Speaker 1: On this program, you introduce yourself, so it's your version
Speaker 1: of the following sentence. It could be literally anything. Hi,
Speaker 1: my name is Michael Pena and I blank whenever you're ready.
Speaker 2: Well, I was good, Uh, just bad stuff.
Speaker 3: It's bad stuff. It's fine.
Speaker 2: No, but nobody's gonna say, like, hey, I'm Michael Panna. Fuck,
Speaker 2: nobody's gonna say that.
Speaker 3: You could say whatever.
Speaker 2: No, no one's gonna say that. Nobody should say that. No,
Speaker 2: it's because I heard my kids say and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, I'm like, hey, I'm like, that's kind of cool. Hi.
Speaker 2: I'm Michael Penya and I'm an actor musician.
Speaker 1: Hello, They're friends, and welcome to a brand spanking new
Speaker 1: episode of Off the Beat. This is your host Brian Baumgartner. Today,
Speaker 1: I am very very excited to bring on my good
Speaker 1: friend and golfing campadre Michael Pania, a man who has
Speaker 1: fought tirelessly for the NYPD, the LAPD, the DEA, the CIA,
Speaker 1: and the MCU, at least on screen. You may know
Speaker 1: him as Luis on ant Man Kiki Camarina in Narcos Mexico,
Speaker 1: or from his classic role as Armando Renta on one
Speaker 1: of my favorite shows the Shield. Mike has been in
Speaker 1: a ton of incredible movies and TV shows, not the
Speaker 1: least of which Crash, Million Dollar Baby, American Hustle, et cetera,
Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. And some of you parents listening
Speaker 1: might be familiar with his roles on Tom and Jerry
Speaker 1: or Dora and The Lost City of Gold. The man
Speaker 1: has range people, and he has worked with truly some
Speaker 1: of the best in the business. So with that said,
Speaker 1: let's just dive in, shall we. Here he is Michael Pina.
Speaker 4: Bubble and Squeak. I love it Bubble and Squeak. I know,
Speaker 4: Bubble and Squeak. I cook get every mon lift over
Speaker 4: from the night before.
Speaker 3: Hey, buddy, how's it going.
Speaker 2: Oh hey dude, good to see you, buddy.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, yes, here's the thing. I know you just
Speaker 1: had a rough, rough travel experience. I feel like a
Speaker 1: person never feels more helpless than when you're than when
Speaker 1: you're stuck, because there is truly nothing you can do,
Speaker 1: no and.
Speaker 2: It's it was weird. So we were just talking about it.
Speaker 2: You know, I got stuck in Newark for about over
Speaker 2: twenty four hours, and you know, they say we can
Speaker 2: have a voucher. It was. It was basically at five
Speaker 2: o'clock my flight, and then they kept and they kept
Speaker 2: delaying it, and then and then it was like eleven
Speaker 2: o'clock at night and the plane was there, I think,
Speaker 2: but they just didn't have a crew. So and then
Speaker 2: and then we're like, they're like, come back in the morning.
Speaker 2: And then we got there at seven thirty eight, nine ten,
Speaker 2: still not there. And then we get news like at
Speaker 2: noon that they're waiting for a crew, and I was like, dude,
Speaker 2: just tell me that in the beginning, right, And then
Speaker 2: so I went to social media. Dude, I got on
Speaker 2: my Instagram and I became one of those dudes where
Speaker 2: I was like, where, I don't like this. And then
Speaker 2: but what was good. What was good is that other
Speaker 2: I saw other people are like, dude, are you new
Speaker 2: York too? And I was like I am and so
Speaker 2: but but there was like so many flights out of
Speaker 2: Newark that were just getting stuck, and it was like
Speaker 2: coming home from a great charity event, you know, from Portland,
Speaker 2: Maine and stuff. But I know that's the only times
Speaker 2: I ever do that.
Speaker 3: I want.
Speaker 1: I wanted to be there as well, but after seeing
Speaker 1: your not you didn't want you didn't.
Speaker 2: Want to be in Newark. No, no tournament.
Speaker 1: I did not want to be I did not want
Speaker 1: to be stuck with you. No, let me ask you
Speaker 1: a question, because I you said the voucher. An airline
Speaker 1: will give you a voucher for a room. Here is
Speaker 1: what I do not understand. Okay, people who say they
Speaker 1: spent the night at an airport, why are they doing this?
Speaker 2: Well, because here's the thing. Here's the here's the thing.
Speaker 2: Now it's a new automated thing. So like, instead of
Speaker 2: talking to a person, you get in line to talk
Speaker 2: to a person, and if by any chance, like and
Speaker 2: it was taking hours and hours, and I'm like, dude,
Speaker 2: it's already taking three hours. So all the flights that
Speaker 2: were canceled. Imagine if there's two hundred people on a
Speaker 2: flight and then there's like a thousand people trying to
Speaker 2: get through. Everyone's trying to get that voucher, and then
Speaker 2: there's a apparently there's a limit on the voucher. And
Speaker 2: so what they did was they gave us some gummy
Speaker 2: bears and and and dude, the gummy bears was so good. Dude,
Speaker 2: when you haven't eaten and everything's closed and shake Shack.
Speaker 2: You could still smell it, but you can't order it.
Speaker 2: Those gummy bears were so good. And Dorito's, you know
Speaker 2: they got the you know the just top shelf basket snacks, right, yeah,
Speaker 2: and so but anyway, so I'm like, I try to
Speaker 2: get I tried to get a voucher and you know,
Speaker 2: just to just out of principle. I was like, dude,
Speaker 2: I'm going to get this vouchuer. I just gave up.
Speaker 2: But it was only for two hundred bucks. The Uber.
Speaker 2: The uber, I mean ride to and from the airport
Speaker 2: is two hundred bucks at least because.
Speaker 3: You have to go to the new slept in there.
Speaker 3: So you did. You did what I was saying. You
Speaker 3: didn't go to a hotel.
Speaker 2: No. No, I wasn't Tom hankson terminal. No, but there's were
Speaker 2: there were people that actually slept there. And it's weird
Speaker 2: because you you see these people for twenty four hours
Speaker 2: and then you start talking to them, and then you
Speaker 2: get so bored. You're like, I'm just talking to anybody,
Speaker 2: and you know, because you're you're just trying to pass
Speaker 2: the time. And here's the other weird thing. Jet Blue
Speaker 2: was across the way from US, and they're saying like, oh,
Speaker 2: there's weather. Jet Blue doesn't give a rats ask dude,
Speaker 2: They're like they're sending people off, Dude. You know, I
Speaker 2: was like, man, I should have booked jet Blue for
Speaker 2: just that one trip. Yeah, there's a lot of crazy information,
Speaker 2: but dude, I'm always gonna remember those gummy bears.
Speaker 1: Yeah, those gummy bears. Nothing tastes nothing tastes good as
Speaker 1: still Airport gummy bears.
Speaker 2: Well, it's almost like, yeah, it reminds you of like
Speaker 2: when you're a kid that no matter what, like you're
Speaker 2: in the back seat and you're traveling forever and then
Speaker 2: they hand you like a little pace of candy and
Speaker 2: everything's all way, everything's okay, and you're like and I
Speaker 2: was at sucker. I was like, these are pretty good
Speaker 2: gummy bears.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: Uh, well, I hope your travel experience to beautiful Lake
Speaker 1: Tahoe is not the same.
Speaker 2: Yeah, are you going to be there?
Speaker 1: American Century Championship. I'm going to be there. I can't wait.
Speaker 1: My favorite week of the year. I didn't I didn't
Speaker 1: get the I didn't get the warm up tournament like
Speaker 1: you guys did there in Portland, Maine.
Speaker 3: So that's my excuse this year.
Speaker 2: Oh you didn't get What's what's weird is that we
Speaker 2: get thrown into these you know, there's these guys that
Speaker 2: are like really really good golfers. They're like semi pro
Speaker 2: or a little bit less than semi pro. They can't
Speaker 2: really compete with the pros, but they play tournament, you know,
Speaker 2: especially all these guys that are retired, you know, they
Speaker 2: you know, like where you know, we keep working and stuff,
Speaker 2: and I feel weird if I don't work, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. I'm like hopefully, like I just keep
Speaker 2: on working and I'm never going to retire. So they
Speaker 2: have a lot, you know, they do all these tournaments
Speaker 2: blah blah blah. I do like three a year. So
Speaker 2: they toss you in these tournaments like as if you're
Speaker 2: a pro, you know what I mean, Like they have
Speaker 2: thousands of people around you. Yeah, and I you know,
Speaker 2: and I sometimes I'm like, do you people really shouldn't
Speaker 2: be standing out here? Man? Like, dude, what do you like?
Speaker 2: How many people do you think get hit every year
Speaker 2: and don't care?
Speaker 3: Maybe it's cool man, A lot a lot.
Speaker 1: I will tell you I had I had an especially
Speaker 1: I don't remember who I was playing with but last
Speaker 1: year teeing off on the first tee, I had an
Speaker 1: especially large gallery teeing off and you know there's that
Speaker 1: there's the you know, the the tea box on the left.
