In a FilmFad.com exclusive interview, Pooya chats with “Boulevard” actor Roberto Aguire about the ups and downs of Hollywood, life influences, dream jobs in neuroscience, obscure interests in Japanese anime and much more.
That’s right FadFans, join us as we chat with up-and-coming actor, Roberto Aguire, about everything under the sun, from his upcoming drama co-starring Robin Williams “Boulevard,” to which superhero property he would want to be involved with. So, without further ado… here is an exclusive peak into the mind of Roberto Aguire.
FilmFad.com: Hey Roberto, How’s it going?
Good, How’s it going with you Pooya?
FilmFad.com: It’s going fantastic. So, I’m assuming you guys are over in California.
Ah yeah, Actually, Im in Mexico right now.
FilmFad.com: Oh you’re in Mexico. Im sure the weather there is beautiful as well.
Oh, It’s amazing Today. We have beautiful blue skies. It’s kinda like LA weather except a little colder but… yeah it’s really nice.
FilmFad.com: Wonderful. Are you down there working on a project? If you can’t tell me, that’s okay too. I understand.
Yeah, No. I can’t really tell you. I’m helping out a friend of mine down here that’s doing a project, that’s why I have to keep it a little secret. But yeah, no, I’m doing that and I’m also helping out with the Red Cross here.
FilmFad.com: Oh, that’s awesome.
Yeah, they do this awesome volunteer program and their ambulances where they just need manpower and they need people to help. Basically do the whole pre-hospital journey in ambulances. Everything from holding a fracture to holding a gauze on someone’s head that’s bleeding. Things like that, so it’s really cool. It’s really really fun down here.
FilmFad.com: Wow. Are you certified? Do they certify you to do that kind of stuff, or is it…
Yeah, they put you basically through a training program to be able to deal with a certain number of things. So I wouldn’t be able to put an I.V. in someone or something like that. What is that awesome scene in, what is it? The George Clooney movie, “Three Kings” where he had to do a pneumothorax kind of injection with a pen.
FilmFad.com: Oh yeah.
And that awesome awesome moment. But yeah, you don’t do things like that, but being able to hold someone’s neck steady, or they teach you how to get the gurney in and out of the ambulance. So, things like that that would just take them time and anyone can do.
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Talking “Boulevard”
FilmFad: How would you describe the film?
I think the film is about, like many films, human connection. It’s about two people that are stuck in life and have, I guess, the good fortune of meeting and helping each-other out of this rut. And they are two people who are innately broken. One because he’s not accepting who he is and the other because he’s just been dealt a horrible hand in life. Both of them in this limping kind of manner help each-other move forward and gain a momentum that I think they either lost or they never had. So, I think that categorizing the movie as this story about people connecting and willingly or unwillingly, or consciously or unconsciously giving each-other a hand is the basis of what the film is. From there it just becomes, you know, how does his life end up for better or for worse? How does his relationship, his marriage end up for better for worse? What happens when he decides to make this change, and by he I mean Nolan, Robin’s character. When he decides to change his life at 55 years old. You know, when he’s already established such a foundation and such an already… I wanna say monotonous life, but in his point of view I don’t think it’s monotony per say, it’s just comfort. It’s a comfortable life that he’s built for himself, so what happens when he decides to change that? I think that’s what the film is about.
FilmFad: Before “Boulevard” I know you did a film which was “Struck By Lightning” with Chris Colfer and Rebel Wilson, I believe. That’s more of a comedic light hearted kind of role, how difficult is it transition to somebody like Leo, to somebody that has more of a nuanced, dramatic and kind of an underlying agony to his character?
Well, [Chuckles] It’s definitely more painful. Getting to play the Latin foreign exchange student that hooks up with everyone is a lot more fun.
[Both Laughing]
But yeah, Leo was a tough role to get into. One he so opposite to who I am in almost every aspect of his life. So, that was tough. Trying to find, you know, the similarities and also trying to understand why he’s in this position. I think it’s tough when you see someone who’s given up on life, who’s accepted that they’re in a shitty place and that’s where they’re gonna live. For me, I connect much more to the fighting spirit. You know, never give up, always push forward, there’s always something you can do, when Leo can’t. So, it was really tough for me to understand why. Why, what’s preventing from just either leaving where he is, or making a change. Finding that, I think, was the crucial element for me to really understand Leo, and eventually I did. I think, for me, what happens is Leo is really intelligent, I think he’s really an observer of life. He kinda sits back and just watches, but he got stuck. He got stuck in this place where he just didn’t know what the next step was. So, instead of moving forward he’d sit still almost paralyzed. I think that’s when Nolan comes in an gives him this push, it’s awesome. So, getting to understand his world, where he was stuck in. You know, this world of hustlers. Is a really dark and gritty and dangerous place to live in. Especially for somebody like Leo because I don’t think that Leo had ever really been exposed to that so, It just hardens your outside. So, getting to understand that and jumping into the role. With the director we talked a lot about who Leo was and who I wasn’t. I think losing 35 lbs for the role, being in the streets. We’d come to Nashville and so I’d go out at night and just be in the streets and watch cars and experience what its like to, you know, almost be nocturnal. And all that, all that wasn’t easy, but I think really necessary to show him in his most truthful representation.
