(upbeat music)
- Right now we have David Castaneda
in the studio today, hello.
- Hell yeah, man, you got it right.
- I did, right.
That was like a second try too.
- Honestly.
- Which is good.
- You just got your Mexican citizenship.
- Oh, damn.
- Just for that.
- I've been waiting for that.
- Wait, are you Mexican?
- No I'm not.
- Okay, because your
last name is double R.
- Yeah, it's Porreca, it's Italian.
- Oh, okay, when I read it I was like
oh double R, that's my,
I was like there's a.
- Maybe, I don't think I am.
- Yeah, Porreca.
- Porreca.
- Porreca, okay, cool.
That's a dope ass last name.
- It is, I like it.
A lot of people like pronounce
it weird different ways.
- Yeah, what's the weirdest
way you've heard it?
- Like pa-bra-cah or like stuff like that.
- Pab-bra-cah?
- Like more like paprika kind of mix-up.
- In a sense.
- That's weird.
- I had one call me Castanza.
Yeah like I'm a big Seinfeld guy.
- [Brian] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- So he'd be like Castanza.
Dude, no, that's like way off.
- That's so off.
That's when they do, they like make it
even further off than it.
- Yeah.
- They make it more
complicated than it is.
- They used to call me Cassie
Casaneda in high school.
- That's a cool nickname.
- It was a great nickname.
- No one calls you that anymore.
- No, no, no, no.
It's because I used to, I
played football and did theater.
- Okay.
- Yeah, so they used to make fun of me.
- All right, are you
here to talk all things
The Umbrella Academy?
- Yes.
- We've survived the apocalypse sort of.
- Yes.
- We should celebrate.
- Yes.
- But first I wanted to
know what about Diego
kind of stood out to you in the script,
and what made you want to join the show?
- Well I wanted to join the
show 'cause I needed a job.
That was the first thing.
Second of all.
- Good reason too.
- Well yeah man you know.
But the second of all, I
mean I think once you start
kind of working with the
people involved in the show,
you know Steve Blackman
who's the showrunner
had an amazing pedigree coming from Fargo
and working on Altered Carbon and Legion.
And he kind of poached
a lot of the writers
from Fargo and brought 'em over.
So that was obviously one of the factors
that came in about when you're talking
about a superhero genre
and how they kind of
are going to bend that
into something different.
But you know when I read Diego,
there was something very,
um, how would I say this?
Diego was very much a guy
with a chip on his shoulder and was so.
- [Brian] Merch.
- Yeah, but was very
oblivious of it, you know,
because he was such a, he
had one way of thinking.
And the relationship
between every single sibling
that Diego had to me was so special.
And it's in the way that
the dad kind of implemented
you know, this thing of
trying to be a superhero
and didn't know what
else to do but be that.
And the resentment that
comes across for all of them.
But yeah, I mean obviously you know,
Steve, when we talked, he wanted Diego
to have some kind of vulnerability aside
you know, a la the mom.
Because in the comic, that's not there.
And also what, you know,
what do kids go through
when they're going
through a lot of trauma,
which obviously a lot of
the ability to express himself is so hard.
So we went with like a stammer, you know.
At least a slight of it, you know.
- What's interesting about him
is he's both holding onto his childhood
but also denying it.
- Yeah.
- Can you kind of talk about that dynamic
and playing the two roles.
'Cause he's the only one who still wants
to kind of save the day, be this vigilante
and be this hero.
But at the same time he.
- You know, he doesn't
know what else to do.
- No.
- You know, he's a kid in a man's body.
And he's trying to hold onto whatever.
You know, Luther has the same thing
where he's trying to hold
onto what the Academy is.
But Diego I think holds
it almost as an individual
where he sees his siblings.
And they have these amazing powers.
And they're not using them for the good.
Or at least for what
he got programmed to do
by Reginald Hargreeves.
Diego is just literally a person
that doesn't know anything different.
And it's not so much of trying to help you
because you need to be helped.
It's I'm going to help you so you see me.
You see me, and you give me validation.
You know, that was, at
least the perspective
that I took when I
signed on to play Diego.
