Lionsgate’s “LONG GONE HEROES” – Interview with actor Frank Grillo on shining a light on Venezuela, the epic cast, and filming in Puerto Rico @Lionsgate #LongGoneHeroes #FrankGrillo #JuanPabloRaba #AndyGarcia #EdenBrolin #MelissaLeo #JoshHutcherson
In Theaters, On Demand and Digital Today, September 20, 2024!
Gunner, a special forces soldier who has witnessed the darkest side of country and combat, is forced back into the field of battle to save his niece, who is being held in South America. As the fight intensifies, Gunner and his team discover that her disappearance is part of a corrupt private operation that hits way too close to home. Acclaimed actors Andy Garcia, Melissa Leo, Josh Hutcherson and Frank Grillo star in a non-stop action thriller that will leave you breathless.
Criticólogos:
I’m coming to you straight from San Puerto Rico and I think you know already where I’m going with my first question and I must ask, I know this movie is filmed in Colombia and Puerto Rico, obviously LA. tell me about your experience recording the island, how it was, the weather, and the food.
Frank Grillo:
I shot a movie right after this movie in Puerto Rico which is coming out in December. I spend so much time in Puerto Rico. I’ve got lots of friends there. I love the food, I love the place, I trained there. it’s like my second home. I’m a New Yorker, and New York, and Puerto Rico it’s like a thing. You know!
Criticólogos:
I always speak to you about how these sorts of action-packed roles, come to use organically, so naturally, and it’s always interesting to speak of how you come about into these different roles and how you make them your own. And I wonder, this is something that is so yours. Are you comfortable enough telling the director, “Hey, can we try this and that”, given how many action roles you have done throughout your career?
Frank Grillo:
Yes, that’s a great question, and know you before I came into a lot of movies, especially small movies I have a lot of bits of say in who directs the movie, and in this movie, I picked John Swab. But before we even get to set, you know, we talk about the script, I kind of lay it out by saying, this is the way I work, this is what is successful for me. I’m very involved in your kind of fighting or any kind of stunts. I have my own kind of ideas. I’m open to all suggestions, but I swear to know, that if something does not fall into what I feel is authentic, I don’t do it. And whether that’s a big movie or a small movie, that’s how we start the relationship, because I do have a lot of experience with all the physical parts of filmmaking.
Criticólogos:
This it’s a huge movie, the story is huge. The casting was huge, the casting to me blew me away I got to talk about it because there should have not been a dull moment on set with Andy Garcia, with Mekhi Phifer I was like, wow, I am so glad to see him, with Melissa Leo, Eden Brolin, and Juan Pablo Raba, walk us through a day on set with this amazing cast, how did it come about?
Frank Grillo:
We had some control over the cast in the movie and these people I have both worked with, except for Andy, Andy and I were supposed to do a couple of the movies we developed a relationship, with one of my favorite actors. And he’s a testament to John Swad and what he’s done in the past because you get a guy like Andy Garcia or an Oscar-winning Melissa Leo, the director has had to do something that they’ll go, okay, I’m safe, with this guy. I can do this, right? it all goes back to the director, but we assemble these people knowing that they are just going to elevate everything we do. and I think everybody did exactly that.
Criticólogos:
This is a powerful story, and I think this is an action thriller movie, but there’s a lot in the backstory that is impactful I know you’re a busy guy, and all actors are busy that maybe we may not be completely connected with what’s happening in the world. And while this was recorded before the last election in Venezuela. did you have some say in it? Did that draw you into the project? To me, the story is important for people to grasp when they trying to tell too, so they can see a little glimpse of what happening in Venezuela.
Frank Grillo:
I went into the script, and we wanted to make it better, and the way Venezuela is right now and what’s going on politically and globally, economically, how the people are suffering and how dangerous this become was we became the backdrop of this story. And I don’t think people, especially in this country realize what Venezuela is. and how amazing Venezuela is, and how powerful Venezuela could be allowed to get away from the corruption. So yeah, it was very intentional, all that the story. you know, some people will say well, it’s too slow. It’s an action movie. Like, it’s not an action. It’s a move that has action in it. You know what I mean?
Criticólogos:
I don’t want to spoil this, but there through the end of the movie, there’s an interaction between your character and Juan Pablo Raba’s character where he speaks in Spanish. And your character was like I have no clue what you were saying. And Raba’s character later explained what he was saying in Spanish. Did you manage to learn some words in Spanish through the production or do you still have no clue what we’re saying?
Frank Grillo:
I grew up in Puerto Rico my whole life, I know lots of bad words, lots of good words. and so yeah, I mean, for me, going to Puerto Rico is like going home to New York, but it’s such a close connection culturally to me. I grew up with mostly a Puerto Rican people. And so, to me getting the opportunity to go and work in Puerto Rico, a culture that is almost as close to mine almost, is close to me almost as my own culture, from Italy, it’s a gift. I consider myself pseudo-Puerto Rican.
See the interview below:
Trailer:
