John Leguizamo Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters

They weren't really writing Latin characters

the way I experienced it or saw them in real life,

how three-dimensional and brilliant Latin people are

in real life.

And I just wasn't seeing that in film.

So I wanted to give it the full representation.

[mellow music]

Super Mario Bros.

I play Game boy so I love my Super Mario Bros.

I was pretty good at it.

You know, I'm a little younger than Bob was

at the time, so, yeah.

You know, it just makes sense.

He was like, Oh, I won a Oscar

and now I'm playing a video game.

Where's my life going?

You know?

I couldn't understand him really most of the time

unless I was drinking

and then I thought I could understand him.

[indistinct police department chatter]

Name? Mario.

Last name? Mario.

Okay, what's your name? Luigi.

Luigi Luigi?

No, Luigi Mario.

Okay, how many Marios are there between the two of you?

There's three.

It's Mario Mario and Luigi Mario.

I tried to give him a little like, you know,

what kids were looking like in Brooklyn.

You know, with the backwards baseball cap,

clothes a little baggy and whatnot.

Like, what everybody was dressing.

I wanted to appeal to young kids, you know,

instead of like, two old guys.

So I was kind of naive.

I was in love with the princess and whatnot.

And then, you know, Bob was the older protective brother.

Why don't you do that ...?

Not now, not now.

What single-cell organism did you evolve from?

The directors who created Max Headroom,

and they were the biggest commercial directors of the era.

They had this dark, dark vision

that Disney was not okay with.

So there was all this butt-heading that was incredible.

I mean, that party scene,

those are all strippers from North Carolina

that they put on the set

and they had 'em in the most revealing clothes, in costumes,

and then they had to like...

Disney was not happy.

They had to cut a lot of it out, blow it out, CGI it

with whatever bad technology they had back in the day.

You know, but I love those directors.

I mean, they gave me an opportunity.

I mean, they stuck their neck out

to put a Latin guy as a lead to play Bob Hoskins' brother.

I mean, that was unheard of at the time.

It was so innovative and I was so grateful to them for that.

Hey Mario, did you see that?

What? It's trying to communicate.

Luigi, it's a mushroom.

Come on.

To be honest, the movie was not received

as well as we had hoped.

I mean, you always hope for the best.

You don't go into a movie going,

Boy, I can't wait till this bombs.

We all ever had big hopes for it,

but, you know, it didn't...

It was the first video game of the era of all time

that nobody was prepared for that.

So it did okay, but then kids fell in love with it

and found it, you know, on DVD, on VHS.

And a lot of people come up to me,

and they go, they love it.

So, you know, through their eyes, I love it.

Carlito's Way.

Something wrong with the check?

Yeah, here's something fucking wrong with the check.

Baby, come on... Mira!

Benny.

What, man?

Oh, shit.

Oh fuck, oh shit, man.

Oh, man.

I'm sorry, Mr. Brigante.

I'm sorry, Mr. Brigante.

I got no problem, no problem.

You see, Fat Man Saso there owes me some money.

And he's a little slow in payin' me,

so I'm just working off of him, you know?

We haven't been formally introduce, you know?

My name is Benny Blanco from the Bronx.

I'm a Latin guy.

And I didn't wanna play another drug dealer.

I was just kind of sick of that kind of routine.

And so I turned it down three times.

And then the producer said,

Look, this is the last time I'm coming to you.

We're gonna go to Benicio.

Okay, I'll take it!

So I took it and then I did a lot of research.

I hung out with a lot of drug dealers in the LES.

And I was crazy 'cause I thought I had celebrity immunity.

And then I realized nobody's gonna care about it

when they shoot them up.

One of the guys I was running with, his brother got shot.

I'm glad I had left

'cause yeah, I would've got shot, too.

Benny Blanco from the Bronx. Fat Man, Fat Man Saso.

Hey, where's my money? What money?

My money, man.

You play pussy, you gonna get fucked!

