Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - John Leguizamo

Episode Date: October 31, 2021

John Leguizamo immigrated to the United States from Colombia when he was 4 years old and since then he’s made his way to some of the biggest screens and stages in America, starring in films like Carlito’s Way, Super Mario Bros and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. In this week’s Sunday Sitdown, Willie Geist gets together with the Tony and Emmy-winning actor to talk about his prolific career and his latest groundbreaking project in the superhero universe.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Got a great one for you today with truly a great guy and one of the most talented people in Hollywood or on Broadway. John Leguizamo. He's the Emmy and Tony winning actor who you may know from his one-man shows like Freak or Latin History for Morons or for his long list of films going back to Carlito's Way. The Mario Brothers? Come on, guys. He was in Super Mario Brothers. How great is that? He was Luigi. Tuong Fu. Let's not forget the Bas Lerman films he did. Romeo and Juliet. Moulon Rouge. The list goes on and on and on. We talk about a lot of them. He was also the voice of a prehistoric sloth in Ice Age.

A little something for everybody in here. And also just a great personal story. He immigrated to the United States with his family from Columbia when he was three years old, moved to Jackson Heights, Queens. He has. a New Yorker through and through. And as you'll hear, use performance and comedy to get by in his neighborhood and has gone on to do just incredible things. His latest project is a comic book series. It's an actual comic book, not an animated film. It's a comic book called Phenom X that creates, at long last, a Latino superhero. You'll hear the full story behind that. I think, I suspect. You'll hear me push it pretty hard. This has movie potential written all over it. It's a great. great character born out of New York, has superpowers, has armor. And John Leguizamo got together a team and he wrote the comic.

He helped design the illustration with the illustrator who did it. And now he's here to talk about that, his life, and his career. So I think you'll really enjoy spending some time as I did with John Leguizamo right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Good you see you, John. Thanks for doing this. Great, great, man. Thank you for having me. I feel like we already got through a whole interview before we said now.

We'll just keep going. Chatty Kathy's over here. I got to congratulate you on this comic. It's amazing. I told you, I just read through it this morning, Phenom X. I can't believe you do the due diligence. That's so unusual. Of course, of course.

And honestly, I went in not knowing exactly what it was going to be. I knew a little bit of the backstory. But it's a cool character, first of all. It's great representation, and it's got an edge to it, which is very cool. So where did this character come from for you? Well, the genesis of it was there were no Latin superheroes anywhere to be had. And we're the largest ethnic group in America. So I don't understand how that happens.

Plus, we're superheroes everywhere. I mean, AOC, Sonia Sotomayor, the Mets, the Braves. I mean, who are their best players and the Astros, all Latin guys? So where are we? Anyway, so I wanted to create a superhero. And I was just thinking, you know, I grew up into LES and, you know, there was a plant there. I used to try to fight the pollutants that were coming in, and a lot of kids had asthma. And I thought, what if all these negative toxins actually made somebody more powerful, made them immune, made them resistance to all kinds of toxins?

And so that's how I created Max Gomez of Phenom X. He grew up in this super toxic neighborhood where they were dumping all kinds of radiation. and that helped mutate some of his chromosomes, and now he can camouflage into anything except energies, and the government has recruited him. Is that a fun thing to do, given all the different things you've done? I mean, you can do films, you can do stage, you've done everything, you've done voice work.

This is like a new lane. I mean, you did some version of freak, I know, in a comic form. Right, right. But this is something new, to originate a character and see it through with the art and the dialogue. How cool was that? It's thrilling. It's like you're playing kind of like God in a way. Yeah.

Not an offensive kind of way, but, you know, I'm creating this whole world, this whole character. I mean, I'm in charge and in control, and I can make it as funny as adult, as raunchy as I want. And I love creating a world that's my flavor. And so when you were thinking about this guy, part of the cool thing about designing is what does he look like? Oh, yeah. What does his armor look like? Did you have a say in all those pieces of it? I said I wanted to look like me, but better.

I was going to say he does look like you. But better. It's like if they're going to draw me, don't draw me like I am in real life. What's the point of that? We already got this. This ain't enough. So, yeah, you know, make handsomer, stronger, younger, you know, more hair, all that. It's your chance to improve a little bit on what's already there, right?

