Exclusive TEXAS RISING Interview with Olivier Martinez

You have seen French actor Olivier Martinez in films like Before Night Falls, Taking Lives, Unfaithful, The Physician and S.W.A.T. Now the artist is part of the great cast of the new miniseries TEXAS RISING, playing a merciless Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican president and head of the army during the Texas Revolution.

I talked to Martinez over the phone about his experience bringing to life such a complex historical figure, and more.

The series also stars Bill Paxton, Brendan Fraser, Ray Liotta, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Thomas Jane, Chad Michael Murray, and Kris Kristofferson.

TEXAS RISING, premieres on HISTORY this Memorial Day, Monday May 25, at 9/8c.

How can you avoid stereotypes playing a character like this?

As a Frenchman of Spaniard origins, playing a very important and controversial Mexican figure like Santa Anna, I had to be careful and try to learn what really happened. The American point of view is that Texans were the good guys and Mexicans the bad guys. I went to the history books and I talked to many Mexicans. According to them Santa Anna was a brave and charismatic warrior. It is very important as a foreigner in general, and as a Latino in particular, to avoid being typecast in an American movie. The key thing is who the director is. Roland Joffé is an English-French filmmaker with his own point of view. I believe that Latinos are well portrayed in Texas Rising. I don’t care if I play the hero or the villain, I just want to play an interesting character.

What else did you discover during your research?

I didn’t know much about this conflict, beyond The Alamo of course. I learned that Mexico was a very young and disorganized country. They had achieved their independence from Spain, but there was a strong European influence. It was a new nation with a lot of history. It is a contradiction, I know.

France had a particular influence in the region, and Santa Anna in particular, right?

That’s fascinating to me. Napoleon had a great influence. All the uniforms resembled those of France’s army. That’s why in Texas Rising the Mexican look better [laughs].

Nowadays the line separating a film and a TV production is very blurred. Texas Rising is another example.

It’s a 10-hours long movie! The cast, the director, and the workflow is the same as in a film. For the actors is great because we have time to develop a character. It’s a luxury to explore rich stories with depth. We also shot in CinemaScope. Having that format in a TV production is incredible.

What moment from the shooting are you going to treasure in your memory?

It was a journey through space and time. There were people from many nationalities. It was during the World Cup so we were in the middle of the desert watching the games on a TV. We made war during the day and the at night we were sipping margaritas.

TEXAS RISING, premieres on HISTORY this Memorial Day, Monday May 25, at 9/8c.