Episode 622 | "The Odyssey" | Jimmy Gonzales (Cepheus)

[00:00:07] Jimmy, what's up? Hey, man. How are you? Thank you for giving me some of your Saturday. Dude, I'm so grateful for it. Thank you. No, listen, I appreciate you being flexible, man. I'm actually on another shoot right now, and we're just having some pretty long days. Dude, hey, you're working. That's the bottom line, right? That's the actor's thing, right?

[00:00:33] Exactly. Let me do this thing really quick. This thing needs to go up here so it's not in your shot. I think it looks good. I think you look good. Oh, thanks, man. How are you? Good. I really appreciate it. My wife and I loved Mayans forever, and I was so stoked when I saw that you were in The Odyssey. Yeah.

[00:01:00] Jimmy, I want to go talk about your early life, but I was dying with this because it's a film premiere or something where Damon comes over and hugs everybody. Were you at that? Yeah. Yeah, he's one of the first because it's on your Instagram. I was like, oh, how cool is that? It was just such a great way of it showed the movie you guys have off camera. It was incredible. Yeah. We were, I mean, we're just, you know, we're in a thing. Are we started? I didn't even know if we started.

[00:01:29] Yeah, I just, I just, we'll get right into it. Yeah. Oh, right on. Yeah, man. We just like, you know, you just kind of, I guess you just, it was all kind of new for everybody because it's like nobody had ever, aside from Chris, I guess, but like, there's just very few of us actors that have ever been on a project of that scale.

[00:01:52] And so you're all kind of getting hit with it at the same time, which kind of, in my assessment, like it just bonds everybody. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to get there, but I really want to get into your life, man. I mean, your childhood, I feel like could have been, could be a movie in itself. I feel like what you've gone through, and I say that with the utmost respect and love, I just think what you want.

[00:02:18] Jimmy, just for those who may not know your early childhood, your early story, whatever you're comfortable talking about, I'm comfortable hearing. Yeah, man. I guess like, you know, it definitely is, it was definitely challenging.

[00:02:39] You know, my parents, we moved to Oregon when I was like a year and a half old and we, we worked migrant fields and picking strawberries and pineapple, or not pineapple, but strawberries and apples and like walnuts and raspberries and blackberries, all sorts of stuff, you know, just to, to get by. But that was in the 80s and, and some of the 70s, late 70s.

[00:03:09] But it was one of those things where, you know, we fell into all the trappings of like poverty and, and, and crime and drugs and all that stuff. And, and we were hit with a bunch of challenges. My, my father got into some trouble with the law. Uh, uh, my, my mom was a single mom of four kids. Doesn't speak the language, uh, is hearing impaired.

[00:03:38] Um, so it, you know, it, it was, uh, it was super, super challenging. When I was at 10, I was, um, I was placed in, in foster care and I grew up from the age of 10 to 18 in foster homes. Um, had a lot of crazy wild experiences there too. But, you know, I'm really super tight with all my family.

[00:04:03] Now my biological family and have been for, for a couple of decades, uh, post all that stuff. Um, but you know, everybody has their story, you know, and, and, and, uh, and I have mine and you have yours.

[00:04:24] And, you know, I, I really do believe it's like, it was, it was tough, but at the same time, like, it gave me this, um, awareness to like, and this, this ability to kind of like make some alchemy out of, out of, out of those experiences. You know, take, take some shitty experiences and make them good. If that makes sense. Right.

[00:04:53] Um, and it, and it also works for me now. Like, like I'm able to draw from so much of my life and, um, and, and, and, and channel that into my work. Yeah. Yeah. Because Jimmy, that's an amazing story. There's so many other ways you could have gone. You could have become angry. You could have become just felt sorry for yourself. It's almost like you took the option that was the most difficult. And that was just to keep on, you know, drive through it, drive through it.

[00:05:22] And that's, that's amazing, Jimmy. You know, that's amazing. Yeah. Thank you. Um, so how does acting come into your life? How does that all struggle in there? Um, it was one of those things where when I was a kid, uh, my mom and I, I'm the eldest of four. I have two sisters and a, and a younger brother. Um, but my mom, my mom was a huge fan of film.

[00:05:45] Like she just, she just, I wouldn't call her like a cinephile or anything like that, but she was like a, she loved horror films. You know, for all the reasons that I think that we love horror films today, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. And so we had this little ritual where, um, you know, my younger siblings would, would have to go to bed because they did something bad over the week. These trumped up charges.

[00:06:11] Um, and then, um, and then her and I would, would hop in a car and we would go to the Safeway. And it was the same thing every week. Like I, I picked like a, a, a pint of ice cream usually was the Napoleon. Cause it had all three flavors. We'd walk right next door to the blockbuster. And, and, and she would, she would pick out a movie based on like the cover of the VHS.

