"Though Diaz is a queer filmmaker, those comments were a joke that were taken too seriously by the Film Twitter public. The Filipino director, though, did consult with Serra and Sapinho to decide that beloved Mexican actor García Bernal was the best choice to play Magellan in what has turned out to be Diaz's most accessible film - at least in terms of running time."
"Magellan and his crew end up in the Philippines, where much of the movie was shot on location, leaving various native lives in ruin while Magellan's own in Portugal is left for dead, too: back there in his home state, he impregnated a woman and left her behind in 1519. The endlessly charismatic Diaz, who spoke to IndieWire over Zoom out of the Criterion Closet in New York, brings his characteristic slow-paced style to his first-ever biopic."
Lav Diaz cast Gael García Bernal as Ferdinand Magellan after consulting with Albert Serra and Joaquim Sapinho, though an offhand sexual joke at the New York Film Festival provoked social media outrage. Magellan portrays the explorer's violent encounters and ruined indigenous lives and follows Magellan's abandoned child in Portugal. The film was shot primarily on location in the Philippines with additional scenes in Portugal and Spain. Magellan premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, marks Diaz's first biopic and his shortest widely released feature, and missed the Academy Award shortlist amid the director's postproduction illness.
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