Speaker 1: I came here if it's one or ten, and there's
Speaker 1: a tree to the right just over the water there.
Speaker 2: And yeah, that's that's number one. That's it.
Speaker 1: I blocked one right into that tree and there were
Speaker 1: I don't know seventy five people trying to hide behind
Speaker 1: one skinny little tree. And I thought, this is it,
Speaker 1: this is it. I've been here fifteen years. This is
Speaker 1: the year I kill somebody. This is gonna happen.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, dude. And so that like obviously like
Speaker 2: I hit a person, but it bounced, bounced, then hit
Speaker 2: like a person like on the back or something, and
Speaker 2: so it was it wasn't. It wasn't on the fly
Speaker 2: where you could really hurt somebody, right, And and you know,
Speaker 2: even in professional tournaments, they give them a glove and
Speaker 2: they're like, they gave me the glove. It's there. It's
Speaker 2: their version of the gummy bears, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: They're bleeding from their head and you're like, look, look
Speaker 2: they gave us a glove.
Speaker 3: They gave me a glove.
Speaker 2: They gave me a glove, and then on top of it,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna give that person the gummy bears
Speaker 2: that I got from the airport, you.
Speaker 3: Know exactly just opened. Just there's like seven left.
Speaker 2: You're want to give them a partial one?
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, but it's uh, it's it's my favorite week
Speaker 1: of the year. What I always say is it's it
Speaker 1: is for me. I probably care too much. It is
Speaker 1: my hardest week of the year, but it is the
Speaker 1: the I love it so much. Yeah, it's so difficult. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like seventeen now, I'm okay. This is
Speaker 1: with all the people off the first off, the first
Speaker 1: t Yeah, getting getting that peg on the ground that
Speaker 1: on that first TUD.
Speaker 2: I think I wish they would put like a camera
Speaker 2: on the first t like on the ground, just to see.
Speaker 3: This, yeah, shaking hand, just shaking of the hand.
Speaker 2: And dude, what was interesting to me is I'm like, dude,
Speaker 2: the most decorated of professionals, like you know, NBA champions,
Speaker 2: like NFL, Super Bowl winners, like all this stuff, and
Speaker 2: then you see their handshake and then you're like Oh dude,
Speaker 2: I'm screwed. Man. If those guys, if those guys are shaking,
Speaker 2: I was like, dude, what about an actor that learns
Speaker 2: poetry you know what I mean to tell to say
Speaker 2: in front of people, like and I mainly do movies,
Speaker 2: which is really small, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'm like, I think it's okay, but like
Speaker 2: I get, I think the whole game of it, the
Speaker 2: major game, is just kind of controlling your nerves, right like,
Speaker 2: because it's yes, I get, I get so keyed up. Man.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I swing like seventy five percent, and I'm
Speaker 2: just just like anything, right, Like, I guess acting and auditions,
Speaker 2: like how are you at the audition for the Office,
Speaker 2: for instance.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean I've said now that I was so
Speaker 1: I had been doing theater before that, and I think
Speaker 1: that there was a there was a part of me
Speaker 1: that I was I was too ignorant to be nervous,
Speaker 1: like I was too, I was too sort of young.
Speaker 1: I was too I hadn't been through the kind of
Speaker 1: the battles, the failures, the like humiliations, the you know.
Speaker 3: Just different situations. So I think I was I was more.
Speaker 1: I think I was way more loose than than I
Speaker 1: would have been now for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, bro, I were do you just remind to me.
Speaker 2: I remember going to like a it wasn't a Levi's
Speaker 2: commercial because I was able to get that one, but
Speaker 2: I didn't have like the commercial look. And I remember
Speaker 2: there was there was some shit. They were like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's one of those where you're like, take your shirt off,
Speaker 2: and I was like, yeah, sure, no problem. And I'm like, yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: put it back on. Put it back on. And they
Speaker 2: didn't even take a picture. They didn't they didn't even
Speaker 2: take a picture. I'm like twenty five years old, and
Speaker 2: I used to wrestle in high school and I was
Speaker 2: in good shape, and I was just just so dumb
Speaker 2: about it that I was like, oh, I guess I'm
Speaker 2: not in that great but great a shape anymore. You
Speaker 2: didn't want to take a picture just to laugh with
Speaker 2: your friends. Yeah, so there was talk about embarrassment, dude,
Speaker 2: there was You didn't have that that scar tissue where
Speaker 2: when you're first starting out as an actor. I don't
Speaker 2: know why, but like you just because you get rejected
Speaker 2: so much that you really want to have the feedback,
Speaker 2: Like why didn't they want me, And why did they
Speaker 2: choose Denzel Washington? Just tell me, you know, you know,
Speaker 2: and and and and they finally get feedback and blah
Speaker 2: blah blah, and it's always not good. You know. It's
Speaker 2: like it's like he's not handsome enough, he's not thin enough,
Speaker 2: he's too thin, he's not It's always it's one thing
Speaker 2: or the other, you know what I mean. And you
Speaker 2: just get crushed and you need to know. It's like
Speaker 2: it's almost like talking to your ex girlfriend. You're like,
Speaker 2: are you dating right now? No, that's right. You can
Speaker 2: tell me. I don't care. I don't care you are
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: What does he have that I don't?
Speaker 2: Is he on his next top model? Is he?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: He graduated from Harvard too, he did.
Speaker 1: So let's go back to your earlier days just a
Speaker 1: little bit. You grew up in Chicago, I know, talk
Speaker 1: to me a little bit about your childhood. Your parents
Speaker 1: both from Mexico. Did that did that shape you early on?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 1: What what what was that for you in Chicago with
Speaker 1: two Mexican parents in the seventies and eighties.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, was it was it was I
Speaker 2: had like the weirdest and craziest childhood because I'm like,
Speaker 2: we were super poor and everybody worked all the time, right,
Speaker 2: and and so my parents were like really hard workers, right,
Speaker 2: So they instilled that in me, right, And so my
Speaker 2: dad was working two jobs, my mom was working two
Speaker 2: jobs just to put us in prep school.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: And so I lived in sixteenth in California, which is
Speaker 2: right by Coke County Jail, across the street from Douglas Park,
Speaker 2: which is the hood, right, and then I'd have to
Speaker 2: travel all the way to Maria's prep school, like one
Speaker 2: hundred blocks one hundred some odd blocks. Well, I didn't
Speaker 2: travel from there, but that's where I started. And then
Speaker 2: I went to prep school. And then so there's guys
Speaker 2: named Bartholomew, who's whose dad is a trial lawyer, and
Speaker 2: and you know Jeremiah, who's you know who's They're all
Speaker 2: like judges and lawyers and senators and you know, real
Speaker 2: estate mogul. Like it's so funny. It was like I
Speaker 2: came from really really poor and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: I went to this school where it's like old money
Speaker 2: is crazy, dude, because even if everybody lost their jobs
Speaker 2: in that family, they would still be okay, their great
Speaker 2: grandkids would still be Okay, that's that's old money, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, where they have they have their
Speaker 2: hands and so much. And I was like, what do
Speaker 2: your parents do and you're like, uh, you know what,
Speaker 2: we actually we're just in buttons. And then I look
Speaker 2: them up and they have ten factories that make buttons,
Speaker 2: and I and then one one of my friends is like, oh,
Speaker 2: we do soap, you know, and they always have that
Speaker 2: kind of affected, you know thing. And I worked at
Speaker 2: a soap factory. So I'm like, I got a job
Speaker 2: working for this kid's dad and you know, it was
Speaker 2: just his Yeah, that's their last name right there.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, So that was during the day and then when
Speaker 2: I would get home, they're like, go back because you
Speaker 2: could read Hume And I was like, you know, so
Speaker 2: like it was just two different, two different lives that
Speaker 2: I was living at the same time. That was kind
Speaker 2: of crazy. And across the street from Douglas Park, you know,
Speaker 2: there was a lot of kids that were being shot
Speaker 2: and killed because they would stay out, you know, past
Speaker 2: when it was dark or or if you you know,
Speaker 2: were hanging out like say you went to the store,
Speaker 2: and there were some gang members. We were taught to
Speaker 2: not go in there, even if we were really thirsty
Speaker 2: or really whatever, because what would happen is that drive bys,
Speaker 2: you know, they they would see other gang members and
Speaker 2: that's when you would get shot. That's when you would
Speaker 2: be the innocent bystander who got shot, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. So you had to, you know, do your
Speaker 2: reconnaissance really quickly and see if there's gangsters there, or
Speaker 2: sometimes gangsters were drunk and you know, they they forgot
Speaker 2: who you were, and then maybe they they forgot that
Speaker 2: you were from the neighborhood. And you know, so there
Speaker 2: was a lot of kids that were dying and getting killed.
Speaker 2: So like Mama got cable and rather and we were
Speaker 2: super active. But instead of you know, letting us go
Speaker 2: outside and you know, ride our bike or anything, she's like,
Speaker 2: just watch cable. Just watch cable and and don't go outside.
