"I wanted to do it eventually and this came up," Gael Garcia Bernal told indieWIRE about his first foray into directing, "Deficit," which is having its North American debut here in Toronto. "You need to find a unified reason why the film needs to exist and find the frontier of what you want to tell." Bernal, also in Toronto as the star of Hector Babenco's "The Past" and as executive producer of Israel Cardenas and Laura Amelia Guzman's "Cochochi," sat down alongside "Deficit" screenwriter Kyzza Terrazas to discuss their experience. "Gael had this anecdote about this rich kid that had a party at his country house with some of his friends," said Terrazas. "His girlfriend was supposed to come, but he meets another girl that he likes. He starts giving his girlfriend wrong directions as to how to get to the house. That was the skeleton that Gael had in mind, and he invited me to collaborate in the screenplay. What I tried to do was bring that world life."

Bernal himself portrays the rich kid, Cristobal, as part of an ensemble cast that includes Luz Cipriota as Argentine beauty Dolores, Cristobal's temptress. Though the plot initially seems suspiciously simple, what evolves is an honest and sincere commentary on the social issues facing Latin America's class system. "I think it's a film that is unique in the sense that it tries to talk about a certain social class that is not usually portaryed in that way," said Terrazas.

On the topic of his varied body of work, including the array of acclaimed international directors he has worked with (including Pedro Almodovar, Alfonso Cuaron and Walter Salles), Bernal seemed divided. "There were certain situations where I thought about the mentors, Alfonso Cauron specifically," he said. "But that precise moment you have to murder your mentors in a way." Even so, Bernal admits that they were "really helpful," particularly during post-production. "They were really good at mentioning a couple of things and I'd go, 'Oh shit, yes, I know I have to re-edit this."

Next up, Bernal just finished shooting Fernando Meirelles's "Blindness" just outside of Toronto, and will soon be starting work on Lukas Moodysson's English language debut, "Mammoth."

[Producer/director/actor Gael Garcia Bernal with screenwriter Kyzza Terrazas at the Toronto International Film Festival. Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE.]