- 27 minutes ago
David Castaneda of Netflix's 'Umbrella Academy' sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss training for the series and working with the talented cast.
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00:03Right now we have David Castaneda in studio today. Hello. Hell yeah man, you got it right.
00:09I did, right? That was like a second try, too. Honestly, you just got your Mexican citizenship.
00:15Oh, damn. I've been waiting for that. Wait, are you Mexican? No, I'm not.
00:19Okay. Because your last name is double R. Yeah, it's Pareca, but it's Italian.
00:23Oh, okay. When I read it, I was like, oh, double R. I was like, there's a...
00:28Maybe, I don't think I am. Yeah. Pareca? Pareca, yeah. Pareca.
00:33Oh, okay, cool. That's a dope-ass last name. It is, I like it.
00:36A lot of people pronounce it weird, different ways. Yeah, what's the weirdest way you've heard it?
00:40Like pebraca or stuff like that. Pebraca? More like a paprika kind of mix-up.
00:45In the sense? That's weird. I had one call me Castanza.
00:50I'm a big Steinfeld guy. Yeah, yeah. So they'd be like,
00:52Castanza. Dude, no, that's like way off. That's so off.
00:56That's what they do, they like make it even further off than it was.
01:00Yeah. They make it more complicated. They used to call me Cassie Castaneda in high school.
01:04That's a cool nickname. It was a great nickname.
01:06No one calls you that anymore? No, no, no, no.
01:08It's because I used to, I played football and did theater. Okay.
01:11Yeah, so they used to make fun of me.
01:13Now you're here to talk all things The Umbrella Academy. Yes.
01:16We've survived the apocalypse, sort of. Yes.
01:19We should celebrate. Yes.
01:21But first I want to know, what about Diego kind of stood out to you in the script,
01:25and what made you want to join the show?
01:28Well, I wanted to join the show because I needed a job.
01:31That was the first thing. Good reason, too.
01:34Well, yeah, man, you know, but the second of all, I mean, I think once you start kind of working
01:39with the people involved in the show,
01:42you know, Steve Blackman, who's the showrunner, you know, had an amazing pedigree coming from Fargo,
01:48and working on Alter Carbon and Legion, and he kind of poached a lot of the writers from Fargo and
01:54brought them over.
01:56So that was obviously one of the factors that came about when you're talking about a superhero genre
02:01and how they kind of are going to bend that into something different.
02:05But, you know, when I read Diego, there was something very, how would I say this?
02:12Diego was very much a guy with a chip on his shoulder and was so...
02:16Very much.
02:17Yeah, but he was very oblivious of it, you know, because he was such a...
02:20He had one way of thinking, and the relationship between every single sibling that Diego had to me was so
02:27special.
02:29And it's in the way that the dad kind of implemented, you know, this thing of trying to be a
02:39superhero
02:39and didn't know what else to do but be that, and the resentment that comes across for all of them.
02:46But yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, Steve, when we talked, he wanted Diego to have some kind of vulnerability
02:52aside, you know,
02:53I love the mom, because in the comic, that's not there.
02:56And also, you know, what do kids go through when they're going through a lot of trauma,
03:02which obviously a lot of it, you know, the ability to express himself is so hard.
03:05So we went with, like, a stammer, you know, at least a slight of it, you know.
03:10What's interesting about him is he's both holding on to his childhood but also denying it.
03:15Yeah.
03:15Can you kind of talk about that dynamic and playing that two roles?
03:19Because he's the only one who still wants to kind of save the day, be this vigilante, and be this
03:24hero, but at the same time he...
03:25You know, he doesn't know what else to do.
03:28Yeah.
03:29You know, he's a kid in a man's body.
03:32And he's trying to hold on to whatever, you know, Luther has the same thing where he's trying to hold
03:36on to what the academy is.
03:38But Diego, I think, holds it almost as an individual where he sees his siblings and he have these, you
03:42know, amazing powers,
03:44and they're not using them for the good, or at least for what he got programmed to do by Reginald
03:49Hargreaves.
03:50Diego is just literally a person that doesn't know anything different.
03:53And it's not so much of trying to help you because you need to be helped, it's, I'm going to
03:58help you so you see me.
04:00You see me and you give me validation.
04:03You know, that was at least the, you know, perspective that I took when I signed on to play Diego.
04:08And you mentioned his relationship with his mother, which is really interesting because he doesn't really open up to anyone,
04:13but he opens up to her, obviously she is his mother and she's also a robot.
04:18Yeah.
04:19So what do you think that says about Diego?
04:21Well, he doesn't know what love is.
04:22Yeah.
04:23He doesn't know how to interpret it.
04:24And when you, you know, when you're looking for affection, right?
