Interview by Rafy Mediavilla w/ Bella Ortiz (Micah) in Saban Film’s “American Carnage”. Where we spoke about the social commentary, & surprising twists & turns of her character. Out This Friday! #AmericanCarnageMovie
After a governor issues an executive order to arrest the children of undocumented immigrants, the newly detained youth are offered an opportunity to have their charges dropped by volunteering to provide care to the elderly. Once inside the eldercare facility, the volunteers discover the governor and the facility’s supervisor have cooked up a horrifyingly depraved conspiracy that endangers the young and the old in this twisted thriller-comedy.
Criticólogos:
When you read the script without giving too much away, understanding where your character was going. What was this thing that told you, Hey! I’m not going to say no to this?
Bella Ortiz:
Honestly, I think that every kind of character, depending on, you know, where they are in the realm of good and bad, they all serve a purpose. And I think that ultimately, at the end of the day, what I what I came to, to know and understand is that that I had a real responsibility in being this part of the story. And although my life may look very different than my characters, it’s still a reality in a representation of people that we encounter in the world. And I think, you know, as an actor, you’re not going to play all the all the parts that are exactly like you.
And I believe that acting. To me, it’s about telling important stories. And if I could do if I could be a small part of like a bigger picture in a in a greater good, like to me, like, you know, ego aside, it doesn’t really matter who I represent in that, as long as like the end goal is to bring more awareness and like highlight a lot of serious issues that are happening in our world today. So it was honestly, I’m so grateful for that, for the opportunity to be able to do that.
Criticólogos:
What specific scenes comes to mind that none of you could keep a straight face because how much fun you guys where having?
Bella Ortiz:
Well, Yeah. There was definitely a scene where it was just me and Allen, right? So it’s like Micah and Big Mac, and they’re trying to do some like some like investigating. And they have to do so, like, quietly, right. And so it’s just me and Allen and Allen the whole entire time because he’s such just an incredible actor and just such a funny guy. He kept improving and saying things that everyone like the the crew, like Diego, like we were all just cracking up.
But it was a scene where that wasn’t to be done. And so it was really difficult but fun because we would have to keep reshooting because there was just as soon as like someone would break in, like I heard laughter from like the crew or even Diego, like I would start cracking up. So that was that was a lot of fun. But it was definitely difficult because I’m like, You can’t tell me that. Like, the person in this scene wouldn’t laugh at him saying that, like, you know, it’s almost like I was like, people are going to think that I’m a bad actor for not laughing because it’s just it’s it’s a given that anyone would respond. And that’s the natural human response.
Criticólogos:
You mention something about good and evil. Which one is more fun or challenging, and how do you balance it out?
Bella Ortiz:
Honestly, I think it’s tricky because I think that we kind of see sometimes in like, you know, especially in like comics and in superheroes that like that, there is that black and white of like extremes. But I think what’s a lot more interesting is really like bringing humanity even to like the good characters, where I think that there there’s more complexity to us as human beings where, you know, someone might be overall a good person in a story, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have flaws or areas in their life where, you know, they’re not necessarily making the best choices.
And I believe the same thing for like the quote unquote, bad characters are villains. They’re still it’s sometimes like it’s weird to maybe like wrap your make your mind put a villain in a kind of like a humanizing way. But it’s like we have to approach characters like that to give them some sort of human essence. Otherwise we don’t really learn anything from it, and they just stand alone as like the evil thing that we can hate.
But if we start to kind of understand a little bit more about motives like, you know, the whole villain origin story, I think that that that can give its way to empathy in our culture. And, you know, if a villain has a possibility for redemption and if we allow that within our society of allowing people to learn and learn from their mistakes, then I think that we can have something a lot more better in society that is not as polarizing.
Criticólogos:
Understanding the story and the way it goes and with the characters, you could switch roles with another cast mate. Which one would you choose and why?
Bella Ortiz:
Yeah, I mean, I think Allen, Allen Maldonado, his character of Big Mac, given that or Mr. Phillips done by Troy James, like the ability that he has to be able to move his body in such an incredible, unique way. I mean, my gosh, it really shows you what we’re capable of. But yeah, I think even then and now, it’s like I kind of was a little “celosa/jealousy” of Allen’s character because he was able to I’ve recently come into more of like comedic roles. And so that’s why I think if I could switch, I’d switch with him.
See the interview below:
Trailer:
