Twin filmmakers Daniel & Laz Núñez fuse myth, Miami, and modern craft to keep cinema human.
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Show Notes:
On Mission Matters, Adam Torres interviews Daniel & Laz Núñez, Filmmakers at The Brothers Núñez, about their feature The Magnificent Méndez—from classical inspirations (Shakespeare, Fitzgerald, Greek tragedy) to hands-on indie production, casting, and distribution plans—all in service of telling human, Miami-rooted stories.
About The Brothers Núñez
Founded by twin brother duo known as The Brothers Nunez, Nunez Motion Pictures is a boutique production company, based in South Florida (yet able and willing to travel anywhere to ‘get the shot’). It is quickly joining the ‘go-to’s’ in Florida, when it comes video production. Whether it’s Social Media content creation, Commercials, Corporate Videos, Event Coverage, Documentary or Narrative films, Nunez M.P. and the Brothers Nunez always bring Cinema-level quality and professionalism to all projects. With personal, down-to-Earth, no-nonsense consultation, part of what is making them more and more popular is their authenticity as human beings
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. Alright, so today’s a very special episode. I have Daniel and Las Nunez on the line, also known as the Brothers Nunez, who I was in Miami.
Last week, and I was invited to this, to this premier, and I’m like, well, what’s going on here? And I heard about the Brother Nunez. And then I was just blown away. So I had to bring them on and invite them to talk about their film, the Magnificent Mendez. First off Daniel Hal las, welcome to the.
Thanks, Adam. Yeah, thanks for having us, man. I really appreciate you passing by and, giving the film a shot, man. Thank you. Yeah, it was great. I was in the audience and I was like, I’m not giving any spoilers, so if you’re listening to this right now we’re gonna figure out and they’re gonna tell us how we can listen to it.
And how, excuse me, how they can watch the film. I know. It’s just, I was at the premier, but let’s just start, let’s go back in time a little bit here guys. How’d you both get into film? And working as brothers. I’m like, man, that’s awesome. Yeah. Well, you wanna start last or go? Go ahead. Go ahead.
Okay. Yeah, so basically so we’re twin brothers. So we were, you born and raised in Miami, Florida. Our parents are Cuban immigrants and kind of the way, you know, our dad would, bond with us he’d take it to the movies like every, every week. You know, we’d go either go to the movies, rent a movie.
I’m taking it way back here, man. Yeah. And then my mom, she’s a school teacher, so she got us into kind of, you know, literature and books and all that. So it’s kind of that, kind of mix of. and she also, you know, got us into plays and stuff. So it was, a kind of a mix of, upbringings in that sense.
Mm-hmm. And then, so since we’re, pretty young, I have memories of us playing games, but instead of like, mimicking the movies we see, we were actually like making the movie. Like we’re playing that movie. Yeah. We like, we like pretend, but like, make it, we’ll, pretend like it’s like a movie, you know, and we’ll make a movie.
so basically, you know, long story short man, we eventually ended up gonna film school a little while ago now. We’ve been in the fight for, over a decade now. But and you know, we made slowly built a reputation and we’ve done other work like, you know, commercials and music videos and things like that.
Mm-hmm. And we got to a point where we’re here and you got, to see man Menez. So yeah. how did you like go, take me back a bit here. When you, when you went to film school, how did you get to that point to make that decision where you knew like, this is like, this is something you, you gotta do.
Like this is your passion, this is what it is for you? So for me, for us I think we. Decided pretty early that we wanted to do that as a career, but we didn’t know exactly how to get started. I mean, I think we’re probably young teenagers and we said, I wanna be a filmmaker.
We wanna be filmmakers. That’s awesome. But you know, life just, you know, in the way, you know, we graduated high school and we did different things and stuff like that. Mm-hmm. So it wasn’t really until probably in our, mid twenties. Where we decided you know, let, let’s give this a shot.
And I actually, our mother went to college late too. Mm-hmm. She went to college. She was about the same age, like 25, you know. Mm-hmm. And we kinda, she did it, we can do it. that was our chance, and yeah, because another thing about it was like.