You can always improve on nature. And you've collaborated with people who really have experience in this. Oh, yeah. Come up with some of the best comic characters of all times. So tell me a little bit about building out that team. Man, I mean, first of all, my team is all Latin hands have touched this comic book from the illustrator, the penciler, the editor, everybody's Latin X. And then I teamed up with one of the greatest comic book creators, Todd McFarland, which was, you know, a dream come true. Because he's created Spawn, which was the comic book that saved the comic book industry in the 80s.

Because the comic book industry actually was dying. It was a dying industry. and he brought Spawn, which was vulgar, violent. The graphics were so powerful, and nobody was doing that. Then everybody took a page from his, and everything got darker, the dark night came and all that started coming up. And I asked him, would you team up with me? And he read it first, you know, like you did, instead of an assistant. And he signed on and he signed me up to publish my comic book on Image Comics, which is the third

largest comic book after Marble in D.C., it's image. That's awesome. That's so cool. I mean, that's got to be almost like childhood dream stuff, doesn't it? It's crazy, man. I'm like pinching the hell out of myself. This is really happening out, yeah. And you knew Todd from Spawn, right? Because Spahn was there with his, he's always like, he's a Canadian dude. He's like, hey, that's great, eh? And with the leather jacket, he's always been a tough guy. And he was lovely dude. He was there all the time and helpful. And he gave me such leeway.

because I improvised a lot of crazy stuff in the original spawn, and he sanctioned it. So what did you want to say with this, John? Because you do get a blank page. You get to create a character, but you also get to create his world, what he says, the message he delivers. What is his message? Oh, that's a great question. That's a great question.

First of all, inclusion. I wanted the whole comic book to have Latin accent, black people in it. And I wanted to deal with a lot of injustice For example, Max Gomez is profiled and put in jail, and he's an innocent man, you know, but he was profiled and he was put in jail wrongly. And then I want to deal with, you know, dealing with police brutality, which is a big issue here in New York City for Latinx youth. So there was a lot of those issues that I want to deal with. It feels to me just looking at it, looking at this character, looking at how well done it is.

that this could be turned into a movie. Have you gotten that far in your thinking, John? Hey, hey, hey. I said it, he didn't. I said it, he didn't. Yeah, yeah. No, no, I'm definitely, I got, you know, dreams of a movie. I mean, who doesn't?

But, yeah, you know, I'm going to wait for it to get published November 10th. It comes out, and then, yeah, you know, we'll see what I'll play, you know. My phone's on silent, otherwise it'd be ringing like crazy. I'm pushing it for the record. It's not, John. He's trying to get 10% is what he's trying to do. It's like a lot on as we say in New York City. But it does lend itself, obviously.

It seems like a broad audience. And you bring up such an important point, which is just the complete lack of Latin superheroes, which in a country with such a large percentage of a Latin American population, it seems wild, actually. It's something you've talked about your entire career. Why do you think even in 2021, it takes you coming out and doing it to get that kind of representation? I mean, it's so crazy, man. We're the oldest of the episode. ethnic group in America after Native Americans, of course, and the largest ethnic group,

and we've always been there, been here for 500 years, and yet we're not, it's not that we're not included in Hollywood, we're excluded. It's an aggressive exclude, and things need to change. The reasons for it, I mean, is it executives, that there are no Latin executives that look like me Latin ex-ex executives who are making the decisions, who are the gatekeepers? Because I pitched for 30 years to Hollywood, you know. or Hollywood, as I call it, for 30 years. And, you know, they always had, they loved the writing, but they never greenlit anything.

And I thought it was my writing that sucked. But I was winning on Broadway. I was getting Tony Awards, OB nominations, Dramidess for my writing and performing. So there was a disconnect. And I was going, oh, I finally realized at 55 years old, two years ago, that it wasn't me. It was the executives.

They didn't share my culture. They didn't understand my flavor. They weren't ready to greenlight Latin movies. I can't imagine how frustrating it is knowing that there are so many kids out there who want to have somebody to look up to and just haven't had that chance. It feels like with this, though,

maybe you've broken through something to give them that. So forget the professional side of it. Does it just feel good to be able to be the one to deliver that? Yeah, you know, I think it's something I've been doing all my career, like when I started writing my one-man shows,

was I wanted to see myself on the stage and therefore young Latin X kids seeing themselves. And, you know, they come up to me through all these years and go, you know, I write because of you. Limanuel, you know, the genius that he is came up and said, you know, I started doing theater because I saw you do theater. So that's meaningful to me. And I'm hoping with the comic book, because we have been drawers for a long time illustrators. Alex Schaumburg, Puerto Rican, drew Captain America in the 40s. So we've been drawing forever.

