Though he’s been acting since the early nineties, it was the twenty-first century that gave Freddy Rodríguez his big break; as part of the ensemble cast of Six Feet Under he made a big impression on audiences and last year at the cinema he proved he had the chops for the big screen. From the indie drama Harsh Times, through the political Bobby and out in the deep waters of Wolfgang Petersen’s Poseidon, it was a veritable banquet of Freddy last year.
But this year there’s only one Freddy Rodríguez movie to concern yourself with… Grindhouse. Freddy plays Wray, Robert Rodriguez’s (no relation) action hero in his Planet Terror segment. With his star rising faster than bread with extra yeast, Freddy Rodríguez took time out to chat with Rotten Tomatoes UK about the impending DVD release of Harsh Times, the impending cinema release of Grindhouse and the not-so-impending possibility of him reprising his role in Scrubs.
RT-UK: You’ve been pretty busy recently – I think Harsh Times, Poseidon and Lady in the Water all came out within a few weeks of each other in the UK…
Freddy Rodríguez: It’s been a pretty intense few years! Especially post-TV show. That’s always kind-of been the game plan; to knock out as many and as versatile characters as I possibly could post-TV show to prove that I could play different characters. I think that’s one of the dangers you run into if you’re on a long-running television show; you can get typecast into the character you play. I had to try and do everything I could to avoid that.
RT-UK: Is there something about ensemble films that particularly appeals to you? Between Bobby, Poseidon, Grindhouse and, to a lesser extent, Lady in the Water, you’ve tended to move towards those types of films.
FR: It wasn’t planned that way, it just kind-of happened that way. Those were just the films that were happening at the time and I just happened to get involved. There’s no preference in particular for me; it’s just about the quality of the project and who’s involved in it that they just happened to be that way.
RT-UK: Did Six Feet Under’s success make it easier for you to pick the roles that you wanted to do, that appealed?
FR: It was a great platform for all of us as actors. Especially with the type of show it was; it was like doing a film every single week. We had the freedom of film, it was written by film writers, directed by film directors, it had all the elements of film but the only thing that wasn’t like film was that we played the same characters every single week. I think what happened was that it attracted that film audience; those were the people who watched it and those were the people that saw me and thought it’d be a good idea to put me in their films.
RT-UK: Do you miss the Six Feet Under days?
FR: Oh, sure, there’s definitely elements to it that I miss, you know. You always miss the people that you work with. It was just a great ride, a great thing to be a part of, and when you have a great time for five years of course you miss it when it’s over. If I’d have had a terrible time I probably wouldn’t be saying that!
RT-UK: Talking of TV, you have a fantastic role on Scrubs (as Carla’s brother who loves to give Turk a hard time) are we going to see any more of him?
FR: I’m not sure. There were talks of bringing that guy back. It’s funny you mention it, you know, that character was always supposed to be one episode. I was supposed to go in there, do it and come out again. That was supposed to be it. But the response from that episode was so great that they brought the guy back a couple more times. So if the response remains positive, as yours is, hopefully there’s a possibility he’ll come back.
It mostly comes down to scheduling. I was actually supposed to do an episode last year but I was shooting Grindhouse so I wasn’t available to do it.
RT-UK: The Scrubs set seems like such a fun atmosphere, and getting to play a character who’s just so ruthlessly mean must be so much fun.
FR: I had a blast doing it. It’s rare that I get to do comedy, and comedy at the level that show is performing is rare. I just felt so incredibly blessed while I was on that set, I had such a good time.
RT-UK: Harsh Times must have been an exciting script to get.
FR: It really was. David Ayer, who wrote Training Day, I’m a humungous fan of his and at the time I was really excited to get it. When I read it I wanted in immediately and I wanted to be a part of his directorial debut as well.
RT-UK: David had trouble getting the film financed because it’s so unlike anything Hollywood produces. As an actor it must be quite exciting to be involved in projects like that.
FR: Yeah it is. These are characters that existed a lot in seventies and eighties cinema; the days of Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, early Scorsese. But those types of movies just don’t exist anymore. The way to do those films now is the way that David did it, which is to take the independent route. I was extremely happy and excited to be a part of a film like that and to get to play a character that just normally doesn’t come around often.
RT-UK: There’s an authenticity to the film that you don’t often see as well; how much work went into capturing the LA that these characters inhabit?
FR: There was a lot of work. The whole film is loosely based off of David Ayer’s life and the people he grew up with so he had a very deep, close personal connection to the film and the characters. David was a great point of reference. He was a great director and guided us down the correct path in terms of authenticity as you pointed out. He provided a lot of research material and not only material but people who were from that area, people who he grew up with who could talk to us about the time he grew up in and the area. We were surrounded by that stuff, so that’s why it came across so well on screen.