Speaker 2: You know. So we were watching a lot of a
Speaker 2: lot of HBO, like you know, like Bachelor Party with
Speaker 2: Tom Hanks. And then we were like and then you know,
Speaker 2: there was the back button that went to CB like
Speaker 2: PBS or something like immediately like if we heard any
Speaker 2: keys and we and we but the good thing is
Speaker 2: that we had five different locks, so it would take
Speaker 2: a while, you know what I mean, we had a
Speaker 2: little good time. We wouldn't we wouldn't switch it until
Speaker 2: the second door. So so that was so that was it.
Speaker 2: But you know, to be honest with you, I was
Speaker 2: a break dancer. I was a like we everybody would,
Speaker 2: you know, we we would we were bad rappers, but
Speaker 2: we wrap in the you know, in the in the
Speaker 2: corner or with our friends or whatever. And then we
Speaker 2: would everybody was drawing and and then my other would
Speaker 2: come home with these crazy stories because he was a
Speaker 2: year and a half older than me, and he was
Speaker 2: come up with these crazy stories. And because we had
Speaker 2: we didn't have the vocabulary that we do now, he
Speaker 2: would imitate the people to me. And then I was like, dude,
Speaker 2: this is really cool that I started imitating people to him.
Speaker 2: And that's how I actually started acting, right was and
Speaker 2: then my mom was really good at it. And my
Speaker 2: mom was was you know, she was the funny one
Speaker 2: in the family. She was hilarious. Dude. She would say
Speaker 2: things that you know that would embarrass you, but there
Speaker 2: was stuck with so much truth. She could have been
Speaker 2: a stand up comedian if she wanted to. She was badass,
Speaker 2: and my dad was a really serious man, very so
Speaker 2: I guess that's where I get the you know, like
Speaker 2: you know, I like doing comedy and being with my
Speaker 2: mom's energy, and then drama is definitely my dad's energy
Speaker 2: because he was a very brooding He is a very
Speaker 2: brooding kind of a guy. But that's how I started acting.
Speaker 2: It's just imitating people to my brother.
Speaker 1: Was there ever a point where you almost made another
Speaker 1: choice and and not stay home and go out were
Speaker 1: you were you recruited to go into a gang or
Speaker 1: a different group.
Speaker 2: No, I wasn't ever recruited because by the time I
Speaker 2: got to because I remember I went to uh st
Speaker 2: Nick's and I was a skateboarder at the time, right,
Speaker 2: and for some reason it was really cool, but they
Speaker 2: left the skateboarders, you know alone. You know, we had
Speaker 2: baggy pants and we wore a lot of khakis, you know,
Speaker 2: plaid shirts just to make sure that you weren't wearing
Speaker 2: like at that time, it was a lot of yellow, gold, red, blue. Yeah,
Speaker 2: those were the four that we just kind of stayed
Speaker 2: away from. And because blue stood for a lot of
Speaker 2: different gangs, and gold and yellow stood for oddly enough,
Speaker 2: like two of the gangs that were warring against each other.
Speaker 2: So I could just imagine he's like, is that yellow
Speaker 2: or is that gold? I can't tell hide. Should we
Speaker 2: shoot him or not?
Speaker 3: I can't tell God.
Speaker 2: So it's like, that's a tough one. Bro. We got asked,
Speaker 2: can you imagine, dude? But anyway, so, yeah, so they
Speaker 2: left us alone.
Speaker 1: You talked about in fact, I heard you used to
Speaker 1: charge twenty five cents to your your classmates to do impressions,
Speaker 1: and you're doing impressions with your family. Did you think
Speaker 1: at this point this is what I want to do.
Speaker 1: Was there a moment for you? Was there a moment
Speaker 1: for you?
Speaker 2: No, man, because I was I was in football, wrestling, track,
Speaker 2: and then freestyle wrestling during the summer, right, and then
Speaker 2: I took second in the City of Chicago and wrestling,
Speaker 2: and then I went downstate and freestyle and I took
Speaker 2: like fifth or sixth uh, But that was freestyle, not
Speaker 2: folk style, because I I I went downstate my junior
Speaker 2: senior year. But then I I always had injuries, like
Speaker 2: I had a dislocated thumb where I couldn't you know,
Speaker 2: I couldn't use it and my mom didn't let me wrestle,
Speaker 2: so I didn't know what if I could have placed
Speaker 2: or not. But yeah, so I was I was on
Speaker 2: that route and I was I was. I was one
Speaker 2: of those kids that was really good at math for
Speaker 2: some reason because my mom taught us timestables by the
Speaker 2: time we were like three or four. You know, she
Speaker 2: just you know, she wanted to make something of us,
Speaker 2: and she definitely instilled like the hard work, and you know,
Speaker 2: while we were she would make it fun, like she's like,
Speaker 2: what's this time At the time, She's like, and then
Speaker 2: you get it. You get a scoop of once again,
Speaker 2: the gummy bears. But here's like that you get you
Speaker 2: get a scoop of of cereal, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: But we like to play the game, you know, even
Speaker 2: though like whatever it was. And then my brother was
Speaker 2: always really good at math too, and so I did
Speaker 2: calculus when I was like a junior or something, or
Speaker 2: in college algebra when I was like yeah, so and
Speaker 2: then I went into ap cows and so you know, math, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, it was something that was that I was
Speaker 2: pretty good at, and so I thought I was one
Speaker 2: to I want to get into finance but more of
Speaker 2: the more probably of the you know, the the numbers
Speaker 2: cruncher trying to find an angle, you know, more of
Speaker 2: an analyst than I would be that of a salesman
Speaker 2: or a trader, because I used to work at the
Speaker 2: Board of Trade when I was seventeen, because that's what
Speaker 2: I thought I was going to get into. So I
Speaker 2: wanted to rub shoulders with a bunch of those guys.
Speaker 2: And then one day, you know, this was before college
Speaker 2: or anything. I ended up not going to college, but
Speaker 2: I kept imitating these guys who were just slammed on coke,
Speaker 2: trading and analyzing and doing you know, like they were
Speaker 2: just they were amazing because like they were so slammed
Speaker 2: on coke that they didn't know they thought they were
Speaker 2: fooling everybody. They're like, you know what I'm saying, Pal,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying, Pal, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Pow Mike, Right, Mike, great, dude, you're doing a great job.
Speaker 2: And I was like, dude, what is this guy chewing up?
Speaker 2: Like what the hell was he doing? There's a you know,
Speaker 2: and they were talking to you, and but anyway, so
Speaker 2: I would imitate him, and I would do that and
Speaker 2: then my best friend SOMs like, you should be an actor,
Speaker 2: and I'm like what, Oh my god, you should be
Speaker 2: an I was like, what nobody in my neighborhood is
Speaker 2: an actor, you know what I mean? And she I
Speaker 2: missed the first one, which was zebra Head. They were
Speaker 2: having an open call in Chicago. She forced me to
Speaker 2: go to the second one. And in the second one, I.
Speaker 1: Auditioned This is to Sir with Love Part two, Part two.
Speaker 2: And I was like, dude, I was angry, dude. I
Speaker 2: was like. I was hanging out with my friend Vinnie,
Speaker 2: and I was like, I gotta go to this thing, man.
Speaker 2: And so we were partying the night before. We were
Speaker 2: drinking and I was like eighteen or nineteen, I don't
Speaker 2: know what that one was. We were drinking and then,
Speaker 2: you know, I remember waking up in the morning. I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, I gotta go and there was like
Speaker 2: three thousand kids, and I remember there was like four
Speaker 2: paragraphs and I had read each one of them. I
Speaker 2: really got into like hip hop, and you know, we
Speaker 2: would sing all the songs, so that felt a little
Speaker 2: bit like acting. So I was like, I'm just gonna
Speaker 2: imitate this guy that I've seen on TV. You know, like,
Speaker 2: I've seen this character before, and I've seen that character before.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna seen that one. And then so I did it,
Speaker 2: and after the second one, the guy's like, who's your agent?
Speaker 2: Who's your agent? So like real estate agent? Like what
Speaker 2: do you mean? I had no clue, dude. I thought
Speaker 2: this guy, by the way, it's summer, it's Chicago, right,
Speaker 2: and this guy's got an ascot on right, And I
Speaker 2: was like, dude, this, who's this guy? Who? No, no, no,
Speaker 2: it was his producer. And he's like, just tell me
Speaker 2: who your agent is, you know, one of those Like
Speaker 2: it's a different flow, you know what I mean. It's like,
Speaker 2: just tell me who are your agent? This that's fine.
Speaker 2: They set you up, this is fine. I was like, listen, man,
Speaker 2: I don't have a real estate agent. And he's like, no,
Speaker 2: you're acting agent. And I was like, okay, man, I
Speaker 2: don't know. Dude. He's like, we want you to come back.
Speaker 2: I'm like for what I was combating him, mude. He's
Speaker 2: like he's like, do you want I'm like, I have
Speaker 2: to come back again, and I'm like, yeah, just go
Speaker 2: to this person. I went to the casting director. Casting
Speaker 2: director says puts me on tape and says, you could
Speaker 2: really do this, And then I auditioned like five more
Speaker 2: times and I don't end up getting the part, but instead,
Speaker 2: you know, I was like, screw it. I'm you know.
