It's in the pattern of things that I'm picking, films
with ambiguous morality. That's what I'm really feeling in this
country. I don't feel like I have any real heroes. Assault on
Precinct 13 also touches on that: Are the good guys really the
good guys and the bad guys really the bad guys? Cronicas is
based on a true story from Latin America: A serial killer gets
away with killing 200 boys. The movie is not a thriller—you
kind of know who did it. The point instead is my character's
dilemma—his sense of morality, his ego, his vanity. Because
he can use this opportunity to further his career, to make
himself more powerful, but also to really help people.
I've heard you're working on a new one-act—and it's
a real departure from your previous shows.
I want to do something totally different. In this one
there is less performing. It's a little more intellectual. It's
a little more political. There's still some personal shit in
there: It highlights my career, and how I was contributing to
some of the problems. I don't want to be sued, so it's tricky.
And I have to get perspective on myself, which is always the
hardest part.
You were close to your grandfather—in your act, you
talk about taking care of him as he was dying.
He was a warm big jolly fat man, this big Latin Santa
Claus. I was so happy to see him. He loved us like we were his
own kids. He did some horrible things to my father, and to me,
but he also played with us all the time, listened to us, gave
us presents and told us jokes. He was a great role
model.
Were you relieved after your parents divorced? It
sounds like they fought all the time.
No matter how horrible my parents' situation was, some
part of me wanted them to be together. I was jumping up for joy
when I heard they were divorced. But when I saw children with
their original parents, I was jealous.
A lot of people close to me experienced their parents'
divorce at different ages. I experienced it at 13, but some of
my friends went through it at 21 or at 36, and they acted the
way that I did at 13. No matter how much wisdom you have,
there's that visceral feeling: You want your parents to be
together.
You've said that you want to be a different kind of
father than your own dad. Where do you look for
examples?
There are some great qualities to my father, but he
was an absent father figure, and now he's an absent grandfather
figure. I want to be present.
One of my friends is a great dad. He's got three
daughters, and he coaches their basketball team, teaches them
karate. One of his daughters is a black belt. Another friend
has two adopted daughters. And they're both Latin men.
They're going beyond the call of duty—none of that
absent father thing. I guess men are realizing that there's a
great thing to be had by [spending time with] kids. It feeds
you.
America is a strange country. I'm a foreigner, so I have
a little bit of perspective, but the family unit here is fucked
up. It's a tragedy that old people are put in homes instead of
being part of the home. Old people—that's where you see
wisdom. It's such an important thing to have all those ages in
the same house.
Tags:
anchorman,
comedy,
dick joke,
family,
fart,
fatherhood,
hbo comedy specials,
heartbreak,
impersonations,
John Leguizamo,
kathleen mcgowan,
king of the hill,
love,
lowbrow,
malice,
monologues,
oddities,
parenting,
physical presence,
prejudices,
serial killer,
summer of sam,
tight jeans
