After the airing of “The Silver Angel,” we got to have a talk with one of The Strain‘s series regulars, Miguel Gomez, about his character Gus: the ex-con who was the catalyst of The Master’s reign on Manhattan.
Gomez can currently be seen in theaters in Antoine Fuqua’s Southpaw.
Be sure to check out season two of The Strain on FX Sunday nights at 10PM CT/ET time and my reviews immediately following their airing here on The Young Folks!
Evan via TYF: Congrats on Southpaw, a fantastic film. The two mediums of film and TV have blended so much in the last couple of decades, I was curious if is there anything that you learned on Southpaw, something as big as an Antoine Fuqua movie, that you wanted to bring on set coming back to The Strain?
Miguel: Well, I think just the intensity and the dedication that you have on an Antoine Fuqua set, especially when it comes to boxing, that commitment. And really just working with some really great, amazing actors that I look up to, Forest Whitaker, and Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, and 50 Cent, these are all people that I admire, and how humble and how patient everyone is, and how everybody’s fighting for the same goal, everybody’s working together. I think those are the biggest things that I learned on Southpaw. But it’s the same on The Strain set, everybody’s dedicated, everybody’s working really hard to bring this vision to life. So, it was just really nice to see that everybody’s really on the same page.
Evan via TYF: Gus could hold his own before, but he met a new character, Angel, last night and it looks like maybe we could have Gus learn some advanced lucha libre skills maybe coming up?
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Miguel: Well, he seems like a pretty tough character. He seems like a tough guy. I wouldn’t really want to mess with him. So, yes, he seems like he could be somebody that could really help in the fight.
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You’ve got a lot of stunts, a lot of action scenes, that kind of thing. Can you talk about filming those kinds of scenes?
Miguel: Yes. I have a lot of fun with the action and getting in there and really doing it for real. I try my best not to use any stunt doubles or anything like that, because to me it just feels more authentic when I do it myself. There’s been a few times where I’ve gotten some bumps and bruises, but I think it’s all worth it and I think it all shows in the final product of the show. Yes, it’s been a lot of fun, though.
How did you get involved with the show at the very beginning?
Miguel: I went in and I met with the beautiful, amazing April Webster and just talked about the character and what they were looking for. Then I ended up meeting with Carlton Cuse and he was giving me the direction of where they wanted to go with the character, and, yes, everything just fit.
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In “The Silver Angel” we heard Gus say a number of times that he looks out for himself… But he met Angel and Aanya, so will we start seeing that perspective of his change a little bit?
Miguel: Yes, I think when he said that it was more out of anger and he was really talking to The Master, whoever it was that was talking to him. But, yes, I think when he starts to get close to someone he just naturally has that protective instinct. So, yes, it’s possible.
Is there a degree to which he’s still trying to atone for being the one that drove The Master into New York and unleashed this without really realizing what he had been set up to do?
Miguel: Yes, I think that’s what really drives him. I think he feels that he lost his mom, and his brother, and his best friend because of his mistakes, and I think his nature is to be protective of the people he cares about and the people that care about him. So, yes, I think that’s what’s driving him, that revenge and that redemption, and I think he has one goal now and that’s to seek out whoever caused all these things to happen to his family and get revenge on it.
What was it actually like to shoot [the scene with The Master]? Was it as creepy to shoot as it came across on the screen?
Miguel: It is super creepy because Adriana Barraza, the lady that plays Gus’s mom, she’s such a wonderful lady. She’s such a beautiful person, and to see her in that makeup and then to hear her speak those words to me, it was definitely something that—the way I am is I allow that into my body, into me, and those fears and those things to sort of awaken. And when I hear her saying these things and I just think back, and yes, it was super creepy to see her in that makeup and to see her completely change, no longer Gus’s mom, just pure evil at that moment. Yes, it was really scary and creepy.
What kind of reaction have you been getting from the fans? Do they love the character, or love to hate the character?
Miguel: Well, actually, it’s been really great interacting with the fans because it was really important to me to show a different side of this guy that comes from the street. And I think what’s really great about Gus is that what they’re ultimately saying in the show is you can’t judge a book by its cover, and people have been really giving him a chance and really seeing who he truly is. I think he’s just a guy that’s trying to do the right thing, really loves his family, and is really just doing his best with the circumstances that he’s in. So, yes, for the fans to actually see that and give him a chance, it’s really been an honor to play a character like that.
As we enter the second half of the season…where do you feel like Gus’s story is going?
Miguel: I think he wants redemption. He wants revenge for what happened to his family, to his mom, his brother, and his best friend. And whoever’s going to help him get that revenge, he’s going to ride with, he’s going to be down with.
[Gus] is more isolated than the others on the show… is there a point where we’ll see [him] meet up with some of those other main characters again?
Miguel: Yes, it’s pretty lonely. It’s like a lone wolf; you’re going through this whole thing by yourself. But I think his intentions and his motivations are in line with the rest of the cast. I think they all want the same thing. So, yes, I think if they cross it would actually be really great for everybody because they all want the same thing. They all want to defeat this sickness.
What do you think it is then about The Strain that really has made it such a fan favorite show so quickly?
Miguel: I think The Strain is not trying just to scare you. There’s a political message, there’s a spiritual message that goes along with the show, I think. And even deeper than that, it brings people from different walks of life together, because I think in order to defeat this thing you need people from different walks of life. Nobody’s more important than anybody else. The billionaire needs the guy from the street, and the guy from the street needs the scientist, and the scientist needs his son.
If you really look at what’s happening–it’s love. Everybody needs to be together as one. I think it’s very important. It’s an incredible message for us as humanity. We need to all be together. Why does it take something like a sickness or an alien attack for us to realize that we’re just one? We’re all one and we all need each other. I think that’s what people connect to. They realize that we need each other. We’re all human beings, and ultimately what’s going to save us is love.
When you all did Comic-Con last year the show was fairly new, and now a year later it’s been out in the world…can you talk about the difference between those two experiences?
Miguel: Last year we were explaining what the show was about, and this year fans have come up to me and told me more things about my character than I knew. They knew more about the character than me, and just them giving us a chance. And certain fans have come up and said, “I really thank you for showing this character and showing him in a different light, and giving him some good things, and some good qualities,” which comes from the writing…from Chuck Hogan, and from Guillermo. Those things I think, that was the plan from the beginning.
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