Ernesto de la Cruz

**Ernesto de la Cruz** is the main antagonist of the 2017 film Coco.

## Background

Born in 1896, Ernesto was an up-and-coming musician from the town of Santa Cecilia. He started his musical career as a guitarist with his childhood friend Héctor as his songwriter. As the two were on tour across Mexico however, Héctor felt remorse about leaving his wife and daughter behind and intended to quit his career to go back to them. Though Héctor assured Ernesto that the latter can manage on his own, Ernesto desperately tried to convince Héctor to stay, stating he can't succeed without Héctor's songs, to no avail. Ernesto seemingly accepted Héctor's decision and shared a toast of tequila with him as he would move "heaven and earth" for his friend. Unbeknownst to Héctor, however, Ernesto had poisoned the drink, as the two walked down the street towards the train station, Héctor succumbed to the poison and died. Taking the opportunity, Ernesto took Héctor's songbook and guitar and passed them off as his own. With Héctor's songs, Ernesto became a musical legend across the country and a star of renowned films. Winning crowds with his noble appearance, Ernesto was revered as a symbol of Mexico's passion and pride, all the while leaving no-one the wiser of the true circumstances of his fame.

In 1942, Ernesto performed the song "Remember Me" at a concert among millions of his fans. Just as he finished the song on a high note, the backstage hand was distracted and accidentally pulled the lever for the stage's bell; Ernesto, being right under the bell at the moment, was crushed by it and killed instantly. His body was laid to rest in a tomb back in Santa Cecilia, while his spirit was sent to the Land of the Dead. Ernesto's memory carried on in the public, thus he has retained his reputation in the Land of the Dead, regularly performing for the dead citizens (particularly, putting on a Sunrise Spectacular at the end of Día de los Muertos) and living out his afterlife in his massive mansion, throwing parties, and with an arsenal of security guards at his disposal.

### Development

In earlier drafts of the film, Ernesto de la Cruz was intended to be a more obvious villain in a similar vein to Hopper and Chick Hicks. He was originally born in 1885 and was originally crushed to death during his performance of "Remember Me" in 1953. After the original idea was screened, it was scrapped and Ernesto was redesigned to appear as a less villainous figure, he was given a grandfatherly appearance and charming personality to make his true nature more unsuspecting.

### Personality

At first glance, Ernesto presents himself as a charming, suave, wise, friendly, and sensible individual who encouraged others to follow their dreams no matter what, making him seem like a positive role model to many individuals in the living world. Ernesto saved Miguel when he fell in his pool out of genuine kindness and was genuinely going to give him his blessing and allow him back to the Land of the Living. That is, that was before Miguel discovered his secret, so it is debatable whether that act of decency was sincere or not.

However, it is later revealed that Ernesto was selfish, vain, fame-hungry, and desperate in life to the point of being a rank opportunist. His ambition was so extreme that it drove him to murder his best friend Héctor, who wanted to go home to his family, and subsequently steal his songbook and guitar to achieve fame and glory. He was even arrogant enough to hide this secret in one of his films, which led to his exposure and eventual downfall.

Leaving behind a profound legacy after his death, Ernesto was determined to maintain this and was willing to go to malicious lengths (his murders, even more, darker after he died) to keep his image alive. Even Miguel, a boy who greatly idolized him and was thought to be his blood, was seen as a liability to the extent that he would resort to murdering the child to hide his secret, with no remorse whatsoever for his heinous acts; staring coldly after Miguel when he sent him falling to his death and nonchalantly passing off the grief the action had on the late Rivera family while giving the helpless Héctor, Miguel's true ancestor, a cruel apology.

While Miguel, Héctor, and Imelda had great passions for music and (despite their flaws from them) stronger values in family, Ernesto had none of these qualities; he only used music to gain popularity and was willing to kill or use those with whom he had close relationships to get it. As such, he is a dark parallel to Héctor and what Miguel might have become if he had followed Ernesto's path.

When his actions were revealed and his former fans turned on him, Ernesto could only be silently distraught to realize he had lost everything for which he had worked as he was condemned for his vile actions.

Ernesto was also, in contrast to his suave appearance and daring movie roles, a filthy coward. This was shown when Héctor, despite their differing skeletal structures and his declining condition, furiously attacked him after realizing Ernesto's hand in his death and later fleeing confrontation with an angered Rivera family, calling his security guards for these instances instead of defending himself. It should be noted that they outnumber him so it's understandable for him to flee instead of fighting them all at once. However, he still flees after calling his security guards to battle the Rivera family instead of helping his guards battle them, which perfectly shows his cowardice. Also, when Pepita confronts him for the crimes he committed against the family, Ernesto was left pathetically screaming and begging the alebrije to release him unharmed.

## Film Appearances

### Coco

Ernesto de la Cruz first appears at his mansion in the Land of the Dead. During the Day of the Dead, he is hosting a party exclusive to Mexico's high-class celebrities. Miguel tries to get his attention by singing an improvised song. Unfortunately, he loses his balance and falls into a pool before finishing it, prompting Ernesto to dive into it to rescue him. Upon reaching the surface, Ernesto discovers he is the human boy he had been hearing about. Miguel declares himself as de la Cruz's great-great-grandson. Despite being aware he had no known living relatives, Ernesto is overjoyed at this revelation, and tours Miguel around his residence, bragging about him to his friends.

After the party settles down, Miguel asks Ernesto how he felt about leaving his family behind; hesitating, Ernesto vaguely answers his questions that while it was hard, he had to decide to pursue his dreams of becoming a musician, and suggests Miguel do the same if he desires. Miguel explains that he needs Ernesto's blessing to return to the Land of the Living. Ernesto agrees, but before he can bless the marigold petal (with a condition for Miguel to "die very soon", to Miguel's confusion), a furious Héctor shows up. Héctor reveals he wrote the songs for which Ernesto was famous and accuses Ernesto of stealing the credit and leaving Héctor to be forgotten. Ernesto tries to be civil as Héctor tries to get the two to help him cross the bridge to see his daughter before he's forgotten. When he reminds Ernesto that the latter stated he would move "Heaven and Earth" for him, Miguel calls out the similarity of that statement with a quote uttered in one of Ernesto's films; where Don Hidalgo, the villain of the film, said the same thing while poisoning Ernesto's character. Looking at the film, Héctor recalls his last living moments and realizes Ernesto caused his death by poisoning him and stealing his songs and guitar to become famous.

When Héctor voices the realization of his death out loud, Ernesto tries to dissuade the latter by stating that he is confusing movies with reality, to no avail. Enraged at this revelation, Héctor attacks Ernesto for his betrayal, but he is thrown into a cenote pit by Ernesto's security guards. To test Miguel's loyalty, Ernesto asks Miguel if he believes what Héctor said. Miguel denies it, but the uncertainty in his voice alerts Ernesto that he does. He crumbles the marigold petal and has Miguel thrown in the cenote as he confiscates Héctor's photograph from the boy. Taken away by the re-summoned guards, Miguel protests they are family to which Ernesto coldly notes that Héctor was his best friend as well; his callous words allow Miguel to see that Héctor was telling the truth and Ernesto reminds Miguel that he needed to do whatever it took to achieve glory, or, in his own words, "seize his moment", before leaving.

In the cenote, Miguel and Héctor discover their true lineage and are rescued by the deceased Rivera's, Dante, and Pepita and reveal the truth of Héctor's departure. They sneak backstage of an arena where Ernesto's Sunrise Spectacular concert is to be held to reclaim Héctor's photo before Coco forgets him in the Land of the Living. When they conveniently run into Ernesto, he faintly recognizes Imelda who slaps him twice with her boot, the first hit for murdering her love and the second one for trying to murder her grandson (the revelation of Héctor related to Miguel shocking Ernesto). A cowardly Ernesto flees at the sight of the family, realizing that they are after the photo he took and summons his security guards to deal with them. During the scuffle, Imelda is accidentally put on stage after managing to retrieve the photo. Ernesto orders his guards to get her off the stage, but Imelda sings La Llorona and attracts the attention of the audience, infuriating Ernesto over having the spotlight stolen. Ernesto then joins Imelda midway through the song and snatches the photo away from her, but then Imelda stomps his foot at the end of the song and makes off with the photo while he recoils and screams a mariachi cry in pain.

