Latest / Dos Amigos / “Big Breaks Part 1”
Transcript
- 0:10Speaker 1: Welcome to those amigos.
- 0:11Speaker 2: Welcome to to amigos.
- 0:13Speaker 3: Here we go, ready boom, What are you sapping on there? Uh?
- 0:19Speaker 2: You know a little?
- 0:20Speaker 3: Do you know that today felt like a cup of
- 0:25Speaker 3: teach today? I started my day super early today.
- 0:28Speaker 2: What was your car time today?
- 0:31Speaker 1: So today I didn't have to be on set, but
- 0:33Speaker 1: I started.
- 0:34Speaker 3: I did a workout in the morning, and then I
- 0:36Speaker 3: had a couple of little things that I had to do,
- 0:38Speaker 3: and then I had a bunch of meetings, a comting
- 0:44Speaker 3: for some top brass help for the company as we're
- 0:47Speaker 3: expanding some other ways, you know, so where I have
- 0:49Speaker 3: meetings like back to back to back all day today
- 0:51Speaker 3: and it's just and you can.
- 0:52Speaker 1: Throw my voices a little rasping.
- 0:55Speaker 2: It just ended down.
- 0:56Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 0:57Speaker 3: Oh, I didn't realize that it just kept going today
- 1:01Speaker 3: and so it was a really long day, but it
- 1:03Speaker 3: was It was nice.
- 1:04Speaker 1: But what was your day?
- 1:05Speaker 2: Like?
- 1:05Speaker 1: What did you do today? Good?
- 1:07Speaker 2: Same? Some exercise, some uh you know stuff.
- 1:10Speaker 1: At the house. I work on the blutes.
- 1:14Speaker 2: Glutes. No, No, today's Monday, right, it's.
- 1:18Speaker 1: Like the chest day, the chest yeah, chest.
- 1:22Speaker 2: What time does your workout start in the morning?
- 1:25Speaker 3: It depends on the cold time. Like if I if
- 1:27Speaker 3: I have a seven a m. Cold time, I try
- 1:29Speaker 3: to get in there at four thirty am. Wow, four,
- 1:31Speaker 3: you know, and that's more often than none. Yeah, So
- 1:34Speaker 3: I for thirty in the morning, I get it done.
- 1:36Speaker 3: If I have a late call, I'll work out like eight. Yeah,
- 1:40Speaker 3: I try to sleep in a little bit and spend
- 1:41Speaker 3: a little of time in a cano.
- 1:42Speaker 1: Maybe take her as cool if I can. Yeah, And
- 1:45Speaker 1: then it worked out. But you work out in the
- 1:47Speaker 1: morning till you get out of the way. You do
- 1:49Speaker 1: it like whenever.
- 1:49Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, a little later in the afternoon. You know.
- 1:52Speaker 2: Morning is like coffee, meditation, you know, prayer, you know,
- 1:58Speaker 2: stuff like that.
- 1:59Speaker 3: I try to get that in first then and you
- 2:01Speaker 3: do prayer home or you do go somewhere.
- 2:03Speaker 1: Yeah, do you go? Do you go to church on
- 2:05Speaker 1: the weekends? Yeah?
- 2:08Speaker 2: Yeah, here and there.
- 2:09Speaker 3: Well, I guess we'll talk about where they're yeah, yeah,
- 2:12Speaker 3: you know, because I've been looking for church. Well, it
- 2:17Speaker 3: leads us perfectly into our theme of this episode. You know,
- 2:22Speaker 3: we we in the last couple of episodes, we took
- 2:24Speaker 3: a lot of time to understand one another in levels
- 2:28Speaker 3: that we hadn't before. Kind of go back to who
- 2:32Speaker 3: our families really were before we were any possibility. We
- 2:36Speaker 3: went right into how we became not just a possibility,
- 2:40Speaker 3: but then the operating in the environment in which we
- 2:43Speaker 3: grew up, the sacrifices some of our parents have to
- 2:46Speaker 3: make for us to kind of have a notion that
- 2:49Speaker 3: we can do a little bit or go a little
- 2:51Speaker 3: farther than they did. And you know, now we enter
- 2:55Speaker 3: like a realm of like, how do we get here?
- 2:57Speaker 1: Right? How do we get here as actors? How do
- 2:59Speaker 1: we get here? As in retainers?
- 3:01Speaker 3: It's individuals who like, you know, when you do all
- 3:03Speaker 3: the odds and you do the math, you know, we
- 3:05Speaker 3: had no business making it this far. You got that right, right,
- 3:09Speaker 3: So I guess the big question is like, what was
- 3:11Speaker 3: that first job that that you're like, you know, I
- 3:16Speaker 3: got one.