Where's my money? Are you kidding?

Yeah.

But I mean all that research paid off.

And Brian De Palma let me bring all my friends

in the club scene.

Those are all my friends and my ex-wife.

And so that made it real.

I felt really comfortable and at home.

And I improvised all that dialogue with Pacino.

De Palma taught me how to act on film.

On this flick, he like, let me do...

I did like 30 takes of my entrance on film,

which is unheard of.

You did independent film back then,

you had to beg for another take

and you had to have a good reason

'cause it was too expensive.

And he did 30 takes on my entrance

and I would do crazier things and he'd laugh.

I'd knock people's trays down,

I'd throw my cigarette at people, and he loved it.

Hey, Mr. Brigante.

Second time you turned me down for a drink, man.

What? You don't like my champagne?

Hey, could be.

I don't know, maybe it's a mis-fucking-understanding here.

I don't know, man.

Maybe you don't remember me.

My name is Benny- Maybe I don't give a shit.

Maybe I don't remember the last time I blew my nose either.

Who the fuck are you that I should remember you.

What? You think you like me?

You ain't like me motherfucker.

It was a lot of stuff going on on that set.

I think they started to believe that it was the 70s

and so they started living that way.

Let me see, what can I talk about?

There's a couple things I can't talk about, 'cause yeah...

I can't talk about that.

No, but... let me see.

Hmm.

No, I guess I can't talk about a lot of stuff.

[Interviewer] What did you learn working with Pacino?

Yeah, let's stay there.

He is the most present person

I've ever worked with in my life.

Like, some actors, you know, come a little prepared.

They worked on it a little bit in the mirror

and they fall in love with the way they did it.

He's not like that.

He's just right there listening.

Nobody listens like him.

I saw how incredible and relaxed he was.

I've never seen anybody be like that.

Ice Age.

[upbeat music]

[crickets chirping]

They left without me.

They do this every year.

Why? Doesn't anyone love me?

Isn't there anyone who cares about Sid the slot?

[animal chitters]

All right, I just go by myself.

You know, it started out as a drama

and I was the only funny character.

And it started out with different actors,

Ben Stiller, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

And then, because they wanted to make it funnier,

then they got, you know, Ray Romano and Denis Leary.

And then it made the whole thing funny.

Took five years to get from point A to point B.

And then, you know, the rest is history.

Now to find a meal befitting a conquering hero.

[branch swishes]

What-ho? A foe?

Come on, come on. You wanna piece me of me?

Woo, ya!

Spoils.

Worthy of such a noble- [bird caws]

[Sid grunts]

I studied with Lee Strasberg.

My acting killed him.

I was at Strasberg Institute, I did a sense memory thing.

He was going, That's terrible, that's awful.

And he died that night.

But I took a lot from the method, you know,

and I used that from the rest of my life.

And so, you know, I did as much research as I could.

'Cause the director Chris Wedge,

he wanted me to play myself.

I go, I don't wanna play myself.

I wanna create a character and a voice

that comes out of that drawing that they showed me.

So I did a ton of voices on a tape back then,

like 50 voices.

Like, I did a southern voice

just in case they wanted to be kind of slow

'cause he is a sloth so I'm gonna do that.

But he didn't like that.

So I said, what about if he's street, yo?

What if he's dead street?

You know, gangster, whatnot, come on.

He didn't like that either.

So then I did, what it was a Southeast Asian accent.

It was something really cute like that, perhaps? No.

So I say, All right, so send me Discovery Channel footage.

So I saw it and they said that, you know,

The slot holds its food inside its mouth.

So I put a sandwich in my mouth.

And I'm walking around trying to...

How many gonna come up with this character?

And I was like, Oh my God, this is the voice.

So I called Chris Wedge,

I go, Chris, guess who this is?

He goes, I don't know.

It's Sid the sloth.

I found myself.

That's how we got the voice.

I told you, Sid.

You're not qualified to run a camp.

