Michael "Flea" Balzary Recalls Reading The ‘Babylon’ Script For The First Time, Being Cast By Damien Chazelle & Working With Diego Calva

Hollywood Journal

Michael "Flea" Balzary spoke with The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet of the 'Babylon' movie premiere.

Transcript

00:00So what did you think when you first read the script?

00:03What?

00:03What did you think when you first read the script?

00:06It was such a beautiful moment when I first read the script.

00:10I sat in my bed and I read it.

00:14And it's a long script.

00:17I read it all in one sitting.

00:19I love to read.

00:21My reading time is sacred time.

00:24And when I read this script, my tears stained the final page.

00:27I was just absolutely touched and blown away.

00:31And how it works in a historical context on a big macro level.

00:36The whole epic nature of the tale.

00:39But then just the personal, the love, the caring, the pathos, the sadness.

00:45The human spirit trying to survive under difficult circumstances.

00:50So beautiful.

00:51Damien's a great writer.

00:53And I was just so excited.

00:55And I set it down and I was like, whatever it takes, I'm going to be in this.

00:58And luckily Damien wanted me to do it.

01:00So I feel so honored to be a part of it.

01:04And I've been honored many times in my life to work with people I love and respect.

01:09And collaborate on making a piece of art that I really care about.

01:13And this was definitely one of those.

01:15So did Damien reach out?

01:16Or what was kind of the conversation between you two?

01:18I think he had seen, I acted in this film called Boy Erased.

01:22And played a real kind of a mean dude.

01:25And he saw that and thought that, you know, it was like, oh, so you'd be good for this.

01:29And there's a lot of crazy stuff happening in this movie.

01:32What was the craziest day on set for you?

01:35For me, every minute acting is crazy.

01:38Because I prepare so hard.

01:39I care so much and I get so deeply into the character and honoring the soul of the character

01:46and going as far as I can that it's all absolute insanity.

01:50Because I'm leaving myself behind and being someone else.

01:54But, you know, being set for days on end with a room with like 50 naked people is pretty wild.

02:00No matter how you slice it, just straight up human nudity all day long.

02:03I was like, I call on my wife, I was like, this shit is crazy, you know.

02:09Yeah, that was pretty wild.

02:10But everything was.

02:11I, you know, all I can say is I cared so much about it.

02:15And I'm so honored to be a part of something that was made out of pure love for film.

02:21And I think this movie, like, in its recklessness and its epic nature has a chance to really be a great experience

02:29for people to immerse themselves and get lost in it and, you know, get loose, get wild, have fun, enjoy.

02:36You know, get a big ass bucket of popcorn, belly up and have a good time.

02:42And what did you think when you saw the film for the first time?

02:46Touched.

02:47You know, really touched.

02:48I'm really excited for Diego Calva.

02:52I think Diego is an absolute superstar.

02:55And I'm just so happy for him.

02:58And I'm happy.

02:59I woke up this morning and I was like, today is Diego's day.

03:04And when I really, like, you meet someone and you love him right off the bat, it's, I'm just so happy for him.

03:09You know, so that's my feeling today.

03:12And sometimes, like, with something like this, I don't really know how I feel about it until 10 years from now.

03:17You know, but I know that it's like an earnest, real, sprawling piece of art.

03:23Yeah.

03:24Thank you so much.

03:25Congratulations.

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