Episode 610 | Gerardo Celasco, Marta Milans and Maurice Compte | M.I.A

[00:00:04] Hi, Darektors Cut. First of all, I'm looking at three awesome actors. I'm so blessed to be here, so thank you for that. Oh man, thank you so much. Maurice, we were supposed to do a, we had an interview for another one of your projects and my internet went out and I missed it. So, I'm good to have you guys here. If you want to interview me for that project first, let's go. We'll just do a real quick. I know. That's right. I'll talk about the Odyssey. Oh, wait. Yeah, that's actually a really good idea. You know, I got thinking about Mateo, Samuel, Caroline, and I'm really thinking about some of your other projects.

[00:00:34] Maurice, in your case, I'm thinking about Colonel Carrillo and I still love the way he just pushes people out of helicopters. It's just one of the greatest roles I've seen in a long time. I have to say though, I'm not even sure Pablo Escobar would kill a pregnant woman. We'll get to episode 101 in a second. But I did want to ask you this. Talk about portraying somebody historical and what goes into that versus somebody like Mateo, who maybe exists in different forms but not historically accurate. What goes into that, Maurice?

[00:01:00] Well, I think that there's a big difference between portraying somebody historical and portraying somebody notorious. You know, the historical person kind of follows these parameters where a person that's notorious you kind of get to play with as you go along and there's aspects to them that are predicated not just by, you know, your own internal drive but by the environment and the other actors that you're working with.

[00:01:26] In my case with Gerardo and Marta, we had such an incredible dynamic that it was easy because they were always outdoing me with their character's commitment to who they were at every step of the way. Yeah, great answer. Marta, I'm going to say to you, Rosa Vasquez from Shazam is one of the sweetest characters I've ever seen. Foster child becomes this wonderful, loving foster mother. And then we work our way, unfortunately, to Carolyn and what she's about to do. And I'm going to get into that in a second.

[00:01:54] You know who she reminds me of very much, Carolyn? I'm dying to hear what you think of this. A little bit of a Gustavo Fring and Andy Garcia's character in Landman. And I feel like they use narcotics to build this, like, life, wealth to do two things. And they want to travel two roads at the same time. The road that narcotics has given them, the new, like, hey, I want to go legitimate. But they also kind of, like, accepting of their past. You can't do both, right, Marta? What is your take on that? I think she thinks she can.

[00:02:20] And I think her life leading up to that moment where the series begins, she thinks she can. She's living a legitimate life. She cleans her siblings, I mean, her father's cartel drug money and, you know, has a prolific real estate company, real estate business. And she's doing quite well in that. She lives in a beautiful house. She went to the best school. She educated herself. She speaks languages. She's very polished. She presents herself as being very clean, you know.

[00:02:47] And then, like you said, you can't navigate those two roads without them intertwining. And you see that that eventually happens with her. And she just turns over to the dark side as it becomes inevitable. Yeah, great answer. Last but not least, I have to say to you, Carlos Payne, maybe not one of your biggest roles, but certainly one of your most influential. I went to school with Carlos Payne. I'm not going to say I know him. But, yeah, so I have to say it's a symbolic character in the way he shifted the approach of the game.

[00:03:15] Just talk about your process with him because I find they've asked you this forever. Like, I just – it's not a huge role, but, like, what you did was amazing when you were on screen. And he really – he shifted the balance of how people think about baseball. Just whatever you wanted to say to that. I mean, you know, that was the first movie I ever did. And it was such a small part. And obviously, you know, Aaron Sorkin's words and Bennett Miller directed that. It was – you know, it was – what you said I get a lot.

[00:03:41] And in the moment, you kind of feel like you're doing such a small part in such a massive movie. But so many people have told me – Jonah himself, like, told me later on how important that scene was to him in his life. So it was really – it was really a great thing to be a part of. But as far as Samuel, like, it's just such a different world. You know, you can't compare the two at all, right? Right, right. Right. Samuel's kind of just stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[00:04:10] He's a middle child in a family and kind of born into a structure where he's never going to be in power because he's not the firstborn. Even though he is the brains and he's the one saving and keeping Mateo out of trouble. You know, he has to be extremely loyal in making sure that his family stays together and that the business stays afloat. Yeah. Great answer. And I'm going to ask you guys this. And you can answer first because I finished with you. And I'm going to say this.

[00:04:37] Nobody watches episode one and tunes into episode two and sees Mateo, Samuel, and Caroline. They're like, wow, this is a great family who really loved their father. But I have to say, how can you obliterate another family and then have this loving rapport that you guys do? You guys are amazing on screen. I'm asking you to speak for fictitious characters. But do you ever worry about karma? Like, I would worry if my brother Maurice would be like, you know, he's always looking over his shoulder. Or Marta's always, you know, she has to walk. You know, she's always going to these functions.

[00:05:06] Like, aren't you ever worried about another family? It's such a look over your shoulder, anxiety riddled way to live your life. Whatever you guys wanted to say, I'll start with you, Gerardo. I mean, yeah, I agree. I think it is. Listen, but I also don't think they think about it. I think it's something they've grown up in. It's something they've been around their whole lives. It's something like. They don't know any different. They just operate like that since they weren't there. That's mom and dad going to work. You know what I mean? Like, it's.

[00:05:37] Do we enjoy it? I mean, at least for Samuel. I speak for Samuel. Is it a life and a world that he likes to be in? I don't think so. You know, I don't think it's something he wants to do. Maurice, what do you want to say? I think Caroline, she does. She loves her life. She loves her life. And even when she turns onto the dark side, she has no regrets. It's kind of scary because she just blatantly crosses the line and she just keeps going and has no regrets for now.

[00:06:05] And that's, you know, there's we see a lot of that in real life in the world that we're living in these days. So that's what's so human and so real. Great answer, Maurice. I think it's difficult to humanize people in this world. I think that it's all a means to an end. I think that the way that this thing plays out is a mathematical equation. There really is no like mom and dad and the dog. It's just these people are in our way. We have a thing to do. It needs to get done. This is what needs to be done.

[00:06:34] It's no different than, you know, a grave digger digging a hole. It's it's this is just what needs to be done when you step into this game. And again, when you're jumping in with sharks, everyone's a shark to you. And so you don't know. You don't know if later on this very family would come back and kill you. I know it seems from what you from what you see on the show that they wouldn't. But I'm sure that in this, you know, there's nothing new under the sun in this world of ours. There has been instances where a family just like that turns around and they become the aggressors.

[00:07:04] When you're dealing with that level of greed and that level of money, it's just what needs to happen next. Not who and mom and dad. You know, you there's a reason why farmers don't name the chickens. But they've already already sold their souls. So, yeah, yeah. Is there redemption for them? They also have a lot to prove in that moment, right?

[00:07:28] They have a lot to prove at the end of episode one in front of in front of Elias, in front of all the other characters in the background that are holding guns. You know, dad's not around anymore. Like, what are these guys going to do? Are they going to step up? Are they going to do are they going to keep this going? Like, are we going to be OK? Because any one of those guys can also, like, turn their back on you. Yeah. The three of you are so much fun to watch. And I have to be honest, you're scary as hell. And thank you for this. It's such a joy to watch the three of you on screen. Have a wonderful rest of your day. Thank you for this. Bye bye.

[00:07:58] Thank you. Bye bye. Bye bye.