- 3:19Speaker 2: I got a funny story before well it, let me
- 3:23Speaker 2: just explain when I was. When I was like fourteen
- 3:26Speaker 2: fifteen years old in Chicago, they used to make these
- 3:30Speaker 2: things called industrial films, right, So the National Heart Association
- 3:37Speaker 2: was doing an industrial film, I guess, so they could
- 3:40Speaker 2: watch it internally in the company, and I landed it,
- 3:44Speaker 2: and I was going to make seven hundred dollars and
- 3:48Speaker 2: I was like, Yo, fourteen fifteen, seven hundred dollars. I
- 3:52Speaker 2: was like wow. I was already planning what I was
- 3:54Speaker 2: going to do with the money. And it was my
- 3:57Speaker 2: first time on set. And I don't it sag because
- 4:01Speaker 2: I was there almost like twenty four hours. It was
- 4:03Speaker 2: mad illegal. You know. I was a minor and I
- 4:06Speaker 2: should not have been there that long. But but I
- 4:08Speaker 2: felt like a working actor.
- 4:10Speaker 1: Man.
- 4:10Speaker 2: I was in front of the camera, I was acting scenes,
- 4:13Speaker 2: and I was so excited to not only see it,
- 4:17Speaker 2: but to get that seven hundred dollars.
- 4:20Speaker 1: That's crazy.
- 4:21Speaker 2: So I waited a week, right, the seven hundred dollars
- 4:23Speaker 2: is not there. I waited two weeks or three. I
- 4:25Speaker 2: waited three weeks and I was like, man, the money
- 4:27Speaker 2: hasn't arrived yet. I said I should go to the
- 4:30Speaker 2: agency to see where my money is, right, And I
- 4:34Speaker 2: remember going to that agency and taking the elevator up,
- 4:37Speaker 2: and as the elevator approached the floor that the agency
- 4:39Speaker 2: was at, the agency was empty.
- 4:42Speaker 1: No bro, the chairs were on the desk. It's like
- 4:46Speaker 1: a boiler room, man, that's like literally boiler room movement. Man.
- 4:50Speaker 2: They made out with my seven hundred bucks, and I
- 4:54Speaker 2: was like, wow, I'll you know, I like swore off agents.
- 4:57Speaker 2: I'll never have an agent again. Man, I'm going to
- 5:00Speaker 2: like stick to theater in Chicago and like, you know, but
- 5:04Speaker 2: about a year later, I got an agent and the
- 5:06Speaker 2: rest is history.
- 5:09Speaker 3: So that's my So that's my first fora and that
- 5:11Speaker 3: was that was your that was your Chicago.
- 5:14Speaker 2: That was my first Chicago agent. And then that's when
- 5:18Speaker 2: I signed with the big agency there Suzannai. Plus.
- 5:22Speaker 1: So I was going to this night class on Wednesday nights.
- 5:27Speaker 1: I had gone to this.
- 5:29Speaker 3: Well you know, so when I was a little kid,
- 5:31Speaker 3: you know, we drive down and there was a commercial
- 5:34Speaker 3: online and it said like are you between the agents.
- 5:37Speaker 1: And blah blah blah blah.
- 5:38Speaker 3: You know, you think you got what it takes to
- 5:39Speaker 3: do national commercials and Saturday morning shows, then come and
- 5:42Speaker 3: show up to the La Ex Hilton and you know
- 5:45Speaker 3: you're going a lot. You do have some a panel
- 5:47Speaker 3: of experts are going to deem to see if you
- 5:49Speaker 3: got what it takes.
- 5:51Speaker 1: And so I so I convinced my dad.
- 5:53Speaker 3: You know, it's like, hey, Dad, I heard that if
- 5:55Speaker 3: I do a little commercial here and there, I make
- 5:56Speaker 3: a little money and bring them to the house.
- 5:58Speaker 1: My Dad's like, okay, me is see what's up.
- 6:00Speaker 3: So we went over to you know, we went over
- 6:04Speaker 3: to the Hilton and Lax and it was like a catacle.
- 6:06Speaker 1: Bro.
- 6:07Speaker 3: It was like that's how they got people. They threw
- 6:09Speaker 3: the fish net out on this radio station. People would
- 6:12Speaker 3: show up and their kids, you know, walk over there
- 6:14Speaker 3: and they walk on this plank. They get to the
- 6:17Speaker 3: end of the runway, they look into camera and they
- 6:21Speaker 3: say their name, their age, and where they're from, and
- 6:25Speaker 3: they turn around. And then that's what the expert needed
- 6:29Speaker 3: to see to gim you.