Speaker 2: One of my friends Sam said you should try to
Speaker 2: be an extra in it. I was like, all right, whatever,
Speaker 2: and I had no idea about what any of this
Speaker 2: stuff was. And I'm sitting down and then I could
Speaker 2: see that the producer with the ascot said that's the
Speaker 2: kid that auditioned that almost got the part. And so
Speaker 2: they selected like ten kids, me being one of them
Speaker 2: to be a featured extra. And so the crazy blessing
Speaker 2: was that I got to see Sydney Poitier beginning to
Speaker 2: end start rehearsals, learn, you know, put it on its feet,
Speaker 2: fail miserably and like what is that line? Why should
Speaker 2: I do this? Put a question mark? You know, he
Speaker 2: was memorizing his lines and going through the and I
Speaker 2: saw like a master at work. And immediately I was like,
Speaker 2: all right, if I can, if I have any any
Speaker 2: little bit of talent, I want to do what that
Speaker 2: guy's doing, because it was amazing, dude, like he was
Speaker 2: just talking to you. And then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: this guy got emotional and he was funny and he
Speaker 2: was charismatic, and he saw it grow from rehearsals to
Speaker 2: the final product. Like the guy was a magician, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. And for some reason, to me,
Speaker 2: it was almost like sports where you're like, Okay, maybe
Speaker 2: you're not good in the beginning, but if you work
Speaker 2: on it a little bit through repetition and just applying yourself,
Speaker 2: you're gonna get better. And that's exactly what he did.
Speaker 2: But I had no idea when I got to Hollywood
Speaker 2: that I was dealt with one of the legends in Hollywood, right,
Speaker 2: And so, yeah, dude, A crazy gift. A crazy gift, dude.
Speaker 2: And I was as an extra.
Speaker 1: Wow, but that you were given that opportunity to just
Speaker 1: watch and learn and see somebody do it. Was he
Speaker 1: generous to you.
Speaker 2: Kid. Gosh, dude, He's like he came up to me,
Speaker 2: He's like, you know, that's when I started acting, when
Speaker 2: I was nineteen. I was like, that's really cool, and
Speaker 2: he's like, could you do me a favor? It was
Speaker 2: like whatever you want. He's like, just be in one spot.
Speaker 2: I'm like, no problem, no problem, because what happened is
Speaker 2: that I was in this shot. I was in that shot.
Speaker 2: I was in this shot. I was the worst extra
Speaker 2: of all time, dude. They had to cut around me,
Speaker 2: and they had to enlarge some of the things because
Speaker 2: I thought, Daddy's going to go in front of the camera, dude,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. I thought I was going
Speaker 2: to like my job was just to be in front
Speaker 2: of the camera, so I always in front of the camera.
Speaker 1: You eventually side to move to Los Angeles, and pretty
Speaker 1: quickly it appears to me book your first feature film
Speaker 1: my fellow Americans with I mean, you talk about Sidney
Speaker 1: Poitier being a legend. Two more Jack Lemon and James Garner.
Speaker 1: What was that experience getting that that well film?
Speaker 2: Well, I got to tell you before before I did that,
Speaker 2: Like the casting director after the movie said you should
Speaker 2: get an agent. I was like, oh yeah, this agent
Speaker 2: thing again, right. So they sent me to Stewart Agency
Speaker 2: in Chicago, Okay, And and they sent me to a
Speaker 2: to a coach to see what range I had by
Speaker 2: And this guy's name is Glen Haynes, really cool guy.
Speaker 2: And then we did a couple of scenes and after
Speaker 2: those scenes he's like screw it, because because the casting
Speaker 2: director and everybody else said you should do theater in
Speaker 2: Chicago and really own your craft and then and then go.
Speaker 2: So I met this coach and the coach is like, yeah,
Speaker 2: but to be honest with you, you can be on NYPD
Speaker 2: Blue three times, you know, all these other shows and
Speaker 2: learn how to act while you're doing that. Wait what
Speaker 2: So he's like, you should be in LA right now,
Speaker 2: and I was like, okay, cool. So I went to
Speaker 2: LA and I kept going to more open calls. I
Speaker 2: thought that the open call was the way to go.
Speaker 2: So I'm like, I kept I went to the open
Speaker 2: call for Dangerous Minds, okay, and they're like, you know,
Speaker 2: you could just get an agent and do that. He's like,
Speaker 2: well no, but I was an extra. Yeah yeah. And
Speaker 2: then I went to producers for Dangerous Minds and all
Speaker 2: that stuff, and then and then I went to another one,
Speaker 2: and then finally there was an agent. There's like, hey,
Speaker 2: why don't I help you out? And I was like,
Speaker 2: how much do you charge? Ten percent? Now? I think
Speaker 2: I'm just going to do the open call thing. Dude.
Speaker 2: I did, And then I kept going open calls, but
Speaker 2: for like small movies that weren't very good about right,
Speaker 2: and I was like, I don't want somebody to take
Speaker 2: ten percent. But anyway, Glenn Haynes introduced me to a cast,
Speaker 2: a beautiful cast by the name of Karen Ray. And
Speaker 2: Karen Ray says, you know, there's a part in here
Speaker 2: for you, and I was like, okay, cool, and I
Speaker 2: went and she coached me through it. She was such
Speaker 2: a like uncool dude, you know what I mean. It
Speaker 2: just it takes a lot of people just to even
Speaker 2: get a little bit of a break, right. And so
Speaker 2: I auditioned for it. I wasn't good in the first audition,
Speaker 2: and then she pulled me aside. She was a little angry.
Speaker 2: She's like, you got to give the energy. You got
Speaker 2: to give the energy. This guy's like, you know, he's
Speaker 2: desperate to get back home, blah blah blah, this and that.
Speaker 2: Do that. She's like, Okay, that's it, and then she
Speaker 2: brought me back. Peter Siegel is the guy that gave
Speaker 2: me my first real job. He Saturday and he's like,
Speaker 2: I love it. Can you do it again? Try this?
Speaker 2: Try that perfect? And then like I was naive enough
Speaker 2: to do this movie with Jack Lemon and James Garner,
Speaker 2: who I only knew Jack Lemon from Grumpy Old Men.
Speaker 2: That's how I wrote it down in my in my thing,
Speaker 2: and so I, you know, then I started watching all
Speaker 2: this stuff like, oh my gosh, this guy won, you know,
Speaker 2: he won an oscar, and so I was blessed enough
Speaker 2: to like go and they were playing paying me a
Speaker 2: weekly rate and per diem super great, and I was
Speaker 2: the rain cover. I was for cover, right, So basically
Speaker 2: that means that like they get you on set in Greenville,
Speaker 2: North Carolina, just just in case it rains, they hit
Speaker 2: your scene, right. I was there for eight weeks getting paid. Wow.
Speaker 2: It was insane, dude. I was like, whatever the minimum was,
Speaker 2: that's what I was getting paid. But I was getting
Speaker 2: paid that every week. I was like, this is great.
Speaker 2: And then finally when they're like, oh, we're gonna do
Speaker 2: your scene now, I'm like, are you sure? Are you sure?
Speaker 2: I don't think it's going to rain. They're like, we're
Speaker 2: close to the end. So we did my scene, but
Speaker 2: then they put me in another sea. So I was like,
Speaker 2: I got more money, and I was like I was
Speaker 2: able to save that money, you know, so, because after
Speaker 2: that it wasn't I was like trying to get you know,
Speaker 2: then you get tossed into the almost the real world, right,
Speaker 2: find out that there's like a thousand people that look
Speaker 2: just like you.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: What was your family's response to seeing you on screen
Speaker 1: for the first time.
Speaker 2: My mom was sick at the time, so she wasn't
Speaker 2: doing well, and my dad was.
Speaker 3: Like, it's good, it's good, okay.
Speaker 2: You know, but you know, I came home skinny, and
Speaker 2: they didn't know what the hell was going on because,
Speaker 2: you know, I didn't have enough money for food, and
Speaker 2: so they just wanted me to come home like, yeah,
Speaker 2: there's this little part, but he's not starring in it.
Speaker 2: They had no idea that that was a pretty big breaker. Thy.
Speaker 2: You know, my parents were farmers for Mexico, and so
Speaker 2: this whole thing was brand new, you know.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: I have to ask you about this because of our
Speaker 1: earlier conversation and our mutual love. Is it true that
Speaker 1: you picked up golfing while filming my fellow Americans?
