Interview: Wilmer Valderrama

Best known for his role of Fez (an acronym for ‘Foreign Exchange Student’) on “That 70’s Show,” Wilmer Valderrama takes on his first major mainstream dramatic effort in Fast Food Nation, Richard Linklater’s adaptation of Eric Schlosser’s best-selling journalistic investigation into the multi-faceted impact and implications of the fast food corporation on global society, economy, and culture. Adapted into a narrative screenplay by Linklater and Schlosser, the film follows three simultaneous plotlines that help examine fast food from a variety of perspectives. Valderrama is cast in the role of Raul, an illegal immigrant who crosses the U.S./Mexico border in hopes of finding a better life for himself and his girlfriend Sylvia (Catalina Sandino Moreno — Maria Full of Grace), and finds himself among the disposable immigrant labor force manning a meat processing plant in Colorado. Valderrama’s storyline is easily the most effective (and disturbing) of the three, and he demonstrates he has serious dramatic acting ability.

I had the chance to speak with Valderrama while he was in New York City promoting the release of Fast Food Nation.

Question: Before we talk about Fast Food Nation, I wanted to ask you about the Chips movie. Is it happening, Is Chris Evans in it?
Wilmer Valderrama: Chris Evans is actually not casted, it’s one of those rumors that started out kind of weird. But look, he’d be a great choice. He’s one of my close friends, I’m a huge fan of him, I’m a big fan of him already because he’s one of the guys who can deliver a straight scene and be funny at the same time. And that’s what this movie needs. So, sometime next year, we’re looking into sometime next year. I think I have one or two projects to finish before I start doing CHiPs, but it’s in the works.

Q: Have you chosen anyone to play your partner?
WV: No. Right now we’re just kind of trying to look for directors and letting the physicality of the studios work their stuff out.

Q: Are you producing it?
WV: I guess you could say silently I am, I’m producing it. But it’s hard to get that credit in a movie like that one. But it’s exciting because the studio is definitely keeping me in on the creative end and the characters and stuff.

Q: Do you have anyone in mind to direct it?
WV: There’s a bunch of really new guys, really a bunch of young guys that kind of want to recreate the wheel because this is the type of movie you can allow yourself to do different types of this with. And what’s neat about this movie is that you can definitely do this right because you have a lot of role models to not follow, if you know what I mean. There’s a lot of remakes that kind of miss the point of a remake. And with this one you don’t want to take it super, super serious, but you also don’t want to make fun of it, because there’s fans around the world that still see it as a serious drama.

Q: You don’t want to go the Miami Vice route with it…
WV: No you have to have a bit more fun with it…

Q: …but you don’t want it to be another Starsky and Hutch either?
WV: No, no. Exactly.

Q: You want a balance?
WV: We want a little bit of a balance. We definitely want to have some really fun action stuff, but also we want to have fun with it and play the reality of how outrageous some of these action scenes could be. Example: if a bullet just went past you and hit you, really show that this freaks you out as opposed to [makes over-acted surprised expression], you know what I mean? It’s got to be like, ‘Okay, that was too close.’ It’s got to be something along those lines, you’ve got to allow yourself to play with it.

Q: So, going to this movie, how did you find this part? What made you want to do this movie? Had you read the book before?
WV: Well, first, I’d heard about the book because a lot of my friends go to college and it’s kind of become mandatory for kids in college to read this book. And then I heard there was a movie that was getting made, and I’ll have to admit, I knew the themes and I’m not a big fast food eater and stuff, so… I hadn’t read the book yet, I read the book after I read the script. And I have to say, when I read the script, it was such a non-Hollywood movie, and it doesn’t work by the theoretical rulebook that a lot of Hollywood movies work with… structurally it’s very different. And I really found that refreshing. And I read the script, and Raul was obviously the only role I really, really related to because not only – I’m an immigrant myself – but at the same time it’s a movie that touches on a lot of issues that need some sort of highlighting. And it’s one of those very, very exciting movies to be part of and I did everything against everything to be a part of this movie and convince Richard Linklater that I was the guy for this role. No one’s ever seen me in anything like this before, so it was kind of a great challenge. And once I did get in, it was very rewarding.