- 6:33Speaker 2: Whether you're a store yes, that X factor right right?
- 6:37Speaker 2: And why you said your name?
- 6:39Speaker 1: Yes? Yes for sure? No man, you I had just
- 6:41Speaker 1: learned to speak English. Okay.
- 6:42Speaker 3: So I get on stage and I walk down that
- 6:44Speaker 3: plank and I get to the front of it, and
- 6:47Speaker 3: I said, hello, my name is we mad about that?
- 6:51Speaker 1: You know? We met about that rama. Uh.
- 6:54Speaker 3: I'm sixteen years old and I'm from Venezuela, Columbia, Venezuelan, Colombia.
- 6:59Speaker 1: I turn around and I walk away.
- 7:01Speaker 2: But but did you feel like you had to say
- 7:03Speaker 2: it in a way that was like no, I'm gonna
- 7:06Speaker 2: stand out, I'm gonna no.
- 7:08Speaker 3: I thought like, okay, they're just slating and I just
- 7:10Speaker 3: said that, and somehow, surprise, surprise, I had what it took.
- 7:15Speaker 1: You.
- 7:16Speaker 3: But but in my and in everyone's defense, everyone had
- 7:21Speaker 3: what it took. Everyone got pushed to the front of
- 7:23Speaker 3: the desk and then they asked you, hey, you know,
- 7:26Speaker 3: here's how it works. You're gonna pay this many licessions.
- 7:28Speaker 3: And you know, it was basically going to those things
- 7:30Speaker 3: where they just get your money, you know, you they
- 7:33Speaker 3: you know, you pay for commercial slate classes, you know,
- 7:38Speaker 3: drama classes, comedy classes, audition classes.
- 7:41Speaker 1: And there was this thing called Beverly Hills.
- 7:43Speaker 3: Studios, Beverly Hills Studio, and I don't even think it
- 7:46Speaker 3: was a perfect name. Yes, yes, Beverly Hills every pretty prestigious.
- 7:51Speaker 1: Pretty prostigious, and you know, and and I don't even
- 7:54Speaker 1: think it was in Beverly Hills, you know. So so
- 7:58Speaker 1: my dad is like looked at the money. He's like, oh,
- 8:00Speaker 1: this is.
- 8:00Speaker 2: I remember how much it was.
- 8:03Speaker 3: Yeah, it was something like like six hundred dollars for
- 8:07Speaker 3: you know, ten classes of commercial and then another three
- 8:11Speaker 3: hundred dollars for scene work and cole read yeah, you know,
- 8:15Speaker 3: so just eleven hundred dollars damn.
- 8:17Speaker 2: And that's a lot.
- 8:18Speaker 3: Bro, you kidding. We weren't making that in three months.
- 8:21Speaker 3: But my dad found a way, you know, and borrow
- 8:25Speaker 3: some money and he just.
- 8:26Speaker 1: Put me in there, you know.
- 8:27Speaker 3: And and I went to the school and I only
- 8:30Speaker 3: telling you this part of it because you know, I
- 8:32Speaker 3: then this teacher named Sela's Boy started teaching me for
- 8:36Speaker 3: free at her house on Wednesday nights, who was originally
- 8:39Speaker 3: a part of that part of that teacher. And she's like, yeah,
- 8:41Speaker 3: I like to teach you on Wednesday nights.
- 8:43Speaker 1: So she so I was like, oh, that's cool.
- 8:44Speaker 3: So I went and started, you know, taking classes and
- 8:48Speaker 3: there was like thirty year olds and twenty year olds
- 8:50Speaker 3: and I was sixteen and I was doing scenes with
- 8:52Speaker 3: so many different ages and it was like really good practice.
- 8:54Speaker 2: Wow.
- 8:55Speaker 3: And she introduced me to this agent, very similar situation, right,
- 9:00Speaker 3: and and you know this agent had these other you know,
- 9:03Speaker 3: small sized agency and he says, I'm not going to
- 9:05Speaker 3: represent you, but I'm going to take you out of
- 9:07Speaker 3: some auditions and see what happens. And like, I went
- 9:11Speaker 3: out on one, I think one Dorito's commercial did not
- 9:17Speaker 3: get it, but the feedback was like, hey, pretty funny kid.
- 9:21Speaker 1: Pretty funny kid. But he has an accent.
- 9:23Speaker 2: Oh wow.
- 9:25Speaker 1: So so that's why I couldn't get the part.
- 9:27Speaker 3: They wanted a Latin person, but he couldn't sound right,
- 9:33Speaker 3: so I didn't get the part. And but then he's like, well,
- 9:36Speaker 3: let me see, I want to send you something else.
- 9:37Speaker 3: And then so my first thing was I know this audition.
- 9:41Speaker 3: I don't know how, but I get booked to this
- 9:44Speaker 3: region of commercial for a smart yellow Pages commercial, Yellow
- 9:48Speaker 3: Pages yellow Pages commercial and it was so California only,
- 9:52Speaker 3: and what's funny, It's like it was the Spanish. It
- 9:55Speaker 3: was for the Spanish market, for the Spanish speaking market,
- 9:58Speaker 3: and I go and I grabbed the Yellow Pages and
- 10:02Speaker 3: I look right to camera and I say the Pacific
- 10:05Speaker 3: Bell Smart yellow Pages.
- 10:07Speaker 1: But with a really strike accent.
- 10:09Speaker 3: The accent was crazy in English, in English, in English.
- 10:14Speaker 3: But the whole commercial was in Spanish, you know, and
- 10:18Speaker 3: you know, I had my fake mom, I had my
- 10:19Speaker 3: fake sister and the whole thing. I was like, oh
- 10:21Speaker 3: my god, I'm doing it. But my whole part was
- 10:23Speaker 3: just like yeah. And that was my first commercial. And
- 10:27Speaker 3: so with that money, I got that.
- 10:29Speaker 1: Money and what did you make?
- 10:29Speaker 2: How much did you make?
- 10:30Speaker 1: I think it was six hundred bus sixteen hundred bucks.
- 10:33Speaker 2: Sixteen hundred No.
- 10:36Speaker 3: Yes, it was sixteen hundred bucks because it was a
- 10:38Speaker 3: complete like buyout thing and whatever and on that and
- 10:41Speaker 3: so with that money was no, it was twelve hundred bucks.
- 10:45Speaker 3: So with that money I paid my my Screen Actors
- 10:49Speaker 3: Skill member thing, and that actually I could apply now
- 10:52Speaker 3: and they.
- 10:55Speaker 1: And then you know, I paid my dues and I
- 10:57Speaker 1: became a SAG member.
- 10:58Speaker 3: Of course that membership was you know, we got to
- 11:00Speaker 3: pay a lot of money at the beginning, and and
- 11:03Speaker 3: so I became a SAG actor after that. What was
- 11:16Speaker 3: so obviously it's a journey. Yeah, right, as soon as
- 11:19Speaker 3: you start, like you taste blood for a second, you're like,
- 11:21Speaker 3: oh I can do this, you know, and you start editioning, addition, auditioning.
- 11:26Speaker 1: How long did it take until you got that one
- 11:29Speaker 1: gig where you were like, oh I do this?
- 11:33Speaker 2: Oh wow. So so after that movie I was telling
- 11:37Speaker 2: you about, I was doing pretty okay in Chicago. You know,
- 11:40Speaker 2: I was pounding the pavement. I think covered this in
- 11:44Speaker 2: the other episode. Did you know an episode of of
- 11:47Speaker 2: like television that was coming through Chicago at that times?
- 11:51Speaker 2: John Wells thing this other thing did a couple of commercials,
- 11:54Speaker 2: but it wasn't until I did a film called The
- 11:57Speaker 2: Walk in the Clouds. That was really my first first
- 12:01Speaker 2: movie that turned where I I got to turn pro,
- 12:05Speaker 2: you know, And so sometimes I describe it to people like,
- 12:08Speaker 2: you know, I was kind of like Lebron or like Kobe,
- 12:11Speaker 2: you know, I just kind of went pro right after
- 12:13Speaker 2: high school because I never got a chance to go
- 12:14Speaker 2: to college yet. So that happened, you know, high school
- 12:18Speaker 2: was over. I was doing pretty good in high school.