Working with Robin Williams
FilmFad: You mentioned Nolan, you had the privilege of working with the late great Robin Williams on one of… this would be one of his last films. What was it like working with him?
It was mind-blowing. It was everything that you could possibly imagine meeting Robin Williams and getting to work with him would be, it was that and much much more. He was a really really generous actor. There were times where, you know, we were both tired, we’ve been filming for 12 hours, and he never gave less than everything he had in every take. In person he was just the kindest man. he talked to everyone. he know everyones name. There wasn’t one person that he wouldn’t spend time with. If there was a fan on the side of the set, he’d walk up to them, he’d take pictures with them, he’ d talk to them. He was always just the center of this whirlpool. It was indescribable to be near him.
FilmFad: That’s gotta be the coolest. I’m a huge Robin Williams fan. That’s a huge… To me, for an actor to have worked with Robin Williams, that’s a huge accolade to have on your resume.
Yeah, no it’s huge. For me, actually, he’s the reason I went into acting. I saw “Good Will Hunting” and I saw it right after I saw, I think I saw, “Mrs. Doubtfire” first. I can’t remember what order I saw them, but those two movies, “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Good Will Hunting,” suddenly came side to side for me. I was like, I wanna do that. I wanna be able to make people laugh and make people cry. I wanna be able to, you know, transition between both so seamlessly and so effortlessly and embody whoever who ever I choose to be, in the same way that this amazing actor that I see on screen can. So, he launched me into this whole thing. So, to be able to come full circle and then be next to him in a scene… I remember the very first scene we did together, I was standing there, he was standing in-front of me and it was that moment of, pinch yourself, cuz this isn’t happening; it can’t be that I’m standing opposite of Robin Williams. I’ll never forget that moment.
Being the New Kid on Set
FilmFad.com: In addition to Robin Williams, you worked with a lot of other accomplished actors on this project. Kathy Baker and Bob Odenirk to name a couple. Was that an intimidating experience or, are they actors that amplify your abilities and they help radiate creativity and that kind of thing?
Definitely. You hit the nail on the head. I think working with actors that are so experienced and so good at what they do elevates you. Just being near them elevates you and elevates your craft. Your able to do things that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, just because you have the confidence that you’re working with someone who’s ‘that good.’ It’s funny because Kathy and I actually don’t have any scenes together in the movie. I saw her in the screening afterwards and a couple of interviews we talked about it, it’s so weird, it’s almost like we did like two different movies. And, it really was like two different movies. Nolan [Robin Williams] has his world with Joy [Kathy Baker] and Nolan has his world with Leo. And these two skies can never touch. I got see her work, which was amazing and she has a couple moments in the film that are just, oh my god, you watch them and it shows you what acting should be like. With Bob it was great, cuz Bob, he’s so much fun to be around. And then when he gets in his scenes… We had one scene together where we kinda meet for the first time. And there’s this great moment of, oh so you’re Leo, and I’m like, oh so you’re you [chuckles]. It’s this moment of characters that are from completely different walks of life meeting. Bob and I, oh we had so much fun with it. So yeah, it elevates you in a huge way and for me as a young actor getting to work with that caliber of people is amazing.
FilmFad.com: So Bob being such a comic, and when I say Bob I mean Bob Odenkirk, he’s known to be, you know, kind of jokey and stuff, did he do anything amazing or hilarious on set that set everybody off, or was he practical joker, or was he actually tame respective to his onscreen persona?
No, he was a joker. I mean, I think because of the subject matter of the movie, the tone of the movie, nobody went full out and did any pranks that, you know [chuckles], would have driven all of us mad; because we were all a little bit crazy, there were so many night shoots and everything but… The great thing is, you know, that you have someone like Bob who’s such a comedian and he’s always talking to people and making them laugh. Then you have someone like Robin, who’s always talking to people and making them laugh. So, kind of in juxtaposition with this movie that we’re making that feels like such a sad and painful subject, you had these amazing comedians, and actors and human beings making everybody laugh and lightening the mood. So, It was great. It was exactly what we needed. It was so easily, I mean, it’s not even hard for them to make people laugh. It’s so cool.