[00:06:38] And it was usually like something like terrifying, you know, like you just love to horror films. And, uh, I, I just saw, I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, no, no, no. I, I just think it's so I'm thinking something as you're speaking, but I'll tell you what you're doing. I didn't mean to go ahead. No, no, no, no, no. No, this is a conversation, man. Is, is, is, is your, is your mom still with us, Jimmy? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Finish your thought.

[00:07:07] I, there's something I want to say, but go ahead, go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. No, we, you know, the, the ritual was that I would eat the ice cream, you know, and she, we'd watch the movie together. I'd eat ice cream and I would, I would interpret the movie for her. Right. Um, and also, you know, she's hearing impaired. So it's like, yeah, she, A, she doesn't speak English. B, like she, she didn't, she, she had, she had like better hearing back then, but now she

[00:07:35] wears a cochlear implant and, uh, she, she's a miracle just in her way to communicate. Um, but yeah, I just, uh, interpret movies. And I just saw the fact that it had on my mom, like movies. And I'm like, I want to, I want to do that. You know, I want to get her attention like that. So in many ways, I'm still chasing that, that desire. Yeah. That's such an awesome answer. Was your mom able to see the Odyssey? Uh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[00:08:04] So, so why I'm laughing, why I'm laughing is I'm picturing your mother's love for horror, but I'm also picturing the way your character went out and I'm like, I can't help but think how much this lovely woman must've just like, what, what were your mom's thoughts of that? Jimmy? I just, I think that's so awesome. You know? Yeah. You know, we talk like, you know, one of the biggest films to go back to my childhood,

[00:08:31] um, that had the biggest impact on me was the elephant man. Like we watched that movie with Anthony Hopkins and John, John. Yeah. Good call. We watched, we watched that movie. Well, she picked it because of the cover, right? It's like a, a guy in a, in a hat with a potato sack over his head and it's got like one eye like poked out of the sack. And she thought it was a scary movie and I thought it was a scary movie and we watched it.

[00:09:00] And while we watched it, like she's so, she was so attuned to the story as I was, um, that we didn't exchange words. Like she just watched the whole thing and was able to understand what the meaning of it was. So, you know, you know, fast forward to present day and she's, she like gets, but there's so much packed into the Odyssey, right?

[00:09:28] And like, she, she gets a lot of the imagery and a lot of the aspects of like Odysseus's journey. Um, so we spend a lot of time to answer your question. We spend a lot of time just dissecting aspects of the story. Right.

[00:09:51] And I, I think like many people, she has to see it a couple times in order to kind of make sense of what's like all the meaning behind stuff and, and she wants to, right? So she's just like, um, we talked about, we talked about it right after the, she went and saw it on the phone and, and she was like, uh, Oh, I was so sad to see you die on the, you know what I was like?

[00:10:20] I was like, well, you know, we ate the cows and she's like, yeah, you guys shouldn't have done that. You know, it's pretty funny. Yeah. So, you know, it's funny that you say that too, cause my dad lost almost all his hearing in Vietnam. Oh, and his favorite movies were horror movies. Isn't that so weird? Is it, is it just the way horror movies are depicted? You think Jimmy? I think so. I mean, it's just like such a visceral experience as an audience member. Yeah.

[00:10:48] And also the, you know, the filmmakers, they just, that's what they're going for. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I, I think, I think it also kind of makes sense that they're super popular now since everyone's on their, you know, on their phones and they're a little desensitized to like interaction. So when you get this film, like obsession coming out, you know, people are going, the younger people are going at it, you know, and many people, but like in particular, they're just

[00:11:14] going to watch this movie in droves because they're getting that like human thing. If that makes sense. Yeah. It makes a lot of sense. You know, if we're being honest, the Odyssey is a horror movie, not so much the beginning and the end, but legitimately every stop along the way is a horror movie. Right. I mean, in a sense, right. You know, the giants or the Cyclops or, or people getting turned into pigs. Like that's all horror movie stuff. Right. Jimmy.

[00:11:41] I would say even just Zeus's law in the, in the, you know, the, the civility between human beings. Yeah. We've lost that. How Jimmy has a society in some ways. I feel in many ways we have. Absolutely. I mean, I live in Los Angeles and I'm always shocked at how desensitized I am when I go

[00:12:04] to other places, not that I'm trying to shit on LA, but like you're in a big city and you know, you add, you know, you have these things desensitizing us and then you add in like a big city. And it's like, sometimes people are a bit of a liability and some people are a little bit more. But then you go to other places. Like I was in Australia right after the Odyssey.

