The Human Connection Of Acting - Featuring Actor / Director Oscar Torre

In this powerful episode of Château Bow Wow, host Geraldo sits down with acclaimed actor and director Oscar Torre for a raw, behind-the-scenes conversation on filmmaking, storytelling, and the truth about human connection.

From his gripping film Hot Summer Nights to intense roles in thrillers and indie cinema, Oscar breaks down what it really takes to bring characters to life in a way that feels real, vulnerable, and unforgettable. What starts as a conversation about acting quickly evolves into something deeper—exploring isolation, emotional connection, and the unseen layers of human interaction, especially during the COVID era.

Oscar shares how one story—centered around a woman navigating survival, relationships, and time—reveals something universal: people aren’t just looking for entertainment… they’re looking to be seen, heard, and understood. 

This episode is a masterclass for actors, filmmakers, and creatives who want to create meaningful work that resonates beyond the screen.

Key Takeaways:
• Why real human connection is the foundation of great storytelling
• How limitations (like COVID) can create powerful, authentic films
• The mindset shift from acting to directing and owning your vision

To learn more about Oscar please Visit:  Oscar Torre

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hola mi gente, how goes it? Welcome to the latest episode of Chateau Bawau. My name is Geraldo Joseos Kateggi, and I'm here with my awesome guest, the super talented actor and director, Oscar Torre. Oscar, please tell us a little something about yourself.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Thank you for that intro.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Man of few words. A man of few words.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

That's that's all I have to say. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Tell me what's going on, man. I've been watching you. Listen, we become super friendly since we met in Miami at a at a Union the Group. Danny Pino's film. Yeah, and that was an excellent film, which I thought should have been the feature. You guys were excellent. You guys killed it, and it and I left that theater wanting more. I appreciate it. I'll tell Danny.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

I'll tell Danny that you said that.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Yeah, it was excellent, man. But you got your own thing going on now. Um you're having your films coming out. Um I think uh what is it? A hot summer night is coming out. Uh it was on Amazon already, correct?

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Hot Summer Nights on Amazon Prime, uh Tubi, uh Google Play, and then it'll be coming out in other places. But it's free on Tubi. Oh, nice, nice. How long did that take to go from Amazon to Tubi? From Amazon to Tubi, it it started on Amazon and Google Play. It came out November 21st. And then January 5th, it came out on Tubi. Oh, wow. Which obviously Tubi is a lot more accessible to people because it's free. On Amazon, you know, you gotta pay. Yeah. Which is it's great.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Fantastic. You know, free, it's free. Yeah, but you obviously get more views that way as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

You know, on Tubi, yeah. A lot more people have have seen the film, and and the response has been incredible right from the beginning, which is was a big surprise because it was it was a little film that was shot during COVID.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

It was it was amazing. And uh what I liked about that film is that you know, if if you just look at, you know, I guess uh because you uh your wife was cast as as as the played the lead. Yeah, and she was amazing. But it went into as many different things of of uh again, you know, she was on the computer, she was doing therapy, and she's doing all kinds of, you know, again, speaking to different uh uh I let you introduce it.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