Some people can get into the, in fact, many people get into this business without ever going to field school, but mm-hmm. We felt like we needed it because we have no connections. we are from Miami born, raised in Miami, and we have no connection to business. And we felt like that’ll be a great way to network.
First off, second off we chose our, the school Full Sail University in Orlando. Shout out to them, and because they, teach you how to make a movie from the ground up. Hmm. So it’s not just that film theory and that’s, one of the things that drew us to full sail. I dunno if you got anything else done, but Yeah.
Yeah, definitely. Like, we had a, pretty good understanding of like little bit of theory and, of that and, stuff of that nature. But what we really wanted to do was get down and dirty with the technical aspect of filmmaking. And there weren’t that many, we realized there weren’t that many programs that taught the way.
Full sale talk. And that really attracted us to it in the sense that we learn, basically from day one, you’re learning how to put up a, movie like, you know? Mm-hmm. And they’re teaching power distribution, I mean, everything editing. And that’s, and on that topic, a producer too. Yeah. and on that topic, it’s like in the, when the landscape day as a filmmaker coming up, you really have to wear more than one hat.
You have to know how to do more than one thing. You can’t just get by. Just being, oh, I’m just gonna be a director. I’m just gonna do this. I’m just gonna do that. It’s really imperative, especially, you know, where we’re coming from in South Florida. It’s kind of a, I have to say it’s kinda like the wild West a little bit when it comes to, that’s awful filmmaking, you know?
So, so that creates opportunity, but also it is a little bit chaotic in a way. You know what I mean? Yeah. That’s awesome. I wanna get a bit into the, your overall process and maybe what you’re going into when you talk about stories. I know in the beginning of the, before the movie, you did a little bit of a talk and you talked about, you know, being inspired from Shakespeare and different things that you draw in for inspiration, at least for this particular movie.
May maybe go into that a little bit. Sure. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. So I mean I think it was Kors that said that, you know, you gotta, make the audience understand your obsessions at least make them obsessed with you, what you’re obsessed with, at least for that moment, you know, at least in the moment the watching the film.
So you Knowles and I have an obsession with we always wanted to kind of decode storytelling. I mean, going back, to, mythology. Greek and, Roman tragedy all the way to Shakespeare, and we feel like to, go back to that foundation of, storytelling and they figured so much stuff out way back when, you can’t really, really invent the wheel.
What you gotta do is, in our opinion, put your flavor on it and, so basically we try a lot to incorporate mythological motifs and. Mott from Shakespeare. And on this one in particular there definitely was, some King Lear in there. And a little bit of Othello in there.
and also a little bit of literature, you know, on a, top layer. Some of the plot was really inspired by like F Scott Fitzgerald’s work. Of, you know, the Great Gatsby and the Last Tycoon. And it’s interesting that , those stories take place in the 1920s and we’re in the 2020s. Yeah, it’s kind of cool.
Yeah. Got us thinking about, you know, this era. And, we got to a point where, in film school there’s like a cliche of making movies, about making movies. You know, there’s a lot of early filmmakers that, try that for whatever reason. It’s probably because maybe they haven’t had too many, too much experiences outside of filmmaking and that’s what they wanna talk about.
But we got to a point where. And even like, speaking of Shakespeare that I saw the way he kind of references the stage, but in a way that’s not a coin, Like he, the way he references the stage to help tell his story. I like that the way he did that. I thought maybe there’s a way to do that with, film, you know?
And not to mention it, it’s like a Greek tragedy, but like, in the film world, in the film industry, that’s basically Exactly. And, and, we got to a point where we did have some things to say about the way cinemas has been going in our opinion. You know, there’s references in there in the film to, you know, the Pal Pal of John Henry.
And his fight against technology maybe going moving too fast. It’s a conversation want to have. Mm. So we’re not like completely against AI or for example, in general, but I, you know, we do have a problem with it trying to, it replacing the human touch, in other words, or if, you know, if that’s even what the, end game is like, who knows?
But. Things like that. Also just kind of the, whole commerce versus art conversation, we kind of put that in there, but in simplest terms, we wanted just to create a, Greek tragedy in modern times in modern Miami. We just transplanted it into where we’re from and with a little bit of our own culture and stuff like that.
