Edgar Ramirez is having one of the best years of his career as the protagonist in two major films.

In July, he starred in the horror film, "Deliver Us From Evil" alongside Eric Bana, and this month he headlines "The Liberator," a biopic about the life and times of Simon Bolivar, the revolutionary who freed Latin America from Spanish colonialism.

Cohen Media Group is releasing the film, and it is Venezuela's Oscar submission this year for the foreign language film category at the 2015 Academy Awards. The film will also be eligible for other categories including Best Actor, which Ramirez could win if his performance gains traction.

Ramirez was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and has appeared in such films as "Zero Dark Thirty," "Domino," "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "Che Part 1."

During his campaign trail, Ramirez had a chance to speak to Latin Post and talk about the process of becoming this heroic historical figure:

Latin Post: When were you first approached for the role of Simon Bolivar?

Edgar Ramirez: That was probably in 2006 or 05. It was about seven years ago that I was first approach by Alberto Arvelo, who was the heart and soul of this project and championed this movie. And he collected each collaborator, including myself, one by one.

LP: Did you have any hesitations about doing the role?

ER: No hesitations. I was very honored to portray Simon Bolivar. But I was afraid and nervous and anxious. As it always happens when you have a new character in front of you. But I always knew that I wanted to play this character.

LP: What were greatest challenges and what was the experience of playing Bolivar?

ER: [Regarding the greatest challenge], there was a lot of pressure about everyone's expectations, especially because he means so much to so many people in Latin America. It is a huge movie, a lot of extras, big sets, amazing clothes, big battles. And we had to reproduce the illusion of going back in time and try to recreate how Latin America could have been in the 19th century. In order to allow people to travel and live into the fantasy of the past and that is always a challenge. All the way from the tone of the movie, the tone of the cinematography and the production design and the costume design. Of course, there are tons of paintings and certain references about how that world would have looked like. But even paintings are recreations of reality. And we are making a recreation of a recreation. "How do you make that realistic?" That is always a challenge. But we had an amazing team, and we were happy with the process.

LP: How much research did you have to do?

LP: Can you tell me about the relationship you have with director Alberto Arvelo and how that grew on this film?

ER: There was already a trust because we had worked together on a movie called "Cyrano Fernandez" and had become very close friends. That helped a lot because we could collaborate with each other and support and have each other's back during the process. It was very relieving to have a friend there for you. We did this together. Trust is the most important thing when you carry out any endeavor in life. Especially a movie of this size.

LP: What were your favorite scenes to film and what was most memorable about the shoot?

ER: Honestly, not to sound demagogue, [but] it was the entire thing. It was a road movie. I don't think we ever spent more a week in one location. So it was always changing, going from one location to another in Spain and Venezuela in amazing locations, beautiful landscapes and beautiful cities. It was fantastic. The landscape was another character in the movie, and we were very privileged to shoot in real locations in real landscapes and very remote places so we could be impregnated by those places. By that ancient feeling of those places. We didn't have to imagine anything. We just had to react.

LP: Can you tell me about the experience of the film festival circuit and how audiences have reacted to the movie?

ER: We feel very honored that people have had a good response. We had a standing ovation last night. It was a sold out screening at the LA Film Festival. People loved it. They seemed to be very enthusiastic. So we feel very flattered, especially because for North American audiences, this is a character who is not very known. He is not a household name. The fact that people can connect to the universal views of his life and legacy is really flattering.

LP: What do you want audiences to take away from the movie, particularly in Latin America, and here in North America?

ER: I definitely want them to travel back in time and realize how connected our struggles for independence were. They will realize how intertwined. Two generations from Jefferson and Washington to Lincoln and Bolivar in the South were interconnected. They shared ideas and thoughts and came from the same line of thinking. And that is beautiful, to see how our histories have always been very in touch with one another. And I think that it will be very interesting to see that, once upon a time, there was a generation who really look into the future and see how the decisions made would affect the times that we are living in right now. Bolivar and the people who fought with him had a long-term vision of their destinies. We tend to get stuck in the short term satisfaction and there was a generation led by Bolivar who could look into the future. I always wondered if Bolivar's ideas of a big nation had been realized, how the world would be different now. How the powers would be and what Latin America's place would be in the world we live in right now.

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