Speaker 2: Well that's when I first heard of it, right, Okay,
Speaker 2: because Jack Lemon, you know, kept talking about it, and
Speaker 2: I'm like, at this time, I'm like twenty years old,
Speaker 2: and I was like, what's going on here, dude, is
Speaker 2: what is this crap? Right? And then after that that's
Speaker 2: when I'm like, years later, I went to like a
Speaker 2: driving range and then you know, I don't know where
Speaker 2: I was, but like there was a there was a
Speaker 2: VW bug about eighty yards away, and then the you
Speaker 2: know whoever was at the you know, the guy driving
Speaker 2: the tractor. He's like, yeah, I get a bucket of
Speaker 2: balls to try to hit it on the fly. And
Speaker 2: I was like, no problem. It took me like seven
Speaker 2: buckets blisters like, and I couldn't do it. And that's
Speaker 2: when I was hooked, because I was but thank god,
Speaker 2: I was like I was, you know, I immediately was like,
Speaker 2: all right, I'm going to hit this VW bug. So
Speaker 2: it gave me a target. Blah blah blah, didn't care
Speaker 2: how fat, you know whatever. And then you know how
Speaker 2: it is, dude, once you do it, it's like who's
Speaker 2: the one, who's the rocker? That's uh, he's a scratch golfer,
Speaker 2: not Alice Cooper, he says. He says golf is the
Speaker 2: crack crack of sports. And I was like, dude, what
Speaker 2: is this? And it's true, It's so addictive regardless of
Speaker 2: how good you are. You just want to be better,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. And and it's one of
Speaker 2: those things that's pretty healthy, especially for an actor that
Speaker 2: has a little bit of downtime. You can just take
Speaker 2: five bucks or not even you can just take you know,
Speaker 2: old balls and practice a little bit on your own.
Speaker 2: You know, I loved it from the get go, but
Speaker 2: I love everything about it. You know, it's such a challenge.
Speaker 2: It's almost like it's almost like watching your your your
Speaker 2: like I'm a Bears fan, so like watching them win,
Speaker 2: or like you know, being mad, being being upset to
Speaker 2: being like happy and exhilarated. You know, I love it all.
Speaker 2: I love the whole time.
Speaker 1: You talked about after my fellow Americans realizing what we
Speaker 1: were talking about before, right suddenly becoming educated enough to
Speaker 1: know that this is going to be harder than you first.
Speaker 3: Think it's going to be.
Speaker 1: I saw recently and you did do some things touched
Speaker 1: by an Angel Seventh Heaven Moesha. But I saw on
Speaker 1: your Instagram as I was stalking you, even though we
Speaker 1: know each other, I wanted to kind of go on there.
Speaker 1: And recently you posted a photo of you from crash
Speaker 1: in two thousand and four, and you wrote what started
Speaker 1: it All? Crash two thousand and four. In two thousand
Speaker 1: and four you get cast in not one but two
Speaker 1: Oscar winning movies, Million Dollar Baby and Crash. Why did
Speaker 1: you write that? Why did how for you did Crash
Speaker 1: start it all?
Speaker 2: Well? It was different, you know, the business was different
Speaker 2: back then that it is now. You know, like now
Speaker 2: you can jump from like you know, I just did
Speaker 2: something with John Krasinski, your fellow office member, and you
Speaker 2: know with Jack Ryan. Now you can do ten episodes
Speaker 2: of something that are like ten movies basically, and then
Speaker 2: jump into movies and it's not a problem. Back then,
Speaker 2: you could only do TV or movies because TV was
Speaker 2: twenty two episodes, mainly procedurals or sitcoms. Right, it was
Speaker 2: a majority of the year, and maybe you can do
Speaker 2: one movie, but you would you couldn't even really be
Speaker 2: a movie guy because you need you didn't have two
Speaker 2: or three movies a year, and then sometimes they can
Speaker 2: backlog and you have four movies in a year. You know,
Speaker 2: So it was either or right, And I was gambling
Speaker 2: on a movie career just because of what I saw
Speaker 2: and what I what I fell in love with, you know,
Speaker 2: I when I once I started acting, I did the
Speaker 2: same thing that I did in wrestling. Was I like,
Speaker 2: when I first started wrestling, I sucked. And then I
Speaker 2: started watching college and the Olympics, and I was like, whoa, dude,
Speaker 2: this is okay, this is the best. How do you
Speaker 2: How do I do that? I can do one of
Speaker 2: those moves right. And then, of course, just like any
Speaker 2: other actor, I started watching you know a lot of
Speaker 2: the guys from the Actors Studio and Robert de Niro,
Speaker 2: Dustin Hoffman, al Pacino. Then I went back to Marlon Brando,
Speaker 2: James Dean and all those guys like in the sixties
Speaker 2: as well, and you know, I remember, but I remember
Speaker 2: specifically watching A street Car Name Desire And what's the
Speaker 2: other movie that's amazing that I've watched like a hundred
Speaker 2: million times on the waterfront on the waterfront, Yeah, and.
Speaker 1: Well what movie have your million times? I don't know,
Speaker 1: but yeah, okay, I'm with you. Go ahead.
Speaker 2: So anyway, so I'm like, I watched that movie, but
Speaker 2: it was it was A street Car Name Desire where
Speaker 2: I'm like, whoa, he's really doing something interesting, like and
Speaker 2: even if you can't be as good, you want to be.
Speaker 2: I wanted to get there, you know, so I I
Speaker 2: gambled on a movie career even though everything was stacked
Speaker 2: up against me. And I don't know if you remember,
Speaker 2: but like back in the day, there was you know,
Speaker 2: breakdowns for movies and there was like you know, the
Speaker 2: star of the show blah blah blah, and it was
Speaker 2: Caucasian only the first like ten lines, and then you know,
Speaker 2: open to African Americans after that. So we were like
Speaker 2: maybe on the fifteenth is like open to other ethnicities
Speaker 2: and then so I would only audition for that. I
Speaker 2: was only allowed to. So I was like, I don't
Speaker 2: know if it's ever going to work out. And I was,
Speaker 2: you know, I was in a band, so I was like,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe I'm just gonna do bit parts moving forward.
Speaker 2: You know, there are some Latin American people that did it,
Speaker 2: but they were mainly like the model looking people that
Speaker 2: you know, like they get to pass anyone who's a
Speaker 2: model or like ridiculously good looking person, they get a pass.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know what island they get them from,
Speaker 2: but they're like, you're good, we don't see any kind
Speaker 2: of color, right and so, but.
Speaker 3: True Benjamin Bratt it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, You're like he's fine. Yeah, Yeah, Benjamin Bratt, You're like,
Speaker 2: he clearly looks like a Latin guy, but he gets back.
Speaker 2: Jimmy Smith. Yeah, you're like, you're fine. Michael Penyin, You're like, yeah,
Speaker 2: put your shirt back on, you know. Right. So anyway,
Speaker 2: so I'm like, so then I'm like I get you know,
Speaker 2: it started like in two thousand where I'm like, I
Speaker 2: got a little part for you know, Steven Spielberg had
Speaker 2: this thing called a semperfi, which I got a little
Speaker 2: pardon and I didn't do all that great. But then
Speaker 2: you know, I did Felicity, and I was so nervous
Speaker 2: because I never had a really good part. I was like,
Speaker 2: I couldn't even look at anybody in the e. I
Speaker 2: was just so nervous. Right, I didn't do that good
Speaker 2: of a job either. And then I auditioned for this
Speaker 2: like a year later, because we did it early. And
Speaker 2: then I think it took maybe two years for it
Speaker 2: to come out, and and and I knew that I
Speaker 2: was just going to get more. I didn't know that
Speaker 2: it was gonna win the Oscar and all that stuff,
Speaker 2: but I was living in a shoe box I had
Speaker 2: no money, and you know what comes out. It comes
Speaker 2: out to really good reviews. And I was like, dude,
Speaker 2: this is so awesome. I'm like, you know, I called
Speaker 2: my manager and I was like, you know, is there
Speaker 2: any is there any shows that are interested now for
Speaker 2: me to get star in, you know, because you know,
Speaker 2: I just liked acting and you know, to get a
Speaker 2: little change as well. Maybe we can get better TV shows.
Speaker 2: You know who knows. And that's when she's like, you
Speaker 2: know what, Oliver Stone wants to meet you. And I
Speaker 2: was like silent for thirty seconds, Michael, what does he want?
Speaker 2: Does he have a TV show? And he's like, no,
Speaker 2: he's got a movie. And it was World Trade Center
Speaker 2: with Nicholas Cage and I met him and I was
Speaker 2: just amazed. I was like, whoa dude, this is headspin.
Speaker 2: So I was literally like on like just a natural
Speaker 2: high for a year, thinking like number one, I can't
Speaker 2: believe that it happened to me, Like I'm just I'm
Speaker 2: just I'm just me, and so like, you know, I
Speaker 2: got thrown in and there's maybe it's just the way
Speaker 2: the perspective of you know, me being in two Oscar
Speaker 2: winning movies. Back to back. I had a small part
Speaker 2: in one, I had a good part in the other
Speaker 2: People just look at you differently regardless of what you do,
Speaker 2: and so it was nice. You know, I've been riding
Speaker 2: that way for twenty years almost twenty years now, you know,
Speaker 2: but the decade before that was not that not that easy.
Speaker 2: So that's why I really really appreciated, appreciate everything.
Speaker 1: Actually, Daniel, who you played in Crash, you described it
Speaker 1: before as your as your first real part for you
Speaker 1: as you're reading through the script, is it, are you like,
Speaker 1: this is this is me?
Speaker 2: This is no no, I'm you know what. You know.
