Hollywood silver fox Andy Garcia has opened up about his new star-studded whodunnit, Diamond, and why the labour of love was two decades in the making15:08, 20 May 2026Andy Garcia premiered his latest film as a director, Diamond, at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night. Described as a love letter to L.A. and to the film noir genre, it’s a kooky whodunnit both written and directed by the acclaimed actor.‌In it, the star - who was nominated for an Oscar for The Godfather III plays the enigmatic Joe Diamond, an old-school private detective who has an irritating talent for solving troubling cases that have left the LAPD scratching their heads.‌And as he told the Mirror and other press on Wednesday morning, the flick was some twenty years in the making.‌Looking incredibly fresh-faced at 70, the star explained that the idea for it first came to him while helping his young daughter at the time, Daniella, with her homework - which was to pen a short story in the style of crime writer extraordinaire, Raymond Chandler.“I started to pitch an idea about doing a series to HBO and other networks. They all said it’s very interesting, but it wasn’t written, so I just challenged myself and started writing,” Garcia said. “I had 60 pages for a television pilot, but nobody bought it.”‌And as he revealed, making it a reality was a long, hard slog. “But anyway, 15 years went by trying to sell it. No one ever supported the film. I was never able to sell it traditionally to a studio or streamer.”Garcia added: “We financed it completely independently and then sent it to Thierry and said we hope you like it. And then we got a call back. They said we love your movie and we’d like to have you here.”‌It may have been a labour of love to get it made, but Diamond has a truly stellar cast - including the likes of Rosemarie DeWitt, Brendan Fraser, Bill Murray, Dustin Hoffman and Danny Huston..The third film as director for Garcia, who shares four children with his film producer wife of over 40 years, Marivi, it follows previous offerings, 1993 documentary Cachao… Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos, and 2005’s The Lost City.Garcia also told press that he has other projects including one called Hemingway & Fuentes - about writer Ernest Hemingway’s friendship with Cuban boat captain, Gregorio Fuentes, which inspired the writer’s iconic 1952 novel The Old Man and the Sea. He said, “I would play Fuentes.”Article continues belowIt’s a welcome return to the festival for Garcia after a lengthy break. He was last in Cannes in 2007 for Oceans Thirteen - and previous to that, for Things to Do In Denver When You’re Dead in 1995.Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .