(upbeat music)
- Hey everyone, welcome to The Hollywood Reporter in studio,
I'm joined by Mishel Prada who
is starring in the new TV show Vida.
And it is the recent Audience Award
winner at South by Southwest.
You are amazing in the show.
- Thank you.
- I'm so excited for this to come out.
First thing I wanna know is what were your
first thoughts when you got this script in your hands?
- I was really excited for the script.
I think we haven't really seen something
like this on TV, these characters,
these just vibrant and alive and flawed and human
and very independent, strong women, that are not perfect.
And that was something incredible, just as a woman,
and then as a Latina woman,
it adds this whole other layer because I have never gotten
an opportunity to play any characters like this.
And then, when I realized that I was
going to have to play Emma, I was terrified.
It just felt so much bigger than
anything that I'd be able to fill.
And then, you just kinda get there,
you get in there and do it and then just, you know,
realize that, especially with a project like this,
it's so much bigger than you.
And you just open yourself up and just
make yourself as vulnerable and as raw as possible, and
- Yeah, your character she's uh,
(Mishel laughs)
she's, you know, she's very guarded.
And it actually, I think shows your range,
because you are, you're very open,
(laughter)
you know, and obviously you're a really sweet person.
Full disclosure, we actually know each other,
so, we'll whatever,
- Yeah.
- Just to get it out there,
but, you're a very sweet person,
and kind of an open book, and you know, personally,
so, to really just be closed off,
where were you drawing from when you were playing her?
When you were in her shoes?
Was it just written on the page that well or?
- Well, yeah, I mean a lot of the stuff
was just written on the page,
like just the things that she says
are you know, there, and then,
I think with her I actually had to
start with the vulnerability.
What is so soft, and so tender, and so fragile
that you would need to protect it that much?
And I think that took a lot of, kind of, unpacking myself,
and going through these little kind of,
stone boxes that you kind of put aside,
and you're like, I'm past that.
And then you're like, alright, c'mon,
let's, let's bring this out,
let's deal with these little demons.
And then, figuring out the parts of you
that are there, because it's a spectrum, we exist,
like, at any point you feel like you could
be so mad you could hurt somebody, or,
feel so hurt that you are like,
I never even want ever to be close
to anybody ever again because people suck.
And you remember those parts and then,
just like a little radio, you turn those volumes up.
And that's kinda where you start.
And then, you show up on set with all of these
pieces that you've put together
and if you are lucky, like we were,
you have other actors that you get to
reflect with, and play and grow, and you know,
you water these little seeds that you've planted.
And then, then if you're even luckier,
you get an amazing director or amazing directors
to work with,
and, and, show runners, and then, you know,
you just kind of put it out there.
- Yeah, it seems right now that
there's a lot of backstory,
and a lot of baggage that I don't know as I'm watching it.
Will that unfold as the episodes go on?
And, were you able to dive into that backstory,
with the writers, or the you know,
the showrunners or, to really like hone
what it is that she's going through
when we smack right into the series?
- Yeah.
- What was that like, building that backstory?
- A hundred percent, I mean, the writers are all Latinx.
And mostly women, and mostly queer women,
so there was a lot of little pieces
of all of them in there, and,
they made themselves so available,
to be able to discuss any ideas or backstories,
so that there was already a backstory in place.
But there was always the openness
and the collaboration to be able to
bring your ideas and the things that you wanted.
And then, yeah, I mean,
- Did they tell you that backstory?
- They told, Tanya sat down with me,
and kinda gave me a little bit of the backstory,
especially because we didn't really get the whole season.
You know, we were getting them as we were shooting them.
So to kind of just know where we were going,
know some of the pivotal scenes that are coming up.
Where that's coming from and where that shame lies,
because I think with both Emma and Lyn
you see a lot of fear, that they are operating off of.
And then, with Emma specifically,
it's a lot of this buried shame that
eventually she has to kind of come to terms with.
With herself, and then the neighborhood
that she left behind.
- Yeah. You have some pretty emotional scenes,
especially the end of the first episode.
That, not to give it away but,
it's emotional, it made me very emotional to watch.
- It's still emotional for me to watch it.
- What's it like when you're in it though?
And whenever you know, a director yells cut
during something like that.
Do you, are you able to turn it on and off?
- No, I mean, I'm sure there are actors that can.
I, it's not really a turning on and off,
it's almost like turning the volume up and down.
And also, really taking the time to take care of yourself,
and have a lot of self care.
With that scene specifically,
it was really powerful because even in reading the script,
by the time I got to the end of it
I was bawling just reading the script.
And, there was something really special there,
where it, it was all so visceral,
that there wasn't this idea of preparing.
It was almost like, I'm like okay,
I'm not gonna go there until I'm on set
because I feel it all right there.
And then, it's really, yeah, not giving anything away,
but there is something really powerful
about seeing where these girls started,
and where they end up.
And then seeing what's in between.
And essentially that's what we explore
throughout the series, is what,
what does it take to get two young girls,
little girls really, to get from that point,
to the point that we meet both Emma and Ly, Emma and Lyn.
- Yeah, we get to see those little fragments
of how they grew up, which I think we can all relate to,
- Yeah.
- You know, no matter what you're background,
where you come from, and if you have siblings,
you can relate to being young
and being forced to be together
and having that connection.
- I mean like, I love you, but I hate you.
But mostly I love you, but I think mostly I might hate you.
(laughter)
Shut up, but don't leave.
- And then you become an adult and you're like,
well, I have to choose to talk to you,
whenever that's gonna be, and you know,
some people are lucky and I guess they're,
- Yeah, I don't know those people.
- They talk like all the time and whatever,
but I think there's always like, I don't know.
I think there's, there's always like something
to do with siblings and it's relatable.
- Yeah, and there's also that point where you grow up,
and you get to a point where you're like,
I'm an adult, I got this.
And then you go home and you're like, Mom, shut up.
- Yeah, you're still a little kid.
- Or you're like, that's my shirt why would you borrow it?
And you're just like, wait, no I'm an adult.
I'm gonna talk to her like a normal person.
And I think that's what's really
fun about seeing that as well.
Because you can see that both of these women
have created these lives for themselves.
And that are very different from where they came from.
And then they go back home and then they
just kind of fall back into these,
kinda habits of being sisters.
And it was really important for Melissa Barrera and I
to make sure that no matter what you could see
that there was love there.
And that there was a connection.
You could see that there was a history there.
So that it wasn't just two, you know,
sisters hating each other.
- Yeah, I mean, relationships are complicated.
- Complicated.
- Especially between women.
So a lot of this, what really struck me also,
when I watched the first two episodes was,
you're shooting a lot on location.
And I think that I read that it was in East L.A.
- Yeah, the east side of L.A.
- What neighborhoods were you in exactly?
And what was that like whenever you were filming?
Was the community, cause it touches on a lot of topics,
gentrification, stuff like that,
so, can you maybe talk a little bit about
when you were filming, in what neighborhoods,
and what that was like?
- Yeah, we kind of shot all throughout the east side of L.A.
You know, Boyle Heights, Pico/Normandie,
you know parts of the, I believe like right outside
of the downtown district.
I think a lot, which was really wonderful
to get to be a part of it because there is
a lot of sensitive issues about gentrification,
and jentafication which is the Latino
kind of youth and community coming back
and essentially gentrifying their own neighborhoods,
and what that, what that symbolizes and what that means.
But it was really, really special to also see
the respect that our crew and show runners
had for the neighborhoods.
Because it was also really, really sensitive
to kind of not also fall into the trap of being like,
we're on, we're on a TV set, so like,
I know this is your neighborhood,
but like, can you please just not get in the shot?
And using the neighborhood just as like a commodity,
as opposed to truly honoring it.
So that was a big, a big thing that
I felt really privileged to do.
And even a lot of the, like the bar,
and their house aren't real places.
So it's not a place that you know,
hopefully there won't be like a Starline tour
going through like, you know, the neighborhood.
And being like, and here is the Vida bar.
And that was all very purposeful,
so that we could still respect
the neighborhood and leave it as is.
- So when we see those exteriors of the bar,
- Those are all, fake I guess.
- Hollywood magic.
- I know, it's really, it's actually a 99 cent store.
- What?
- Yeah.
- I really thought it was a bar.
- I know, I know.
- That like, you know, part of me, was like,
oh that's really, a really cool building.
- Yeah like, yeah like, maybe I'll go visit the bar.
And that was like the thing, is that, you know,
kind of setting up a, a place that was based in reality,
but wasn't actually there, so that,
you know, essentially then we aren't like,
bringing in you know, vloggers to like, be like,
and the Vida bar has a great birria taco.