Speaker 2: I was at Innovative Artists back then, and there's some
Speaker 2: of these agencies that have a lot of people that
Speaker 2: are just like you, and so like when at the audition,
Speaker 2: like you saw like me and then like twenty other
Speaker 2: guys from my agency and stuff. But there was one
Speaker 2: agent who was really good and she left. She's a
Speaker 2: big agency now. Her name is Louise Ward. And she's like, Michael,
Speaker 2: this is a special script. And I was like what
Speaker 2: And so I remember and she's like there might be
Speaker 2: a part in there for you. I think you can
Speaker 2: change yourself into that. And then I read it and
Speaker 2: I you know, you're crying, you're thinking, you're you're so
Speaker 2: affected emotionally, and you're like, this is exactly the kind
Speaker 2: of stuff that I want to be in. And I
Speaker 2: auditioned for it the first time and they're like, it
Speaker 2: was good. It was good, but it's a little on
Speaker 2: the surface. And I was lucky enough that my brother
Speaker 2: had just had his first kid. And my brother is
Speaker 2: a really good looking guy, charismatic dude, you know, always
Speaker 2: like you know, one of those Latin dudes that was
Speaker 2: like always to the nines is like if you saw him,
Speaker 2: you think automatically. He has an accent, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. And you know, the guy with the shirt
Speaker 2: open with the chains, he was that guy, right, and
Speaker 2: you know, and and he had swag, and I was like,
Speaker 2: and then when I remember when I'm like, Okay, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna do some research, you know, he opens the door,
Speaker 2: his hair's a mess, he's got his baby. He's looking
Speaker 2: at it for thirty seconds, like just NonStop. It doesn't
Speaker 2: seem like she's moving much. And he's like, Mike, do
Speaker 2: you see that? That's amazing, bro? And I was like, Oh,
Speaker 2: that's the part that's it where you're you're you're paying
Speaker 2: attention to the kid, where you don't even think about
Speaker 2: yourself anymore. And then so I reread it and I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, yes, yes, let's go. And you know,
Speaker 2: and that's I got a feeling. I got an in
Speaker 2: into the character and I was able to really connect
Speaker 2: with him in a way. And so like I shaved
Speaker 2: my head, I got a mustache, gold tea, worked out
Speaker 2: a little bit, and you know, they put tats on
Speaker 2: me and stuff. And then for the audition, I was
Speaker 2: I was able to internalize it enough and and get
Speaker 2: the part. But this is I'm like, I just realized.
Speaker 2: I'm like, this is like some nerdy like actor. Shit. No,
Speaker 2: people were great. Some people are going to be driving
Speaker 2: you know forward thirty seconds thirty seconds.
Speaker 3: No. I love that.
Speaker 1: That makes so much sense too, that idea of a
Speaker 1: personal connection, having your brother, seeing your brother transform in
Speaker 1: a way to a new character, and you using that
Speaker 1: in this I find it fascinating.
Speaker 2: Because it was parallel.
Speaker 3: Thank you for exactly.
Speaker 2: It was totally parallel. Like my brother was this guy,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, living a single life, and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden he changed so much and I
Speaker 2: was like Oh wow, this guy Daniel. I'm sure he
Speaker 2: was in jail and then he changed so much because
Speaker 2: of his kid. So he's working just for his kid.
Speaker 2: So it made a lot of sense and I was
Speaker 2: able to run with it.
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you about one of my favorite television shows.
Speaker 1: You mentioned getting the call from Oliver Stone, but I
Speaker 1: got to ask you about The Shield. First off, were
Speaker 1: you a fan of that show? Had you seen that show?
Speaker 2: Okay, no, no, And it was it was weird because
Speaker 2: I think it was in two thousand and four and yeah,
Speaker 2: and I I was filming it and I only really
Speaker 2: had two scenes. I had, you know, a line here
Speaker 2: and a line there, and I don't know how you
Speaker 2: deal with it, but I was like, for me, it
Speaker 2: was nerve wrecking to be for everyone to have it
Speaker 2: like their dialogue, you know, the you know, there's cues here,
Speaker 2: and if you're talking about the dog falling and it's
Speaker 2: like then where's the blood? You know, everything makes sense,
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden you have to come
Speaker 2: in and there's like I got the glasses going on
Speaker 2: on the top shelf, that's going to be on the
Speaker 2: bottom shelf, and it's gonna be like just some random
Speaker 2: right shit, you know what I mean, And so like
Speaker 2: I'm like I was. I would always be like I
Speaker 2: got the dog from the They're like cut cut, you know,
Speaker 2: and I was always messing it up. There's so much
Speaker 2: pressure with those one lines. And then Crab came out
Speaker 2: right before I think that like the second the last episode,
Speaker 2: and it started it started changing everything, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean, Like like I said, even like with the
Speaker 2: writers and like, hey, good job on that. It's like
Speaker 2: because that was like my only bone to chew on,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. And before that I didn't
Speaker 2: really have any anything to chew on, like everything. It
Speaker 2: wasn't a three dimensional character. You were there serving the story,
Speaker 2: which is awesome, and I'm still serving the story. But
Speaker 2: you know, that's when the perspective started changing a little bit,
Speaker 2: and even on set and there was and yeah that
Speaker 2: was again was like a that's when I felt that,
Speaker 2: you know, the tie turn a bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you ride a wave here for a while. You know,
Speaker 1: we can't talk about every single project that you've ever done,
Speaker 1: but Babbel an amazing project. You end up doing, uh
Speaker 1: some television from one episodes to more east Bound and
Speaker 1: Down and my name is Zerl and The Good Doctor.
Speaker 1: And event eventually, in twenty thirteen another Oscar winning movie,
Speaker 1: American Hustle, you get cast in. What was your experience,
Speaker 1: What was your experience during not just American Hustle, but
Speaker 1: during this time sort of riding that wave that you
Speaker 1: talked about of of Daniel on Crash and these other
Speaker 1: projects that that gave you some some some notoriety and
Speaker 1: and and you know, hopefully some power.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so there was still a little bit of that,
Speaker 2: like I'm not we're not seeing any Latin people or
Speaker 2: you know, Latin Americans. Like It's it's funny because if
Speaker 2: you're a foreigner, you know, from from Spain or whatever,
Speaker 2: and then you're not not not the you know, bump
Speaker 2: people out, but like you know, or stand on any
Speaker 2: political platform. But like if you're like a light skinned
Speaker 2: person that's like from you know, another country, then it
Speaker 2: was just easier. And I think, you know, I'm still
Speaker 2: having still struggling to get those big, you know, the
Speaker 2: meaningful roles and stuff. And then so I was working
Speaker 2: my way up, which I think I should, you know,
Speaker 2: because I don't know if I was ready for it,
Speaker 2: to be honest, And then so I kept plugging away
Speaker 2: with these smaller parts because Crash was a small part, right,
Speaker 2: but you know, a shooter and and and End of Watch.
Speaker 2: I was like, I kind of felt like more of
Speaker 2: a co lead kind of thing. It was, you know,
Speaker 2: the silver lining is that you I still was able
Speaker 2: to keep working on my on my craft, and then
Speaker 2: I auditioned for a thing called End of Watch, right,
Speaker 2: so it kept on giving you, you know, confidence in
Speaker 2: what you were doing, because you know there's in movies
Speaker 2: you like, you do your work and blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: You write down everything that you were thinking and then
Speaker 2: you see it and you're like, I didn't pull it
Speaker 2: quite off. So it's like you have to wait just
Speaker 2: to see how you did. And so I was finally
Speaker 2: ready to do something like End of Watch. And then
Speaker 2: I had a you know, audition with Jake Gillenhoe and
Speaker 2: it was cool, and the movie came out, and that's
Speaker 2: when I started getting more calls to and more offers
Speaker 2: to like either star or co star or you know,
Speaker 2: you know, have the It just changed my career, you know,
Speaker 2: because then Narcos Mexico came about, and you know, it's weird,
Speaker 2: but you I just try to just keep on improving,
Speaker 2: you know, and that's the name of the game as
Speaker 2: opposed to I mean, I just want to improve and
Speaker 2: just get you know, do great with whatever parts that
Speaker 2: I have, like my great I don't know about anybody else,
Speaker 2: but I just try to do the best job that
Speaker 2: I possibly can. I still keep that going.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you talk about Narcos Kiki. First off, congratulations and
Speaker 1: amazing performance. I think a really really interesting show as well.
Speaker 1: How was it I've talked to some people in the
Speaker 1: past about this for you. Was there any difference for
Speaker 1: you stepping into a real life agent whose story has
Speaker 1: already been told. Did that add any pressure for you?
Speaker 1: Did you feel like you needed to become him in
Speaker 1: some way or are you playing your own interpretation of
Speaker 1: who he was?
Speaker 2: Yeah? So, like I you know, since I started, like
Speaker 2: I always wanted to there's a freedom in imitating people,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. Like there's like like you
Speaker 2: can you can guess what your parents are going to
Speaker 2: say in a certain situation, and you're able to internalize
Speaker 2: it from that. Right, So I'm like I'll basically catch
Speaker 2: all like the major things that these people had because
Speaker 2: I wasn't able to interview the guy I interviewed his wife,
Speaker 2: and I, you know, I saw some documentaries on him,
Speaker 2: and I had learned some of the pitfalls that could
Speaker 2: potentially you know, some of the traps that can happen
Speaker 2: when you're playing someone. You know, I was fortunate enough
Speaker 2: to do when in World Trade Center. It was a
Speaker 2: character of Wilhelmeno, and it's a guy that really you know,
Speaker 2: that that exists, that's alive, and so you know, I
Speaker 2: stayed with him in his family for a while and
Speaker 2: I was like, Wow, this amazing optimism that this guy has.