We just weren't creating our characters because, you know, nobody. but he was letting us write our stories. Good for you for doing it. And it does. It carries a theme that you've been talking about for a long time. You mentioned Lynn Manuel Miranda and Canto. Got to ask you about that. Oh, yeah.

How excited are you to do that? First of all, to get the phone call, and it must have been a full circle moment for Lynn to say, this is a guy I looked up to. He's why I'm in theater, and I can now call him and he might actually answer. So what's that part like? What's that film like?

Well, it's even more than full circles. Like, wait a minute. So I inspired you. and then you inspired me. Right. Because, I mean, Hamilton is the masterpiece of our time. And for him to call me and ask me to be in his movie, I was like, holy hell, what is going on? I thought I was being punked.

I said, this ain't Lynn. Let's rap something for me. He did a little tight rap. And he wrote me a rap in it. So I'm, like, excited about that. And I've heard, I felt the same way, that grown Latin men have. have cried seeing the movie. It's so funny, but also touching and moving at the same time.

Grown Latin men have cried as myself. It just makes you, I don't know, it touches you in such a way to see this beautiful family that's family affirming, that's Latin affirming, and it's hilarious, beautifully written, beautifully drawn. I mean, the drawing, the illustration now is like a whole new level. And it's just beautiful, beautiful. It's all about misfits, people in the family who don't, can't. find their proper place, and they still have value.

You know, even the misfits add value to a family. Do you love doing those voiceover films where you get to kind of go into a booth and give a big performance, even though we're not seeing you, John Legerzamo? I love it so much, because I'm OCD too, so this is my chance to be the annoying perfection. So I will do a line 100 times. Really? And the director will be like, okay, you got it. They got it.

How much longer? I just need a few more. I think the next one maybe. Oh, no, no, no, let's do it again. I'll do it a million times. And you get to go in your sweatpants, which is nice, too, right? I don't even put on sweatpants. I'm not even going to bother.

I don't brush my teeth. I go in there because you're in a glass booth. Right. Nobody smells you. Nobody cares about you. They just want that voice. It's got to be fun. I mean, the character in Encanto, too, is a Colombian kid.

Yes. Which must have spoken to you, and obviously, you don't play the child in that film. But did that speak? to you in another way, given your own roots? Oh, yeah. In so many ways a movie speaks to me. I mean, first of all, Latin people in the cartoon, in the tune, really speaks to me. And then the young girl trying to find her away in the world. It's just powerful, powerful.

Your story is so fascinating to me that you immigrated from Columbia to flushing when you were four years old. Yeah, yeah. And just the way that you found this guy, this sort of out. outgoing, performative character that you are and has carried you so far. Where did that come from for you? When did you start feeling like, oh, I got this audience going or this kid laughed at what I do? When did you first start to feel that? Well, you know, it's interesting because my father was a real sort of downer.

So, you know, he kind of edited out to join our home movies even. That was the kind of guy he was. but it was my survival instinct was to be funny. If I could get them to laugh, then it would change the mood in the house for a short time. But that was my secret weapon. Right. You know, if I could get him to my dad to laugh, then things would be fine. And then it started working in the neighborhood because I was in a tough neighborhood,

and there was a lot of fighting. And if I could make these big dudes laugh, then they, hey, John, he's all right, he's cool. Don't mess with him. He's, I'll protect. He's my boy. So they would protect me. So if I got them to laugh, then they'd be on my side. became my secret weapon. And then, you know, here I am, you know, somewhat 40 years later.

So basically there were some bullies on the block. And your way through them or around them, at least, was to be the funny guy. Oh, my God, I would do all my Ricky Ricardo. Lucy done that to me. Man, she'll never take it in copper manners, say? You won't get me dirty bad. You're dirty bad. Obviously, I'm a different generation because my invitations are metal. But back then they really played. Right. Back then they killed. You don't even know. You can't even imagine. On the block, that just absolutely killed. I mean, E.R.G. Robinson, people don't even know these people.

I love Lucy. Yeah, forget it. But at some point it became, okay, he's so good at it. We've got to get this kid into some acting classes or some performance. So when did that step happen for you? That was actually my math teacher who has since passed, Mr. Zufa, and he'd always be, Mr. the schwezimo, you have the attention span of a sperm. If they can only rechannel your annoying. Look, look.