04:27So think about, you know, when I started doing research of like, you know, kids that come from foster homes
04:32or adopted, you know,
04:34there is a, there is a thought that, you know, whether you were given up or you were, you know,
04:40think of Diego.
04:40Diego was sold.
04:42So there was a price that was put on him by a biological mother.
04:45And even worse was that Hargreaves bought him for a, for a tag, you know, so that itself kind of
04:52takes, you know, develops into its own way, especially when he's exposed to like celebrity at such a young age.
04:59And then everyone separates.
05:02Yeah.
05:02Yeah.
05:02One thing where he's holding on to his childhood.
05:04So he's still the only one to wear the mask.
05:06Do you have that mask?
05:07And are you wearing it around LA at all?
05:09Yes.
05:09Should we look out for it?
05:10I do.
05:11I have it.
05:12I wear it, I wear it in my shower most of the time.
05:15And it's, no, I don't wear it.
05:17I don't wear it.
05:19Can I borrow it?
05:20Yeah.
05:21I don't have it actually.
05:22They never gave it to me.
05:23I wish they would have.
05:23I wish they would have let me keep the knives also.
05:25Okay.
05:26But the pants, I, I do wear them.
05:29Speaking of the knives and a lot of the fight choreography, how much training went into that?
05:33I know you have a boxing interest and a boxing background.
05:35Is that correct?
05:36Yeah.
05:37I mean, enough to do recreationally, but no, not in a sense of like, I'm going to go and whoop
05:42some ass.
05:42Yeah.
05:43But yeah, I mean, I used to, I used to do Taekwondo when I was a kid.
05:46And, uh.
05:47Muhammad Ali is a big hero of yours, right?
05:49Oh, yeah.
05:50Yeah, yeah.
05:51I have a Muhammad Ali tattoo right now.
05:52No shit.
05:53Really?
05:54Okay.
05:54Yeah.
05:55I mean, Muhammad Ali actually, when I was, when I moved here from Mexico, he was, he was in
06:00my, he was my poster on my wall for like, I don't know, till I moved out of the house.
06:05Maybe like five years.
06:06That was the first thing I would see leaving out of the, leaving home to go to school.
06:09That's incredible.
06:10Yeah.
06:10Yeah.
06:11How much went into the fight choreography that, in the training?
06:14A lot.
06:15Uh, I think six weeks prior to shooting, um, you know, I, I started training at, you know,
06:21one of my, a good fighting money is a, he's a very, very good, uh, uh, mitts guy.
06:25No.
06:26You know, we started going with Muay Thai, Taekwondo.
06:29Then when I got to Toronto, they set me up with Tommy Chang, uh, was a fight coordinator.
06:34Um, and throughout the seven months, it was just like, on my days off, I'd go to the dojo,
06:39I'd fight, uh, with, you know, Olympians.
06:43It was insane.
06:43Like these, these 19 year old, and men and women.
06:46And I would get my ass whooped by every single one of them.
06:50But it was such a humbling experience.
06:52That's the best training you can do.
06:53Well, yeah.
06:53Because at the end of the day, when I would go to set and, uh, you know, and I would
06:56get
06:56to fight, my biggest thing was like, if someone that knows this kind of fight style, that they
07:01can watch it and they can be like, okay, he put the work in it.
07:04And it's not just someone coming in and learning how to move.
07:07But when you show up to the, you know, when you block it on set, you're not taking six
07:12hours to shoot a fight scene.
07:13Hopefully you'll take four.
07:14And that saves a lot of time.
07:16Can you teach me anything from these chairs or is it too restricted or no?
07:20Uh, yeah.
07:21I mean, I can, I can, I can, if you, if you swing with this arm, like if you swing
07:25at me,
07:26right?
07:26So like, it would be like a simple, like this, and then I can break you.
07:30And then for me, I'd go like this and then I hit you on the elbow.
07:33And then I, yeah.
07:34Let's try it again.
07:35I'm sorry.
07:36You want me to try it again?
07:37But I won't do it too fast because I'm like, shit, right?
07:39So if like, if you swing, I'll go like this and I break you here.
07:42Oh damn.
07:42And then cause you're coming close.
07:43That hurts the most.
07:44Oh yeah.
07:44And then, and then I come here and then I elbow you and that'll drop you off.
07:48And then from here I can actually just, yeah, but then you hit the knee, boom, you know,
07:53and then you move on forward.
07:54It's crazy.
07:55It's all right.
07:56Um, another choreography I want to talk about is the, I think we're alone now dancing.
08:00Can you talk about that and the filming of that?
08:01Uh, yeah.
08:03So when we first started, uh, you know, read the script and I was like, okay, this is going
08:07to be really dope or just horrible.
