In Paramount+'s At Midnight, Alejandro (Diego Boneta) is a hotel manager. Sophie (Monica Barbaro) is a movie star. He's focused on opening his own hotel. She’s trying to focus on shooting her new superhero film. But she catches her co-star and boyfriend (Anders Holm) cheating.
Fate strikes when the shoot brings them all to Alejandro’s hotel in Mexico, and despite their radically different lives, Alejandro and Sophie begin to secretly meet...At Midnight.
The movie also stars Casey Thomas Brown as Chris, Sophie's talent manager and old friend; Catherine Cohen as Rachel, Sophie's loyal and free-spirited best friend; Fernando Carsa as Tachi, Alejandro's best friend and bartender at the hotel; Whitney Cummings as Margot, a powerful Hollywood agent who represents both Sophie and Adam; and Maya Zapata as Aurelia, the hotel manager and Alejandro's strict boss.
This week, we were fortunate enough to speak with Monica Barbaro about playing Sophie, a love interest and superhero in this hilariously charming new romantic comedy.
During the course of our conversation, the actor reflected on getting to don her own superhero costume as "Firephina," what it was like to follow the massive success of Top Gun: Maverick with this project, and the fun she had on set with her co-stars in the beautiful surroundings of Mexico.
Barbaro also weighs in on her love of the rom-com genre, possibly starring in a Marvel to DC project down the line, and where she believes things currently stand with Top Gun 3.
You can watch our full conversation in the player below.
I had such a good time with this film. You must have had so much fun making it!
So, so much fun. We absolutely loved filming in Mexico; it was just such a treat. Diego Boneta is obviously from Mexico, so he’s the greatest host and art imitated life as he gave the best tour of the city. Cancun too. Jonah Feingold, our director, is as New York as you can get and he was just living it up in the Mexican sun and we had such a great time.
You’re fresh off a huge hit with Top Gun: Maverick, so how exciting was it to follow that with a movie that lets you dive into a romantic comedy and play a superhero?
[Laughs] It was fun and helpful that I’d worked on Top Gun as I think I used as much of the experience as I could of taking that and the intensity of stunt work and high concept epic storytelling and incorporated it into [my character’s] experience. Also, the exhaustion of those days is where you find the scene where she’s in the kitchen looking for any food…that was really us sometimes coming off [Top Gun’s] set! It was fun to use that, but it was also a pretty huge pivot as Phoenix was not there to be a romantic interest and was a really great friend and member of the team. So, to have a romantic story was also a lot of fun,
Firephina is a really fun riff on a superhero, but what was it like for you to suit up and get at least a taste of what those big franchises are like?
I definitely learned a lot about it. I don’t think I paid attention to this before, but when people say those suits are uncomfortable…our wardrobe stylist did the most incredible job making that design and doing the drawings and having someone make the suit. They’re no joke, and then you put them on and say, ‘You know what, I could use a little butt pad…’ [Laughs] We had a lot of fun with that and making fun of the genre. As much as I am a fan of it, we enjoyed poking fun at ourselves as actors and filmmakers. We had a good, silly time with it.
So, if Marvel or DC comes calling, is that genre one that interests you? Or did you have your fill in this film?
No, it was really fun to do. Absolutely, if the right part came along. I also grew up a fan of the material and, as a kid, read more of the Archie comics but was a fan of Wonder Woman, Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, and was all about the Marvel characters like The Avengers world they started to create. I think they’ve done a great job with it. Spider-Man: No Way Home, behind you, I had a great time watching that. There are some really incredible pieces that they’ve done so, yeah, of course!
There has been a resurgence of romantic comedies lately which I think everyone has welcomed, but are you a fan of the genre and were there any movies or performances you had in the back of your mind when approaching this role?
I love romantic comedies. I kind of considered it as a right of passage as an actor to be in one at some point, so it made so much sense to find one, especially after doing Top Gun which was so different. I always thought Kate Hudson was so incredible in How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. Sandra Bullock is really great at it. Julia Roberts. It’s funny, because I think it’s an undervalued genre in a way, but the ability to be both romantic and funny, and awkward at times and emotionally poignant at others, takes a lot of effort. I maybe misjudged it a little bit before stepping on to this set, but it was a lot of fun. We were making each other laugh and fall in love.
The movie reminded me of La La Land in some ways as this budding romance becomes very heightened and seems to affect the world around it, but what did you enjoy most about exploring Sophie and Alejando’s unique dynamic?
I agree, I think there’s this magical realism that takes hold which is really fun to watch. I think falling in love can feel like that. It can feel like you’re floating or dancing. Are they really that great at dancing or are they imagining it because they’re so in love? [Laughs] I think all of those things are really fun to play with and you’re making a movie, so it’s worth bending reality in a way.
I love the back and forth between you and Diego, and you and Anders, but is it fair to say Adam Clark probably ranks among the most insufferable exes you’ve encountered in a romcom?
[Laughs] Yeah, Anders had a challenging task. He’s so talented and funny and a writer and director in his own right, so he understands the call of duty. He did a really good job being someone you don’t want her to be with, but also laying in a few nice moments so we see why she was with him and we don’t feel like she’s completely crazy! He did a lovely job of still charming her and being funny and trying to be his best self in a way that, at times, is insufferable but you also can’t help but love him. I think he did a great job [Laughs].
I have to ask - there’s a lot of chatter about another Top Gun movie. If Tom Cruise decides to make another, are you hoping to play Phoenix again?
I would absolutely love to revisit Pheonix and get to be in her shoes again. To the extent I feel they should make another movie right away? I think their patience with this particular franchise…I really respect that they’ve taken their time and been very intentional in their decisions with it, choosing not to make a second one until they had the technology and a story they really liked and wanted to dive into. There’s something kind of beautiful about 30 years going by, and using that nostalgia but also making a very, very different movie from the original…so, I’ll respect the time if that’s what’s required!
At Midnight begins streaming on Paramount+ this Friday, February 10.