[00:12:31] I went and shot a Hemsworth movie in Australia from like August to December. And people there are like, you know, it's a smaller, it's smaller. Like I was in Queensland, uh, the, uh, the gold coast. And it's like, people are like, you get in an elevator with somebody and they're just like, Hey mate, how's your day going? You know? And I'm just like, Whoa, what? Like, and it's like having those kinds of interactions being outside of a big city like

[00:12:58] Los Angeles kind of makes me realize how desensitized I am to, to other people, you know? Yeah. Because you try that here and people are like, well, what's he want for me? Like, it's just, yeah. Yeah. Just, Hey, how you doing? Like, yeah, dude, that is, that is, that is so epic. Uh, am I pronouncing your character's name correctly? I should, it's, it's Siphius, right? Is that correct? Siphius. King Siphius. Yeah. Yeah. So, so Jimmy, I never ask how you get the role because legitimately that's every podcaster's

[00:13:27] first question, but how does only with Nolan and this diverse, unbelievable cast, how does that ball start rolling for you? And are you stunned when you find, find out what the final verdict is as it applies to your role in the movie? A hundred percent. I mean, um, it started with an email. From my team. And they're like, Hey, you're going to go, you know, they want you to, they want you to tape for an untitled Christopher Nolan movie.

[00:13:54] Um, and I, and I'm like, you know, at this time, this is in December of 24, you know, everybody in Hollywood is talking about this movie, right? Everybody around the world wants to be in this movie. You know, um, every actor around the world, I should say. And I'm like, Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. All right. Christopher Nolan. All right. You know what? Let's just give it a go.

[00:14:22] You know, and, and I very rarely turn down auditions. I just kind of like to work. And so to me, that's an opportunity to work, but, um, it would, I taped it. It was two very short, uh, but very compact scenes, um, with not a ton of dialogue in them. Uh, and they immediately, like, I get the, I get the sides and I'm like, Oh, Oh, this is, this is interesting. You know, there's something going on here.

[00:14:52] Uh, it was, um, and I've heard other people talk about it as well. Other cast members, like they all got the same sides. Like, um, one scene was from Everest with Josh Brolin and the other scene was from master and commander. I believe it was master and commander with the Russell Crowe version. And, um, these are the scenes, Jimmy, that he has you coming in for the, the, those two specific. Yeah. Those two projects.

[00:15:21] Yeah. Wow. And like, it was wild, man. Yeah. Cause like, uh, yeah. So again, they're really on the page. They're really sparse. There's not a lot going on. Right. And so one scene, the Everest scene takes place up on, uh, up on Everest and Brolin is, um,

[00:15:47] Brolin's character is getting ready to walk across the aluminum ladders over this giant crevasse. And, you know, he looks back at his partner and he gives us, you know, the thumbs up and takes his first step in this iceberg or a big piece of snow, uh, just comes falling off the mountain and knocks them off. So now he's hanging off this, this, this ladder. And, uh, he's, his partner's trying to pull him up and it's just like, it's maybe like a

[00:16:17] dozen lines between both the characters, you know, and it's like lines like help, help, help, you know, pull me up. You know, uh, it's just, there was this essence of desperation. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, I'd seen the movie, but I didn't want to watch it and get influenced by it. And, um, I, I, I contemplated like, I, as I was like trying to figure out how I was going

[00:16:45] to do this, I was going to tape it. You know, I went for, um, I went for a hike over, uh, up at, uh, Griffith Observatory area. And, uh, there's these caves up in the park where they used to film the original Batman that you can actually hike to. It's up in Beachwood Canyon. And I went up there and I was like, kind of scouting around like, oh, maybe I'll just like hang off this and put the camera here and all this like crazy stuff, you know?

[00:17:16] Um, but as I was like, as I was walking away from that trip, I was with a friend of mine and she was like sharing all these ideas about how to shoot it. And I just kind of thought to myself, well, I'm not going to have that kind of thing, that kind of environment accessible to me if I get a call back. So, right.

[00:17:41] I'm going to, I'm going to sell this from the chair in my studio. Right. Yeah. If I can sell it in my studio in a chair, you know, then I hypothetically get the job and I'm shooting the movie with Christopher Nolan. I imagine that I'll probably be able to immerse myself in whatever world he creates. Smart, smart.

[00:18:11] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, when that thought process kind of led me to what exactly I felt he wanted with these sides, these character, like these, these particular two pieces that he had, he had given everyone. And at the time I didn't know he had given everyone the same sides, but so I just started to think about that.

[00:18:37] And I realized that in Everest, you know, we're talking about it. He picked a character for us to portray, to play, to audition. That is a kind of a type A personality guy. You know, you don't, you don't get yourself up on Everest or even attempt to, to, to pursue something of that scale without being a type A personality.

[00:19:04] Without being the guy, the guy that like creates his fate and doesn't, he's not subjected to fate. Right. So what we're seeing here in these, in this particular scene is a guy who has completely lost total control as in his totally helpless. What does that look like within a span of like half a page, you know?

[00:19:35] And so I went with that and, um, he liked it and called me back, uh, in January. And, uh, at that time when I got the callback, the same time that I got the callback, I also got the call that in that same conversation with my team, I was informed that I had also booked another role with David Spade and Theo Vaughn and their movie called Bus Boys. You're in that too?

[00:20:05] Yeah. I haven't seen that. I listened to Theo. I'm dying to see that movie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's an, it's a weird comedy. It's fun. It's so much fun. Yeah. That seems like one of those like old school, funny eighties movies where they just have fun. Yeah. So I'm a little bit behind because I took some of the summer off, but yeah, that's on my, I didn't mean to talk sidetrack you, but yeah, that's on my list. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah. It was just one of those things where I had auditioned a tape board as well.