Oh, since when do qualifications

have anything to do with childcare?

Besides, these kids look up to me.

I'm a role model to them.

[Sid grunts]

[kids laugh]

I can see that.

You know, obviously I love this franchise.

I love that character.

He's so lovable.

I think you have to be doing

what the animated character is doing

for the voice to have that reality and vitality.

Otherwise, it sounds like you're acting.

So like, if I'm like... falling,

I'll like, hit myself. [fist thuds]

Or if I'm being choked, I'll choke myself.

And if I'm running outta breath,

I would run as fast as I can for a little bit.

You can't do a lot of sound sometimes.

'Cause you wreck the recording,

if you hit something like that.

So I'll do it before the take or after.

If I'm drinking water, I'll drink some water.

If I'm eating I'll get some... yeah.

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.

How are we gonna know if we're doing okay?

Instincts my dear.

And exquisite wit.

Darling, if you're going to become a drag queen,

you're gonna have to learn these things.

What do you mean be a drag queen?

I am a drag queen.

Oh child, no, no, no.

You are simply but a boy in a dress.

I felt like because we were three straight actors

that we had to really bring a lot of integrity

to these roles and to the storytelling.

We needed to represent correctly.

And we were all...

All of us were in, you know?

And we went to La Escuelita,

was this huge 42nd street drag ball, Latin and Black.

And then we went to Sally's, and Sally's I and II,

all the famous drag bars of the era.

We had drag queens that were assigned to us to help us.

So I had Laritza Dumont,

this Puerto Rican drag queen from the South Bronx,

and would work with me and teach me how to walk,

teach me how to use my hands.

And then I went vegetarian,

vegan for six months before we shot

so I would lose all my muscle.

So I become like veal, tender and smooth.

And then I, you know...

'Cause in my family, you know,

we have some dark-skinned people

and there's so much self hate and racism in Latin America.

A lot of my aunts have brown skin,

but they'll put on lighter shade makeup

and the necks will be like four shades darker

than their faces.

And I always noticed that, it was so odd to me.

So apparent of the inbred colonial sort of self-hate.

So I did that for Chi-Chi.

I made her face a little lighter than her neck.

And then at the end, she loves her browner skin.

♪ Hey now, hey now ♪

I gotta say that Chi-Chi Rodriguez

became an iconic character for LGTBQ plus and trans kids.

I go everywhere and these kids come up to me and go,

because of this character in this movie,

I had the confidence to come out to my parents.

So I felt very honored

that I was able to afford some people some comfort

and some self-confidence.

I feel like that's when you do good work,

that's what you want it to do, you know?

That's what you hope for.

That it has an effect on people

and helps 'em through hard times,

or gives 'em a confidence to be who they are.

You know, I love that.

Romeo plus Juliet.

[upbeat music]

[flame hisses]

[match clinking]

[foreboding music]

It was between me and Benicio del Toro.

And Baz was like, You know, John,

he mumbles and you don't.

That's why you got the part.

That was the only reason 'cause, you know,

Benicio was the bomb.

And then we had two week rehearsal that was intense, man.

It was so intense, but it was worth it.

It was so we all became a crew.

We were really in for each other.

I mean, Leo was amazing, man.

A lot of actors get, I don't know...

they get a little privilegy.

And they don't show up really for your off-camera

or just read it.

He would give the same performance

that he just gave in front of the camera.

He would give for you behind the camera.

That's how generous a actor he is.

And so, good Capulet, which name I tender.

As dearly as mine own.

Be satisfied.

Be satisfied.

Well, you know, it's the same language.

I mean, Baz used the same language.

The only thing he did was trim it a little bit down

which they've done before with the Zeffirelli version.

It's the exact same language

except put in a modern setting and we shot in Mexico.

It's like, he made it sort of like street gangs,

like semi-futuristic, not too far in the future

kind of street gangs.

And the Capulets were like a Latin family, sort of.

