Out of all the actors folded into the Star Wars universe over the course of the last decade, it would be fair to assume that Diego Luna was the most like the firework that let their colors burst described by Katy Perry. Like a firework, there was a lot of anticipation that ended with him exploding. We’ll start again.
Out of all the performers welcomed into the Star Wars family in recent years, Diego Luna probably felt the most like the plastic bag described by Katy Perry, in that his character seemed pretty disposable at first, but now it seems like it’ll probably be around forever. Okay, one more time.
Diego Luna, star of the critically acclaimed Disney Plus series Andor, is an actor and he has been one for some time. It’s a tumultuous and winding career path, one that can take you to the staggering heights of fame one minute, and to the direct-to-video sequel to John Carpenter’s Vampires the next.
And with a backlog of work going back to the 1980s, it’s not surprising to learn that Luna has gotten a close look at a lot of the jobs that the industry has to offer. He even joined the noble fraternity of beloved future household names who’ve done music videos on their way up. Channing Tatum did it in 2000 for the Ricky Martin song “She Bangs.” RuPaul was in the music video for “Love Shack.” And Luna, long before he was exploring the complicated morality of life in a universe with space wizards in it, popped up in a Katy Perry music video.
Diego Luna’s Katy Perry music video
It was 2011, and Diego Luna, still half a decade removed from the warm embrace of LucasFilm, participated in the creation of the music video for Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away.”
The video, currently sitting just south of a billion views on YouTube, imagines the Katy Perry of the future. Decked out in old age makeup befitting a 2015-era grandparent from Back to the Future, she thinks back to the old days, back when she would paint pictures of Diego Luna while he painted pictures of her. Sometimes, she recollects, they would do kissing, and forget to button their shirts all the way up. Other times, they would go to social events at the community center, hang out around their decorative motorcycle, play with candelabras, or give each other stick-and-poke tattoos, sealing their affection in the unbreakable bonds of tetanus. Love looks like different things to different people.
Time continues its terrible march, and as tends to happen to music video couples in songs about long-lost loves, things go sour. Perry and Luna start to have arguments about paint. It’s enough to make Luna, a bohemian artist, pack up his acoustic guitar and climb into his pristine glossy black 1966 Ford Mustang. Distracted by a piece of pink lace, Luna doesn’t notice that a boulder has rolled off of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland and into the road. Swerving to avoid it, he drives off a cliff, leaving Katy Perry to spend the rest of her life wondering what would have happened if she hadn’t been so mad about paint.
Anyway, it’s 2023 now, and Diego Luna doesn’t do music videos anymore. He does The League of Super-Pets.