RT-UK: Does having an actor as committed as Christian Bale around all the time make it easier to get under your character’s skin?
FR: Oh, yeah. Actors tend to play off each other and I think that in this film we had each other to play off in a really intense way. I felt like he brought some stuff to the table that I played off of and visa versa.
RT-UK: So let’s talk Grindhouse – what was it like getting to work with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino?
FR: Oh it’s a dream come true. Every actor, whether you’re established or coming up, lives in hope of working with those directors who revolutionised the film industry. For me to get to work with those guys, and every director I’ve worked with really because I’ve been incredibly blessed, was a dream come true. I just can’t wait for it to come out.
RT-UK: Can you tell us a little about your character?
FR: If you’re familiar with Robert Rodriguez’s films, he always has a hero of some sort in his films. Whether it’s the anti-hero or the action-hero. And that’s who I play in the film; he’s kind-of a mix of the both.
RT-UK: So you get up to a bit of action?
FR: Oh yeah, it’s all action! [laughs] That’s who the guy is, you know, it’s an action hero. I had months of gun training and knife training and fight choreography for the film for it to come across as authentic.
RT-UK: Is it as physically demanding as everyone makes out to play the action hero?
FR: Yeah, it is. The training is really intense; you have to hit it right on the head. You have to look believable on screen and if that’s not your background to begin with you’re pretty-much starting from scratch. So when you’re starting from scratch in anything you do it’s always going to be difficult in the beginning, you just kind-of hope you get it before the end.
RT-UK: Quentin and Robert are both incredibly passionate about film, did you get a bit of a film education from those guys?
FR: You know the main thing I learned from them was that; I was really impressed to come on set or meet with them and see how enthusiastic the guys still are. You never know what to expect from people who have achieved the kind of success and notoriety that these guys have achieved. You walk in and you don’t know what you’re going to get from them. It was refreshing and humbling at the same time to see them this way. Not to say that I was ever jaded, but if it ever came to that, it was definitely an eye-opener to how a person should be even after years of doing film and being successful. It’s OK to continue being enthusiastic about it.
RT-UK: I know Quentin has a ridiculously extensive collection of old film prints; did he show you the kinds of films Grindhouse is paying homage to?
FR: Yeah, that was part of the research process. Quentin has a lovely theatre that he built at his home and he invited us to come down and watch a bunch of grindhouse movies. It was great, we really got a sense of what the tone was going to be for Grindhouse and what they were aiming for.
RT-UK: Did you see anything particularly memorable?
FR: [laughs] We watched a movie called Zombie which is an imaginatively-titled 1970’s zombie flick, funnily enough, from Italy. Quentin showed us trailers; I remember there was a trailer for a film called Philander Manor which was like a booby film of the late sixties with the girls getting chased with her boobs out, swinging everywhere. I remember we saw something called Chinese Hercules where he kind-of looked like this karate guy who was on steroids. Just these ridiculous films and trailers and you just sit back and wonder, “Where the hell did you get this stuff from?”
RT-UK: What’s next after Grindhouse?
FR: There are a few things I have lined up. I think, as you pointed out earlier, what happened in the last couple of years was that I just worked non-stop and I think there comes a point where you start to test your tolerance level and mine was definitely in the red so I needed to take a break for a bit. But I’m definitely gearing back up to get on something else. Plus it hasn’t really been a break at all because I’ve spent the last four months promoting all those movies that were coming out. It’s been a pretty busy year even though I haven’t been on set.
RT-UK: As busy as you are it must be quite liberating to be on set doing such different things for some hugely varied films…
FR: It is liberating because that’s the ultimate goal for an actor; to get to work with great directors, on different projects, original characters that you get to create to prove to the world that you’re a diverse actor. You dream to have that time of career and unfortunately a lot of actors just don’t get to have that. So I feel incredibly blessed that I can have this career right now.
RT-UK: Have you seen any films recently that you’ve particularly liked?
FR: I just saw Christian’s film, The Prestige, I thought that was great. Chris Nolan is a guy on the top of his game, he just keeps delivering. Everything he puts out is just great.
RT-UK: It’s one of those films that’s slipped through my net, everyone says it’s great.
FR: Oh you should see it man, it’s so good. That director’s just flawless, man, he just knows what he’s doing. Every aspect of his filmmaking; the actors he chooses, the stories he chooses to tell, the way he lights his films, he’s just great.
RT-UK: He’s definitely on the list of guys you’d like to work with then?
FR: Oh yeah, he’s on top of the list!