If they can make penicillin of moldy bread, they can make something out of you, please. So he was desperate to rechannel my energy somehow. And he suggested I do stand-up, and that pretty much started my career. So that was a math teacher, not a theater teacher. He basically said, I need this to go somewhere else, not in my classroom.

Right, right. Rechannel that stuff. Just be quiet in my class. And so did you enjoy that as a kid, that more formal performance when you were in the theater in the acting classes? Did you say, oh, yeah, this could be a thing for me? Oh, yeah, yeah. But I didn't do it in school because I was too cool and you can't be in the theater department

and be gangsters. So I couldn't do that. So I would do it in these professional acting schools when I was 17. Yeah. And I found this showcase, Sylvia Lee's Showcase Theater, the showcase sounded great. It sounded like what I was looking for. And this little old lady was like, she had like three hairs on top of her head.

And she sounded like Catherine Hepburn. She was like, oh, oh, we have to work on your terrible. accent and it's too fagash. Because I did talk different then. I was like, I was like, yo, what's up. Right. I'm going to hang out. You know what time it is.

What's up with that? Right. So, you know, she was like giving me all these voice lessons. And that's what we have now. This finally trained instrument, Tis a winter about discontent made glorious by the son of York. Look at you. I know.

It's amazing. You've come a long way. So far. That's too far. Maybe you need to relook back a little. You, um, you started doing three. comedy and then these one-man shows became a real thing for you. What do you like about that form? Because that scares some people to death, that I'm the only one on stage, this whole thing's

on me. I got to carry this every time I step out on that stage. There's nowhere to hide. What do you like about that form of performance? I'm a masochist. I like danger. Definitely, you know, it does have a panic situation involved. I'm not going to lie. I bet. Yeah, being up there by yourself, holding the whole show, you feel that way. But I think as I write it and I fine-tune it, I don't know, I land in my body, I land in the storytelling, and that becomes sort of the thing that bolsters me. You know, what's my story? What am I telling?

How am I moving and changing people? How am I teaching people empathy? How am I teaching people compassion for things and people they didn't have for before because they didn't understand? But art does that. Art helps you walk in somebody else's shoes. whether you like it or not. It teaches you empathy.

Whether you like it or not, it does. And that's the beauty of art. And that's the thing that boasted me and a one-man show to hit people laughing with me or crying when the moments gets at. Because I like to mix my comedy, because I feel like that's what I brought to comedy in America was sort of a darker, more dangerous, sadder comedy,

not a comedy that's always sort of glib, but a comedy that has teeth. Yes. Yeah, no question about it. And I feel like it took some time and maybe you agree or disagree for people to look back and see that. Oh, yeah.

John Lai Zambo was a pioneer. He is a pioneer. He sort of changed the way we saw comedy in some ways, but also in the way that we heard about the experience of being Latin in this country. I hope I did that. I hope I did that because that really was my intent.

It was like I was trying to bring Latin comedy sensibilities, which is we go more emotional. You know, I mean, we need a little more, you know, punch in our comedy than staying on the light level. Like, we want to hear real stories. We want to hear real pain and then make me laugh at the same time. Or sucker punch me with a joke, you know? And that's what I tried to bring to the American comedy scene.

Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from John Leguizamo right after the break. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Now more of my conversation with John Leguizamo. So what felt like your big break? break. If I go through your career and I look, there are a few things I could point to, but I'm interested to hear what you think. Was it a movie? Was it a one-man show? I think it was a combo. I think it was a combo. I think it was, you know, here I was this Latin

kid at NYU, right? And I had some big heavy hitters, D.B. Sweeney and Andrew McCarthy were in my class. And I saw that they were going to 10 auditions a day and I was going to one every 10 months. And I go, wait a minute. We're in the same. class. I got the same ability. At least I thought I did. I mean, I might have been a little overstepping my boundary. But, you know, I thought, you know, why not? I don't have the same opportunities. So I realized I was going to have to create my own opportunities. So I started writing. And I think I wrote Mumble Mouth sort of as a way to feel seen, not as an actor, but as a Latin ex-man in this country. And then all of a sudden the reviews came out. And there was

Al Pacino in my theater. Sam Shepard. Arthur Miller, the greatest playwright in the world. They were in my theater. All these tall, lanky dudes. It seemed like all American players are like tall lanky dudes. But they were there. And I'd figure out a way so they couldn't escape. They would have to, whether they liked the play or not,

