almost as a light at the end, giving you some hope within all these dark places.

I really wanted it to feel raw and gritty but, at the same time, give it some style, otherwise it would feel completely different. We wanted to aesthetically give it some style, even in the wardrobe. Neto doesn't dress like a typical sicario, with a flashy suit. It was a balance of style, reality, and grossness.

In addition to the sins of the father and being unable to escape one's own destiny, what did you want to add to the revenge genre with this film?

You know how they say there's no escaping death and taxes? I would add guilt [to that], especially if you're raised under the Judeo-Christianity religion. That was an answer I got after I finished the movie. In this revenge story, I tried to [depict] a character who knows that he's not going to get away with this. From the very beginning, he knows that he might not save his son, but he still tries to get his revenge. Revenge goes both ways, to good and evil. This time, we've got a character who's trying to do good, but his enemies will get their revenge no matter what because, when you cross certain lines in life and fiction, there's no way back.

With Neto being such a silent character, was Shannyn Sossamon's character, Inez, there to help provide someone to voice those opinions and questions about him?

I would say to voice his brain and to be able to be his microphone. I love Shannyn because I didn't want an actress who was flashy. I wanted an actress who was beautiful but, at the same time, also felt real in that world, and Shannyn come off as that. Another thing about Shannyn's character is that sometimes we don't get to choose what we do, but [instead] we do what we have to in order to survive.

Neto, before going to jail, didn't necessarily enjoy what he did as a sicario, going out to settle scores. Whatever sins he made in his past life, did he make them on purpose and enjoy them? No, it was part of his job, and it's the same with Shannyn's character. She's this figure of the night who was to work for a living. She sees some humanity in Neto and decides to grab on to him.

Now that the movie is done, what are you the most excited about in getting to share it with audiences worldwide?

I'm very curious to see what the audience's response is going to be. I feel like this is a movie that could've done very well in the 1970s because it touches visceral themes. I believe audiences want these kinds of movies again -- that the era where everybody is good and vengeance can be shut down with compassion is giving space again to movies that deal with vengeance, guilt, and the sins of our fathers.

Directed by Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, There Are No Saints opens in select theaters and is available on digital HD May 27.