Famed Mexican actor Jorge Ortiz de Pinedo paid an overnight visit to lakeside this week to pitch his involvement in “¿Por Qué Yo?” (Why Me?), the upcoming film production that will showcase scenery from the Lake Chapala area.
Ortiz accompanied producer-director Jaime Jiménez Pons at meetings with top echelon officials from the state government, the University of Guadalajara and Guadalajara’s Hospital Civil, prior to scouting out lakeside locations with Mayor Joaquin Huerta and his entourage. He also appeared as guest of honor at an August 11 dinner-dance fundraiser for Ajijic’s emerging Drum and Bugle Corps.
Best known for his comedic roles played on theater stages, television and the silver screen, Ortiz has been cast for a leading role in the feature-length drama that will address the serious subject of HIV-Aids along with other universal issues such as sexual slavery, human rights, drug abuse and broken family values. He will play the part of Angel, a man who inadvertently infects an injured child with the HIV virus through a blood transfusion. The story line, set in the 1980s, delves into the trials and linked lives of the principal characters.
Sites in Ajijic, Chapala and San Juan Cosalá will stand out as romantic settings for scenes between Ortiz and co-star María Fernández Yepes, the knockout Colombian actress who will appear as his love interest. The shooting schedule is tentatively set to get under way in October, with post-production to be completed in time for a debut at Guadalajara’s International Film Festival next March.
The film’s casting director will eventually put out a local call to select extras and a hefty male foreigner needed for a villainous role.