I would run around the back alley quickly before they could start getting off their seats and wait in the front. Really? There was only one entrance out. And I'd be there already like, hey, Sam, love your work. Hey, Arthur. Mr. Miller, I mean, give them no choice. Give them no choice.

but I have to say something positive. And then you were in a movie without Pacino in Carlito's way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's powerful. That must have felt like, oh, okay, here's a moment in my life and my career, right? Yeah, I mean, Pacino is one of the greatest actors of our time, of all time. And here I am in a movie with him, going toe to toe with him, which is a little bit uncomfortable for both of us. Because I was a young punk, too, I was like, I'm going to show this my chance to shine. I'm going to show Pacino what I got.

But, you know, it can be a little obnoxious and overwhelming because I was like, I'm going to over talk. I'm going to overact. And he's like, you know, calm down, John. Less is more. You know, relax. What do you think you are? Just calm down.

And he was right. I was wrong. I'm always interested for a young actor when you stepped onto a set with one of your heroes. How do you compose yourself and say, I'm here to do a job? You can't. I mean, I've talked to, I've talked to actresses who are, you know, okay, I got a scene with Merrill Street today. No problem. Then they go, oh, my God, that's Merrill Street.

No, it's terrified, bro. How do you do it? Because you overcompensate. That's why I did so much in Carlito's way with Benny Blanco, because I'm with Pacino. I can't fail in front of him. I can't be anything less than, I don't know, you want to meet expectations. And you're nervous as hell. And then Pacino, like, oh, my God, so smooth on camera.

Yeah. So relaxed. You're like, you know, no nerves. And you're like, watching him. Dude, that's a master at work. He's so intently listening to my emotions, my intentions, my gestures. And so I'm just watching him and studying him at the same time that I'm playing ball with him, you know? It seems like people, there are incredibly talented actors and directors who want to work with you

or have you in their projects. I'm thinking of Baz Luhrmann, Romeo and Juliet and Milan Rouge. Just great movies. And you were so great in both of those. Oh, thank you. And what is that experience like for you? just to be a part of something that you know is going to be totally unique and going to stand out forever. Yeah, you knew going to Romeo and Juliet that it was going to be something for the ages.

I mean, the script was brilliant. You already saw all the tweaks he was doing to the language, the editing, the way he was changing the sword to be a manufacturer of weapons. So all these little details were amazing. And then you had a two-week rehearsal where we were all in the room. I had to audition for four hours. Really? To get the part.

And screaming and yelling. And by the time, I was like, I hope I get the part, but it's okay. It just was great to work with it. Because it was four hours. I've never auditioned that hard for anything in my entire life. Wow. And I beat up Benicio Toro, which is one of our great actors, only because he mumbles more than I do.

He couldn't sustain that over four hours. Maybe it doesn't have your energy. I had that articulation classes from my knee. That's right. So, yeah, this is a dagger which I see before me the handle tore. my hand come let me clutch thee i can overpronunciate anything incredible and it all goes back to that teacher who forced it on you yeah for real yeah she would sell me all her tapes i had to pay like four hundred dollars that was crazy money for a bro ghetto kid but i was like okay i have to pay for

your tapes too and in the book there's oh this it's because it was tapes back then she was running a racket oh she was she had to get you know the hair plugs but she got you she got you where you were going He got me started. And what about Moulon Rouge, similar experience where it was just this sort of like, almost fantasy world? More intense, though. Was it? Yeah, that was, I couldn't believe that Baz could ratchet up, but he did. So we shot for about six months, a month of rehearsals, and it was like the old school training.

Like I was doing, I had to go to voice classes, dialect coaching, dance classes. We would rehearse. We started out with like about a 300-page screen. script that we would read, then it got reduced to 260, 220, 160, and we would read all as a company every Friday. And then we started shooting. We were all ready. And then masterful camera shooting. I mean, you guys got five cameras. He had 27 angles. Try to do that. Huh? We thought we were going to impress you. You're like, you're like, you know, 27 angles. It was like, you know, one week to shoot one scene. You're like, oh, God. What angle there is?

You're going to up the nostril above the head. You know, colonoscopy shot. Is that coming to? So when you shoot like that and it's so painstaking almost. Yeah, very. And you probably can't even see what it's going to look like in the end. So then when you sit down at the premiere, whenever you first saw it, are you just like?

