00:25Well, from the film industry point of view, if you're trying to make it as a
00:30filmmaker or something like that, it's one thing, but it's a whole other thing being
00:33a native from what people I've talked to.
00:36And that's probably part of the experience.
00:38And also, you know, from minority.
00:41Could, Jay, could you sort of talk about that perspective, but bringing that sort of psychology
00:46to this story specifically of Angel?
00:49So I'll start.
00:51I think for me, I always wanted to kind of tell an LA story, but I didn't really know
00:56what version that would look like until probably the pandemic where I was just reflecting on
01:02my own career and where it was and where I thought it could be by this point.
01:08And so I wanted to kind of create this story about, you know, a native Angelina who has
01:14the same aspirations that everyone does coming here.
01:18But, you know, family and life kind of gets in the way.
01:22And that's a big thing in the Latino community, you know, your family always kind of comes
01:26first.
01:26And so sometimes you kind of put your dreams aside in order to kind of help the family.
01:30So that was a story that rang true to me.
01:33And so I, you know, talked to Jeff, I think it was 2022 or 23 when we started talking about
01:39this, that, hey, here's, here's, I don't have a script, but here's kind of the idea.
01:44And we kind of talked about it and we talked about the character and, you know, yeah, it
01:48just kind of started to kind of come together around then.
01:50What was the key aspects of the character that you wanted to bring and you wanted, you
01:55know, Jeff to bring?
01:56And then I'll talk about, you know, obviously those details he wanted, but what did you
01:59want, not necessarily for him to represent, but his perspective?
02:03I think his, the Angel's perspective is my perspective, which is the observer.
02:09So I'm very much of an observer, an introverted observer at that.
02:13So I'm very much about like what I see, so I've, you know, I wanted to create this character
02:19that also kind of took the audience on this, on his journey of like the different type of
02:24characters that you could meet in LA.
02:26And so that's a big piece of it is just like, it's not just about Angel, but it's about everyone
02:31who lives here.
02:36So where are you from?
02:40Hello, hello.
02:41Hey, too.
02:42What are you doing tomorrow?
02:44Sierra's birthday.
02:45Why?
02:45We're having this party at my place.
02:47It's just a kid's birthday party.
02:49It's not going to rage all night.
02:50You just come after her.
02:51So I met your neighbor.
02:52She seems nice.
02:53Oh yeah, that's Karen.
02:54Why don't you introduce yourself?
02:55I ain't trying to make no friends out here, man.
02:57You're not going to wait for Mia?
02:58Mia?
02:59She just landed.
03:00Why didn't you tell me Mia was coming down?
03:01Jeff, could you sort of talk about that, looking at Angel, just sort of your initial sort
03:05of impression, and then how you need it?
03:08Because he's very empathetic, and yet he's almost empathetic to a fault.
03:12He knows where he comes from, and yet he does want to look beyond that.
03:16It's sort of that irony, sort of that dichotomy that sort of fuels him, it seems.
03:21Yeah, I mean, going into what Jay's saying, and kind of what you were mentioning about,
03:26you know, yeah, there's this idea of people deferring their dreams for family oftentimes,
03:30and it's not like that's the wrong decision or the right decision, but what happens is
03:34you fall into the role of the caretaker, and you stop taking care of yourself.
03:39And that's kind of, this movie has this kind of arrested development.
03:42Angel does have a sense of arrested development, and he has this traumatic experience.
03:46He's trying to recover from it, but rather than recover, he goes,
03:49if I heal everyone around me, then I don't, maybe I'll be healed by doing that.
03:55And then he starts realizing through this story specifically as his past and his present
03:59and, you know, potentially his future kind of all start kind of colliding in this way.
04:03You know, when I read it, I was like, oh, man, this is like a really touching film
04:06because it's like, the way that I describe it to people, it's a coming-of-age story,
04:11like for a middle-aged person.
04:13You know, he's arrested, you know, he's in his 20s when this traumatic thing happens,
04:18and then he kind of just shelves a big part of himself.
04:21And then, you know, his community is thriving, and he cares about all the people around him.