You made her sound like a therapist, um, which she was. But um, and that's kind of part of the surprise of the film. Uh she plays um a stripper, a sex worker during COVID. Uh COVID hits, and uh she decided decides to start uh doing uh Zoom sessions, right? Meeting her clients from the club on Zoom. But the film takes place during 24 hours of her life. And um, you know, films are made about incidents that define your life. Right. Uh it's not everyday life. And this day in her life, uh, her mom has cancer, right? And she just got into uh an experimental treatment. Okay, but she needs to make X amount of money to be able to send her mom uh the next 24 hours. Right. So it's her it's running against time basically to make this money to be able to save her mom's life, basically. Um but the film is a lot more than just that. It's about the people she's her clients and what they're going through. And um and you said therapist. She ends up what I found that I didn't know going into the film was doing the research and the research that my wife Trudy2 did to play the lead, is that when these people go to clubs, or it's not you think it's oh, it's about the nudity or you know, the dancers. Of course, that's the attraction. That's what gets you in. But the people that keep coming back, a lot of them are about the connections, the conversations, the disconnecting from something. And when COVID happened, these people had nowhere to go. Um, people who go to bars or clubs or coffee shops. Um and she ends up being a therapist to them. She's going through her own turmoil and her own troubles, but she finds herself hearing their stories as well in the next 24 hours. Um, and that's why the thing that kept coming up when I were doing research was no, they're like therapists. And I I I talked to a lot of people who go to clubs and goes, yeah, you know, I I like to talk to dancers. You know, I'm not being judged, I don't, they don't they don't judge me. I'm not judging them. A lot of people told me. And I tell them about my problems, and it just makes me feel good when I leave. I'm like, wow. Never thought of it that way.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Yeah. Was it unintentional? Because when when I watched it, and I I kind of felt you guys tapped into a whole different thing that almost almost unintended about the human connection, and people just needed to be around other people by by some way or another. Well, that's what the movie was about.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah. Uh when I wrote, I started writing this film. That's the story I wanted to tell. It was about the human connection, about isolation that we were all going through during COVID. And I wanted to capture that moment in time without knowing how the film was going to end. Because when we're filming, we COVID was going on. We didn't know how it would end. Um, the vaccines weren't even around. Right. So the film is very much about that, but I needed something to feel the story and to be a hook for the audience to want to watch. And that's when the idea, OnlyFans started happening. And I had a friend of mine, I was telling you earlier today, or yesterday, that I had a friend of mine who started going out with a dancer around that time. And I remember him telling me, and I'm like, she was out of work, and and then she started uh online. And I go, okay, that's you know, that's and the only fans I go, that's the hook, a dancer. That's interesting. People will tune in to watch that, and then they'll find out that the movie's a lot more than just about a dancer. I'm tied up here, about a dancer. It's about the human connection that people are looking to make and and need to survive.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

Well, you guys did a great job with that, and and you know, uh, and and Trudy was amazing in that role. And you guys really delivered. You know, it's it's a hard thing to do because so many people I think are distracted with explosions and bombs and and so many different things happening on screen, almost like to just, you know, again, to just take away from your attention that it's not a great movie, you know? Yeah. But you guys went out there, you guys did it, was just people talking and just just just you know, there is some imagery, obviously, but it was more about just the connection between two people and how she spoke to different, you know, uh uh, I guess our customers, right? Totally. And there's no explosions, there's no bombs, and yet I couldn't keep my eyes off the There's my wife, Trudy.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

She's the explosion, the bomb right there. There you go. She is the bomb, right? Um, listen, it's it's a really uh difficult thing to do, I think. You know, and I was very impressed by that. Thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Well, the the film, and uh I'm not saying this because I want to stay married. Um the film only works because of her and the other actors that are in it. Yeah, uh, but it's about her, it's about her character. If she couldn't pull this off, and that's a conversation that we had, it's like, uh do you want to go there as this character? And she was like, you know, it takes courage to be that exposed physically and emotionally, and the 24 hours of her life with everything so much at stake. And and to add all that, the being sexy and on camera, it's a performance she's putting on. She's playing a role for each different person that she talks to, she's playing a different role. She's to them who they want her to be, which that was the beauty of the her character.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Right. Whatever their fantasy is, she's whatever their fantasy is, she's her fantasy girl.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Um and she she made a work. Um she made a work, and it only worked because her talent, and I wouldn't have made this movie if I didn't if she wasn't the lead, because um it wouldn't work without an actor that that you know has the ability to to look good on screen as his character, to be believable. Because I didn't want her to be like a lot of times. I see uh movies about dancers or about sex workers, and I don't buy them as that. I see the actress who's playing the role. That was one of the great things about Anora. Uh who by the way when Honora came out, we had already shot the film. But I'm like, that's great. What that actress did is I bought her as a dancer. I never thought of like, oh, this is an actor who's now she went for it. Right. And uh and Shudy did too. It's the same thing. She she's believable as this. But the biggest compliment that I received during the film was in our premiere in Barcelona. A lady came in a few minutes late to the film. So she's watching the whole movie without seeing the opening. And uh, at the end of the film, she thought it was a documentary. Oh, wow. That she was watching, that somebody was following this person around and she was watching a documentary. It was that real to her. That was that real to her. She didn't realize it's well, it's uh scripted, right? And it's you know, all performances. And uh, that was the biggest compliment I got because we shot it that way also because of the limitations of COVID.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Right, right. That's excellent, man. You guys did a great job. Listen, you're getting a great response, you know, and again, super impressive. And um, we'll have Trudy on here later, you know. But um, you know, again, you guys are just kudos on that. That was always great.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Appreciate it. And we share, you and I have a mutual, we share the same distribution company, your film Flux.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