You're blown away. You're like, wow, all that angst, all that work of trying to shoot a scene 27 angles and trying to make sure we did. Sometimes we would do 50 takes. and I was on, you know, I was playing Tulsa Trek, so I was on a sort of kind of like an ampute prosthetic and I learned how to balance and then they would erase the back of my legs. Oh, wow.

So I got taken out of a lot of dance sequences because I was tripping people up. I was tripping myself. I was, no, not another dance sequence. They'd take me out of the hook. Well, I won't ask you about every one of your projects, even though I'd like to because I know you're like, God, we're only on 2001.

What time is it? I can get out of here. But we've got to talk. talk Super Mario. Because that really was, like that was a big breakthrough for you, wasn't it? In 93? Yeah. To be Luigi in a successful movie like that. To be a Latin lead.

I was a highest paid Latin actor of the time, which wasn't much, but it was more bucks than I'd ever seen. And it was a little bit of colorblind casting, which I'm such a big proponent of, which Lim Manuel successfully proved in Hamilton.

And people have been talking about it since the 60s. Let's try to do colorblind casting. And so, you know, Bob was white. I was Latin X. And they put us together as brother. No, I mean, we don't share any DNA. But we were brothers. Yeah.

We were soulmates. You know, I love the man. Rest in peace. Brilliant Bob Huskins. You know, I couldn't understand the word he said, unfortunately. He's such a, he's so cocked me, you know. He's like, hey, good-a-on-you-gay-a-old-old-you-old-old-he-sple-he-he-old. It's really, you know, so forth you think, and hear this guy.

And he, like, you can't understand the word. He's like, he needed, you know, he needed subtitles. Subtitles, right. Even when I was hanging out with it. Was that a fun movie to make and to see the response to it? Yeah. I think this worked. I think I enjoyed that one more off camera.

I had such a great crew. On camera it was a little difficult, I got to say. We were all like really arrogant actors. You know, like Bob Hoskin was nominated for an Oscar. I had won awards off Broadway. And we all, like, thought we were better than the material. So we were always trying to elevate it and make it better and feeling like we were failing. And yet, you know, you.

You know, it became a children's classic, and here they are remaking it, which gives it more credits. I was going to ask you about that. They're remaking it now. Any potential for a cameo? I would think. Right? Yeah. Let's see. Did it still nothing?

Nothing, nothing. Oh, I still having an airplane mode. It's not because they're not calling me. Duh. It's ringing off the hook. You just can't hear it. It's on silent mode. I don't want to go out my phone.

I'm on you. Another favorite. audiences love is Tuang Fu. Oh, yeah, yeah, important. Which is just an amazing movie. Why was that movie? You say it's an important movie. Why was it?

Why was that so significant? Why do you think it resonated so much with people? I think it's really important because, I mean, from what audiences tell me, you know, was the first time that kids, LGBTQ kids could see themselves, especially Latin kids, because he's somebody who looked like them, trying to represent them. Obviously, today you wouldn't cast me. you know, you wouldn't cast cisgender guys in these roles. But back then, you know, we were trying to do the best.

And Wesley and Patrick, another rest in peace, we were really trying to do right by them. And we went to all the Esquilita, all the transgender clubs, the balls, and try to really learn. We had coaches. Mine was Larita Dumont, Puerto Rican transgender woman. And she was coaching me. Wesley had Coco.

and I can't remember Candice. Candice was... Good memory. Yeah, I know crazy, right? That is crazy, yeah. I can't remember what I have for breakfast, but I can remember that. I guess that's what I have when I go to the old folks' actors home.

I can remember a line from every movie I ever done. I can't remember who my family members are. And you're going to become an old Southern man, apparently. That's what happens. That's the real twist. It's really weird. When Latin people get old, they start talking like they're from the South, because, you know, I don't know.

That's what happens to us. It's not mine. We're seeing the full. menu of impersonations here today. It's really, really something. Stick around to hear more of my conversation with John Leguizamo right after a break. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast.

Now more of my conversation with John Leguizamo. You, I was reading, I think it was about five years ago, you wrote an op-ed for the New York Times, which was like heartbreaking in a way where you said, I can't remember the exact phrase, but it's too bad you're Latin or you're, you know, there was some way, like, you would be, some superstar, even in another level,

if you weren't Latin, and you were taking that from a quote. Somebody actually said that to you out loud. Yeah, some actually thoughtful producer. He wasn't putting me down. Yeah. You know, he was just helping me understand. In some way, he was trying to help me understand my situation.

