Interview: Michael Pena (Battle LA) By Steven Lebowitz

[Rachel Galvin]

By Steven Lebowitz, courtesy Miami Examiner

Michael Peña is a funny guy; when he walks into a room you feel like he is about to tell a real funny joke. Michael took place in a round table interview in Miami to promote his new movie, “Battle: Los Angeles”. Michael plays a father trying to keep himself and his young son alive during the alien invasion. I’ve participated in a number of round table interviews and Michael was the first person I ever saw who showed up dressed in a suit. He is clearly enjoying himself these days and has remembered the old saying, “Dress for success”. There was a sheet of paper on the table and Michael started to doodle during the questions.



How have things been for you since “Observe and Report” came out? It’s been great. Whenever it’s on cable someone says something like, “Hey dude, I drink from volcanoes.” And I’m like, what are you talking about? I don’t even remember saying that, dude.



*There hasn’t been a real good black comedy in a long time. Well Jody Hill, the movie’s director, really has a knack for it. He also does “Eastbound and Down”. He called me up and asked if I wanted to do a season and I was, like, “Yeah.” Then a week later I realized I had not read anything. Then once I got on set I was, like, “Whoa, dude.” And it was a lot of fun.



Are they going to bring you back? Maybe. I don’t know. I hope so. I like working with Danny (McBride). I really wanted to get kind of a Laurel and Hardy thing going. You know what I mean?



*Let’s talk about your new movie. Were you given much time to get to know and grow closer to Bryce Cass, who plays your son in the movie? Yeah. I would go to lunches and dinners with him and his mom. I thought that it was really important to have some kind of relationship with the kid because I think when I see movies, I can tell when the actors playing parent and child don’t. It’s not like they’re uncomfortable when they say, “I love you, dad” blah blah blah, but then you don’t buy it. It’s just that when you really know somebody it’s like you are trying to comfort them. Sometimes when you’re slapped together you do the best you can do, but when you really know somebody, even when you’re acting, you can definitely tell the difference. So that’s why it was important to me.



How true was the final version of the movie compared to what you original read in the screenplay? I think it’s much of the same, concept wise. When I first read the script the action was pretty relentless and the pacing of it is what attracted me to this. A number of things attracted me to it. It was not a perfect script in the beginning, but there was something there. I wanted to have a meeting with the director, Jonathan Liebesman and he showed me on his little laptop what the aliens were going to look like and I wanted to have a meeting with him. I have to be honest, even if the actors are amazing, but the aliens suck, I don’t want to see this movie, you know what I mean? That’s why I had the meeting and he showed me something that was awesome. It was not super glossy, like some weird metal skin. It’s actually pretty damn real and the things that he showed caught my imagination like when I was a kid. It made me start to think, can this really happen? And when you see how the aliens look you thinking to yourself, wow, maybe it can happen. Jonathan was pretty true to form because he told me he was going to shoot documentary style and I liked shooting that gritty sort of filmmaking.



You just said other things attracted to you to this project. Can you share what some of those things were? Yeah, I mean, clearly with a movie like this you have only one set of view-point and it’s usually just, like, the military fighting against the aliens. Which is cool, but it’s a different kind of movie. It’s a bit covert and it’s more the mentality of the soldiers. In this one I’m playing a civilian and instead of just being in the background the entire time I actually have some moments within this whole thing, like having some father-son moments I think was really rewarding. The stage is so big for something like that and to have any kind of moments like that is just really interesting. It doesn’t happen very much.



*You’ve been bouncing back and fourth between dramas and comedies lately, do you prefer one genre over another? The comedies are the favorite new thing for me. “Observe and Report” was my first comedy. I didn’t know if I could be funny or not. It was interesting to see if people would find what I found to be funny to be funny too, so thank God that worked out. I’ve done three “Observe and Report” which was kind of nerve-wracking, but turned out okay. Then “Eastbound and Down” and I loved working with those guys. Then I did “30 minutes or Less” with Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari and Danny McBride. All the comedies I’ve done have somehow involved Danny McBride. When I’m doing comedy, sometime towards the end of it I think “Man, I want to do me a drama,” and then when I’m doing a drama I think “Man, I want to do me some comedy.” So it’s the perfect kind of thing.



What’s next for you? You mean what I have coming out.



No, what you’re working on now? I don’t know that yet, but I think after I do this press I have to start looking for a job (gets laughs). A week after this I have a part in the new movie, “The Lincoln Lawyer”. Then, over the summer, I think, “I have “The Good Doctor” with Orlando Bloom, then in August “30 Minutes or Less” comes out. I have another comedy coming out in November.



Michael then has to go, but leaves his doodle behind. “I hope someone likes my art,” he comments. “Battle: Los Angeles” is now playing in theaters everywhere.



* Denotes questions asked by West Palm Beach & Miami Movie Examiner.