04:26And he's, again, he's putting all that care in all these other places.
04:28And I was like, what an interesting character.
04:30So you said exactly right.
04:31His empathy is his strength, but it's also, it's killing him.
04:35You know, it's killing his sense of self and his sense of his own dreams and all that.
04:39So, yeah, there's this really kind of powerful thing about this kind of character,
04:43and it's a story that's not really told a lot.
04:45And being Latino, you know, being a part of the film industry, there's so much that goes into it.
04:51And, you know, the film touches on that without hammering it home,
04:54but there is a lot of microaggressions.
04:56There's a lot of othering that happens, and there's a lot of expectations of who and what we are.
05:00And when I read this, I was like, this is so cool.
05:03I grew up in Southern California, and I was like, this is like a real person that has real hopes
05:09and dreams,
05:09and they don't revolve around all of the stereotypes that kind of, you know, tell us who we are.
05:16And there's such a great diversity of Latino cast in this.
05:19It's not saying that one thing is better than the other.
05:21This film represents such a huge swath of Los Angeles in a really beautiful way.
05:26So, yeah, to me, that's what was interesting about it.
05:29And we talked about it, and I was like, it's kind of cool.
05:30And, you know, it's like Jay's writing what he knows, and it's like loosely, you know,
05:34it's not like based on his life per se, but it's like he's writing like something that's dear to his
05:38heart.
05:39And it's like the second time that I've played someone like kind of like the person that's the creator of
05:44something.
05:44And it's really, honestly, it's like a big honor.
05:47It's like Jay came to me, and he said this, and I thought to myself, like, wow, that's really cool
05:50that I'm getting to do that.
05:52And I really, yeah, it was really fun to do that.
05:58Hi, Angel, you've been working out?
06:04No, I've just been working a lot, I guess.
06:06Hi, Mom.
06:08How is your mom doing?
06:10Is she coming?
06:11No, she's not feeling so well, so she's not going to come.
06:14Well, it's good that she has you to take care of her.
06:17It's always good to help family.
06:18You know that.
06:20Family first.
06:21Some people don't understand that.
06:23It's good to see you too, Mom.
06:25Why do you think everything is about you?
06:27Wow, really?
06:28Well, I'm just right here talking to Angel and telling him that it's so good that he hasn't abandoned his
06:33mother.
06:33All right.
06:36Oh, my.
06:39So dramatic, this one.
06:41Well, there's a great honesty about Angel.
06:44You know, even though he, you know, seeing all these different things, but if you're talking about Mia or Doug
06:48or anything,
06:49he's not trying to be anybody else, he's trying to be his own self, which is what you want to
06:53see.
06:54But sometimes Hollywood takes that away from you.
06:56Well, Los Angeles takes that away from you.
06:58So, because you want to sort of, it's about perception rather than the perspective you're trying to bring.
07:04Could you talk about sort of that irony of the character?
07:07Because, like, there's even a scene in the driveway, I think, with you, the girl that plays Mia, and then
07:12the next door neighbor.
07:13And you're seeing all kinds of different things happen.
07:15And it's just on a personal level, not on a professional level.
07:20But yet there's so much going on in that scene that you're like, wow, that's L.A. in many ways.
07:26Yeah.
07:27Yeah, it's like this, like, colliding of stuff.
07:29And I remember that scene because it is, again, it's like he leads from empathy, right?
07:33So, like, so, and we talked about that a lot because I think in any other movie, your main character
07:37is like, oh, hey, don't mess with me.
07:39Or, like, you know, there's this kind of, like, and he just kind of goes with people's energy and meets
07:43them where they're at.
07:44At everything, whether it's his boss, whether it's whoever.
07:47And I thought that was also really interesting.
07:49So, that scene in particular, it's like, you know, I don't know.
07:53He's observing that someone's in pain and they're lashing out at him and his family.
07:57And so, he just immediately kind of goes into, hey, what do you need?
08:00Are you okay?
08:01What's wrong with you?
08:02And it's just, like, it's so disarming to see that.
08:04And I just, like, it's not as common.