Yeah. That he saw that I was so eager, and he said, talented. But he said, too bad, you're Puerto Rican, because if you weren't, you'd be such a big star. But it was a reality. It was a reality. I mean,

Right now, I mean, we're 4.5% of the faces in front of the camera and less than 1% of the stories in Hollywood, less than 1% of the executives. And that was worse back then. You know, it was like 1%. But we're 20% of the population. We should be 20% of the roles in front of the camera, 20% of the executives of the stories. We over index in the box office. We're 25% of the U.S. box office. And we're huge on streaming.

And we just need equal representation. And I think Hollywood and streamers should just look at the last senses and match us up. Just matches up. That's all I'm asking for. I'm asking for more. I just match us up. You've been at this for a long time. Oh, yeah.

Do you feel like it? Does it look like it? I look great today. No, no, no. This lighting is fantastic. I mean, you do look great. But you've been saying what you just said. You don't have a kiss up to me.

This isn't a new thing. This isn't a new thing for you've been doing this. You've been saying this matches for a long time. Do you feel it getting better? when you go into talk to executives? Does it feel like things are changing a little bit at least? Yeah, I feel a little positivity happening. I really do.

I feel like studios and networks have the mandates correct. They're all trying to get Latin executives in there. They're definitely trying to do Latin content. The movie I just did, the menu that I shot with Anya Taylor Joy, the lead from Queens Gambit, Ray Fines, the director, Mark Mila, brilliant director from Succession, and Rewiters from Succession, session, this three lead Latin actors.

That was like, we saw each other and our eyes are, you know, well up with tears because we never get to be in movies together. You're always like the one Latin person token, whatever you want to call it. But here we were three lead roles in a movie. It was wild to see that. So I felt like, oh my God, is this a sign of things to come? Are we going to be equally fairly represented? That'd be wild.

You certainly do your part and you always have, and I'm going to say it if John won't. PhenomX coming to a movie theater. Let's call it Summer 23, 24, something like that. Let's get that in your Outlook calendar. Huge blockbuster hit. Will says it will come out. Don't hold me to that. I will hold you to it.

But do give me the 10% if it does happen. Oh, yeah, I should. I owe you something for it. Maybe a dinner. Yeah, let's do that. Let's go over the dinner. Okay, let's do it. Maybe a copy of the comic book sign.

That's not going to cut it with me. All right, last question for you. what else is out there that you want to do? I mean, I feel like just looking at your career, you've done everything. It seems like in terms of theater and performance and now comic books and everything else. Is there something else in your creative mind

that you go, ooh, that's been out there for a while. I just haven't had time to do it or whatever that might be? There is, there is. I've been, I mean, Lynn Manuel was a huge inspiration to me, and I felt like, oh, my God, Broadway is a place that has much more equity than all the other mediums.

somehow, if he would have pitched Hamilton to a studio, it would have been like, wait a minute, Burr is black, and Hamilton is Puerto Rican. That was not how it happened, and it definitely didn't speak in rap back then. But on Broadway, you've had a great script, and you found the money, that's it. You just rent the barn.

Right. And so I want to do that. I want to write a musical, even though I can't sing. I have an incredible voice, though, but I can't carry a tune or match a pitch, but it's an incredible voice. You sing in the shower?

That's about as far as it goes. As far as you, anybody should let it go. Anyway, so I want to write a musical and that's my next thing. That's amazing. Have you started to think about what that might be? Really? Yeah. You've started writing it.

Oh, been writing it. Really? Kiss my ass tech. What is it? Kiss my ass tech. Come on. Really? Yeah.

It's going to open up in a small theater at Hartford stage April 2020. Oh, so this is already, this is happening. This is down the road. Yeah, no, no, it's, it's, yeah. I say, but I want to get to Broadway with it. Right. That's my dream. We'll follow the Hamilton path. Yeah.

To the public, next thing you know. Right, right, right. You know, he knows everything. Let's do it. Well, I have no doubt you will do it. You've done everything else. It's so good to talk to you, John. Oh, what a pleasure, man.

Thanks. This is fun. My big thanks again to John for a great conversation. His new comic book series, Phenom X, debuts on November 10th, and his new film Encanto hits theaters on November 24th. My thanks to all of you for listening. hear more of my conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist.

We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.