In Snag, an Australian lone wolf's quiet existence is shattered when he learns that the woman he once loved and thought was dead is alive and held captive by ruthless gangsters. Now, to take on this dangerous criminal organization, he must seek out allies and storm into a world of violence to rescue the love of his life in this gritty, modern-day violent fairytale.
Among those allies is Jaime Camil's (Jane the Virgin, Coco, Schmigadoon) Marco, an old friend of the title character who has a mysterious past and is every bit the badass as Ben Milliken's Snag.
During this conversation about his action-packed role, we learn how the actor balanced that side of things with the movie's more intimate moments and find out what he enjoyed most about working with former WWE Superstar CJ Perry/Lana (she plays a Terminator-like mercenary who takes aim at Marco).
The actor also shares his hopes to join the Coco musical that's in the works for Broadway and the importance of hearing the Spanish language in films. Jaime concludes by making it clear he's keen to take on even more action roles down the line!
Check out our interview with the Snag star in the player below.
When we first meet Marco, he clashes with Snag and that means coming to blows with your co-star and director; that must have been a pretty unique experience.
Man, Ben Milliken…one thing I’ll say about that guy is I just love him so much. We have become really close friends and see each other once a week in Los Angeles. His son is a good friend with my kids and, you have no idea, I love the guy. I was so happy to work with such a kind and generous individual because he’s amazing, but also a director that is very precise and clear about what he wants and how he’s going to put the scene together. Just working with someone who has so much clarity and precision on how he’s going to put his project together is a gift for us as actors. When you work with an insecure director, overshooting and doing too much because he or she is not really sure about what they want…oof, that is painful. That was never the case with Ben, thank God.
In terms of your training and preparation for this role, what did that consist of you for you?
I have a bone to pick with them. I don’t care if your readers and viewers hear this from me…Ben and I shot the action fight from beginning to end. For safety reasons - Hollywood - they like to say, ‘No, no, let’s shoot the fight scenes with the stunt team. Just for fun and to have a different perspective.’ This wasn’t Ben the director, but Ben the actor, and we were saying, ‘Oh no, Ben and I have been rehearsing and feel super comfortable.’ So, okay, we do the fight scene from beginning to end and then hand it over to the stuntmen. I can see, in the editing, when they used them! Why did they do that? Why are they using them? [Laughs] Ah, Ben did a good job. I think the editing is really well done and, yeah, it was fun. I love to do action scenes. I used to own a boxing gym here in Los Angeles and did eight years of karate and was a black belt. I’m very comfortable doing action scenes.
There’s a great scene where we learn about Marco’s history with Snag and it’s this really intimate moment between all the crazy action; do you enjoy scenes like that as much as the fight scenes?
100%. As you know, Josh, when you have actors who don’t have a conflict or characters who are even comic relief…we say ‘carnita’ in Mexico. If they don’t have meat and more to give to the project beyond funny comments here or there, it’s a very superficial and empty character. I think it’s very important to have that and, thanks to the writers who really wrote Marco and everyone as very well-rounded characters. He has a story and an arc. His story is connected to Snag’s heart and that gives the character more depth and a reason to be in the movie.
CJ Perry plays The Reaper in this movie and she comes from a pro wrestling background so what was it like to go head-to-head with her as Marco?
It’s my favourite! We were rehearsing and, of course, CJ is kicking my butt in every rehearsal. I’m saying, ‘CJ, c’mon…take it easy with a brother!’ [Laughs] She’s really good at punching, Josh. She’s really good at flying, at kicking, and also very good at acting. Of course, I needed a little more time rehearsing with the fight coordinators for the stunts and CJ didn’t. It threatened my manhood a little bit [Laughs] but at the end of the day, the scene was incredible. We had to, unfortunately, shorten our fight scene because of time restrictions on set. It was meant to be longer, but the sun was coming out and Ben took the creative decision to say, ‘Look, it’s great. Let’s cut this and this.’ CJ and I both said, ‘No! Don’t cut our fight scene! It’s amazing.’ You have to do what you have to do.
Did you walk away from that or any other action scene in the movie with any minor bumps or bruises?
Well, Josh, I know you’re looking at me thinking, ‘Wow, that youngster…he’s 20,’ but no, I’m 49. So, yes, at some point, your body gets a little thing called age that gets in the way, right? So, the other day, I was reaching for my helmet in my closet and I got stuck because my lower back just said, ‘I’m not going to work with you anymore.’ I do love the fight scenes, but I have to warm up a lot and get ready. Then I do them and have fun.
Coco is my all-time favourite Pixar movie, so I’d love to know how you look back at the experience of playing Papá and whether you’re hoping a sequel could eventually come around?
I don’t know about a sequel, Josh, but I know they are working on the Broadway show. I am willing to give up a kidney or a lung, maybe, to play [Ernesto] de la Cruz. I would love to play him in the Broadway version of Coco. Hopefully, I’m just saying it to manifest it in the universe because that would be a dream come true.
The mix of Spanish and English language in the film is great to see, but what did it mean to you to be working on a project like this one where it’s handled perhaps a little better than we’ve seen on screen in the past?
It’s so natural, Josh. I’m an American and Mexican citizen and, for us, if you live in this country, it’s so natural for us to speak to our Spanish-speaking friends in Spanish and then turn to our American friends and speak in English and then we forget the English friends are there and start to translate. That transition between them is such a natural and normal thing for us and the fact you do it in the movie or in my last show, Jane the Virgin…there, you see the grandmother or abuela speak in Spanish and Gina replies to her in English…that is how we live our lives! As long as it isn’t used in projects to target U.S. Hispanics, then you’re good. As a Mexican myself, I would never allow for my culture or language to be used as a gimmick. Never. It’s very natural and the way we conduct our lives in this country. It’s just the way it is.
Finally, do you think there could be more action roles or even a superhero project down the line for you?
Yeah! Hopefully man, hopefully. I was the main villain in Kimi, the Steven Soderbergh film, and there was not too much action there. I’d have loved to fight more, but it was more of a sinister bad guy. Hey, who knows? I know Ben really wants to do a sequel of Snag so there are a lot of plans there. Nothing has been materialised yet, but yes, of course, the action thing is crazy fun.
Snag arrives in select theatres and on Digital starting April 28. The movie will be available on Demand on May 12.