- And you mention his
relationship with his mother,
which is really interesting because
he doesn't want to open up to anyone,
but he opens up to her.
Obviously, she is his mother,
and she's also a robot.
- Yeah.
- So what do you think
that says about Diego?
- Well he doesn't know what love is.
- [Brian] Yeah.
- He doesn't know to interpret it.
And when, you know, when you're
looking for affection right.
So think about when I start doing research
of like kids that come from foster homes
or adopted you know,
there is a thought that, you know,
whether you were given
up or you were, you know,
think of Diego.
Diego was sold, so there was
a price that was put on him
by a biological mother.
And even worse was that
Hargreeves bought him
for a tag, you know.
So that itself kind of takes,
develops into its own way,
especially when he's
exposed to like celebrity
at such a young age.
And then everyone separates.
- [Brian] Yeah.
- Yeah.
- One thing where he's holding
onto his childhood still,
he's still the only one to wear the mask.
Do you have that mask,
and are you wearing it around a lot or?
- Yes.
- Sure you look out for it.
- I do, I haven't.
I wear it in my shower most of the time.
And it's, no I don't wear it.
I don't wear it out.
- [Brian] Can I borrow it?
- Yeah, I don't have it actually.
They never gave it to me.
I wish they would have.
I wish they would have let
me keep the knives also.
- Okay.
- But the pants, I do wear them.
- Speaking of the knives
and a lot of the fight choreography,
how much training went into that?
I know you have a boxing interest
and a boxing background.
Is that correct?
- Yeah, I mean, enough
to do it recreationally.
But no, not in a sense
of like I'm going to go
and whoop some ass.
- [Brian] No.
- But yeah, I mean I used to do Taekwondo
when I was a kid and--
- Muhammad Ali's a big
hero of yours right?
- Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
- I have a Muhammad Ali tattoo right.
- No shit, really, okay yeah.
Muhammad Ali actually when I was,
when I moved here from Mexico,
he was, he was my poster on my
wall for like, I don't know,
'til I moved out of the house.
Maybe like five years.
That was the first thing I
would see leaving out of the,
leaving home to go to school.
- [Brian] That's incredible.
- Yeah.
- How much went into
the fight choreography
and the training?
- A lot.
I think six wees prior to
shooting, I started training.
One of my, a good buddy of mine,
he's a very, very good mixed guy.
You know, we started going
to Muay Thai, Taekwondo
and then when I got to Toronto,
they set me up with Tommy Chang,
who's a fight coordinator.
And throughout the seven
months, it was just like
on my days off, I'd go to the dojo.
I'd fight with Olympians.
It was insane, like these
19-year-old, men and women.
And I would get my ass whooped
by every single one of them.
But it was such a humbling experience.
- [Brian] That's the
best training you can do.
- Well yeah because at the end of the day
when I would go to set
and I would get to fight,
my biggest thing was like
if someone that knows
this kind of fight style,
that they can watch it,
and they can be like,
okay, he put the work in it.
And it's not just someone coming in
and learning how to move.
But when you show up to the,
when you block it on set,
you're not taking six hours
to shoot a fight scene.
Hopefully you'll take four,
and that saves a lot of time.
- Can you teach me how to
hang from these chairs,
or is it probably too
restrictive right now?
- Uh, yeah, I mean I can,
if you swing with this arm,
like if you swing at me right,
so it would be like a simple like this.
And then I can break you.
And then from here, I'd go like this.
And then I'd hit you in the elbow.
- [Brian] That's good.
- Yeah.
- [Brian] Let's it try it again so.
- Well can we try it again?
But I won't do it too fast
because then I would tip, right.
So if you swing, I'd go like this
and I'd break you here.
- Damn.
- And then 'cause you're coming close.
- Well actually, that hurts the most yeah.
- Oh yeah, and then I'd come here
and then I'd elbow you.
And that'll drop you off.
And then from here, I can actually just.
- Splat.
- Yeah, but then you hit the knee, boom.
And then you move on forward.
- [Brian] That's crazy.
- It's all right.
- Another choreography I
want to talk about is the
I think we're alone now dance scene.
- Yeah.
- Can we talk about that
and the filming of that?
- Uh yeah, so when we first started,
read the script and I was like okay,
this is going to be really
dope or just horrible.
- Because the song was
written in the script.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And you're reading it,
and you're thinking
about these superheroes
dancing to this song.
And you're thinking, what are we doing?
What is, what is this?
And we trusted Steve Blackman,
who's the showrunner of The Umbrella.
He said, okay, he gave us an
essence of each character.
And he's like, this is
how I think your character
should be or dance.
And so I start doing a lot of research on,
you know, I would watch like Fresh Prince.
- [Brian] No.
- And Will Smith, the way he would dance
and all these things.
And figure out how to integrate that
into like the violent
movements that Diego has.
And when I was in Mexico,
I used to break dance.
I mean, I was pretty horrible at it.
But I used to break dance.
And I implemented all that.
And it's funny 'cause
I had all this routine
rehearsed for myself.
- [Brian] Yeah.
- And they put this cam--
- [Brian] 'Cause you've
got moves, those were the.
- They're decent, man, my mom
made me take salsa classes
when I was in high school too.
So I have like this
background in a lot of kind of
different kinds of dance.
But there's this camera, and I'm there.
And the whole crew's behind you.
And they put the song as loud as possible,
and they say dance.
- [Brian] Go.
- And I just blacked out,
and I danced however I remember dancing.
Any move that I can remember
when I was in high school,
I mean, excuse me in
elementary, I just danced.
And then we did it twice
'cause I would be
exhausted after each take.
And I had no idea what they
used, and then I saw it
and I was like oh shit.
- Um, music is heavily
influenced in the show.
It kind of drives the story.
Obviously Gerard Way is
from My Chemical Romance.
Do you have any favorite
My Chemical Romance songs?
- The Black Parade.
- [Brian] Yeah, we were playing that
before you got here actually.
- Really?
- [Brian] Yeah.
- To get into the mood or what?
- Well I heard it recently
when I landed off of a flight.
And it just kind of puts
you in such a good mood.
It just pumps you up.
- I know that Tom was mentioning
that he likes to put that
on when he works out.
- Yeah, it's like a pump up jam.
- Yeah, I think I was in high school
when that song came out.
- Yeah, it's been a little.
- Yeah, it was like I used
to have my hair like this
and like black and all these things.
- Um, now is there a character's
powers that you would want
if you were able to switch with at all?
Like as an actor, something
you would want to--
- No, not at all, I mean I
like the physicality of Diego.
And I really enjoy the fact
that he has to be more tactile.
And I had to learn how to use knives,
and I'd go home, I'd actually
play with the knives.
- Yeah can you talk about
working with knives?
- Yeah, I would cook
obviously, I love cooking.
And so I would just play with knives.
I would watch games, and
I'd just be playing with
like twirling a knife.
And eventually, hopefully
when I would get to set
and I would have a knife,
it didn't feel like it was a knife.
It felt like it was just
an extension of my body.
- Oh my gosh, that's awesome.
- Yeah, and so for
example, in episode nine
when I'm fighting Cameron,
and you're seeing me swing that knife,
that's a real knife.
That's a real knife.
- [Brian] That's insane.
- I'm swinging at him,
and Cameron was like he was game, man.
He was like I don't care about my face.
And I was like great.
- [Brian] Risking it all.
- I don't care about your face
either, let's do it, yeah.
Or when I kicked him in the
back, he was like kick me.
So he flew out of the frame.
That was him actually flying.
Yeah, it wasn't like he was falling.
- Those scenes are honestly
some of my favorite.
The action scenes, the
fight scenes are just,
and just seeing you as
embracing who you really are.
- Yeah.
- And not fighting it.
Now onscreen, the family is dysfunctional.
But offscreen you guys
seem to be really close.
Can you kind of talk about
your favorite memories
from filming with everyone?
Maybe you and Robert.
- No, yeah, Robert and I we did a lot,
we had a lot of fun shooting our scenes.