How’d you originally come up with the idea for the magnificent Mendes? Like where’d that come from? what sparked that?
So like a lot of ideas. I think it starts with just like a drunken conversation between us. That’s, you know, I tell you, I was, man, I was in, I was, last night I had, I was talking to two filmmakers. I’m, I’m I in Hollywood, right at the super bar where all these drunk filmmakers, right? I’m hanging out in there and we’re talking about film and I’m not gonna spoiler this, but when he, when he does make.
This ’cause I, it’s just such an amazing, amazing idea. But I was, I was like, dang, I just now saw film be made just now. Yeah, man. The idea, he validated with his other filmmaker buddies and we just saw like, oh man, I just saw a film being made. This is amazing. So it starts with.
Yeah, man, a hundred percent. It, it kind of starts with like a drunky conversation and then the time, the ending, we think of the ending first, and then we work our way back. Mm-hmm. And I think I guess, I think we saw the film the Last Tycoon mm-hmm. With Robert De Niro yeah. And it’s a movie.
I was surprised. I was like, I, I never even heard of that because I saw the newer show. Mm. And we saw the film and we thought, man, like this is a good place to start something like this. And then, we, you know, we, we started getting reminded of, of the Great Gatsby.
Mm-hmm. And then we started going further back and stuff like that. And then it just, as the conversation goes along, we start thinking about it, start talking about it, what did this happened, what did this happen? What did this happen? And then eventually we just like, man, we should, let’s try writing this, you know.
So that’s how it kind starts. I dunno if you got any to add on that then, but Yeah. You know, it’s like, it’s like, you know, we have just a fun conversation just, and it’s just like a free for all of ideas, kind of like what you witnessed with those we’re just spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning, and just, you know, no whole spot.
And then after that, you know, once we decide, all right, we’re gonna take this serious, then we start like outlining and then we start, Setting hours and being a little bit more disciplined with how we’re gonna, and setting goals for know, writing the script and everything. but yeah.
And then basically we always try, like, like I mentioned, we always try to incorporate a little bit of the, the Greek mythology and the Greco Roman. Theater like motifs in there, but we try to make it, you know, as subtle as possible. You don’t want to like Yeah. Beat guys over the head with it either.
I want it to be like deeply ingrained in a story that hopefully is relatable and accessible and immersive. Even if the film was intentionally a little bit impressionistic at, places. I’m sure you noticed that. Mm-hmm. We wanted to keep it accessible and entertaining. That’s awesome. go into the cast a bit and your cast election.
I thought it was wonderful by the way. I was, enthralled the entire thing. It was amazing. talk about the cast election and what went into that. Thanks man. Yeah, so first off we got, when we were writing it, I gotta start with my brother Danny ’cause he’s, he’s in the film, so, yeah, right.
I was like, you gotta do these, bro. And he’s, you know, he’s always kinda hesitant to step in when he, when he says something that we’re directing and we’re. Yeah, I guess yo is a humble guy, but I was like, bro, you gotta play this. I think this, role is perfect for you. And I was able to convince him to do it.
I’m glad. Mm-hmm. And then Christopher Diaz who’s we’ve been working with him, we. Man, I think already what, 90? Like 12, 13 years already? Yeah. A long We go way back. Even before he was a thief man, that boy, I can’t give it away, but I was scared. I was like, man, I can’t, don’t, don’t be, is this, is he in the theater right now?
I hope he ain’t at the screening. I was like, I don’t know. Is that, was that acting or is that a little piece in him? He was that good. I’m like, keep him away from me. No spoiler. Sorry, but No, no, it, yeah, he plays a pretty devious character man. A hundred percent. He and he, yeah. Yeah. He plays like a more pro, he plays protagonist a lot in films.
In the past we thought it would be cool to, cast him in as the villain in this. And we had seen him on what is it, F Dwan Danny. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. And he did a great scene in that with Dylan McDermot. I thought he did great in That show, and he was a villain. And then I was like, man, he could do this.
Man. The people character though is like, you know, at least my favorite antagonist, or not like cardboard cut out bad guys, but people that we could almost see ourselves in. And I felt like, man, somebody is charismatic as, as Chris, we can start out kind of liking him. Maybe he’s even making sense at the beginning of the film.