- 12:22Speaker 2: I was booking stuff in Chicago, and everyone in my family,
- 12:25Speaker 2: pretty much all my brothers and cousins all went to
- 12:29Speaker 2: college after so obviously the pressure was on for me
- 12:32Speaker 2: to go to college and I wanted to act, you know,
- 12:35Speaker 2: so I you know, my dad was on me, people
- 12:37Speaker 2: were on me, and I was like, look, just just
- 12:39Speaker 2: give me a year. Okay, give me a year. Let
- 12:42Speaker 2: me pound the pavement. Let me see what I can
- 12:44Speaker 2: do with it. This year. And that year was an
- 12:47Speaker 2: incredibly dry year and nothing was happening. I had to
- 12:51Speaker 2: take this like third shift job at this like legal
- 12:54Speaker 2: common place, you know, working from like midnight to eight
- 12:57Speaker 2: in the morning, and nothing was happening. And then Eventually
- 13:01Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, I guess it's time for me
- 13:03Speaker 2: to sort of wrap it up and go back to
- 13:05Speaker 2: school and to figure something out. And then I landed
- 13:08Speaker 2: an Illinois lottery commercial and I was like, oh, okay,
- 13:13Speaker 2: the tide is changing. Things are picking back up. And
- 13:16Speaker 2: then I landed this movie called The Fence with this
- 13:19Speaker 2: guy Billy Worth who was in The Lost Boys, and
- 13:21Speaker 2: I played him when he would have flashbacks in the movie,
- 13:25Speaker 2: and I was like, I landed in an indie film. Awesome,
- 13:28Speaker 2: all right, this is starting to work. And then Merchant
- 13:33Speaker 2: of Venice came through Chicago at that time. Now I
- 13:37Speaker 2: may be wrong, and John Ortiz may be able to
- 13:39Speaker 2: correct me on this, but I believe it was elaborate
- 13:43Speaker 2: theater production, and I believe it was John Ortez and
- 13:46Speaker 2: Philip Seymour Hoffman came through Chicago at the Goodman Theater
- 13:51Speaker 2: and they were very interested in me being in the
- 13:54Speaker 2: play because I was a local. Now, for those who
- 13:57Speaker 2: don't know, the Goodman Theater in Chicago, the good Men
- 14:00Speaker 2: and the stephen Wolf and those theaters are like Broadway
- 14:03Speaker 2: to us, right, and so I was always too young
- 14:07Speaker 2: to do those theaters. And I was finally at the
- 14:09Speaker 2: age to get to do those theaters. So I was
- 14:12Speaker 2: super psyched that they were that they wanted me to
- 14:15Speaker 2: be a part of it. Then I got an audition
- 14:19Speaker 2: for this twentieth Century Fox movie, A Walk Into Clouds,
- 14:23Speaker 2: and it was Keanu Reeves and it was Anthony Quinn
- 14:26Speaker 2: and it was Keanu's follow up movie to Speed.
- 14:29Speaker 1: Oh my God.
- 14:31Speaker 2: And so they were putting me on tape in Chicago,
- 14:33Speaker 2: and I thought, well, you know, man, I'm in Chicago.
- 14:36Speaker 2: Like you know, I didn't even think anything of it.
- 14:38Speaker 2: I went in auditioned once. I auditioned twice, like three times.
- 14:42Speaker 2: I auditioned in Chicago. Finally I get a call that
- 14:46Speaker 2: they were going to fly me out the screen test
- 14:48Speaker 2: at twenty century Fox in LA out of Chicago.
- 14:51Speaker 1: Have you been in LA before?
- 14:52Speaker 2: Never? Dude, Dude, I had never really even been out
- 14:56Speaker 2: of Chicago. Yeah.
- 14:58Speaker 1: And so all of a sudden, I do West Coast.
- 15:01Speaker 2: I'm like this nineteen year old kid. I'm staying at
- 15:03Speaker 2: this crazy expensive hotel over an Avenue of the Stars
- 15:06Speaker 2: and in Century City, you know, the Fox line is
- 15:10Speaker 2: over like on Pico, And they bring me on the
- 15:13Speaker 2: Fox lot and it was like it was the most
- 15:15Speaker 2: magnificent thing.
- 15:17Speaker 1: It's a magnetic saying when you're working in.
- 15:19Speaker 3: Anybody who comes to LA when they drive to the
- 15:21Speaker 3: twentieth century lot, you enter those gates and as soon
- 15:24Speaker 3: as you're received by these massive sound stages and you
- 15:28Speaker 3: just know something went on in here, you know that
- 15:30Speaker 3: you probably grew up with.
- 15:32Speaker 1: I mean, it's just legend there, dude.
- 15:33Speaker 2: You just feel the history when you walk in, you know.
- 15:36Speaker 2: And I was so taken by it all. And I
- 15:40Speaker 2: remember going in the audition and I was like the
- 15:42Speaker 2: only guy auditioning and I would have like the wardrobe
- 15:46Speaker 2: person coming up to me and like, hey, all right,
- 15:48Speaker 2: let me take your measurements. And you know, it was
- 15:50Speaker 2: like I almost had it, but I had to go
- 15:52Speaker 2: in and still like do the screen test. And it
- 15:55Speaker 2: turns out that it was just sort of like a formality,
- 15:58Speaker 2: you know. I went in there, I screen test. They
- 16:00Speaker 2: were like all right, all right, thank you. They're like
- 16:02Speaker 2: go in the next room and go get your makeup
- 16:04Speaker 2: done and like.