Q: How hard was it to convince Richard Linklater to let you into the film, or cast you in the role?
WV: To be honest, Richard Linklater wasn’t a tough one, because he lives so outside the box, he really looks at things from where they are, and he, from when I went and met him… for him it was more like, ‘Can he pull off a Mexican accent.’ Because I speak Spanish, but I don’t speak Mexican Spanish, I speak Venezuelan Spanish. So basically the question was, ‘Can he speak with a Mexican accent?’ So I worked with a dialect coach and everything, and tried to get as close as possible to get to a really good Mexican accent, and that was the defining moment. But it was more like, a lot of people had seen me do a lot of comedy before and they had never seen me take that turn, and this is… it doesn’t get more dramatic than this [laughs]. So to see if you can pull something off, it needs to be in a movie like this.

Q: Is there anything in particular you would want the audience to walk away with after seeing this film?
WV: Information. A lot of information. This is one of those very, very factual movies, and in no way, shape, or form do we like to call ourselves activists. But at the same time… we’re never preachy, we’re not trying to preach to anyone. We’re not trying to tell anyone, ‘This is wrong, this is right.’ But we’re just trying in a way to let people be aware of what’s out there, and how we carry ourselves in a way. And I think for me the biggest message for this movie, and what I want people to walk away with, is a lot of information that is eventually going to translate to you trusting your own instincts, and then making an educated decision about what’s good and what’s bad for you. Because none of this movie is fake, with the exception of our original jobs are not, you know…. But that’s what’s exciting about this movie, there’s a little bit for everyone that can be awakening. And that’s exciting.

Q: Did this movie make you want to not eat meat?
WV: I grew up in Venezuela, and I grew up really, you know… seeing those things happen. But I had never seen a car factory, and the cars being replaces by a cow. And I’d never seen that in my life, and to see a living being go through a machine like that, it is extremely impressionable. For me, I was used to – my dad had a farm – so I was used to seeing the cows going through that process, but manually. I never saw a machine taking care of it. So that was a tough part. But for me, one thing this movie did for me was make me be very aware of where I get my food and very aware of what I put in my body. Especially because there are a lot of things in these foods that your body is not meant to digest. And that’s why I think the first ten minutes you’re eating one of those fast food burgers, it’s heavenly. And after those ten minutes you start feeling like shit. And that’s a fact, we all know that [laughs]. Then you start realizing your body is digesting things your body is not meant to, a lot of chemicals, a lot of preservatives, a lot of artificial flavors and things like that, that are not natural for your body to take.

Q: How did you prepare for the role, did you talk to people who had worked in slaughter houses or who had had similar experiences?
WV: It’s funny because it’s almost like these people don’t exist. It’s kind of hard to find someone who can talk about that kind of experience. But we did talk a lot about the immigration side of it, crossing the border and…. Half of my life I grew up in LA and a lot of my friends, which is funny and very interesting, they had just crossed the border. And they were working, and they were going to school with me. So I know the hard realities and I know… they tell the story not like they’re these dramatic story of overcoming this thing. They say, ‘You know, we walked in the desert for a long time.’ And it’s a very factual thing, because the closer they get to America, the closer they get to a better life and a better living and a better opportunity to gain something for their families than they ever thought they could get. And that for me was a universal theme, and that is what really drove my character throughout the whole movie, was that no matter how shitty everything was around him, there’s still one thing, and that’s that we’re here, we have dollars, and we are seeing progress.

Q: What about the exploitation of the immigrants?
WV: That is an interesting theme, because we’ve all known that immigration has been exploited by a lot of corporations, a lot of small businesses for decades and decades and decades, way before my time. But it’s now come to a point where a lot of these people have become robots, become disposable beings of handwork. And it’s very interesting, I was very amazed by the conditions they worked in, and knowing that no matter how overworked they were, they were expected to perform hundred percent perfect like the machine is. And that is unbelievable. To think that a human can be assumed to not make mistakes, especially in something where they have to meet a quota, and when every sixty seconds a cow becomes a steak, that to me was mind blowing. So obviously, it’s a problem, and look, if that job paid what it deserved, all these people would have mansions in Bel Air. It’s really as simple as that.