And then obviously you gotta push him into a place where he crosses the line. And you remember that scene where he, where that happened? Mm-hmm. So that’s kind of how we handled that character. But you needed to, you need to activate Chris River to do that. And he’s, and then another notable will be Renee De Van, who’s, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
He’s been in the business for a bit. He’s done some big stuff, you know, working with practice like Soderberg. He’s worked with Soderberg, so a little daunting. Knowing that, you know, he’s, he’s been directed by Soderberg now, you know, he’s gonna step on a set with us. So it was a little bit daunting, but he couldn’t, but he, he loved the, he loved the script and he, was like all like gung ho about the, film.
So I was happy about that. I think he did a great job as well. And we had ed Wise, who was great in the film, I, I had met her doing a, play that never really happened. We were rehearsing a play and we had such a good time rehearsing a play. We were like, we gotta. Work on something else. And then, and then this came up and I thought of her in, in that part.
She’s had a lot of success in Spanish language TV and stuff like that. And, she was great in that part. And, and the rest of the cast are, either actors like Dan Garley we’ve been trying to work with for a long time. Finally got to work with she, as you, as you noticed the theme. Like, we don’t really, like, I personally at this point don’t really like to audition, like do cattle calls, like, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’re not fans of, doing that. What we like to do is, just off of like just initially just off of like let’s say I never met the, the actor I’ll watch like a little demo re or a little Yeah. Tape from something else that they, that they did. They don’t have to necessarily, most of the time do a tape for us.
Maybe go to a play that they and watch a movie or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. and then I like, we like just to meet with ’em, you know? Mm-hmm. Have a conversation. Usually you get a lot more, I think, than some cold read, you know, and mm-hmm. And, couple other actors. Once you, Danny, yeah.
Once you can gauge the skill level. Once you know, okay, they’re a good actor, then at that point is, am I gonna work with well with them and do they fit the role? That’s the question. Yeah. That should be answered. You’re not gonna get that from like a, random, you know? Yeah. And also gauge if, if they’re on board with like kind of.
The story itself, they gonna be passionate about it too, or can they figure Yeah. But, no, everybody, everybody really liked the story and responded. Really strong. Yeah. That was, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hence why I, I was like, I gotta get these guys on the show and hear, the story of, how this took place.
How, so talk to me about the plans going forward. I know I was at the premier, so the Magnificent Mendez. How do people connect? What are the plans for the movie going forward? Sure, man. So right now we’re in the stage. We have a couple possible. Distributors that we’re having conversations with, and we’re gonna see the next stage is to kind of see where the film is gonna have at home as far as distribution.
Um Mm-hmm. But along that way, we’re going to maybe plan maybe a couple more screenings and just to kind of, you know, get the word out and mm-hmm. And make sure that people know that the film exists. Mm-hmm. And if people enjoy it, you know, make sure the distributors know that they. That they had a good time.
Mm-hmm. and just take it from there, man. And that’s the next except, so we’re, we will keep everybody posted. We’re, you can find out about the film on our website, on our social media and stuff like that and mm-hmm. And the websites, the brother, for everybody listening, the websites, the brothers nunez.com, you can see that and also see some of the, some of the other work that they’ve done as well in trailers for previous movies and all kinds of good stuff.
Mm-hmm. And how do people follow you on social? on Instagram Danny, the Twins. So it’s Danny da twin Naro the twin. So da twin. Yeah, you can probably get to everything else from, from the grand. So, yeah. You can find the brothers Moonies on Facebook if you, if you search pretty easily too, but.
Awesome. Yeah. Well, guys, this has been a lot of fun having you on the show today and for everybody watching or listening the Magnificent Menez. Definitely check that out. Check out the Brothers New years.com. Follow them on Instagram. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button.
This is a daily show. Each and every day we’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully. New inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well. So again, hit that subscribe and follow button. And Danny, last man. Great. Congrats again. I know it’s hard to do what you’re doing and man, I, IM much love for everything and I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the theater with well enjoying your work.
So thank you so much for coming on the show today. Yeah, thank you for having us, man, man. And thanks for the kind words. Really appreciate it.