To see Review of Battle LA and other articles from Lebowitz, visit Battle: Los Angeles, The Michael Peña interview

* March 12th, 2011 12:16 pm ET

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Michael Peña is a funny guy; when he walks into a room you feel like he is about to tell a real funny joke. Michael took place in a round table interview in Miami to promote his new movie, “Battle: Los Angeles”. Michael plays a father trying to keep himself and his young son alive during the alien invasion. I’ve participated in a number of round table interviews and Michael was the first person I ever saw who showed up dressed in a suit. He is clearly enjoying himself these days and has remembered the old saying, “Dress for success”. There was a sheet of paper on the table and Michael started to doodle during the questions.



How have things been for you since “Observe and Report” came out? It’s been great. Whenever it’s on cable someone says something like, “Hey dude, I drink from volcanoes.” And I’m like, what are you talking about? I don’t even remember saying that, dude.



*There hasn’t been a real good black comedy in a long time. Well Jody Hill, the movie’s director, really has a knack for it. He also does “Eastbound and Down”. He called me up and asked if I wanted to do a season and I was, like, “Yeah.” Then a week later I realized I had not read anything. Then once I got on set I was, like, “Whoa, dude.” And it was a lot of fun.



Are they going to bring you back? Maybe. I don’t know. I hope so. I like working with Danny (McBride). I really wanted to get kind of a Laurel and Hardy thing going. You know what I mean?



*Let’s talk about your new movie. Were you given much time to get to know and grow closer to Bryce Cass, who plays your son in the movie? Yeah. I would go to lunches and dinners with him and his mom. I thought that it was really important to have some kind of relationship with the kid because I think when I see movies, I can tell when the actors playing parent and child don’t. It’s not like they’re uncomfortable when they say, “I love you, dad” blah blah blah, but then you don’t buy it. It’s just that when you really know somebody it’s like you are trying to comfort them. Sometimes when you’re slapped together you do the best you can do, but when you really know somebody, even when you’re acting, you can definitely tell the difference. So that’s why it was important to me.



How true was the final version of the movie compared to what you original read in the screenplay? I think it’s much of the same, concept wise. When I first read the script the action was pretty relentless and the pacing of it is what attracted me to this. A number of things attracted me to it. It was not a perfect script in the beginning, but there was something there. I wanted to have a meeting with the director, Jonathan Liebesman and he showed me on his little laptop what the aliens were going to look like and I wanted to have a meeting with him. I have to be honest, even if the actors are amazing, but the aliens suck, I don’t want to see this movie, you know what I mean? That’s why I had the meeting and he showed me something that was awesome. It was not super glossy, like some weird metal skin. It’s actually pretty damn real and the things that he showed caught my imagination like when I was a kid. It made me start to think, can this really happen? And when you see how the aliens look you thinking to yourself, wow, maybe it can happen. Jonathan was pretty true to form because he told me he was going to shoot documentary style and I liked shooting that gritty sort of filmmaking.



You just said other things attracted to you to this project. Can you share what some of those things were? Yeah, I mean, clearly with a movie like this you have only one set of view-point and it’s usually just, like, the military fighting against the aliens. Which is cool, but it’s a different kind of movie. It’s a bit covert and it’s more the mentality of the soldiers. In this one I’m playing a civilian and instead of just being in the background the entire time I actually have some moments within this whole thing, like having some father-son moments I think was really rewarding. The stage is so big for something like that and to have any kind of moments like that is just really interesting. It doesn’t happen very much.



*You’ve been bouncing back and fourth between dramas and comedies lately, do you prefer one genre over another? The comedies are the favorite new thing for me. “Observe and Report” was my first comedy. I didn’t know if I could be funny or not. It was interesting to see if people would find what I found to be funny to be funny too, so thank God that worked out. I’ve done three “Observe and Report” which was kind of nerve-wracking, but turned out okay. Then “Eastbound and Down” and I loved working with those guys. Then I did “30 minutes or Less” with Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari and Danny McBride. All the comedies I’ve done have somehow involved Danny McBride. When I’m doing comedy, sometime towards the end of it I think “Man, I want to do me a drama,” and then when I’m doing a drama I think “Man, I want to do me some comedy.” So it’s the perfect kind of thing.



What’s next for you? You mean what I have coming out.



No, what you’re working on now? I don’t know that yet, but I think after I do this press I have to start looking for a job (gets laughs). A week after this I have a part in the new movie, “The Lincoln Lawyer”. Then, over the summer, I think, “I have “The Good Doctor” with Orlando Bloom, then in August “30 Minutes or Less” comes out. I have another comedy coming out in November.



Michael then has to go, but leaves his doodle behind. “I hope someone likes my art,” he comments. “Battle: Los Angeles” is now playing in theaters everywhere.



* Denotes questions asked by West Palm Beach & Miami Movie Examiner

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Battle: Los Angeles, The Michael Peña interview - West Palm Beach and Miami Movie | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/and-miami-movie-in-west-palm-beach/battle-l...