[00:20:34] And then I had a call back with them and, and I booked it and, and I booked it in the same call. I had received the information that booked in the same call that I received the notice that I was going to go meet Chris. And then I was just like, Oh shit. But, um, go ahead. It's just wild how things work out. You know, you got Christopher Nolan on one hand and then, yeah, that's as an actor, you couldn't even, you can't even imagine that's going to happen. I mean, that's crazy how that unfolds.

[00:21:04] It was again, like I got like, I mean, I just try to do the best that I can and then, you know, we'll see, you know, what happens. But that's kind of been the story of my career. But because, because he is, uh, and I don't think I, I won't debate this. I, this is how I feel. He is our greatest living filmmaker. Listen, there's great one Spielberg. He's he's the best when, when the greatest, the, the, the world's greatest living filmmaker

[00:21:33] reaches out to you and says, yes, I want you. Does that carry more weight? Does that carry more weight to it? Jimmy? Jimmy? Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. It was terrifying. I was like, wait, what? What's going on here? Like, why is this? Yeah. You know, is this really going on? Um, yeah, yeah. Most definitely. Yeah. I have to tell you, I, uh, I, uh, I ended up getting, this is the last one I have to buy. Cause my wife's going to kill me if I buy another popcorn bucket. Did you ever see the Odyssey popcorn? Did you ever see?

[00:22:02] Oh my God. Oh my God. Dude. Oh my God. This was at the theater. This is the Odyssey popcorn bucket. Yeah. Holy cow, man. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, I got to get one of those. Yeah. It was, I was, it was like three left. The Odyssey was coming out like in a week or two. I'm like, I'm going to regret not getting this because I'm such a Nolan fan and I knew this would be great. So. Well, no, no. I hear they were pretty expensive. Yeah, they were. They were.

[00:22:29] Um, and I have to tell you, um, you know, my wife and I were coming out of the theater and I could not believe this woman's reaction. Like the whole theater was like clapping when we were, when the movie was over and this older woman is talking to her husband and she's like, there really wasn't a story there. I don't get the story. I'm like outside of the Bible. If you don't find a story in the Odyssey, then that's a problem. Like it is legitimate. Like you could have made a hundred movies from the Odyssey in this story, but I just thought

[00:22:58] it was very funny the way the woman, um, you know, uh, the, the way that, that works out. But, um, you know, I have to say, um, at the end of this movie, I feel like Odysseus. I feel like I've been, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's not a normal viewing experience. It's not like, Oh shit, that was great. That was funny. Ooh, that action had me. I felt exhausted, not because it was bad. I felt what he had gone through. I felt what his men, by the way, uh, your character being the, one of the most loyal to him, you

[00:23:28] know? Um, so I don't know. I just, I don't know if that's what he's going for, but I felt it Jimmy on so many levels. Oh man. That's awesome. You know, I, I, I would say that like, that's like Chris is like, he gave what he's, his work gives us is like a full meal. It's what we felt when we were kids. I, at least what I felt when I was kids, you know, when I was a kid, I'd walk out of the movie theater or like watch a movie.

[00:23:55] And I think I was that character, you know, that was being portrayed, you know, um, whether it was like horse, the horsing around with my buddies, you know, after some, like the karate kid, you know, or like, or, or, or like just being terrified of the water, you know, after jaws, but like he kind of gives us that essence again, you know, where we, uh, I not kind of, but he does his work gives us that essence. It's just, oh man. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:25] Yeah. That is so, so well said. Uh, but I gotta say though, your character's loyalties unmatched. How, how long was shooting for you? How many days were you on set shooting? Um, I guess, I mean, it was six. We were, let's see, we had, we started in Morocco. So all together, I was on the project for six months.

[00:24:48] Um, so we started in Morocco for about a month, went to Italy or excuse me, Greece for about three and a half weeks or so. Uh, came back to LA, had a small break, about three weeks, went to, uh, two different islands off the coast of Sicily, Fabiana and Lippery. Uh, and that trip was about five and a half, six weeks.

[00:25:12] Um, then we came back to Los Angeles and we, we, we Odysseus' men were off for about, for most of the time that they were shooting stuff here with, um, um, with all the suitors. Uh, and that was about five, five weeks, a month or so. And then we went to Iceland for another three weeks. And then we went to Scotland for another three, three weeks or so. Is that exhausting to me? And then came back to LA.

[00:25:41] It was, I mean, yeah, it was, it was, but it was, it, you know, it's like, I don't know. For me, like, I felt like all my dreams were coming true being in this movie. I always wanted to be in a movie like this. My whole life, I always, like, this is what I wanted to do is be in an epic film like this.