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Talking Fantasy and Superhero cinema.
FilmFad.com: Well, you’ve done kind of light-hearted comedy with “Struck By Lightning,” now you’ve done a really intelligent drama with “Boulevard,” where do you see yourself going next? With the huge boom in superhero movies both in Warner Bros and Marvel, do you see yourself segueing over into that arena at all?
[Laughs] Um yeah! I think that’s be so cool. I mean, I’m a nerd at heart. I really, god when it comes to anything that has to do with superheroes, or specifically fantasy… I’m a huge fantasy buff. I dont know if you a fantasy book series, but there’s one called “Wheel of Time” by Robert Jordan.
FilmFad.com: Oh yeah, Robert Jordan. Very popular.
Oh my god, its like it takes you years to read all of the books, but I love that. SO, anything that would have magic or dragons or that I up for it. But in terms of my career, I just want to keep doing things that are different. I wanna keep doing comedies, I wanna do dramas, I wanna do sci fi, I wanna do fantasy, I wanna work with green screen, I wanna work with things that, you know in projects that, are really minimal. Id love to do TV. I think TV has awesome content right now.
FilmFad.com: What’s a TV Show? Throw one out there, that you would really enjoy, that you’d see yourself doing a cameo, maybe, on.
Right now? I would have to loved to have gone on breaking bad. I think that would have been be so much fun.
FilmFad.com: Do you think you could talk to Bob [Odenkirk] and maybe find yourself a place on “Better Call Saul?”
[laughing] Maybe. You know “Better Call Saul” is…
FilmFad.com: If anything as a one-time client or something.
Oh god it’d be amazing. who knows. I’ll keep that in mind. Next time I see Bob I’ll be like, Hey Bob nice show you got going on there. Awesome roles there… Oh God, unemployment right now is a beautiful thing, but I’m sure I could talk to BOB. But yeah, something like that, something that just has great writing, “House of Cards,” that would be a lot of fun. I think there’s a lot sows right now that are out there and it’s so great, because for actors to have so much content at our disposal in acting, film, tv and often theatre. There’s so many projects to be a part of that it’s an exciting time. And superhero movies, you know Superhero movies are great I think, because it’s just escapism. It’s you going to a movie and suspending reality for two second an just taking a journey. And when they’re done well, god, there so much fun.
FilmFad.com: What is one superhero property you would want to be in? If you could be in any superhero movie what would it be?
Of all time, or the ones that are coming out right now?
FilmFad.com: Of all time.
Oh God, I’ll answer that question but you’re going to have to tell me your top three movies of all time to show you how hard this question’s gonna be.
FilmFad.com: [Chuckles] It is very difficult.
I would have loved to have been a part of what “Iron Man” did for superhero movies. I think when Robert Downey Jr. brought Tony Stark to life, it was the first time that you got this sense of a superhero as a cocky guy that just doesn’t care, but he kind of does. Oh my God, the way that he talks to people and the way that he is, is fantastic.
FilmFad.com: It is.
I would have loved to been part of that. Or right now, “Guardians of the Galaxy.” God, Chris Pratt. What a way to bring the unlikely superhero, or unwilling superhero back into it and make it funny and cool. I think, you know, being able to show that a superhero movie can be so funny is awesome.
FilmFad.com: Well, let’s put it out there. Because “Guardians of the Galaxy” has a lot of characters that are potentially going to make their way to the big screen. So, let’s put that out there. Maybe you’ll be on “Guardians 2,” and I’ll give you a call back and you can tell me how amazing that was.
Oh my god yes, let’s put it out there [Laughing].
FilmFad.com: Let’s put it out there and make it happen.
I know, hopefully. Wow. Can you imagine the next interview? You’d be like, Hey I told you so. I’d be like, god where, can I send you a bottle of Tequila somewhere please?
FilmFad.com: At the next interview, then we pick the next movie that your’e going to be in. Hopefully I’ll keep it going.
Exactly, yes! And then at the end of my career, how Pooya predicted every single one of Roberto’s motion pictures. Thank you.
FilmFad.com: [Laughing] It’s all a real-life “Back to the Future” scenario. That’s all it is.
Yeah exactly, right? There you go. Now we start see the movies you’re a fan of.
FilmFad.com: Exactly, the nerd-ism comes out.