And yeah, yeah, had some more night. Yeah, uh our our film uh Flux just got uh again got distribution, and we just actually went streaming yesterday on Amazon. So I that's huge. I appreciate the plug. Yeah, no, definitely. Flux is an Amazon. I got a double feature. Yeah, here you go, exactly. You got a double feature. Um, hate thyself. Tell me a little song about that, because that's that's Hate Thyself, man.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Hate Thyself, that's that's uh hello a ride. Uh bigger film. I did that with Grandave. Uh it's the second film I do with that production company. The other one I played the one of the main bad guys, but this one I played a lead guy, lead actor. Uh, it's about a serial killer. Uh this cop who's very disturbed himself. And um he's um looking for the serial killer in Louisiana, and it's a dark film directed by Siobhan uh Macker. Um produced it. And uh he was the one that brought me in because I had worked with him in Final Vault, another film that came out earlier this year. Came out the same day as a Hot Summer Night. So that's my second film with this production company. And the Hate Thyself is coming out uh mid April or May, beginning of May. Um, and it's got a great cast. I mean, Tony Todd, it was one of Tony Todd's last film, Michael Peray, Happy Anderson is is in it. Big, big cast of a lot of established actors, especially in the thriller uh horror genre.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

How do you feel? Well, you had to travel for that one, right? I shot that in Louisiana. I was a month in Louisiana. We went in contact, and then you had to kind of went ghost for a while because you had a shoot.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Yeah, yeah. I went dark for that one. Um my character, he's he's he's a cop, he's a detective that moved from Miami Um running away from his own demons to Louisiana thinking that you know he's gonna have a fresh start uh with his wife, Christina Orias place, my wife, who was the lead in five in uh final vow. So I had worked with her before. And um, yeah, he moves to Louisiana, and uh, you know, you can't run away from your demons. And then he's in the middle of this this uh case of this missing kids. Um and it turns out there's a serial killer, and nobody believes there's a serial killer. Um but my character who's already living in the darkness, is like, no, there's this this there's a serial killer, and he gets obsessed with this case, but the uh the case consumes him as well. He's he's definitely very affected with the case, and um and it's it's it's a great ride. Uh Siobon, the director, made a hell of a film. That's great. That's great.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

I've I've seen it in a bunch of things, obviously. Um I think my favorite film of yours, it was a trippy film, and we talked about it before. Uh well Oscar and I had had connected before and um we did a podcast, and it's just like the audio for me was kind of wonky. So that's why we I had you guys come in and I wanted to get a little FaceTime. It's just much better than this. Perfect. Yeah. Um, but The Boatman. Oh, The Boatman. The Boatman is excellent. I love it. It's a trippy film, man. But tell me. Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Thank you. The boatman. I love doing the Boatman. The Momento is is is a character that I really wanted to play. I remember meeting with uh Greg Morgan, uh, the director writer. He co-wrote the film. And uh he pitched me the idea of this project. He gave me the script. I read it, I came back with a bunch of notes because I envisioned this guy not talking a lot. And again, he's living in this this the boatman's about Coyote that's bringing people in from Mexico to the U.S. and he has a perfect record. If he says he'll bring you in, he'll bring you in. So the boatman has a helicopter. That's a character in the boatman as well. Helicopter keeps following me around. So that's right.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

So the audience here's a helicopter, it's uh the boatman here.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

I I had seen you before. I had seen you in in uh Hangover Part Three. So I knew I knew who you were when we met. Um, but I when I dove into you know who you really were as an actor, as a performer, is when I I saw that was the first one I saw was the boatman, and I was like, I need to get this guy like in a movie. I want to write something for this guy. Oh man, thank you. Because you were so excellent and you were so intense, and you know, it's like one of those. I think I saw you do a podcast and you said that you know, if it, you know, you could probably have done uh uh The Godfather, you know, and that would have been your first choice, right? To do The Godfather, to be the Alpuccino's other role. Oh no, I'm not The Godfather. Although I would have loved The Godfather. I'm sorry, um Scarface. Scarface, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