- 16:04Speaker 1: Figure it out.
- 16:05Speaker 2: And that day they told me I got it.
- 16:07Speaker 1: You know, dude, well went through your mind. I was myself.
- 16:12Speaker 2: I was by myself, you know, I was still telling.
- 16:15Speaker 1: Cell phone to call anyone on cell phone.
- 16:17Speaker 2: I was still technically living at my parents' house, you know,
- 16:21Speaker 2: I was. I was like a like a snotty nose
- 16:24Speaker 2: theater kid from Chicago. All of a sudden, I landed
- 16:26Speaker 2: this gigantic movie. It was so overwhelming. I didn't know
- 16:30Speaker 2: how to how to process it, you know, I just
- 16:32Speaker 2: I just went back home and got ready and then
- 16:35Speaker 2: shipped off for three months by myself to go shoot
- 16:38Speaker 2: this movie with Canter Reaves and Anthony Quinn. And it
- 16:41Speaker 2: was our phone so owls follow up movie to Like
- 16:43Speaker 2: Water for Chocolate.
- 16:44Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, it was incredible. Yeah.
- 16:46Speaker 2: At that time, Like Water for Chocolate was the highest goes.
- 16:50Speaker 2: Oh my god, it was the highest grossing for foreign
- 16:54Speaker 2: film of that time.
- 16:55Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh.
- 16:56Speaker 2: And this was his follow up movie to it. Gean
- 16:59Speaker 2: Carlo Jannini played my dad, which is a legendary Italian
- 17:02Speaker 2: actor on Helicott. I go on all of these wonderful
- 17:06Speaker 2: actresses from Mexico City and then the crew was all
- 17:10Speaker 2: from Mexico City, right. So uh. Emmanuel Lubeski five times
- 17:15Speaker 2: Oscar winning DP was this was his first American movie.
- 17:19Speaker 2: Achievo as we call him. Shout out to the Chievo.
- 17:21Speaker 1: Oh, yes, of course, I mean the guy. He's the man. Oh,
- 17:25Speaker 1: he's he's like a legendary guy. He's impossible to have
- 17:28Speaker 1: a meeting with him right now, you know.
- 17:30Speaker 2: Dude, Yeah, after those five oscars, Yes, sitting on his desk.
- 17:34Speaker 2: And so I remember I phone so Al going like,
- 17:36Speaker 2: you see that guy that's in Chievo Man, we call
- 17:38Speaker 2: him the boy wonder. He must have only been a
- 17:40Speaker 2: few years older than me. Man, he looked so young,
- 17:43Speaker 2: you know. And the B camera operator on that movie
- 17:46Speaker 2: was Rodrigo Garcia, who is a wonderful film and television director.
- 17:52Speaker 2: He eventually became one of six feet under his most
- 17:55Speaker 2: prominent directors. He was the showrunner on In Treatment on HBO.
- 17:59Speaker 2: But he it was the B camera operator, and they
- 18:01Speaker 2: were all like kids. They were all just so happy
- 18:04Speaker 2: to be there. And it was the first time I
- 18:05Speaker 2: had gotten like the taste of what the film community
- 18:09Speaker 2: must have been like in Mexico City. Even when we
- 18:12Speaker 2: were filming the movie. I remember one time our phone
- 18:14Speaker 2: Soo says, Hey, I want you to meet somebody man.
- 18:17Speaker 2: He just directed this movie called I think it was
- 18:20Speaker 2: called Little Women, and it was our phone Quarn and
- 18:23Speaker 2: he had come from Mexico City to come and hang
- 18:25Speaker 2: out with all his guys, you know, on the set.
- 18:28Speaker 2: You know. So I didn't really understand what I was
- 18:31Speaker 2: experiencing at that time. You know, I was just a kid.
- 18:33Speaker 2: I was nineteen. I was just happy to be there
- 18:36Speaker 2: and I was there with like a ton of legends
- 18:38Speaker 2: and didn't even know.
- 18:39Speaker 3: And he goes, tell you how long they've been doing
- 18:41Speaker 3: it too? Yeah, you know what I mean, you think
- 18:43Speaker 3: about how long they've been on that same grind.
- 18:45Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 18:46Speaker 1: So you get the part and you're.
- 18:47Speaker 3: Like, uh, like what now, Like so when do you.
- 18:52Speaker 1: Have to shoot?