[00:26:05] And, uh, so I, I was, I was, my body was tired, but my soul was like, I felt like a kid, like I was so rejuvenated by it. And like Matt Damon said, like Matt Damon said, there may never be another one like this. Never. I mean, like, yeah, yeah. You know, we talked about that because we were, we, we were so close together. All of us, you know, there's like, there's, there's, I want to give some flowers to the

[00:26:35] guys that were a part of it, you know, um, that were Odysseus's men. So there's Justin Garcia. There's obviously Kamesh. There's Andrew, uh, Howard. There's Sean Avery. There's Murphy. There's Giovanna Depo. There's, um, Josh. Uh, there was, um, there's, there's, um, let's see, who else am I missing here? Oh, Tony, uh, Anthony Molinari.

[00:27:04] Amazing guy. Um, Ryan DeQuinto and Matt Lasky and Ian Castleberry. We're all these guys, man. We, we, we, we bled, we sweat, you know, we, we were in, in, in a lot of pain, but you know, we, we, we busted each other's chops constantly. But, uh, you know, we were a band of brothers and, and it was incredible.

[00:27:32] What do you guys do off screen, Jimmy, together that cements the on screen rapport? Obviously there's some really talented actors you just named, but like, what do you guys, what, if anything, do you do off screen is just spending time with each other? Is it just ball busting? Is it like, what is it? Yeah. It's a lot of that jujitsu. We did a lot of jujitsu. Um, we did, well, in Greece, we did a lot of jujitsu, but, um, we go, you know, we,

[00:27:59] we all like rent scooters or, or cars and just like cruise around these, these exotic, beautiful places that we were in. You know, we, we hung out in Iceland. Uh, we, we stayed in RVs for the whole time that we were there. Uh, we, you know, Sean, will you, uh, will you and Lee is the other guy. Can't believe I forgot. Well, I'm so sorry. Sorry. Yeah. He's amazing. Will's amazing. Will's will's incredible. Will's it? Absolutely.

[00:28:26] And will's one of will's like arguably like as famous as Matt Damon, like everywhere in the world. We went, people knew who he was. It was unbelievable. Unbelievable. But will, will and I jumped into my RV after the first portion of the Iceland shoot and Sean jumped into his and we caravan across Iceland through Reykjavik to our second location, which was like three hours East of Reykjavik.

[00:28:54] I mean, we just, we just spent a lot of time together, you know, and a lot of the guys have families. Right. So it was like, we became the surrogate family to those guys, you know? Yeah. Yeah. You know what else I noticed too, Jimmy, were how many people from the walking dead were in this Ryan Hearst, you. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Corey, uh, Corey Hawkins who, uh, played Heath, but John Bernthal, Samantha. Yeah. There's like six or seven.

[00:29:24] I was like, I mean, it's an, Oh, by the way, but I was like, Holy cow. There's a lot of walking dead alumni here, you know, that's crazy. I didn't even put that together. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I think it's bonkers that people would ever doubt Nolan's casting choices. Like, uh, there were so many people, there were so many people getting, getting, um, grief and undeserved, like crazy. Uh, and how could you ever, how could you ever doubt Nolan's casting?

[00:29:53] He's not doing it, uh, you know, to, uh, to be gimmicky. He's doing it because he feels that's what's best for this movie. 1,000%. I mean, like it's his track record. Let me just, all you have to do is look at his resume, you know, but we, I guess we just have short memories and people, especially online. You know, I think as, as the stuff was coming out, all this criticism was coming out before

[00:30:17] the movie came out and like, we all know that at least all of us who worked with him know that none of these people had a chance to see this movie yet. They had so much to say about the casting and, and, and so many of them got it wrong. You know, it's like almost every day I want to look, I look at my, my social media and I just, I have to like, uh, I don't know.

[00:30:45] I just have to restrain myself from going, huh? A billion dollars. I guess this movie was terrible. Oh, I mean like Elliot page. Wasn't a good Achilles. Cause Achilles was fantastic in this movie. Exactly. Exactly. It's like, what are you talking about, man? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you know what I wanted to ask you too, Jimmy's about the Latino representation in this movie. Uh, John Leguizamo, you Lupita Nyong'o, uh, Jesse Garcia, Maurice, Maurice Comte, who I had

[00:31:15] on the show. I mean, not, not that, you know, for what it is, it's just nice to see. It's nice to see a eclectic, talented group of people working together. Yeah. I don't know. I, I, I, I, that was an, oh, by the way, for me too, your thoughts on that. Oh, thanks a lot, man. Yeah. No, it, it was, um, I, unfortunately only hung out with Maurice like a couple of times, um, in Italy, uh, in Fabiana, but, uh, Jesse and I, and, and Lupita, we hung out with

[00:31:44] Lupita a couple of times, went out to dinner with her. She's awesome. Awesome person. Um, but, uh, Jesse and I, you know, we're like two peas in a pod, you know, we were just together like pretty much every day on the shoot and to just, uh, you know, we were just you know, to, I don't know, man. It's, it was, it was a crazy thing, you know? And, and we also hung out with, uh, Jesse and I actually ran into John one day in Italy and Fabiana in the square.