I said uh I think Manny Cabo. Yeah, a bunny of yours. It was one of the stars of your film. Yeah, was an incredible podcast as well. Yeah. I was a guest and he asked me what role would be your dream role. And I'm like, uh the next one. But besides that, whoever casts me next, that's my dream role. Um besides that, a Scarface, a remake of Scarface would be awesome because I'm Cuban. My background's Cuban. I grew up in the 80s. Uh I was a kid in the 80s, and I I mean, I'm not, I wouldn't, of course I'd be playing a role because I never lived that myself. Right. But I saw plenty of it, and I knew I knew these characters. And that, you know, when you get to do something like that, you feel like you can bring something to it that's real, and you don't have to, it's not out there, it's not something you're reaching for. I I knew these, and I'm Cuban, so I knew these characters.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

I think that not only again, you know, you again you're Cuban and you obviously like I say you you sound like it. Also, you look the role, like it puts you on like a nice uh nice suit, you know. I like that, right? Hey, you want to do a you know, clip the goatee. I tell you right now, you kind of be like a one of those uh you know villains that you root for. Perfect. That's awesome. Um, but yeah, well, when I'm going back to the boatman, again, I'm not to not to dwell too much on the boatman, but the ending is what really got me because I always see things coming. I always see like I I know when somebody's gonna die. I know somebody gives a long hug and says, I love you, they're gone, right? So, you know, uh I think the end of what the boatman brought was the biggest surprise to me. It's unexpected. It's so unexpected, and I expect everything. So um again, I think it touched the really on Greek mythology for the most part, right? And I was just like, that film surprised me. Not only is he a like again, you're you're a badass on you know, in front of the camera, um, you know, uh, and now behind the camera, but that film really, really impressed me, you know. Oh, thank you, thank you. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Could you see this coming? And I didn't, and I was very impressed by it. Yeah, Greg Morgan did a great job directing that film and had that as that gritty desert feel, and you know, crossing the border and the characters, even though a lot of them didn't have lines, you know, that they brought so much pain and to the you know, these extreme close-ups of their faces, the desperation of wanting wanting and to cross over to the US. Uh, but the film has a twist. Like you said, if if you know Greek mythology, you start picking up on it. Yeah, people who love Greek mythology loved LA Times, the reviewer from LA Times, loved the film. He raved about the film. Yeah, and it was because he loved Greek Greek mythology as well. I'm a buff. He picked up on the coins and all that, yeah. And I kept my character kept running into dead people and you know, connecting with them in a way, in a weird, strange way. Now, in um, was it cold case? Cold case.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah, that was a good role for you too. And I think that again, I again, I when I saw it, again, it was after we had met. And I I think I had an episode years before, I just never put two and two together. But then, you know, uh you know, out there you played a baseball player.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Played a baseball player from Cuba who was tortured in Cuba and comes back to the US, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Yeah, and that was an intense role as well. Um, what I liked about it is again, we we again we something that we chopped up before, being somebody who played baseball for a long time, you know, and that fit you perfectly.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