08:09Cause the song was written in the script.
08:11Yeah.
08:11Yeah.
08:11Yeah.
08:11And, and you're reading it and you're thinking about these superheroes dancing to the song
08:15and you're thinking, what are we doing?
08:16What is, what is this?
08:18And we trusted Steve, you know, Blackman, who was the, you know, the show owner of the
08:23umbrella.
08:24He said, okay, you gave us an essence of each character.
08:27And he was like, this is how I think your character should be or dance.
08:31And so I started doing a lot of research on, uh, you know, I'd watch like Fresh Prince.
08:35Yeah.
08:35And you know, Will Smith, the way he would dance and all these things and figure out
08:39how to integrate that into like the violent movements that Diego has.
08:43And when I was in Mexico, I used to, I used to breakdance.
08:46Um, I mean, I was pretty horrible at it, but I used to breakdance.
08:50And, uh, I implemented all that.
08:52And it's funny cause I had all this like routine rehearsed for myself.
08:55Yeah.
08:56And they put this camera.
08:57Cause you got moves.
08:58Those were the.
08:59They're decent, man.
08:59My mom made me take salsa classes when I was in high school too.
09:02So I have like this background in a lot of kind of different kinds of dance, but you
09:06know, there's this camera and I'm there and the whole crew is behind you and they put
09:11the song as loud as possible and they say dance.
09:15And I just blacked out and I danced however I remember dancing.
09:18You know, any move that I can remember when I was in high school.
09:22I mean, excuse me, in elementary, I just danced.
09:24And then, uh, and then we did it twice cause I would be exhausted after each take.
09:30And, uh, I had no idea what they used.
09:33And then I saw it and I was like, oh shit.
09:36Um, music is heavily influenced in the show.
09:38It kind of drives the story.
09:39Obviously, Gerard Way is from My Chemical Romance.
09:42Do you have any favorite My Chemical Romance songs?
09:44Uh, The Black Parade.
09:46Yeah.
09:46We were playing them before we got here actually.
09:48Really?
09:48To get into the mood or what?
09:50Well, I heard it like recently when I like landed off of a flight and it just kind of,
09:54it puts you in such a good mood.
09:55It just like pumps you up.
09:57I know Tom was mentioning that he likes to put that on when he works out.
10:01Yeah.
10:01It's like a pump up jam.
10:02Yeah.
10:03I think I was in high school when that song came out.
10:05Yeah.
10:05It's been a little bit.
10:06Yeah.
10:06It was like, I used to have my hair like this and like black and all these things.
10:10Um, now is there a character's powers that you would want to go to switch with at all?
10:14Like as an actor, something you would want to do differently with?
10:17No.
10:17Not at all.
10:18I mean, I like the physicality of Diego and I really enjoy the fact that he has to be
10:23more tactile and I had to learn how to like use knives and you know, when I'd go home,
10:27I'd actually play with the knives.
10:29Can you talk about work?
10:30Yeah.
10:30I would, I would, I would, you know, I'd cook obviously.
10:32I, I, I got an, I loved cooking.
10:35And so I would just play with knives.
10:37Like I would watch like games and I'd just be playing with like twirling a knife.
10:40And eventually, hopefully when I would get to set and I would have a knife, it didn't
10:44feel like it was a knife.
10:45It felt like it was just an extension of my body.
10:47Oh my gosh.
10:47That's awesome.
10:48Yeah.
10:48And so for example, like in episode nine, when I'm fighting Cameron and you're seeing me
10:53swing that knife.
10:53Oh, that's a real knife.
10:55That's a real knife.
10:56I'm swinging at him.
10:57And Cameron was like, he was game man.
11:00You know, he was like, I don't care about my face.
11:02And I was like, great.
11:03I don't care about your face either.
11:05Let's do it.
11:06Yeah.
11:07Or like when I kicked him in the back, he was like, kick me.
11:09So he flew out of the frame.
11:11That was him actually flying.
11:12Yeah.
11:12It wasn't like he was falling.
11:13Those scenes are honestly some of my favorite.
11:15The action scenes, the fight scenes are just, and just seeing you guys embracing who
11:18you really are and not fighting it.
11:20Now on screen, the family is really dysfunctional, but off screen, you guys seem to be really close.
11:25Can you kind of talk about your favorite memories from filming with everyone?
11:28You know.
11:28You and Robert.
11:29Yeah.
11:30You know, Robert and I, you know, we did a lot of, you know, we had a lot of fun
11:33shooting
11:33our scenes, especially like, you know, four and five and then eventually as we got further.
11:38We all had a different dynamic, but when we would all come together, those are the interesting
11:42ones because obviously everyone has their own intentions of how to do things.
