We chat with BlueBeetle star Raoul Max Trujillo about Carapax's new origin, how Angel Manuel Soto's directing elevates the movie, and his experience with motion capture:
Summary SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Blue Beetle follows Jaime Reyes, who unexpectedly becomes the host of an ancient alien biotechnical relic known as the Scarab. The relationship between the relic and Jaime turns out to be symbiotic, with the Scarab giving him a suit of exoskeleton armor with unimaginable capabilities. With dangerous forces trying to take the scarab and the power it holds, Jaime will become the superhero Blue Beetle.
And of course, played by Xolo, he already embodies such innocence and such childlike quality. Giving that to Blue Beetle, it's just not as dark and not as heavy as some of the other ones that come with so much baggage. Xolo comes with no baggage. Jaime comes with no baggage really, as a character. There's no baggage that goes into into the superhero incarnation, and that's what sets it apart from so many of the others, I think.
Raoul Max Trujillo: Well, I have a hard time with the word Latin American. First of all, several of us in there identify more as indigenous. And then they're either Mexican or Mexican-Americans, and that does not mean Latino for me. Latino means Caribbean culture and Latin America — what they call Latin America, which I get, but I hate those terms because they're so colonial.
In the comics, your character is usually portrayed as a rival to the first Blue Beetle, Dan Garret. How is that adapted for his dynamic with a younger Blue Beetle in Jaime? Raoul Max Trujillo: It's completely new. From hence forward, that's going to be Carapax's roots. Because there were other incarnations of the comic books, so I think our last one is based on this new idea that Angel is putting forward that obviously DC was okay with. It changes things up a lot, because the only white character in the [movie] is Susan Sarandon.
What did you want to bring to Carapax that makes him stand out from other comic book movie villains? I don't know if that means that everything that comes with Blue Beetle comes along for the ride as well, because Carapax is a huge figure in the world of Blue Beetle. Other than what I've read recently with this new mantle that this is a choice that they've made, is to carry Blue Beetle forward. And I just hope that the rest of us go along for the ride as well.
And I think some people might say, "Ah, because he's younger, he's only done a few movies." I think he'll always be that way. But I do think he's brilliant and his playfulness and the fact that he comes absolutely prepared, but willing to let actors improvise in a scene as well, to just see what comes out of it as well, might be a nice surprise. Angel, like I said, I cannot say enough about that man. He's incredible.
Did your work on Mayans M.C. help you prepare for Blue Beetle at all, either with your approach to the character or the stunts? Raoul Max Trujillo: I think it's the level of escapism that we all want and crave for in a world. And I mean, I'm considerably older than you are, but the world is just as f--ked up then as it is now. I mean, a whole lot has not changed really. If you look at the political climate, you look at representation in Hollywood, I mean, a lot has not changed that much. So I think we love superhero movies because they allow us that place to escape into fantasy.
Raoul Max Trujillo: No, we don't wear that costume. We wear parts of that costume. But my full red Carapax, what we call Carapax 3 version, no. We wear motion capture suits with all these dots and stripes and things on it, so we can move very well. When they put that suit on in post, it looks like we're moving with ease. But no, we don't wear anything even remotely close to that.
I never thought [we had] that kind of freedom; we had to stay consistent. To see somebody have such freedom like that, I was like, "Oh, okay." I started realizing that there's incredible freedom now to just go, "Okay, we got that one done, now give them a different variation of it or slightly or whatever.
And they'd always take me, I was a little surprised. I was like, oh! And then Angel started appreciating that there was a strong dynamic between her and I from the very beginning, our characters, that it just gave him... She brought so much information, is what I'm trying to say that basically, to me, it helped me with my character because she brought so much always that there was this incredible generosity.
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