My crew's all Latin

but our parents are all Italian people playing Latin people,

as you know, as Hollywood does.

But they were great.

I mean, Paul Sorvino and Diane Venora were fantastic.

I mean, they're brilliant.

I mean, she's the best Lady Capulet I've ever seen.

Because you never remember that character.

It's always like a blur.

But she made it stand out.

That's how brilliant she is.

Moulin Rouge!

How do you do?

My name is Henri Marie Raymond Toulouse-Lautrec Montfa.

Moulin Rouge!was even more difficult.

Baz called me up,

he said, I want you to be this sleeping Argentinian.

And I was like, sleeping?

He called it a narcoleptic Argentinian.

And I was like, That doesn't sound like a role I'd...

What am I gonna be like this through the whole entire movie.

It didn't sound like it was gonna be good.

So I was like, I want to be Toulouse-Lautrec.

He goes, But I already got Rowan Atkinson.

I said, Let me audition.

So I went to Chateau Marmont,

auditioned for four hours on my knees.

Now with a lisp, John.

So I would talk like this with the lisp.

And then, Now with a British accent.

So I did it with the British accent for the longest time.

And I got the part.

♪ How wonderful life is ♪

♪ Now you're here ♪

♪ In the world ♪

Oh, my god.

It was a month rehear...

Four weeks rehearsal.

We had dialect coaches, we had dance coaches,

we had movement coaches, we had everything kind of coaches.

You know, I read all the biographies.

I looked at all the photographs and Baz let me write...

There's a scene between me and Ewan McGregor

that I took from Toulouse's letters.

And I created this scene and Baz...

That's how collaborative Baz is.

Spawn.

I hate them all.

I hate the Bozo, Ronald, Chuckles

with their freakin' dumb noses

and their lousy party hats.

Arrgh!

I don't mind being short, fat, and ugly, but the pay sucks!

The comic book industry was failing in the 80s.

Todd McFarlane created Venom and then he created Spawn

and he brought darkness, edginess, death, vulgarity.

Nobody was doing that.

And it revolutionized the whole comic book industry.

It was a big deal.

It was the first Black superhero.

So everybody was excited by it.

Spawnie, Spawnie, he's our man.

If he can't kill 'em, no one can.

Yay, Spawnie!

S to the P to the A to the AWN.

S to the P to the A to the AWN.

Go, Spawnie, go, Spawnie.

[flame hisses]

Well, the first day was eight hours,

but they got it down to four hours.

So I would get up at 3:00 AM,

start makeup at 4:00 AM,

be done by 8:00 AM and then go on set.

And it took like about an hour and a half

to take the the makeup off.

But it was old-school, too.

It was old-school techniques.

There was no coolant coming through.

I was sweatin'.

I would drip, soaking wet.

You could ring the costume out.

So I had to constantly remind myself to hydrate.

And the breaks...

You know, the whole thing was glued to my face,

so I couldn't take it off of lunch.

And I had these big teeth, giant eye contacts.

It would make you lose your mind some sometimes.

But it was worthwhile.

'Cause I was so.... miserable

that it added to the character's edginess.

And Mark Dippé, the director, was so fun to work with.

So loose, so chill.

He let me ad-lib all this madness.

And the edgier ad-libs are in the director's cut.

Summer of Sam.

[upbeat music]

Police said that the handwritten letter

addressed to Mr. President contained a numerous oko symbol,

was signed by the madman himself,

calling himself the Son of Sam.

My favorite movie of all.

Son of Sam is my favorite, the best of my work.

You know, Spike is an actor's director.

And he really knows how to create the proper environment.

Then I borrowed a lot from him.

When I directed my films,

I remember exactly what he said.

So he made us hang out

and he told us you gotta spend time together

to create this bond.

It's not gonna happen if you just show up on set.

So we all started having lunches together, breakfast.

And then we did a week's rehearsal.

And then we continued that on the set.

It was amazing.

Adrien Brody had just come from Thin Red Line

where he was the lead.

