Fans may recognize him from the relaunch of “Magnum P.I.,” a crime-action television series about a former Navy SEAL who solves cases in Hawaii. Jay Hernandez will star in “The Long Game,” an underdog sports film about a Mexican American golf team that won the Texas high school championship in 1957, which opens on Friday.
In the film starring Dennis Quaid and Cheech Marin, Hernandez plays J.B. Peña, a Mexican American war veteran and school district superintendent who is rejected from membership at the San Felipe Country Club in Del Rio, Texas, due to his ethnicity. He later forms the Mustangs, a high school golf team for Mexican American teens who fell in love with the sport while caddying at the club.
The Mexican American golf team won the high school tournament.
“My character, in particular, believes that (the golf club) is his ultimate destination of approval.” It’s an aspiration for him,” Hernandez stated in an interview.
“He served in the military, but that wasn’t enough.” “He’s basically living the American dream, but that’s not enough,” Hernandez remarked about Peña. “He just feels like there’s this moving goal post.”
“The Long Game,” directed by Julio Quintana and adapted from Humberto G. Garcia’s novel “Mustang Miracle,” is the true story of five Mexican American golfers from San Felipe High School who won state championships against segregation.
“Mexican Americans in the 1950s occupied no better stature in American society than did African Americans,” Garcia writes in the introduction to his book. Many restaurants, motels, and other service establishments did not permit us entry. In actuality, they forbade us from entering several structures we assisted in constructing. Mexican Americans were absolutely not allowed to join country clubs and play golf as members.”
Hernandez, who is also an executive producer on “The Long Game,” believes the narrative is essential because it tells viewers that there are many different types of Americans.
“We are Americans, and the American story is an immigrant one.” It is also a Mexican-American narrative. This is also a Puerto Rican narrative. It’s also a Chinese-American narrative. “That’s the beauty of this country,” he explained.
Off camera, Hernandez, who was born in Los Angeles, says he’s still trying to figure out his identity.
“I have a natural fondness for the United States. I adore this nation.” I grew up with my father flying the American flag on our porch since I was a child,” he explained.
However, he said that his family’s cultural history, particularly on his father’s side, is also Mexican. This has influenced his performances in front of the camera.
‘They don’t get the acknowledgment’
“I’ve played cops and soldiers, and I’ve had a lot of experience with those characters.” My grandfather served in World War II, so I have a personal connection to it. And he was probably one of those folks whose experiences are rarely recounted,” Hernandez explained. “They don’t get the acknowledgment that they deserve in terms of Mexican Americans serving the armed forces.”
Hernandez was inspired to work on this film because he wanted to bring attention to those stories that were disregarded.
“It is not always about border issues and criminals. “There’s a whole other world of stories that need to be told, whether it’s about astronauts, golfers, or simply people who transcend their surroundings,” he said.
Ultimately, Hernandez stated that “The Long Game” is a story about striving to fit in.
He emphasized a scene from the film where the young golfers, being Mexican Americans, travel to Mexico but face rejection as full Mexicans. However, in the United States, they are not considered complete citizens.
“They’re not accepted as full people,” Hernandez remarked. “They’re the others in the story.”