I played till I was 20, and and uh being a baseball player, they wanted somebody who looked like he was really a baseball player. Right. Um and uh that role came to me in an interesting way. I had done a series called Kane, and then Kane got cancelled, and um and I had a table read for uh it was just a table read. We wanted to hear the words of a script that my cousin Julio Machoso, who passed away, he was an excellent actor with tons of credit, um, had written. And Danny Pino, who was a star of Cold Case, was there, and we were playing, I think we were playing brothers or best friends or something like that in the table. And we had chemistry right away. It's like just reading a script. And at the end of that table, Danny tells me, hey man, I wrote a script, an episode of Cold Case about a Cuban baseball player. Would you I'd love for you to play that role, but I can't, I'm not casting it. Could you come in and audition? I'll get you the audition. And obviously I'm rooting for you, but would you come in and read for it? And I went in and I felt like it's one of those auditions that you go in and you're like you gotta give it to me now. And I and literally I auditioned, and I by the time I got to the car, I had booked the role. Beautiful. And that's the only time that's ever happened to me. That has never happened to me. Um and I got worked with Danny that day. And then cut two years later, we do Neon de Reyes. Right. And just recently, and again, man, like little connections. Andy Garcia was in the table read for that script that my cousin wrote, because he and Andy were best friends. And um cut two years later, and I just worked with Andy Garcia and Danny Pino in Mexico doing a film called Pedro Pan, yeah, uh, which is a big film. I've heard a lot about that film. Yeah, that that film is an incredible cast, and it's like, and I'm just blessed to be part of this cast. And it's one of those things, again, that came out of nowhere. Natalie Vallesteros is a casting director and called me in. I read on Zoom while I was doing a film with Sarah Silverman in Louisiana and in uh Kentucky. And next thing I know, I'm I'm wrapping the film and I'm on my way to Mexico to shoot the. This career is like a very gypsy. You don't know where you're going next.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

It's kind of cool though, because you get to travel a lot. But it's gotta be, like I said, I I I was kind of touring when when I was uh with our film Flux and I was with all the film festivals and everything, and we did, you know, we we didn't get invited to Sundance, but we ended up going to Sundance and um and then Kentucky and then Pennsylvania and then Jersey, and there's all different places and then uh uh Kansas City. So I can imagine, and then mind you, I was doing uh you know a week here, four days there, you know, again, just traveling a lot. To be away from home, it's gotta be tough for that. That's the tough part.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

I I love the the I love working on location because uh it gives the location is a character in itself, I think. And when you get to spend time on the location, you start like, you know, you start getting to know the area, the place, the people. And for me, at least, it feeds me the way I I I I take in the location. Like when Hate Thyself, that I was shooting Baton Rouge and it was the winter and it was cold and it was raining and it was like mud. I was walking, it was a lot of mud, and I I got a cold, and that became I bring that to the character. That wasn't planned for me when I was when I had a script, but once I'm there and I saw at the time I was shooting, there was like a lot of it felt like there was a lot of unemployment in uh in Baton Rouge. And so that was part of I'm a cop here, I'm a detective, I'm investigating crimes, and I can there's a lot of land in Baton Rouge. And I'm like, yeah, I can see uh stuff like that happening. Nothing bad about Baton Rouge, but I can see that stuff, at least the feel that I had while being there. And that's something that you can't plan. You I can do research, right? But you actually get it once you're in location and you're being fed by the location itself. But having said that, I you know, I was missing my wife, I was missing my home, um, a cat. What's the cat's name? Mochi.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

Mochi.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Who's in the film? He's in a hot summer night. If you watch a hot summer, if you like cats and you don't care about the film, watch a hot summer night and you'll see an amazing performance by this cat, this tuxedo cat.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

I'm a cat person, but I you know, I have a lot of allergic conditions, so I can't have any more. But I'm a cat person.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me too.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

And if you see I have a scar right. Here, I got bit by a dog when I was a kid. So you don't like dogs? So I stay away from dogs. We we've come to a we're okay now. An agreement. Yeah, it would chill. Yeah, like I said. But I had I had a really bad phobia for a long time because I, you know, I got bit in the face when I was a kid. So whenever a dog got near me, I would run away. Which is a weird segue.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Welcome to Chateau Bow Wow. This is where culture speaks loud, where Latino excellence takes center stage, where stories are raw, unfiltered, and undeniable. Hosted by acclaimed writer, director, and creator of the international sci-fi hit Flux, Heraldo J. Uzcateghi brings you powerful conversations with the artists, filmmakers, performers, and visionaries redefining entertainment worldwide. This is heritage. This is hustle. This is impact. Chateau Bow Wow, where powerful voices shape the future.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

