The new dark comedy GRINGO has a diverse talent, including a Latino actor that has an impressive body of work in Hollywood.

It was a pleasure of speaking with the Cuban American Yul Vazquez (Captain Phillips, The Infiltrator, Last Flag Flying), who plays a mysterious character called Angel Valverde.

The film, directed by Nash Edgerton, also stars Joel Edgerton, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Thandie Newton, Sharlto Copley, and David Oyelowo.

GRINGO

What was your first reaction when you read the script?

I read the whole script, and I said “I really want to play this Black Panther guy, because he loves The Beatles.” Nash said “I think that we are going to hire a Mexican actor, that looks very different from you. I want you play Angel. Would you look at it?” I thought that Angel was a cool character, and I liked the idea of keeping the audience guessing until the end.

I like the fact that the protagonist of the story, “the Gringo,” is actually an immigrant.

Yes. I am an immigrant too. My mother came from Cuba with two children, without knowing any English. In my experience, immigrants would reinvent themselves and do whatever it takes to survive. It’s incredible to me what we are seeing now, politically, because the immigrant story is the story of this entire country.

Talking about immigrants. How was the experience working with these two Australians, the Edgerton Brothers?

Those guys are crazy! [Laughs] No! They are amazing! I loved the movie that Joel had directed, The Gift, but I didn’t know about Nash. He comes from the stunt world, he is one of the greatest stunt men in the business. The Spanish cinematographer that shot this movie, Eduard Grau, also did The Gift. And of course the cast, Charlize, David, etc. I knew that we were in good hands.

How was it working on a film with so many contrasts in terms of tone, despicable characters, but also lighthearted moments?

That combination is great. You have characters that are larger than life, that can be very dark and very funny. But it’s also so accurate to the world of global corporations and the way that they behave. There are people that are absolutely ruthless, like the ones that Joel and Charlize play. They don’t care who they run over, it’s all about money

GRINGO will be released in theaters on March 9, 2018.

An exhilarating mix of dark comedy, white-knuckle action and dramatic intrigue, Gringo joyrides into Mexico, where mild-mannered businessman Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) finds himself at the mercy of his back-stabbing business colleagues back home, local drug lords and a morally conflicted black-ops mercenary. Crossing the line from law-abiding citizen to wanted criminal, Harold battles to survive his increasingly dangerous situation in ways that raise the question: Is he out of his depth – or two steps ahead?