"Sin Nombre" director hopped trains in search of real faces

Cary Fukunaga's debut feature, "Sin Nombre (Nameless)," deals with a real Mexican gang, Mara Salvatrucha, that preys on immigrants who crowd trains headed for the United States.

Motivated by a magazine article that shocked him, Fukunaga researched the script by hopping trains, befriending desperate and hopeful strangers, and observing the anonymous crosses that represent those who didn't make it.

"The immigrants are nameless," he said by phone from New York. "The gang members have nicknames."

The central character, Willy, mostly goes by his gang nickname, El Casper (inspired by Casper the Friendly Ghost). Fukunaga cast Edgar M. Flores in the role because "he has the street in his eyes."

The sadistic gang-boss villain of the story, Lil' Mago, is played by Tenoch Huerta Mejia. Fukunaga chose him because "he's good-looking, charismatic and a leader — the captain of his football team."

The role of the heroine, Sayra, went to a more experienced actress, Paulina Gaitan, because "we needed a girl with a haunting look."

After his experiences on the trains, Fukunaga felt he had to have the right faces to tell this story. He didn't always get his first choice.

"I found this homeless kid in Veracruz," he said. "I saw that face and I thought, 'That's Smiley' (El Casper's young pal), but we lost contact. He had no address and he never showed up." The role finally went to Kristian Ferrer.

A graduate of New York University's film school, Fukunaga was born and raised in Oakland, Calif., where he shot home videos starring his little brother.

"When I was 14, I worked all summer and spent everything I earned — about $1,000 — to buy a Sony," he said.

Directing brief comedies, mini- dramas and fake trailers for horror films, he created a homemade flicker effect to make the video images look like film.

He still prefers a film experience to video. While it was tempting to shoot "Sin Nombre" in a digital format, he and his prizewinning cinematographer, Adriano Goldman, chose widescreen 35mm.

All of "Sin Nombre" was shot in Mexico, where the filmmakers worked closely with train officials to create the more scenic and spectacular episodes.

A couple of Fukunaga's shorts have become film-festival favorites: "Kofi" (2003), about a child whose parents are separating, and "Victoria para chino" (2004), a fact-based drama about would-be Mexican immigrants who die in a refrigerated truck while trying to cross the border.

Fukunaga, who lives in New York, is working on a couple of projects: a love story and a musical.

"But the musical won't be Broadway," he said, "and it won't be a rock opera."

John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com