Speaker 2: He just has it in spades, you know. So so
Speaker 2: like I definitely have to play that, you know, but
Speaker 2: that aspect of me, like what, you know, how do
Speaker 2: I how do I tap into that? So basically instead
Speaker 2: of me trying to change myself, it's just highlight those
Speaker 2: things that are, you know, the same as him. And
Speaker 2: this guy had a chip on his shoulder, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. He just he just didn't like anyone
Speaker 2: getting away with things that, you know, and taking advantage
Speaker 2: of people and having innocent people killed. He's like, I
Speaker 2: don't like that. I was like, I wish somebody would
Speaker 2: do something about it. He's like even finally he's like,
Speaker 2: you know what, I'm going to do something about it.
Speaker 2: It's like if somebody, you know, like a little kid
Speaker 2: was getting beat up. You're like no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: no no no. You know, like that feeling is. I
Speaker 2: think anybody can relate to it, you know, And so
Speaker 2: I always like, if I'm able to relate to it,
Speaker 2: then other people are going to be able to relate
Speaker 2: to it, right, And I had kind of this sweeping
Speaker 2: idea that maybe you're not going to like them in
Speaker 2: the beginning, but you're going to respect them at the end, right,
Speaker 2: And especially the way that the you know, the the
Speaker 2: serials was drawn out, and so I don't necessarily know
Speaker 2: if if they were happy with my work or not,
Speaker 2: you know, because I was going on a on a
Speaker 2: I kind of had like a broader idea of the
Speaker 2: you know, the the finished product and what would it
Speaker 2: should be. And even when we were doing press, you know,
Speaker 2: I didn't get a lot of attention. They're like, hey,
Speaker 2: how you doing, and you know, they wanted to focus
Speaker 2: on Diego, who was like the big star and stuff.
Speaker 2: And then it was really cool, you know, like I
Speaker 2: think it was really well received and you know, like
Speaker 2: the critics were really nice about my performance, and yeah,
Speaker 2: uh and so that was that was kind of a
Speaker 2: surprise and it was really cool, but you know, but
Speaker 2: it was it was it was tough. I'm like, I,
Speaker 2: you know, whenever you're playing a real person like I,
Speaker 2: you know, it's just what's what's their main thing and
Speaker 2: what the gist? You know, and then hopefully like if
Speaker 2: it serves the story and and and it's better than
Speaker 2: you know, I'll try to try to like that.
Speaker 1: The same year at least that it comes out. You
Speaker 1: play another dea agent for Clint Eastwood in The Mule. Now,
Speaker 1: I got to ask you, it's fourteen years ish. I
Speaker 1: understand you film things that comes out. It's hard for
Speaker 1: me to know exactly what the years, but fourteen fifteen
Speaker 1: years apart, you get to work with Clint again. Talk
Speaker 1: to me a little bit about Well, first off, everybody,
Speaker 1: does you love working with Clint?
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, it's amazing because the first the first time
Speaker 2: that I worked with them. You know, that also helped out,
Speaker 2: you know, because I was in you know, Millon Dollar
Speaker 2: Baby went first, even though we shot Crash first. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, it won the Oscar Verson and then crash
Speaker 2: one the following year because we finish it like in
Speaker 2: July or something, you know, put it out in December.
Speaker 2: There's no pressure. You don't feel pressure. That's why people
Speaker 2: are so good. And also when you have three takes,
Speaker 2: you better come prepared. You're not gonna find anything, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, So you come well prepared and
Speaker 2: that's all you get. You know, Like, and I remember
Speaker 2: screwing up some lines and he's like, did he say
Speaker 2: the main things? Okay? Good? And then he kept it
Speaker 2: in there because that's what how people are when they're
Speaker 2: you know, they're nervous and they're gonna download some information.
Speaker 2: He's like, they really feel uncomfortable, and he rather have that.
Speaker 2: He he knows movie making on a whole other level.
Speaker 2: You know, there's other actor the directors that want to
Speaker 2: say everything perfectly and they'll keep going until they get
Speaker 2: something good. And that's that's cool too, but it's like,
Speaker 2: you know, don't wait until something happens, which is like
Speaker 2: could be exhausting, and it's like, you know, it's it's
Speaker 2: another way of going. But as a performer, you're like,
Speaker 2: this person definitely doesn't know what he wants and they're
Speaker 2: like I don't know what I want, but I know
Speaker 2: when I'll see it. You know, it's can you know,
Speaker 2: but that's good too, you know. It's just another different
Speaker 2: way of working. But he's the opposite. He's more like
Speaker 2: jazz where he likes improvisation and just like let's go,
Speaker 2: let's go. And you know, I, you know, you doing
Speaker 2: comedy and I you know, I did a bit of
Speaker 2: comedy here and there. I would always write alts and
Speaker 2: what I would want to say, and like, you know,
Speaker 2: when I'm rehearsing, I was like, you know, when you're
Speaker 2: listening and you're like I really want to say this,
Speaker 2: I'm like, maybe I'll just try that later. I would say,
Speaker 2: you know, do you mind if I try something different?
Speaker 2: What are you gonna try? Just a different line? Give
Speaker 2: it to me. I don't have to do it. I
Speaker 2: don't have to do it, you know. I think it
Speaker 2: doesn't matter, you know. Like like he's so quiet but
Speaker 2: so intimidating. I'm like to try and he's like, well, no,
Speaker 2: we've stopped. Give it to me. What are you gonna say?
Speaker 2: And then I said it and he's like, right, the
Speaker 2: kid wants another turn, So he like gave me another turn.
Speaker 2: And then and then after a couple of takes, he's
Speaker 2: like that's when he was like, he's like, you got
Speaker 2: anything for this one? He's like, I do, I do.
Speaker 2: I got a couple of things. And then he kept
Speaker 2: a lot of it, you know. And then and but
Speaker 2: but I just wanted to work with Clint Eastwood again, man,
Speaker 2: because he's like a living legend. And it was like,
Speaker 2: I have a list of directors that I want to
Speaker 2: work with, man that I those are those are the artists,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like, those are the real storytellers,
Speaker 2: and you're just trying to get in there and and help,
Speaker 2: you know, tell the story. Like I just saw West
Speaker 2: Amerson Asteroid City yesterday and I was like, man, Wow,
Speaker 2: this guy can go, this guy can go. Yeah.
Speaker 3: You are you proud of being a Marvel character?
Speaker 1: Of course, dude, Like why yeah, no, I mean that's
Speaker 1: a big deal. This is a big deal. There's there's
Speaker 1: a limit the number of you guys. I'm not one.
Speaker 2: No, But here's the thing. Here's here's the weird thing.
Speaker 2: Like I did two movies and then they went off
Speaker 2: to another galaxy, which I totally understand. Dude. Some of
Speaker 2: the guys that like, a aren't in it. They've done
Speaker 2: like fifteen you know what I mean, So like they
Speaker 2: they might have been burned out or whatever. Like me,
Speaker 2: I'm like, dude, this is great, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Two and then two and I'm like and I was like, dude,
Speaker 2: this is awesome.
Speaker 1: You and Paul Rudd work so well together. Was that natural?
Speaker 1: Do you Was that natural between the two of you
Speaker 1: or did this take a lot of work and cultivation?
Speaker 3: Do you hate him in real life?
Speaker 2: No? No, he's the best, dude. It's you know what's crazy.
Speaker 3: By the way, I knew you were going to say that.
Speaker 3: That's why I teed it up.
Speaker 2: I know, by the way, I know, but well, who
Speaker 2: doesn't like Paul Rudd? Everybody likes Paul Rudd. But I'm
Speaker 2: waiting for that one day to be like I hated
Speaker 2: that guy and they really mean it. Yeah, But by
Speaker 2: the way, most of most of the time, they won't
Speaker 2: say that to somebody who's who doesn't have a good reputation. Dude,
Speaker 2: working with him was almost working with like Jake Jillenhall.
Speaker 2: Like Jake Jillenhall. It was so weird, man, But he
Speaker 2: was like I think the reason that like he makes
Speaker 2: good movies and saw does. Paul Rudd is like he
Speaker 2: wants his surrounding cast to be awesome. They're they're secure.
Speaker 2: They're like, you know, I remember Jake telling me. He's like, dude,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be good. I got my own stuff. It's like,
Speaker 2: I remember we did a take and of something and
Speaker 2: then he's like, cut print and they're like wait, wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 2: wait wait, Mike. Remember that thing that we did when
Speaker 2: we were all, you know, because we rehearsed black, when
Speaker 2: you did that thing and blah blah blah this and that.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh yeah, and he's like, do that
Speaker 2: and then we did it and then it was you know,
Speaker 2: it was you know, it was something that was better
Speaker 2: than what we did. And those guys want to see
Speaker 2: you win. You know, they're not everybody's like that, to
Speaker 2: be honest with you, like, not everyone. Sure, you know,
Speaker 2: there's some people get insecure about, like, you know, you
Speaker 2: doing something that's cool or whatever, and and but these
Speaker 2: guys really, you know, they encourage you to to just
Speaker 2: really you know, be the best that you can be.