11:46And obviously Diego is completely oblivious of the apocalypse up until maybe episode seven.
11:53So it's almost like a push and pull when we would all get in the same room, especially
11:57in like the living room.
11:58Yeah.
11:59You know, it was great because even though those were the longest scenes, when, you know,
12:03when they would yell cut, everyone would just be like shooting the shit.
12:06Yeah.
12:06Now, where we end season one, when it comes to Vanya, do you think these characters should
12:12have helped her rather than locking her up in a metal cage or what's your take?
12:17Well, I mean, obviously it wouldn't have been a good story if Luther didn't, you know,
12:23put her in.
12:23Lock her up.
12:24Lock her up.
12:25But, you know, the craziest thing about it is this was going to cause like a crossroads
12:30of what he should have done.
12:32Yeah.
12:32But the fact that you can follow it and not question it as much until the end, I think
12:36that's great.
12:37It says a lot on Tom to, you know, playing Luther who was able to actually just, I really believed
12:43him when he was like hugging him where he had to do what's best for the world.
12:47Right.
12:47Because he knew.
12:48He was like, Vanya is going to cause this thing.
12:51And also, Vanya slit Allison's throat.
12:55That's...
12:55You know what I mean?
12:56Like, and Luther loves Allison.
12:58You know what I'm saying?
12:59Like, you know, they got a thing going on.
13:00So you think he did it for Allison rather than the greater...
13:03I think he did it for both.
13:04But, you know, when you have two reasons to do something, obviously you're going to put,
13:07you know, Vanya into a hug slash headlock.
13:12That makes sense.
13:13Now, one of the most gut-wrenching things happened at the end is when she killed Pogo.
13:18What was your reaction to that and the cast reaction to that?
13:20Oh, man.
13:21It was tough.
13:22Honestly, Adam Godley, man.
13:24What a performance that dude gave.
13:27Because I'm watching that.
13:28And obviously Ken Hall was great.
13:30Ken Hall was the actual body of Pogo.
13:33But now when I saw it, I was like, man, there was just such a fine line between, you know,
13:41being the person of the house and respecting the kids, but also knowing how to push them in certain ways.
13:48And then when Vanya just does that to him, I was like, I felt that moment.
13:53It's funny because Mary J didn't even know there was a monkey on the show until she saw the first
13:56episode.
13:57Oh, really?
13:57Until she started getting questions about it.
13:58She's like, wait, wait, wait, there's a monkey in here.
14:00And I was like, yeah, there's a monkey.
14:02Yeah, there was a monkey.
14:03And it was one of the funniest things.
14:04I couldn't stop laughing when she said that.
14:05What would you want to see in the next chapter for the show or season two?
14:10If there was a season two, I would say that one of the best things about the show is the
14:16fact of how the characters arc.
14:17And it takes its time to see people grow out of the traumas that they have.
14:23So I'd like to see where Diego goes in terms of, okay, obviously he's able to cope with a lot
14:29more things.
14:30But now, you know, he lost his mom.
14:31He lost Patch.
14:33So there is a sense of either Diego can go completely just insane off of it.
14:40Or he might just be a kid.
14:42Because if you see the last...
14:43To go back to...
14:43Yeah, if you see the last, you know, episode 10, they turn into kids and then they disappear.
14:48So I don't know.
14:49Maybe I have a job.
14:50Maybe I don't.
14:51Maybe a few other projects coming up.
14:52What can you tease about what we can expect from you?
14:56I have two of them.
14:58One's coming out in Tribeca, Standing Up, Falling Down with Billy Crystal.
15:03Yeah.
15:04Which is written by Peter Hoare and Matt Ratner.
15:09And Peter Hoare, which is interesting, there's the director of our first ever pilot.
15:12His name is Peter Hoare also.
15:13Not the same guy.
15:15Different spelling.
15:16I don't know if that makes...
15:17I don't know if that's relevant, but...
15:19And then May 3rd...
15:20Speaking of last names.
15:21Speaking of last names.
15:21Yeah, speaking of last names.
15:22And then, yeah.
15:24And then May 3rd, I have a film coming out called El Chicano.
15:28With Raul Castillo, who is a really, really good actor.
15:33He's in this independent film called We the Animals.
15:35Have you ever seen that?
15:37No, I haven't, but I've...
15:37I've heard really good things about it.
15:39Yeah, yeah.
15:39I shouldn't even bring it up because I haven't seen it.
15:41Sorry, Raul.
15:41I'll watch it soon, though.
15:43Well, until then, we can watch you on The Umbrella Academy.
15:46Thank you so much for being here.
15:47Appreciate it.
15:47Appreciate you for having me.
15:49No, no you.
15:53Thank you so much for spreading it.
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