- You were exactly the opposite of what we're trying to do.
- Exactly, exactly.
- So for all of these issues that we've talked about,
the last thing that really struck me
that I kinda wanted to touch on, about the show was,
how important, and you kinda touched
on this in the beginning,
that we don't see characters like this,
we don't see shows like this.
It felt when I was watching it,
I'm not in the Latinx community,
but I felt like it was very important for this story
and for this show, to be on, a broadcast, you know, network.
What does that feel like for you?
Did you have the same feeling?
Like, did you have a gut feeling when you were,
when you first heard about the project
and when you were filming,
did you feel that like, any weight
of what a show like this means?
- Yeah, I, the project was announced,
I was so excited that a show like this existed
for someone like me, who, my mom is an immigrant.
She isn't from here, but I grew up here.
And I am very much American.
And, that, that kind of in between stage
is a really important thing to acknowledge
cause it is a very American thing.
Not, not just with the Latina communities,
but like, you know, you go Italian-American,
Jewish-American, all of these things,
like, it's actually a very American story.
So, to see that and to see that happening
at this time specifically,
is really a huge honor to get to be part
of them bringing this story to life.
And realizing that we need more stories like this.
We need to hear more voices and it doesn't
take away from the voices that are already there,
it just, if anything it just adds.
And it allows us to be able to
get into peoples living rooms,
and create conversations so that you can see like,
hey, we all want the same things, you know?
We wanna be secure, we wanna be loved,
and we're really a lot more the same than we are different.
- Yeah, we're all complex human beings.
Just trying to like,
- Yeah, in the end we're all just like, yeah.
- Have relationships with people,
in our family and just make it work.
- And like messing up half the time.
And like, doing it wrong and letting that be okay
to see these two women that have agency over their bodies,
agency of who they are,
and just still are trying to figure it out and
doing the best that they can with what they've been given.
- Yeah, the last couple of things,
I don't know if I've ever actually asked you this before,
but, I just kinda wanted to know what are some
performances or actors when you were a kid maybe,
that you, or a teenager whoever, whatever age you want,
- Yeah.
- Like, were there any movies that you watched
over and over again, just, things like that
about actors or performances?
- I think a lot of the stuff that I was inspired by
was kind of across the board specifically with art.
Nina Simone, I think really spoke to a very
specific time that also transcended that time, you know?
And she talked about how it was important for artists
to take the responsibility to reflect the times.
And I think that's something that's
really exciting about this show.
I think we are getting the opportunity to do that.
Selena was huge for me because she was exactly that,
she was Mexican-American, she was a Latina-American.
So, she was very much American,
but then connected with the Mexican audience
and then specifically the Mexican-American audience.
So, that all to me, was really important.
And then, as we know, in episode one,
there's a really incredible cameo
with her song Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,
that also I think, helped to that like, visceral emotion.
So, yeah, those are kind of my inspirations.
- Selena is amazing, I think all of us that were
of that age in the mid 90s, especially,
oh my God, the movie, yeah, like everything.
- Yeah, everything.
- I mean Selena herself, obviously first and foremost,
but the movie even, was amazing.
So last question, is there a movie or performance
that you're kind of digging that's more recent?
Like in the last year or so?
Or something that you've seen lately
that you were really into?
- Oh man.
- What should people go watch?
- What should people watch?
- What do you like?
- I was really excited with Lady Bird.
I mean, I think there was a lot of,
of subtlety there and then kind of
going back to the performances,
of these women were really special.
And then also, seeing, you know,
Greta Gerwig, kind of come, as a, as a,
from an acting background and writing,
to directing and seeing how that played out.
And just the nuances of the mother-daughter relationship.
I actually watched Lady Bird while I was shooting.
And it really helped a lot to kind of,
really visualize that, that complicated
mother-daughter relationship which we don't see any of that,
but we do see the effects of it.
And that was really, really, really, just,
I think very poignant to kind of have now.
- All good choices, love Lady Bird,
love Vida, you're so good in it.
- Aw, thank you.
- I'm just so, I'm so happy seeing you in this role,
I can't say enough good things about it.
Thank you so much for being here.
- Yeah, thanks for having me.
- And everyone watching, please watch Vida,
Sundays on Starz at 8:30 p.m.
Thanks.
- Bye
(laughter)