Speaker 3: Correl is the same way, is.
Speaker 2: He really Yeah, that's why everybody shined.
Speaker 1: I think there's a I think there's like, uh, there's
Speaker 1: an unspoken competition in Hollywood, at least from comedy perspective,
Speaker 1: like who is the nicer best person.
Speaker 3: To work with Correll Will Ferrell or it's you.
Speaker 2: Know what they call all three should do a movie together,
Speaker 2: All three should do better movie together? And they going
Speaker 2: the Canadians, you know what I mean? Like who can
Speaker 2: be the absolute nicest?
Speaker 3: Who could be the nice You.
Speaker 2: Could toss Seth Rogan in there.
Speaker 3: Too, Okay, I don't know Seth so well.
Speaker 2: Dude, he's so nice, dude, he was such a nice guy,
Speaker 2: and he's so funny, and he's like, you know, because
Speaker 2: when you're when you're nervous and you're doing something I
Speaker 2: did observing report with him and and it's a little funny,
Speaker 2: he'll give you a little laugh and it's really funny.
Speaker 2: Then he'll give you a bigger laugh, you know, and
Speaker 2: he eggs you on like he's you know, it was.
Speaker 2: It was fun working with him as well.
Speaker 1: Uh, speaking of co workers, Yeah, John Krasinski my old
Speaker 1: palell for a decade, and you the new show Jack
Speaker 1: Ryan just out, Uh it's not the Dea this time,
Speaker 1: it's the c I A x C, I A operative.
Speaker 1: Domingo Chavez tell me an embarrassing story about John.
Speaker 2: So you know, we all got sick in Croatia.
Speaker 3: Okay, uh you know what I'm saying, dude, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: it was clear.
Speaker 2: There is nothing like seeing an action movie. Huh uh,
Speaker 2: you know with a little bit of stomach issue. I
Speaker 2: don't know what, you know what where he did it,
Speaker 2: but like he had a bug and then I had
Speaker 2: a bug, and they were like, oh Croatia did as
Speaker 2: dirty man. Everybody got sick, buddy, everybody got sick and
Speaker 2: it was But you know what, I get that way
Speaker 2: every time I shoot a movie in Mexico too, where
Speaker 2: you're like, I got a break, I got a break,
Speaker 2: keep a port a party really close, you know, and
Speaker 2: then shooting takes a hit because you have to take
Speaker 2: it rhymes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I got it, Yeah, I got it. It's clever.
Speaker 3: I didn't get sick.
Speaker 1: You know that I shot a movie in Mexico. I Uh.
Speaker 1: You know what I was told, which I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: thought of unless someone told me, is fruit and salads avoid.
Speaker 2: Yeah see, I didn't know.
Speaker 3: You don't eat you.
Speaker 1: Don't eat the fruit or the salads because it's been washed.
Speaker 2: But here's the thing. I'm from Chicago, like, and I
Speaker 2: lived in a Mexican neighborhood and we crushed cucumbers, you know,
Speaker 2: on the side of the road where they would cut
Speaker 2: them and then then fin them up, and then lime
Speaker 2: and salt with hot sauce like but it was the
Speaker 2: powder hot sauce and you'd burn your mouth off and
Speaker 2: it was the best. And then after that, like you know,
Speaker 2: after you finish some tacosnitas like everything, like then you
Speaker 2: all of a sudden you crush some mango with banana
Speaker 2: and taquin and you know. And so I was just
Speaker 2: doing that and then oh my gosh, dude, I was like, dude.
Speaker 2: I remember like the first week having to run like
Speaker 2: in slow motion all the time, and I was like,
Speaker 2: get away, like like I was throwing the damn grenade,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. And then and I was like,
Speaker 2: don't judge me, Please, don't judge me. Got a machine
Speaker 2: gun and just destroyed them, like you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: And it was dude, And it was like two weeks
Speaker 2: and I was like, and I just done something. And
Speaker 2: it happened when I was doing Narcos too, and it
Speaker 2: was Oh my gosh, it was brutal. It was so
Speaker 2: brutal and whatever. We're just not used to it. There's
Speaker 2: a certain bacteria and fruit because it comes from you know,
Speaker 2: it's mainly water. It's Mexican water that comes to fruit
Speaker 2: and vegetables. And I was crushing that and I shouldn't
Speaker 2: have been. And finally I had it for most of
Speaker 2: the shoot that I just for a movie that I
Speaker 2: just did, but I had you know, it was like
Speaker 2: one week in Croatia, which wasn't too bad, but it
Speaker 2: was during COVID, so I got COVID twice as well.
Speaker 3: Oh that's fantastic.
Speaker 1: What was it like joining uh, joining the Jack Ryan
Speaker 1: Empire there with John Do you guys have a good time?
Speaker 2: Dude? I did. I mean, he's a riot, he's a riot,
Speaker 2: but when you join it. This was crazy because when
Speaker 2: I did Narcos, it was like an offshoot, right, it
Speaker 2: was a spinoff sort of of you know, Narcos, and
Speaker 2: it was me and Diego Luna and we were starting
Speaker 2: off this new thing, right, which was it was cool.
Speaker 2: It was you know, it was something new, so you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: we were we weren't taking it over per se. It
Speaker 2: was just another story here. It was completely different. I've
Speaker 2: never been in that situation where these guys are on
Speaker 2: their fourth season, all these guys that work together for
Speaker 2: four years and you know, Mike him and Mike Kelly
Speaker 2: are like best friends and you know, windows there and
Speaker 2: like everybody has like a shorthand and you're just like
Speaker 2: they have inside jokes and you're laughing from the outside
Speaker 2: because it is kind of funny, but it's.
Speaker 3: Not as funny.
Speaker 2: So they're they're going straight guttural and you're like, you know,
Speaker 2: and it feels like you're in high school, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, and you just you know, they invited
Speaker 2: you over to the to the lunch table, but like
Speaker 2: you don't really know all their inside jokes. So that's
Speaker 2: how it feels, right and uh. And then but by
Speaker 2: the end, like that's when you know, we all became
Speaker 2: really friendly and stuff and it was great and you know,
Speaker 2: but you like it started to get great right when
Speaker 2: you knew that. It was like, oh, okay, cool, this
Speaker 2: is the fourth season. It's going to end. There's going
Speaker 2: to be no more glad I was here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, uh, I feel like you told me am I
Speaker 1: right about this, like two years ago you were talking
Speaker 1: about this has been a long time coming, right, or
Speaker 1: at least the discussions and the shooting of this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, dude, I think I mean, I want.
Speaker 1: To say it was like two to three years ago
Speaker 1: that you were like, yeah, yeah, bro, I think John, John,
Speaker 1: I think I may be working with your pal John.
Speaker 1: This has been going a long time, dude.
Speaker 2: But apparently, like the Clancy a state has like five
Speaker 2: different parties with five different sets of lawyers. To do anything,
Speaker 2: like you got to go through them, Like I think,
Speaker 2: I think we're waiting on the okay for my character
Speaker 2: to be in the show or something like that. Like,
Speaker 2: so there's there's a lot, you know, there's there. I
Speaker 2: think there's a lot of politics and stuff or or
Speaker 2: you know, rights, or it's got to go through five
Speaker 2: parties and everyone's got to be happy. I think maybe
Speaker 2: that's what happened. Like I'm not sure, but I do
Speaker 2: remember getting a strong phone call from Krazinski, who when
Speaker 2: you get on the phone with him, you're like, Oh,
Speaker 2: this guy's a door he's a go getter, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. So I was really like, hey, buddy,
Speaker 2: is this happening? You know what's going on? Ye who
Speaker 2: knows it might or might not be speculating.
Speaker 1: Huge mega hit Jack Ryan, check it out final season,
Speaker 1: fourth season. Dude, You're awesome. Congratulations on all of your success.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to see you next week and uh
Speaker 1: and I could watch you forever.
Speaker 3: I'm a big fan, so.
Speaker 2: Thank you for all those years, man like you made
Speaker 2: us laugh so much. Bro.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you, Mike, thank you for stopping by. Great
Speaker 1: chatting with you, and I cannot wait to check out
Speaker 1: this new season of Jack Ryan. Say hi to John
Speaker 1: for me, to everyone out there listening, thank you as
Speaker 1: always for stopping by. We're going to be back next
Speaker 1: week to delight your eardrums with another fantastic guest. And uh,
Speaker 1: well and with me until then, have a wonderful week
Speaker 1: and uh and we'll see you soon. Off the Beat
Speaker 1: is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside
Speaker 1: our executive producer Ling Lee. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr.
Speaker 1: Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and our intern
Speaker 1: is Thomas Olsen. Theme song Bubble and Squeak performed by
Speaker 1: the one and only Creed Bretton,