[00:32:12] He's having lunch with his wife and we sat down and we, we chopped it up. And, and in that conversation, John was like, um, yeah, man, you should be proud, man. You're one of the Latinos in this, you know what I mean? And it's like, it was incredible. And it kind of hit me like, oh wow, that is true. It's like, it's like one of like four or whatever. And I don't know. It's, it's incredible, man. Especially when I talked to my nephews and my nieces and stuff and like, they're just like, oh, it's possible.

[00:32:42] You know what I mean? Like, yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah. It's important. It's important. It's like when Black Panther came out, it's important that kids, when they look up on a screen, they see somebody that's like them doing heroic shit and that it's like, man, it gives them that window to say, you know what? That's, that's me one day. That could be, you know, I just, I'm a big, I'm a, I'm big on that. I think that's really vital for people. Yeah. I mean, cause when I used to watch films with my mom, I mean, I can't tell you a movie

[00:33:10] that I saw that had a guy that looked like us, you know what I mean? Like, it was just like, it was like closest thing was, um, which was, uh, which was probably like Johnny Depp and Friday the 13th. You know what I mean? Like, I was just like, it's like, oh my God. Like that guy, is that guy? No, he's not. Okay. Oh, well, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A few more questions for you, Jimmy. Thank you for all this time. You're so kind.

[00:33:38] Uh, you don't want to tell you it was, um, I was, how much research did you put into Sifias's life? Whether it's from what Nolan told you or your own, uh, what, what did you put into that part of it? Do you, you know, what's funny about that? Cause I, I got, I, you know, I, I got the email about some of the stuff that we were going to talk about. And, um, I also had this question asked, uh, in another interview, like when the premiere, during the premiere. Right.

[00:34:07] And the funny thing is, is that we, when we got, when I got the job and this is the same for all the guys in Odysseus's crew, we were told, like I was told by my team, like, here's the deal. You're, you're Chris wants you to do the odds or, you know, wants you to, excuse me,

[00:34:31] do the odyssey with you, but you don't have a name and you're not, you're probably not going to get a line. Yeah. Cause currently he doesn't have any lines written for you. That doesn't mean that you won't be able to improvise at some point or he may not throw you a line. And I was like, I don't give a shit. I don't care. Like I I'll push a broom for this guy. So on the last, and that, that's how we went through the whole movie.

[00:35:00] We didn't have any names and we didn't have, um, you know, we got some lines, like some of us got to improvise some stuff. Um, most of us got a chance to improvise some stuff. Chris was generous enough to give us some stuff because you know, the movie moves and that's what, that's what he was doing. And so it didn't matter. Like to me, it didn't matter. It didn't matter to me. I didn't care at all.

[00:35:26] Um, but the last day of shooting Milo, our first AD gave us the best bit of information. It was really a, our, our rap gift, um, from Milo. And he said, I'm going to make sure, cause he gathered us all Odysseus as men together. And he said, I'm going to make sure that all of you get your names. You all get a name, a character name. That's awesome. And he's like, he's like, it's been approved.

[00:35:55] And so I didn't find out that my character was King Sipheus until like some of the first, um, like marketing material was coming out. Some stuff came out in Empire magazine. Some stuff came out online. And I'm like, I don't, I don't remember where I was. I was here in LA or something. And I'm going to chat with the rest of the guys. And one of the guys, Ryan DeQuinto was like, Hey man, congratulations on getting your name.

[00:36:24] How did you do that up on IMDB pro? And I was like, that's a really fucking good question. Cause I had no idea. You know what I mean? Yeah. If I find out, I'll tell you, but that's the, that's the truth behind that. Yeah. That's awesome. Why did I think your character got eaten by the Cyclops? He didn't, right? Oh no, it was close. I was the one guy that like, so, uh, Odysseus asked for volunteers to, to run out.

[00:36:54] Right. After. Yeah. And so, no, I didn't get eaten, man. I was the one character that made it out. Yeah. Yeah. So I want to ask you this. So if you had to get a, if somebody offered you a hundred million dollars to spend a week on one of these places, which one are you taking? It was amazing. Circe's Island, uh, the Cyclops, those huge soldiers with moving trees, the underworlds, what Iceland seemed beautiful, by the way, the sirens or Helios's cattle. Where, where, where would you be?

[00:37:23] Well, I guess you guys did spend more than, but anyways, but we're, if you had to pick a place, which one are you taking? I guess there's also being with, uh, Charlize Theron too, but I don't know if that's much of a, uh, uh, uh, I, I feel like, I feel like Odysseus lost himself with, with her, but anyways, you did. And you know, to be quite honest with you, I wouldn't mind losing myself with Charlize Theron. Not a bad place to be. Not a bad place to be. Not a bad place to be. Which one do you think? I would pay.