Q: One thing I found interesting was the drug problem.
WV: Yeah, and it’s funny because it really goes hand in hand. Like is it — are they wrong for doing the drugs, or is it they do the drugs because they want to squeeze in a few more hours of work and get more dollars. So it’s hand in hand, it’s a very, very rude truth. You’ve got to think about this. These people are here to make money, their not here to go to Disneyland or anything. It took them, it took these two characters a long time before they went to their first American food chain establishment. And then you start to see they are dressing a little better, and things like that, and they were progressing. And that was a really beautiful part of the movie, but it’s very tough. It’s tough to think about those facts. Because right now as we speak those people are cleaning away and slaughtering away.

Q: Do you have a favorite scene in the film?
WV: I do have a favorite scene in the movie. There’s so many obviously memorable scenes, I think that – and I know everybody is probably going to say this one – but I think Bruce Willis has one of the coolest cameos I’ve seen of all time. Only because it really buttons it up, he speaks on behalf of the corporation, but at the same time he’s not a bad guy. But what’s really neat about his scene is that you really get to see that it’s the hard reality and we gotta ride it because it’s not going to change. Because if they change, thirty other companies are not. So it’s a very, very interesting scene, plus he’s extremely charming and knows how to sell the hard truth.

Q: What was it like working with Catalina?
WV: It’s actually very interesting, her and I, when we first met, because she looked at me and was like, ‘Who is this kid?’ And I looked at her and I was like ‘I’m a huge fan. I love you, you’ve done great.’ And she goes, ‘Okay, okay.’ And the more we… her and I had a lot of time to break down our characters, break down our history, because we really picked specific areas we were coming from, even though it wasn’t mentioned in the movie, we picked where we were coming from, how we met, all our conversations, how we came about this decision to cross the border together, and how long we’d been together. And it was really exciting to see someone who was so into her work, because I love acting and I love creating characters and breaking them down. And I think… that was one of the things it was so cool to work hand in hand with her, because we were so into this movie, we really wanted this movie to be great, and we worked really hard especially on our storyline, because our storyline is such… not only humble beginnings for our change, but at the same time it gives everyone a glimpse of what immigrants go through. So it was a big deal for us. But I had one of the best times working with her, and we’re waiting to do it again. So that’s good. I hope I’m not speaking on her behalf. [laughs] When she gets here she’ll be like, ‘He is… full of shit.’ [laughs]

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Q: In coming up with the storyline, did you come up with what happens after the film?
WV: We chose to…. It’s an interesting plot because you never really see it coming. You never really see…. And that’s what meant when I said it’s such a non-Hollywood movie. Because it doesn’t get any more fucked up than that. And that is true, that does really happen, some people have to bite that bullet in order to. And the thing is, she loves me so much that… it was a terrible thing for her to do morally, but productively, it was what she needed to do. And it was because there was no other way, we don’t know anybody else. Where do we go? It’s not like we can go to just any place and be like, ‘Hey, I want to work! I have no papers!’ And you’re also working against the fact that you’re petrified that you might be deported, and you just got here. So that alone was a big deal, but I got to tell you Richard did an incredible job by not only keeping these stories humble, but at the same time, as real as possible. And I think that it’s very easy to play a character, but it’s very hard – extremely difficult – to play a real person. And it’s one of those characters you really feel like you can touch, and you can feel and smell what they’re going through. And I think that’s what Richard did, capture a glimpse of today’s society that I think people are going to be surprised by watching.

Q: How did you get into acting, and are you ever surprised by the point you’re at in your life?
WV: Well, I lived in a very small town in Venezuela where… I mean there was very few thousands of people… in fact when I tell Venezuelans where I come from, they’re like, ‘Are you serious?’ Like super, super small. So there was not much to do in the country, and we were in the country, not in the city. So I was very involved in school activities. So I was trained in out theater, dancing and singing, but for school, I never did it professionally. And when I came to the states, I used performance art to improve my speaking skills and learn English, and it was forcing me to read, and all these other things. And one thing lead to another and I fell in love with the craft, and I wanted to perfect it, and I had a big gift called “That 70’s Show,” and I was off from there.

Fox Searchlight releases Fast Food Nation on November 17th in limited theatres.