But anyway, tell me about Final Val. Because Final Val is another strong one.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Final Val. Okay, Final Val is done by Grandave again. Again, you know what I tell people starting in the business, don't burn any bridges because you never know. That was by Grandave Productions directed by Ruben Islas. I had done another film with them called Seventh in Union, a great film that's on Amazon as well. Omar Chaparros the lead, which is a huge Mexican actor. And I had done that film with them uh during COVID. It was the first film shot in LA. So I'm going off the subject a little bit, but I did Seventh in Union and I had a great experience working with them. And then a couple years later, Ruben Isless calls me and says, Hey, I wrote this script uh called Final Vow. And it's about a nun who's avenging uh the kidnapping of these girls from a conoption place in Mexico. And I want you to play like the main bad guy, two of the main bad guys. There's two main bad guys, my boss and and myself. Um I'm like kind of like the killer. I want you to play the role. And I looked at the script and I thought it was an important story that he was telling uh about about this uh this that's based on reality. It's not a true story, but it's based on reality, uh everything that takes place. And uh so I played this this character who's uh he's a killer, he's he's not a nice guy. Um so I I did that film in Mexico with him, with Ruben, and Ish was the DP of that film, and Ish ends up producing uh Hate Thyself, and Ruang Islas is the executive Grandav is the executive producer of that film. So if I would have liked burnt bridges doing one film, I wouldn't have gotten the other two films. Um, so I say, you know, be nice to people when you're working because you never know what's gonna happen in the future and who you're gonna end up working with. Like Ish was the DP of Final Val, and he ends up being one of the main producers of Hate Thyself, and he's the one that brings me in.

unknown 25:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

So, but Final Val, yeah. Ruben Islas uh directed that he did an amazing job. Uh and hopefully I'll be doing another project with them as well uh in the very near future. Um but it's it's also on Tubi and Amazon, and it's uh it's a it's a good ride as well.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

Um you tend to move seamlessly between movies and TV, right? And then going behind the behind the camera. Um I do not share your flexibility. I I you know I've I've been on on the screen and I don't I don't enjoy it. But but I'll do it if I have to, you know, if we can afford to pay an actor for the day, you know, because that's indie filmmaking, right? You know. Um I don't enjoy it, but you seem to move seamlessly between the two, you know. What do you like more?

SPEAKER_01 25:53

I like both of them. Actually, I like both of them. Um I started as an actor. So I was an actor a long time before I ever directed, and I fell into directing. Uh I started directing because of a film that my wife wrote called Pretty Rose, but that's out right now. It's been out for a while on Amazon. YouTube, you can see it. Yeah. Okay. And YouTube, you can find it. Um so Pretty Rosebud were looking for a director. I was gonna act in the film, just act in the film, and and co-produce for her. And we couldn't find the right director because it was a tricky, it's a tricky story. Um it's about a pretty rosebudt's about a uh a working professional woman um who's married, very unhappy in her marriage, and uh she starts being unfaithful. So we couldn't find a director that could tell this story, and what we kept running into is like they kept judging her. Well, I don't like her, I don't like, and I'm like, no, I get that what she's doing is unlikable. But is it gonna get in the way of you being able to tell this story in an objective way and tell the story? Um, and that's how the more time I spent with the script, the more I started seeing how this movie would work. Right. And the fine line of her very tricky performance again in her part. Uh, because you had to she had to be like she had to be a likable character doing unlikable things.