[00:37:52] I would pay that a hundred million to lose myself with Charlize Theron. No, I mean, honestly, like, uh, God, I would have to say, like, I think that there's something super romantic about that aspect of the film for me. Yeah. Um, just cause it's like this beautiful couple together on this Island. So I'd have to go, I'd have to go with that. Yeah. And if he doesn't have a family, he might as well just stay there and lose himself. Right. Why come on? And I don't, I don't have a family.

[00:38:22] Come on. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go. But that's, but those places are where this becomes an absolute horror movie. Like, yeah, true, true. Just those parts, not necessarily the, the, the end of it. Um, let me ask you this. So Nolan's movies have this wonderful way we see Odysseus because the audiences, and this is a spoiler for anybody who hasn't seen it. We kind of, for maybe a hot second, we think that he's, he, he, he's dead.

[00:38:51] He was killed in that fight at the end, but then we figure out he's going to exile. He has, Nolan has this ability because you've seen the dark night rises, right? Jimmy. Yeah. We, we think, we think, you know, uh, uh, Bruce Wayne is gone, but then there's Alfred in the coffee shop and they nod. And then we look at Solicitor and, and it pours. He has a way of bringing characters home again or putting them in the way where they can live out the rest of their life. Chris does this in an unbelievable way. He did, he did it here.

[00:39:20] Like what a beautiful ending. I don't know how Nolan does it. He does it in Interstellar. Uh, you can make the argument. He does it in Inception. He does it in Tenet. Dunkirk, the soldiers, the soldiers think they're going to get heckled, but they're, they're revered. Jimmy, this is my favorite part of Christopher Nolan is the way he makes me feel at the end of a movie, not for the, just how he wraps it up. I just think it's such a gift. What do you think, Jimmy, about all that? I agree a hundred percent.

[00:39:48] And it's, it speaks to the soul of the human being. You know, we're all, we're always, we're in some way always searching for our home, you know? Um, because as you, as you get older, if you're, if you do get older and nothing project happens and you pass away as a young person, but as you get older, you go off. And that's the quintessential, you know, architect of, um, of the hero's journey. Yeah.

[00:40:15] So yeah, he just, he just, he just dramatizes it in such a beautiful way that resonates with billions of people. Yeah. Jimmy, I own two dogs. I lost one a couple of years ago. Did that scene, did that scene with Argos break your heart? Oh my God. Listen, the golden rule of, first of all, yes, I absolutely love dogs. Like ask any of my friends, I could be walking down the street. Here in LA.

[00:40:45] And I'm always like, yo, what's up dog? I always say, Hey, to the dogs, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, people are just more comfortable with that versus like talking to them, which is totally unfortunate. However, I love dogs. I don't have one. I travel a lot. I'm, and I just don't think it would be fair to have one. Yeah. But the golden rule in cinema is you never shoot the dog. Don't shoot the dog. You know what I mean? You never kill the dog. And what struck me about that scene, aside from like.

[00:41:14] I just, how he was able to weave it all together and still keep it fresh, emotionally so vibrant from the moment that the dog dies is incredible filmmaking, in my opinion. But the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the cream on the top is how he shows the passing of the dog. Oh. Which is, you see the dog wave its tail in joy and then it stops.

[00:41:40] And it's like, how, who, how do you pick up, like, who thinks of bad detail as like being able to depict and to communicate that this dog has passed? You didn't have to see the dog suffering or anything. It just peacefully goes. Oh, it was. It was beautiful and sad at the same time. And Jimmy. Yeah, exactly. Along the topic of who thinks of that, who thinks of the strumming of when Odysseus. Oh God.

[00:42:10] Like, duh. Like, who thinks of that? You know, I just. And, and, and, and with like the way he set that up, I mean, it's all, he's, I heard him talk about how people are like, oh, you're such an amazing director. You're such an amazing artist. And he said, I'm a craftsman. I just see myself as a craftsman of the, of the work. I mean, I so relate to that.

[00:42:36] And you can see that, I mean, not because I'm a Christopher Nolan level artist or actor or, you know, artist, but, but, but, but like the way, like what you're saying, like, you know, he was able to like set up this moment with the bow and how it's so, it seems so innocuous. And like, just a slight detail at the beginning of the film and then to turn it and bring it all the way around.

[00:43:04] He wove all of these different details and narratives together. To me, that's a craftsman. He knows exactly what he's doing. Yeah. Yeah. You know, Jimmy, I was stunned when John Leguizamo's character didn't recognize, because he's all knowing, even though he can't see, he's all knowing. He's, he can tell he's walking by him. I was stunned that he didn't know Odysseus when he first comes up the hill, you know, when he first comes back, I was stunned that his character didn't pick up on who that is.

[00:43:31] But the way it unfolds obviously is Christopher Nolan. Like, and he does a great job of it, you know? Well, I feel like it kind of made sense to me a little bit because he had just gotten beat up by these dogs. Beat up. He was killed. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And then he was, he was killing his dogs. So he was, and he's at the tail end of his, like, his sadness for his, you know, for Odysseus and like the, the, the, the degradation of the community that he's living in.