As Imelda and Héctor give Miguel their blessing to be sent back to the Land of the Living, an infuriated Ernesto suddenly grabs him, interrupting the blessing, and shoves a protective Imelda to the ground. He drags Miguel toward a ledge while demanding the Rivera's to stay back, not one more step. A weakened Héctor pleads for Ernesto to spare Miguel as he's a living child, but Ernesto refuses, labelling Miguel as a threat to his legacy in the realm of the living. Unknown to Ernesto, Miguel's aunts Rosita and Victoria secretly angled a nearby camera on him and switched it on to broadcast his rants against the Rivera's to the audience. Seeing Ernesto cruelly berate Héctor, Miguel angrily calls him a coward with Ernesto declaring himself as "the greatest musician of all time". Miguel rebukes this by stating Héctor is the real musician and denouncing Ernesto as a murderer who took undeserved credit by stealing his songs, shocking and confusing the audience with this revelation. Not caring and holding Miguel to his face, the vile fraud viciously defends his actions by ranting he'll do whatever it takes to seize his moment before throwing Miguel from the building, to the horror of the Rivera's and the whole audience. Satisfied and believing he has won, Ernesto casually passes the horrified Rivera's and a weakened Héctor, giving a cruel sarcastic apology to his former friend, who stares after Ernesto with horror at what he just did.

Straightening himself up, Ernesto gleefully returns to the stage, only to be met with boos, jeers, and scowls from the livid audience, who furiously labels him a murderer and orders him to get off the stage. Shrugging this off, Ernesto tries to start the orchestra, but the disgusted instrumentalists only glare at him out of outrage and contempt as the stoic conductor responds to his attempts by snapping his baton in two without a word or second thoughts out of disgust. Ernesto then tries to win the crowd over by singing "Remember Me", but the livid crowd just boos even more as they throw food at him. Confused at this reception, Ernesto sees on the monitors that Pepita has just saved Miguel and realizes that his vile actions have been revealed to all the Land of the Dead as well, causing him to be silently devastated at the fact that his legacy has now been destroyed and he had lost everything.

As he ponders on what to do, Ernesto looks behind him to see Pepita emerge from the curtains, ready to punish him for everything he put the family through when he murdered Héctor. As she menacingly approaches him, Ernesto can only meekly beg Pepita not to hurt him, but the alebrije responds with a roar and head-butts him off the stage, catches him by the pelvis area, and carries him out of the stadium, with Ernesto screaming and begging in frantic terror for Pepita to release him unharmed. Pepita then tosses Ernesto into the air and swats him out of the arena with her tail, sending the disgraced and reviled fraud hurtling into a bell tower, where he smacks face-first into the iron bell with a resounding clang before falling underneath. While recovering, the bell breaks loose and crushes a horrified Ernesto, echoing his original death. This is all broadcasted by the camera staff to everyone in the arena who rejoice at his defeat, excluding a spectator returning from the concession stand and asking his wife what he missed.

After returning to the Land of the Living, Miguel reveals the truth about Héctor. Using the letters Héctor sent to Mamá Coco when she was young, the living Riveras expose Ernesto's murderous crimes and manage to save Héctor from being forgotten. One year later, by the next Dia de Los Muertos, Héctor is now credited by Santa Cecilia as an authentic musician and songwriter, while Ernesto’s mausoleum is defaced and abandoned, with a sign reading "FORGET YOU" hung on his bust.

## Disney Parks

A walkaround version of Ernesto debuted at the 2022 Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween event at Disney California Adventure.