For years, Juan Pablo Di Pace has captivated audiences across stage and screen—from his unforgettable turn as Fernando on Fuller House to his portrayal of Jesus in A.D. The Bible Continues and his dazzling run on Dancing With the Stars. But with his new film, Before We Forget, Di Pace steps fully into his power as a multi-hyphenate artist—writer, director, and star—bringing a deeply personal, poetic story to life that blurs the lines between memory, reality and identity.
More than just a debut feature, Before We Forget is a cinematic homecoming. Shot on location at the very school that helped him embrace his identity as a young queer artist, the film reunites Di Pace with his childhood best friend-turned-co-director, Andrés Pepe Estrada, and includes intimate contributions from his own parents—his mother serving as both production and costume designer and portraying his on-screen mother.
It’s a story inspired by real VHS footage from his teen years, resurrected during the pandemic, that unearths the tenderness, confusion and ache of first love. That authenticity pulses through every frame.
With Executive Producer Norman Lear offering guidance before his passing—“Make the movie you want to make,” he advised—Di Pace delivers something bold, raw and emotionally true. He didn’t set out to make a “queer” film, but rather an honest one. And in doing so, he created what he calls “a caress or a hug”—a film that doesn’t just entertain, but heals.
In our conversation, Di Pace opens up about stepping behind the camera for the first time, the creative alchemy of lifelong friendships, and how, in telling his own story, he discovered not only the art form that brings all his talents together—but a deeper understanding of himself.
INTERVIEW >>>
This marks the debut of you as a writer, a director and a star. How did it feel to wear so many hats on Before We Forget? Was it exhilarating, scary, overwhelming?
You know what, yes, on one side–because as an actor, I have been doing this for maybe 24 years now on that side of the camera. So you get to see a lot. You get to be on set. You get to work with different directors. You get to observe. Which is what I feel like I have been doing. Almost preparing. Actors have a front row seat in a way, on what happens in a creative situation. But we are just one part of the puzzle. When you direct and produce, you realize this is way more complicated, but also, the responsibility is larger. You are dealing with a lot more moving parts. So yes, I was nervous about stepping into that. However, I found it to be incredibly satisfying. Since I was a kid, I always loved telling stories. So when I got together with my best friend, Andrés Pepe Estrada, who is co-director of this film, we have been friends since we were 13 years old. We were the kids at school that would do the short films, then ended up producing all the shows for the school to raise money for end of school vacations and things. We had an idea that one day we would direct a movie. So he went off and became an amazing film editor. He edited Argentina, 1985, which went on to the Oscars. It won a Golden Globe a few years ago. I went off via London, Madrid and now Hollywood and became an actor.
So, it was time. We are in our 40’s and we thought it is time, let’s do this film. It is all we have talked about making. This is how it began–even though I feel I have been preparing my whole life. I was the son of a painter, so I was inclined at an early age to draw and paint and take photographs. The aesthetic part for me was always present in my life. Musically, I was a dancer before I was an actor. I was also a singer. It feels like for the longest time I questioned why I liked so many things and why can’t I choose? That was also other people’s opinions. Now, having directed a movie, I thought “Oh, this is why”. This is why I was drawn because cinema is the art that unites them all. So it does feel like a combination of a lot of things.
What inspired the story of Before We Forget? Was it personal experience, memory, imagination?
Definitely it is a movie that deals with memory. As adults, when we think back, usually teenage is the one time when we have a lot of trapped emotions. We feel everything so much when we are in our teens. So I wanted to tell a story which is about that adult looking back at a memory almost as if it were a prehistoric insight. A precious jewel. That memory, that important one, is falling in love for the first time. At the time, we can’t quite understand it. We can’t gauge that feeling because it is the first. What happens in a lot of people’s lives is that they remember their first love like a jewel. We thought we could do that kind of timely story. I would like to have a film director trying to make a film about his first love. And being almost stuck with it because you can not quite decipher that feeling, even though he wants to recreate it on film. The only way for him to actually solve the puzzle is to go back there. So, the movie sort of jumps between the present and the past. Also between reality and memory–sort of a poetic expedition of memory. I think every artist has inspiration in their own life. There was a specific event in my life that inspired this story. It was, in fact, when I discovered some long lost VHS tapes from 1997 in the vault of my parents’ house in Madrid. I saw these tapes and I was like, “OK.” They were tapes taken at this international school when my best friend got expelled from the school. And it just so happened that I was in love with this best friend. It was a video taken the day after this whole disaster happened. I could feel in these tapes this longing, this sadness, which was masked with happiness. All of these teenagers are trying to make my friend feel better. That was really the inspiration for the film.
Coming from a real memory, a real event, and building a world around it. You could say our first film, we wanted to talk about people’s situations, places and feelings that we both knew. He was actually there when this thing happened in my life as well. This whole thing is very Meta in a way. The place we shot it is the same place that I went to school.
So Norman Lear was involved as an Executive Producer. What did his support mean to you? Was he able to give you any guidance or wisdom?
Norman was an incredible person to have blessed the project. This was also the last film he ever watched in the cinema. He did a screening at Sony. What I got from him was incredible wisdom. When you go through many versions of a film and you cut it and edit it, people have many opinions. I remember talking to him. He was very straight down the line. He told me, “Don’t listen to anyone. Make the movie you want to make because ultimately it is yours.” Coming from him, such a legend, that was incredible advice. It is true. Especially in film, there can sometimes be a wanting to please a team. That would be advice I would consider important, especially to a couple of first time directors. He was incredibly supportive all along, until he sadly passed away. He was introduced to us by Brent Miller, who was his partner. It has been a wonderful journey with Norman and Brent.
As a queer creative voice in the industry, how important was it for you to represent love and memory in a way that feels personal and authentic to you?
I really don’t set out ever to make anything with any term. I just tell a personal story. If that includes the fact that it is a queer story, fine. I wasn’t trying to talk about the queer experience.
No, I get that, but you were able to be very authentic with these films.
You have to. You have to be authentic in what you say. As a society, we are getting so good at fakery. The false. So it is really important to be authentic and always talk from a place of truth. At the beginning of the process, when we were putting it together, even from the writing, there is always the doubt. Will people care? This is so personal. What if no one gives a crap? When you see people’s reactions, you see they respond because it is so specific. Because it is so truthful to its roots. That is what I learned being an actor and director. You can only get to people when you get super specific as to the truth of a character or a story.
Did you discover anything new about yourself–either artistically or emotionally–while making this film?
Yes, I felt like I was a teenager before making the film. Now my balls have dropped and I am an adult. I learned about a lot of things. How long do you have? I was already a control freak, but now I am REALLY a control freak. I love the power. I love the responsibility and the pressure. I also had my first panic attack. I sympathize with all filmmakers all around the planet now. It is like giving birth. LIke having a baby. The baby sometimes needs extra care. Sometimes people will want to sort of take it and do something with your baby and you have to protect it, no matter what. It is definitely a parental thing. I don’t have any children, so I learned to in a way be a dad.
Are there any future plans for your writing and directing?
Yes. We have more things that we are working on. I am in the process of finishing a script for another film. I have another one that I am in the process of writing as well.
So I will say, yes. At least two or three more. I have definitely caught the bug. I love it and I will continue to do it. I will continue to act as well because that is obviously my life. I came here to the states to be in films. I am very happy about where things are going. It is rare that you get to talk about something you have done that you are proud of. Sometimes you have to sell a little bit–something that you are promoting. In this case, I am just really proud to be talking about it. I am letting the world get to see it because it has been a long road. I am really proud. We did a year of festivals. It has been beautiful, 14 awards later, to bring the picture to the cinema. Very exciting.
What are you hoping that people take away from the film?
A little bit of healing. I think with this movie, we are appealing to that tender side of relationships. Of families, of parents. That is something I was starting to miss in cinema. The movie definitely goes back to that. The film is set in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, which were about relationships. I think this movie is kind of like a caress or a hug, which we all need right now.
Is there anything I didn’t cover that you want to talk about?
I told you my mom is a painter. She and my father were very involved in the movie. My mom was the costume designer and production designer. Of course, I wrote the movie during covid in their house. She is also an actress in the film. She plays my mother. There is actually a different cast. There is a version of my mother as an older woman. She plays my mother in the older version. That is kind of a little funny thing. Which talks about how involved my family is in everything we do and how I love them so very much. There is a big theme of parenting. My dad was carrying things and transporting actors from A to B during the whole shoot. That was the spirit of the film. I had my best friend co-directing with me. I had my parents there. I was shooting it in the school, United World College, which was the place that gave me my chance. For those that don’t know the United World College, there are 18 of them in the world. Basically, when you are about finished with high school, you can apply to these places. You are chosen by merit. When you get chosen, you go to this place with 200 students from all over the world, but in a remote place. In my case, it was Italy. But there is one in Norway, Whales, India. So that place when I was 17, as a queer kid, you can say we all want to start from scratch. We want a fresh start, no history. So at 17, when I was going through all my crap, I got this opportunity to finish high school in Italy. Away from the world. In this bubble. After three years there, I am sharing experiences with kids from all over the world and opening my mind to different ways of thinking. That is when the journey of the artist started. That is when I decided to go to London. I was going to do acting. The rest is history. So when I called them and said “I am making this movie and the movie starts in the college”, the Italians said, “You can come here and you can involve the students and we will collaborate on this with you.” The play didn’t change my life once when I was a teenager, but twice by allowing me to shoot inside the school. To collaborate with 60 of those students behind the camera. It has been a wonderful collaboration. I will forever be grateful to that school.
Before We Forget is showing at Cinema Village from July 11 to July 17 (22 East 12th Street, New York, NY 10003). Q+As with Juan Pablo follow the screenings on 11th 8.20pm and 12th 8.20pm
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