- 18:53Speaker 2: After you got the pall Like immediately it was like,
- 18:56Speaker 2: you know, a week or two later, they were like
- 18:58Speaker 2: get on the plane and.
- 18:58Speaker 1: You didn't even go back to Chicago. Did you go back? Yeah?
- 19:01Speaker 2: I went back to Chicago a couple of bags.
- 19:03Speaker 1: Take a bag for the month.
- 19:04Speaker 2: WK. Yeah. But I had to make like this crucial decision,
- 19:07Speaker 2: you know, because like they wanted me at Merchant of Venice.
- 19:10Speaker 2: So I was giving up this dream to do a
- 19:13Speaker 2: play at the Goodman Theater. So I had to choose
- 19:15Speaker 2: between school because my dad was like, you gotta go
- 19:17Speaker 2: to school Merchant of Venice to give up a dream
- 19:20Speaker 2: to do that or to go pro and to and
- 19:23Speaker 2: to take the movie. And so I I took the movie.
- 19:28Speaker 2: And that's the best decision I ever made.
- 19:31Speaker 1: I think, what so what? What was that first day? Unsaid?
- 19:45Speaker 1: Like you rolled up to a real movie set and you're.
- 19:48Speaker 3: Seeing all these actors you've seen before, and the camera's
- 19:52Speaker 3: there and you've been doing your lines the night before,
- 19:54Speaker 3: and then you what can and what?
- 19:57Speaker 2: I just remember feeling relaxed, man.
- 20:00Speaker 1: Really, yeah, must be nice. Yeah.
- 20:03Speaker 2: I don't know, maybe because you know, I was like
- 20:05Speaker 2: a cocky like Chicago kid, you know me, I probably
- 20:09Speaker 2: got it, Yeah, but it was more like I know
- 20:12Speaker 2: what I'm going on there to like do what I do,
- 20:15Speaker 2: you know, And I was super relaxed, and the folks
- 20:17Speaker 2: was awesome and everybody was so cool, you know. I
- 20:20Speaker 2: think maybe that was why I felt so relaxed. Because
- 20:23Speaker 2: Keanu Reeves first of all, like everything that you hear
- 20:26Speaker 2: about him is absolutely true. Man. I mean, he's probably
- 20:29Speaker 2: one of the nicest guys I've ever worked with in
- 20:33Speaker 2: my life. I mean, to this day, every time I
- 20:35Speaker 2: see him, it's like we're right back to you know,
- 20:38Speaker 2: that time. And it was I mean this was right
- 20:41Speaker 2: after speed Man. He was the biggest superstar.
- 20:44Speaker 1: Biggest heart throw too.
- 20:45Speaker 2: Oh, huge, huge man, but the nicest guy and just understood.
- 20:50Speaker 2: And we were like the two youngest guys on set,
- 20:53Speaker 2: you know. I think he was like thirty and I
- 20:55Speaker 2: was like nineteen. Everybody else was older than us, you know,
- 20:57Speaker 2: so I think that we related on that level. But
- 21:00Speaker 2: he made me feel so welcomed and was so incredibly
- 21:04Speaker 2: nice to me. And so it was our fon So
- 21:07Speaker 2: and John Carlo and everybody. It just it just became
- 21:09Speaker 2: like this instant family right away, which lent itself.
- 21:13Speaker 1: To the energy on that screen too. Yeah, absolutely absolutely,
- 21:17Speaker 1: that's unbelievable.
- 21:18Speaker 2: Yeah. And then they get to work with Anthony Quinn right,
- 21:20Speaker 2: which which was you know, I didn't appreciate it at
- 21:25Speaker 2: the time, Like I almost wish I was older because Anthony.
- 21:30Speaker 2: I was excited to work with the guy from speed
- 21:32Speaker 2: right where Anthony was a legend obviously, you know, but
- 21:36Speaker 2: he was more like our dad's generation, right like I was.
- 21:39Speaker 2: I was still a kid, and I didn't appreciate it.
- 21:41Speaker 3: That's a privilege. I mean, I had a run in
- 21:44Speaker 3: with Anthony Quinn when I was nineteen years old, myself,
- 21:47Speaker 3: did you Yeah, I didn't. I didn't work with him.
- 21:49Speaker 3: But we were at the Hispanic Heritage Words in Washington,
- 21:52Speaker 3: d C. At Theaet Center.
- 21:54Speaker 1: And that's a really crazy story, a really funny story.
- 21:58Speaker 2: I want to hear it.
- 21:59Speaker 1: Yeah, we save it for another opiod. That's a very
- 22:04Speaker 1: good one.