And as they were shooting,

he had given all his lines and rolled to Caviezel.

So by the end of the shoot,

Adrian was an extra in the movie he just shot.

So he came with that edginess to the set.

But he was so brilliant.

I think think the best thing in the whole movie.

If you walk out that door,

I'm gonna fucking jump out that window and kill myself.

'Cause I ain't got nothing, man.

Everything my fucking life...

I ain't got shit.

I ain't got friends.

I ain't got nothing, baby. I suck at everything I do.

You're the only fucking thing I have

and I can't live without you.

Oh, my god.

You know, I punched the glass, I cut myself.

She was really weeping and crying.

And Spike creates this safe environment.

And he loves raw acting.

He wants you to go as raw as you can

and he would pump his fist

when I was killing it behind the camera.

So I would go even harder at it.

And we went to Cannes with it.

So that was really exciting for me.

It was the first time I'd ever been to Cannes.

John Wick.

[upbeat music] The owner of the car.

Did you kill him or what?

No.

Sure as hell fucked up his dog.

You fucked up his dog. This what you did?

You fucked up his dog.

All of you.

That's crazy shit, man.

[fist thuds]

Oh, look at you.

Aurelio.

Yeah, runs a car chop shop.

You know, where you break up cars and put 'em together.

And I'm an expert engine maker.

That's what John Wick gets.

It's so interesting

'cause when I got the John Wick script, it was okay.

It wasn't like, Wow, I can't wait to do this.

It was like, It's interesting.

You know, you didn't know what it was gonna be.

Then I go to the premiere and I was like, What?

It was so visceral.

You didn't see it on the page.

So David Leitch did an amazing job.

I mean, he's such a...

David Leitch and Chad were Keanu's stunt coordinators

for all the Matrix, 300.

They did a lot of the stuff with him, so he trusted them

and he gave 'em that opportunity

to jump from being stunt coordinators to being directors.

And then Alfie Allen plays a little Russian punk

that I get to knock out.

It was so much fun to do that flick.

You're gonna come into my shop

and you're gonna pull a gun on me.

That's great, man.

Come on.

Now you kill me right now,

or you get the fuck outta my shop.

That was a blast.

I had so much fun.

I love knocking people out.

Better than being knocked out.

The Power.

[upbeat music]

[radio crackles] Oh, the shit.

What the fuck?

[tires screeching]

Oh shit, honey.

Are you okay?

I'm okay.

What the hell is that? [radio crackles]

I don't know.

Like a static shock or something.

The power is this beloved novel by Naomi Alderman.

It's kinda like sci-fi but much more realistic,

much more organic and believable.

Like, you can't jump the shark, you can't go...

It doesn't go into magic.

And it's young women when they reach adolescence

because of evolution

and because of the need to protect themselves in the world,

growing a new organ and the organ,

like the brain, like the eye,

gives off an electrical charge.

But if they can focus and learn how to use it,

it can make like, a nuclear blast.

So now they have this whole power

and the world doesn't know what to do with them.

They don't know how to use it.

Things start to go awry.

Things start to go crazy in the world.

But then the women start spreading it

and they start spreading it to the older women.

And all the women get it.

And then non-binary people get it.

And then, you know what he said to me?

No, what?

He told me to not get my panties in a bunch.

Whoa.

I don't like him talking about my wife's panties like that.

You wanna kick his ass? Wait, wait.

You didn't?

Well, I wish I could have taken him.

Oh, I know you could.

I know you could.

My character Rob, I'm a scientist,

but I'm also the man behind the powerful woman.

You know, I'm kind of the stay-at-home dad, Mr. Mom.

Even though I'm a scientist, she has the career,

the bigger career.

And I have to take a backseat.

So it's like reversal of roles.

The producers were all women.

The directors were all women.

The writers were all women.

The leads were all women.

It was an amazing time.

I felt very nurtured.

And I felt very comfortable and safe.

It was great.