SPEAKER_03 27:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

And that's hard. Um and she pulled it off beautifully. Um, and that's so that's the first I directed that, and that was a feature. So I jumped in right into a feature. I had not directed anything before that. Right. It was a while. Um, I did the Bowman, I did a movie called Dini Meeny Miney Mo with uh Joe Shannis, great director from Miami. I did a bunch of stuff. The Hangover 3. I I I worked a lot uh acting. I directed pretty well, but and I'm like, I'm not sure if I want to direct again because it was so stressful. I had never been so stressed. Um there's a part of me that liked the actual directing I liked, being in charge of everything that I got to say. Right, you know, how the color of what you're wearing, at least the way I direct the what you're wearing, the background wall, we got to paint the walls, we got to do this, we got, you know, that I like them working with actors because I'm an actor. I love actors. So I'm amazed when I'm directing, I'm amazed by what actors do in front of the camera. I forget that I'm an actor. And I find them going place, and I'm like, when I see my wife, uh Trudy, doing things, I'm like, God, how does she do that? I forget that I that this is what I do. I'm like, how does she do this? And I'm glad I'm not the one doing it. That I get to sit here and enjoy and direct and say, action, cut. And if anything, I give a little tweak, you know, or whatever. Make sure you're, you know, playing to the camera or whatever. But after pretty rose, but I wasn't sure I want to direct again. And then, but I then I got that itch, and then I had I wrote this film just a man and a woman. That's kind of a thriller, a sexy thriller. Um, and it was for me to star with her. But the closer I got to production, I'm like, I don't think I wanna, I don't think I wanna act. I don't I won't be able to show up on set with my pajamas on and a baseball cap and not worry about how am I gonna look in front of a camera. Like me. Or give a performance. Exactly. So I I called my buddy Roberto Sanchez, who my wife didn't know that well. She knew his work, but she she hadn't met him, but she didn't know him that well. And um man, and they they they we made a beautiful short film that played in a bunch of film festivals. So I got that itch again because uh of directing because then that film, and this is the first film that I had written, and hear my words, right? Them saying my words, you know, and uh having two really good actors on camera, yeah, you know, doing your film, that was a uh a great experience. And it was in one location. So I'm like, okay, that's that's a good formula for the next film to try to keep a little contained, yeah, which is what I tell everybody now when they're looking to do an uh indie film without a big budget. I go, try to keep it as contained as possible. Location moves are you know, those are hours. Are you moving, having people move from one place to another? That's money. Um and then and insurance and sticks and yeah, all that, yeah. So we did just the men and a woman, and then uh we did a couple other shorts for other people for us, but he was with other people involved, and um and then that's when I did uh Hot Summer Night.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

Roberto's also in it, uh Roberto Sanchez, who was in uh Palm Royale and uh and running the show, the basketball show running, what is it called?

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Running about what's the name of the show?

unknown 30:55

Running point.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

Running point. My wife's behind cameras going like this. Running point? I don't know. I was gonna say running triangle. She's going like running triangle, running love. I don't know. Running point.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

All right, so you know, I I could talk to you all day, bro. You know, and usually we have to kick each other off the phone. So we won't we don't want to keep everybody here all night. However, um tell me about your next project. I'd love to hear about it. What's it called?

SPEAKER_01 31:17

The Los Principiantes. Hey, you were able to say that. Los Principiantes, the beginners. Uh those beginners, losiantes, uh, we're gonna be filming in Peru. Nice. I'll be there all summer long filming. Um I'm one of the series regulars on the TV series with an incredible cast, uh, amazing cast of Peruvian actors and some international actors. I'm part of the international cast. Um I can't say much about the series, but it was written by Eduardo Carrillo, which again I had worked with Eduardo uh as a he was directing a film that I did many, many, many years ago in Miami called Suicide Blonde. Cut to 20 something years later, I'm now working with him again in this series. That he had mentioned the idea of this like 20 years ago to me. He mentioned that one day he's gonna write this TV series about Los Principiantes that takes place in a university of Peru. Um, and I play a fun, edgy, colorful character. Right. Um, it's a dream, you know, to be part of a series regular on a show and uh be part of this cast. Awesome. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Brother, I thank you for coming here. Like I said, uh you know, I know it was traveling, and I know now with all these things going on at the airport, it's kind of a mess right now. But um, I just cannot uh I can't thank you enough for taking the time out to coming here at the Chateau Bow. Um, you know, uh listen, uh again, a hot summer night right now on Tubi and Amazon, and um I wish you a lot of luck. And uh, you know, my aim, my focus as always is Latino. You know that I'm always trying to push our people. And um, I hope that I've written a few things for you too, and I'd love to one day work together.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

Hey man, I that'd be a pleasure. That'd be a pleasure. Well, I told you, I love your writing.

SPEAKER_02 33:03

So yeah, brother, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Just let me know where.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

So that's this for us. Asuka, any final words?

SPEAKER_01 33:09

No, man, just uh you said it. Catch our film, a hot summer night on Tubi, Amazon, Google Play.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

There he is, a man a few words. Once again, he's very consistent, started strong with a few words and ended. Again, I appreciate you, man. Like I said, I know it was a challenge to get here. And um, we are Chateau Bowell, and uh, we appreciate you tuning in. Thanks for coming out, guys. Good night. Stay blessed.

unknown 33:33

Thank you.