- 22:06Speaker 3: Uh well, you know it makes me reflect on, you know,
- 22:10Speaker 3: that feeling. You kind of took me back to that
- 22:12Speaker 3: wondrous feeling where you're like had the audacity of.
- 22:15Speaker 1: Thinking that like I got this. I'm waiting for you
- 22:19Speaker 1: to say action.
- 22:19Speaker 3: You know, like the world where you have this confidence,
- 22:23Speaker 3: this level of confidence that is so unaware or not
- 22:25Speaker 3: just the environment, but the people that are in that
- 22:28Speaker 3: environment that have earned it longer than you, and you
- 22:31Speaker 3: kind of almost have to have that yeah, right, like
- 22:34Speaker 3: you're gonna almost have to not do the math and
- 22:37Speaker 3: just do it, you know, right, because I remember my
- 22:42Speaker 3: biggest break came, you know, at you know, at a
- 22:45Speaker 3: moment where in my life where I felt certain deficately
- 22:48Speaker 3: we needed it the most, right my I think, you know,
- 22:51Speaker 3: talked in the last episode where my dad's mask that
- 22:54Speaker 3: was was stolen.
- 22:55Speaker 1: I made my dad this promise, like I was going
- 22:58Speaker 1: to be this actor.
- 22:59Speaker 3: I was gonna make this money and I was going
- 23:00Speaker 3: to have restaurants and have all these things. And you
- 23:03Speaker 3: know that we're never gonna have to pay rent again,
- 23:05Speaker 3: and you know, we're not gonna have it have to
- 23:07Speaker 3: worry about that stuff. And you know, and I and
- 23:10Speaker 3: my dad said okay, may you can do that. I
- 23:15Speaker 3: feel like he gave me permission to do it. And
- 23:17Speaker 3: I was like, great, now I know I can go
- 23:19Speaker 3: ahead full thrott over this thing. My dad was probably
- 23:22Speaker 3: being like okay to me, Oh, you know, do what
- 23:24Speaker 3: you want to do is okay. You know, like I
- 23:26Speaker 3: don't think he understood the magnitude of what he had
- 23:29Speaker 3: unlocked in me. And I was doing like his belief
- 23:33Speaker 3: in you yes for me. I looked at us like
- 23:35Speaker 3: he saw me.
- 23:36Speaker 1: He said. I told him I was going to do it.
- 23:38Speaker 3: He believes I can do it, and he told me
- 23:40Speaker 3: go ahead and do it. And that's how I took it.
- 23:43Speaker 3: And you know, I was doing a lot of theater
- 23:44Speaker 3: in high school, you know, because you know that was
- 23:47Speaker 3: like my obsession and learning how to speak English, was
- 23:50Speaker 3: getting on stage and we're doing stage over and over again.
- 23:53Speaker 1: And then.
- 23:56Speaker 3: You know, this agent told me, you know, told me,
- 24:00Speaker 3: all right, We're gonna send you in this pilot. I'm like,
- 24:03Speaker 3: what is a pilot? I'm gonna play a pilot. I'm like, no,
- 24:05Speaker 3: it's a pilot. Is the first episode? Was that the
- 24:08Speaker 3: first pilot you ever auditioned for? The first pilot you
- 24:11Speaker 3: ever auditioned for?
- 24:12Speaker 1: First pilot?
- 24:14Speaker 3: Man?
- 24:15Speaker 1: Wow, I hope you enjoyed Part one.
- 24:18Speaker 2: Hope to see you guys in Part two. Dos Amigos
- 24:25Speaker 2: is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's Michael through
- 24:28Speaker 2: That Podcast Network, hosted by Me, Freddie Rodriguez, and Wilder Valderama.
- 24:33Speaker 3: Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burlson and Sophie Spencer Zabos.
- 24:37Speaker 2: Our executive producers are Wilder Valderama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlson,
- 24:42Speaker 2: and Leo Clem at WV Sound.
- 24:45Speaker 3: This episode was shot and edited it by Ryan Posts
- 24:47Speaker 3: and mixed by Sean Tracy and features original music by
- 24:50Speaker 3: Madison Devenport and Helo Boy Our cover.
- 24:52Speaker 2: Our photography is by David Avalos and designed by Deny Holtz.
- 24:56Speaker 3: Clau and thank you for being their third amigo today
- 25:00Speaker 3: you show you, guys, always listening to those of Englis.
- 25:02Speaker 2: For more podcasts from My Heart, visit the irheart Radio app,
- 25:05Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
- 25:08Speaker 1: See you next week.