[00:43:58] So he's kind of, I felt like he was at his wit's end, you know? And so, yeah, I thought, and then, and then he still has his wherewithal to invite him in for a meal, which is incredible. Jimmy, this is my last question. What are the Nolan rules, the Nolan rules? Because I knew this before people talked about it. I guess to say he has a no cell phone rule on set. To me, if you're working with Christopher Nolan and your face is buried in your cell phone, you maybe need another profession because it's like being around the greatest of the great.

[00:44:27] Like, you should be focused all in. I don't care what it is. Yeah. You're next to a master. Yeah. Yeah. So Anne Hathaway recently said no ogs on set. Were there any other rules, Jimmy, that people don't know about or that, that Chris has? He didn't really care too much for like horsing around. Yeah. But like, but I, he, you know, he likes it, but then he, when it's time to get to work, it's time to get to work.

[00:44:57] He doesn't like you to, to both, like you can't bullshit him. The guy's just like, man, he's like, it's like, you just can't give him, you have to be honest with him and he will be honest with you. If you're, if he hired you to do a job, that's your job to, to take command and take ownership of. You know, the first day I was shooting, we're doing this big scene where Odysseus tells us that we're leaving, you know?

[00:45:24] And, and it's like, that was the first thing that I shot with all the guys and everybody. And I'm, I'm closest to, to, to Odysseus, to Matt and the iMass camera. And like all these, like, anyhow, all the other guys were behind Matt and we were rehearsing it, rehearsing it, rehearsing it. We didn't like none of the guys, we never got direction to like act a certain way or anything. And so the guys are like, dude, what do we do? What do we do? I don't know. And finally, Chris says, well, let's do one.

[00:45:53] And he's walking away in front of like 500 people. He's walking away. And I go, uh, Chris, um, is there a certain reaction you'd like from Odysseus's men after this, uh, this announcement? And he looked at me for a solid like five seconds and he just goes, you're the thespian.

[00:46:17] And he turned around and he walked away, you know, and it just was like, oh shit. I can, like, I just, oh God, I'm going to get fired or whatever. But really what he's saying is like, that's your job. You figure that out. Yeah. Yeah. And that's to me like a hard and fast rule that he has. And also that's, that's a true mark of like a collaborator, like a master collaborator.

[00:46:43] He's, he's going to allow you to do what you need to do and what you want to do as far as like how you interpret the thing. If it needs to be tweaked, he will give you a note. But overall, he's just going to get, you're going to, he's going to take what you give him and he's going to be able to weave it into his, his, his huge tapestry. Uh, I'll, I'll end with this. Uh, his most underrated movie for me is insomnia. You get Al Pacino, you get a Robin Williams, Maura Tierney.

[00:47:11] It is such an awesome movie. I, and a lot of people are stunned that he directed it. Jimmy, what's that movie for you as it applies to Nolan? Oh man. It's like watching a master emerge. Like, yeah. He's just, that movie just like blows me away and it's, and it's fucking terrifying. It's scary to shit. Robin will, what he did with Robin Williams, like, dude, who thinks like that? You know what I mean?

[00:47:37] Like who's, I wish I was able to like see a guy like Robin Williams or a character or an actor who is beloved over, you know, three, four decade career for being a certain way and then going, okay, I'm going to turn it on his head and it's going to be massively effective. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well said. Jimmy, what's around the corner for you? Other projects, anything you want to get out there? Social media, anything. Yeah. Floor is yours.

[00:48:07] Yeah, man. Thank you. Um, I've got a film called, uh, Subversion with Chris, uh, Hemsworth coming out and Michael Pena. Um, and then I'm working on a film right now called Bannister with, uh, Gavin O'Connor, um, who directed, uh, the accountants one and two warrior miracle on ice. Warrior is an unbelievable movie. Oh, he's an awesome director. Good for you, man. He's an incredible director. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:48:37] Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. And then, uh, I mean, um, you know, rated Jimmy G is my Instagram, which is, I think, kind of clever. Very clever. And, and, and, and I followed you and you've got some interesting posts, which I, I, I, you're a fun follow. So that's a fun, that's a very nice way of putting it. Like I've been told by many people were like, bro, your social media is just like, it's a mess. I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing.

[00:49:06] And see, I don't know. I love the, you had a post about Hulk Hogan when he passed. I'm like, Oh, this man speaks to my heart. You know, I'm, I'm 52 years old. So I was like, that speaks to my heart. So, uh, yeah, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Uh, Jimmy, thank you for the time. No, man. Thank you. Thank you for the time. And for, I'm honored that you would have me on your show. You've, you've had some amazing guests, dude. And I mean, just keep doing what you're doing.

[00:49:32] Cause it's so, it's, it's a, it's a, it's such a, um, it has substance in this, in, especially in social media where like, you know, there's some of it is so much of it is filled with like nonsense. Yeah. Yeah. Jimmy, you rock. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.