08:06You don't really see that in your main characters a lot.
08:08I just love, I love that Jay wrote it that way.
08:11Like, that's baked into it.
08:12And that is very L.A.
08:13It's, like, people colliding.
08:14And oftentimes, it's fist up first, right?
08:17And where I grew up, it's very fist up first.
08:19And it's very, like, that, you know.
08:21But it's not, Angel's kind of, like, the, again, the observer and the one that's, like, how do I heal
08:26everyone around me?
08:27Like, you know, I'm not taking it personally.
08:29What's going on with you?
08:30So, yeah, it's, like, baked in.
08:33Excuse me.
08:35Oh, hi.
08:35Sorry to interrupt.
08:36It's just that you're being a little loud.
08:39And with the music and the weed smell coming into my house.
08:44And?
08:46And this neighborhood is generally pretty quiet.
08:49And last time I checked, weed is legal.
08:51And this is private property.
08:53So you need to leave.
08:55Right.
08:56But is it your property?
08:59What?
09:00It's also about choices.
09:02You know, it's, and that's, it's a choice that sometimes as a writer you make, a director you make, and
09:07how you talk to your actors.
09:08Like, there's so many, I love how there's a little bit of humor, like, when he's running lines with the
09:13one girl, you know, that it could go one way, it could go this way, it could go this way.
09:18And that's the greatest thing about certain kinds of writing, is that you can see all the different paths that
09:24could be taken, the road not taken versus the road taken.
09:27Yeah, a lot of it has to do with just the feeling of where the narrative was going when we
09:35were even just in production, you know, we did have a script, but for me, you know, a lot of
09:40it was just developing the story as we were going, kind of seeing what was working, what wasn't working.
09:45And, but for me, at its core of, you know, Angeleno is a message about never giving up on, you
09:53know, what you felt on your dreams, essentially.
09:55And it is cliche to sound, but this is what the city was built for.
10:00And it's not even just from a Hollywood aspect.
10:02So many people come here for the American dream as well.
10:05And that, you know, speaks to me.
10:07And as a first generation Latino American, like, I really wanted to showcase what true Angelenos go through in the
10:15city, and that there's a lot of hope here still, you know, there's obviously everyone kind of who's not from
10:21LA has their own opinions about LA, but I've been here my whole life.
10:24I grew up in South Central, in the hood.
10:26I know how crazy that can be, but I also went to college in the Valley, and now I live
10:31in Santa Monica by the beach.
10:32So I'm, you know, I felt, really did feel like I was the only one that could tell this story
10:37in this way.
10:39And, you know, the biggest, the best advice I ever got is make the movie that you want to see,
10:43and this is the movie that I wanted to see, and I'm really proud of it.
10:46I do like that, that thing that you were saying about those sort of transfers, going to school in the
10:51Valley, growing up in South Central, but being in Santa Monica, you know, it's, it's a weird thing, because, like,
10:56I remember going to parties over, like, south of 10, like, over near the 110.
11:02And some of those parties were so awesome, and yet, when you go to a party in Santa Monica, it's
11:07a completely different thing.
11:09It's its own world, but it's about how you capture the world to make it feel identifiable for everyone.
11:15To speak to what Jeff was talking about, Angel as a character is always trying to understand, I think, is
11:20the biggest thing.
11:21So he has been able to kind of navigate Los Angeles in a way where everyone feels comfortable around him,
11:28and so he's able to kind of see people for who they really are, which I think is really important
11:32when it came to showcasing all these different characters that Angel kind of encounters.
11:38And even some people that you kind of be like, I'm getting the vibe that this person is not really
11:43that cool, but even then, you know, we don't go so far into it where, like, it feels very, you
11:49know, one note, so to speak, you know.
11:51Yeah, no one is ever really a villain, so to speak, when it comes to people, for me, at least.
11:57I'm, I come from a very human aspect.
11:59As a director, that's always, you know, what I strive for, and when I work with my actors, it's like,
12:03who is his character?
12:04What, why is he the way that he is?
12:07And that helps me hopefully become a better filmmaker for moving forward.
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