Especially four and
five and then eventually
as we got further, we all
had a different dynamic.
But when we would all come together,
those were the interesting ones
because obviously everyone
has their own intentions
of how to do things.
And obviously Diego is
completely oblivious
of the apocalypse up
until maybe episode seven.
So it's almost like a push and pull
when we would all get in the same room,
especially in the living room.
It was great because
even though those were the longest scenes
when they would yell cut,
everyone would just be
like shooting the shit.
- Now where we end season
one, when it comes to Vanya,
do you think these characters
should have helped her
rather than locking
her up in a metal cage?
What's your take?
- Well, I mean, obviously it
wouldn't have been a good story
if we didn't put her in.
- [Brian] Lock her up.
- Lock her up, but what
the craziest thing about it
is this is what's going
to cause a crossroads
of what you should have done.
But the fact that you can follow it
and not question it as much until the end,
I think that's great.
It says a lot on Tom to, playing Luther,
who was able to actually
just, I really believed him,
when he was like hugging him
where he had to do what's
best for the world.
'Cause he knew, he was like Vanya
is going to cause this thing.
And also Vanya slit Allison's throat.
- [Brian] That scene.
- You know what I mean?
And Luther loves Allison,
you know what I'm saying?
They got a thing going on.
- So you think he did it for Allison
rather than the greater good of the world?
- I think he did it for both.
But when you have two
reasons to do something,
obviously you're going to put
Vanya into a hug slash headlock.
- It makes sense.
Now one of the most gut-wrenching things
that happened at the end
is when she killed Pogo.
What was your reaction to that
and the cast's reaction to that?
It's so sad.
- Oh man, it was tough.
Honestly, Adam Godley man, what
a performance that dude did.
'Cause I'm watching that, and
obviously Ken Hall was great.
Ken Hall was the actual body of Pogo.
But now when I saw it, I was like man,
there was just a, such a fine line between
being the person of the
house and respecting the kids
but also knowing how to
push them in certain ways.
And then when Vanya just does that to him,
I was like I felt, I felt that moment.
It's funny because Mary
J. didn't even know
there was a monkey on the show
until she saw the first episode.
- Then she started getting
questions about it?
- She's like wait, wait, wait,
there's a monkey in here.
And I was like yeah, there's a monkey.
Yeah, there's a monkey.
And it was one of the funniest thing.
I couldn't stop laughing
when she said that.
- What would you want to
see in the next chapter
for the show or season two?
- If there was a season two,
I would say that one of the
best things about the show is
the fact of how the characters arc.
And it takes time to see people
grow out of the traumas that they have.
So I'd like to see where Diego goes
in terms of okay, obviously he's able
to cope with a lot more things.
But now he lost his mom, he lost Patch.
So there is a sense of either Diego
can go completely just insane off of it.
Or he might just be a kid.
'Cause if you see in the last.
- [Brian] If you go back to.
- Yeah, if you see in
the last, episode 10,
they turn into kids and
then they disappear.
So I don't know, maybe I
have a job, maybe I don't.
- I know you have a few
other projects coming up.
What can you tease about
what we can expect from you.
- I have two of em.
One's coming out in Tribeca.
Standing Up, Falling
Down with Billy Crystal,
which is written by Peter
Hoare and Matt Ratner.
And Peter Hoare, which is interesting,
there's a, the director
of our first ever pilot,
his name is Peter Hoar also.
Not the same guy, different spelling.
I don't know if that's
relevant but and then May 3rd.
- Speaking of last names.
- Yeah, speaking of last names.
And then yeah, and then May
3rd I have a film coming out
called The Chicano with Raul Castillo,
who is a really, really good actor.
He's in this independent
film called We The Animals.
Have you ever seen that?
- No, I haven't but.
- I've heard really good things about it.
I shouldn't bring it up
'cause I haven't seen it.
Sorry, Raul, I'll watch it soon though.
- Well until then, we can watch you all
in the Umbrella Academy.
Thank you so much for being here.
- Thank you.
- Appreciate it.
- Appreciate it for having me.
