For Tonatiuh, taking on Kiss of the Spider Woman wasn’t just about stepping into a new role — it was about stepping into purpose.

Known for projects like Vida, Carry-On and Promised Land, the actor said starring in the film opposite Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez arrived at just the right time.

“I mean, I think God doesn’t make mistakes, and I think God brought roles and jobs to me at a time when I needed to express that thing,” he said. “I think when Vida came into my life, I was in a journey of [being a] very aggressive progressive. I wanted to shed myself from any heteronormativity. I was living a WeHo fantasy [laughs]. I was out here on the street. And so I think that needed to be expressed, and so it did. And then Carry-On and Promised Land came at very different times in my life.”

He added, “I pride myself — I really do try to change my form, my body, my way of my microexpressions when I take on a character. But when Kiss of the Spider Woman came to me, it wasn’t just playing multiple characters because I got to play Kendall and I got to play Molina. It was my first time actually leading the charge in a film and working with juggernauts like Jennifer Lopez, Diego Luna, but also Bill Condon.”

They felt ready — emotionally and professionally — to carry the weight of the film. “Nothing gave me anxiety. In fact, I was so hungry where I’m like, ‘Oh, finally I get to tear some shit up,’” he said. “Spiritually and politically, I knew what I wanted to say with Molina. I knew that for some people, when they watch this movie, Molina may be the only gender-nonconforming person they ever meet in their entire lives.”

That understanding shaped his entire approach. “It was important for me to bring as much humanity to that character as possible, to bring life into it, to allow you to fall in love with their sense of humor, their eyes, their heart, their dreams — and for you to be as equally devastated when they’re devastated. Well, whatever happens in the end — no spoilers,” he said, laughing. “Because I was like, bro, that community has gone through enough — not me giving them a bad performance. That’s the last thing they need. That’s crazy. And so I really came into it with a lot of honor and respect and made very careful and deliberate choices to show the totality of their lived experience.”

A physical and emotional transformation

The actor also went through a physical transformation for the role of Molina, including weight loss.

“I’ll tell you something, my mama taught me something when I was very young. If you get invited to the party, you better come correct. You cannot go to the party empty-handed,” he said when asked about the transformation.

For Tonatiuh, that meant committing to a full-body transformation. “As a performer, I finally got an opportunity where a transformation made sense. And so I wanted to give myself a challenge. I’m a Capricorn, babe — make it hard,” they said. “From a story perspective, I wanted Molina to be as close to genderless as possible.”

He explained, “I had just finished Carry On, and I had gained — I think it was 190, maybe 20% body fat, something like that. And I ended up dropping to 143 and 5% body fat for Molina. It was pretty drastic. Yeah. And I wish it was Ozempic, but unfortunately, I did it the old-fashioned way [laughs].”

The physical change was intentional — but it served a much bigger idea. “I wanted to confuse the straights,” he said. “I wanted them to be like, ‘Wow, he’s pretty. She’s pretty. They’re pretty. I don’t know, but they’re pretty.’”

“There were moments where the masculine energy was being channeled through Molina, but then there were other moments where really feminine energy was being channeled through Molina,” he continued. “I wanted it to subconsciously live there, but also for it not to matter — because at the end of the day, you’re falling in love with your sense of humor, with how they treat Valentin, with how they show up in the world. Ultimately, that’s the message — the humanity lives in our actions and not in whatever we’re doing or dressing ourselves up as.”

Tonatiuh also noted the contrast between characters. “If Molina lives in this genderless moment where they oscillate everything… I would use genderless. I would use gender. They’re everything. And then Kendall has to be rigid in their masculinity. And at the very end, fantasy Molina gets to live [a] full femme fantasy. And so if I get to play the entire spectrum in two and a half hours, what the hell can you do with your whole life?”

A film that reflects — and resists — the moment

He sees Kiss of the Spider Woman as politically urgent — whether or not that was the plan. “I joked around privately where I was like, girl, this is the Antifa film of the fall [laughs]. You know what I mean? This is an anti-fascist, queer, musical love story. It feels like a big middle finger to all the negative stuff that’s been happening to marginalized communities.”

“I don’t think we ever anticipated — we knew it would be relevant to some extent — but I don’t think we anticipated how relevant it would become,” he said. “We weren’t as big of a splash as I would’ve hoped. And I think once we hit streaming, more and more people are going to come and discover it.”

Still, the impact has been immediate and intimate. “The people that saw it needed it,” he said. “I had genderqueer, LGBT, trans folk, Latino folk, immigrants message me and come up to me on the street and send me videos on TikTok and Instagram and share their entire life stories with me.”

“One person saw the film 32 times and got a tattoo,” he added. “I probably should have a little bit more distance, but when I hear something like that, I’m like, ‘Can you talk to me a little bit about that?’ And they say something like, ‘I feel seen. I feel less alone. I haven’t been able to process my feelings given everything that’s been happening and I’m scared. And this helps me. It comforts me. It makes me feel like the callous that was building up around my heart is being taken down.’”

For him, that kind of response is everything. “When I hear stuff like that, I’m just like, oh my God — this is quite literally all I’ve ever wanted to do as an artist is to help foster that,” they said. “And so whatever happens, the fact that people felt touched is such a win for me — especially the people that I’ve always cared most about.”

Watch the full interview below: