The anticipated Blue Beetle trailer release is finally here!  And the filmmaker Angel Manuel Soto and actor Xolo Maridueña answered questions. 

The Synopsis

Recent college grad Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña, “Kobra Kai”) returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Superhero Blue Beetle.

Exactly a week ago I was invited to attend the exclusive sneak peek of the Blue Beetle trailer on the Warner Brother lot. After getting to watch the trailer two times, because once was not enough the filmmaker Angel Manuel Soto and actor Xolo Maridueña held a Q&A for the press. Check it out below…

Moderator: The director of Blue Beetle, Angel Manuel Soto coming down. And the star of Blue Beetle, ‘Jaime Reyes’, we’ve got Xolo Maridueña.

How does it feel for you guys to get to see the trailer with an audience? How does that feel?

Xolo Maridueña: Oh, yeah. I have jitters. I mean every time I see the trailer, I get so excited. But to be able to finally show it to all of you, it’s a pleasure, and it looks sick. So I look at the screen and I’m like dude, that’s me. What the heck?

Moderator: It is.

Angel Manuel Soto: It doesn’t get old, but I thought it was going to get old. But damn, seems like just, yeah, I feel like, my words are, I was just talking in Spanish for a long time so, but my English is not very good-looking right now, but it’ll be fine. But yes, with you guys here, it just felt different. It felt like the first time I saw it, so.

Moderator: Well, and the crazy thing, I think every time anybody makes a film, it feels like you create a family onset. So getting to see everybody up there, can you talk to us a little bit, Angela, about the amazing cast and what makes this cast so special on screen and off?

Angel Manuel Soto: So, one of the things that we really wanted to do with the cast was to be able to be as authentic as we can. We wanted to tap into them, almost like three generations. We wanted to see the first immigrant family. Then when they bring their sons, and then the sons that are born here. So being able to tap into the three generations authentically, like Xolo, who was born here, and his Mexican-American as Belissa (Belissa Escobar, “Hocus Pocus 2“) is, and then, which is the, she plays ‘Milagro’, the sister. Then you have characters like George Lopez, who’s been here for a minute and he’s like a national treasure and Elpidia (Elpidia Carrilo, “Predator“) as well, who plays the Mom. George plays the uncle.

Then I really wanted to tap into what I consider the best actors from Mexico City, which is Adriana Barraza (“Babel“) and Damian Alcazar (“The Crime of Padre Amaro“). So I really wanted to bring all the people I really respect from the movies that I saw growing up in Mexico, from Mexico. That really inspired me to become a filmmaker. Of course, you have Harvey Guillen (“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish“), who is what, Mexican descent. And you have Raoul Max Trujillo (“Riddick“), who is native Mexican too. So being able to keep it as authentic as possible, not the Hallmark cookie cutter Latinos. Something that feels like, yeah, that’s my uncle, that I can totally relate to those.

Seeing them bring everything. They took the film and they made it theirs. They took their fun very seriously. And I think that’s one of the things that I really love working together and with Xolo. It’s just like, that for me, as a director, is probably the most satisfying thing, is being able to get an authentic chemistry from a collective that feels like something I grew up with.

Moderator: Xolo for you, you can jump in on that with the family aspect on set too, but one of my favorite things about this character is that he’s very new to super-heroing. He doesn’t know anything about it. So if you can talk a little bit about what was it like for you, being new to being a superhero? Getting to know the character in the story.

Xolo Maridueña: Yeah, absolutely. And kind of, too, on his point about the family, something that we were just discussing that’s kind of funny is we see some of these other superheroes who are able to hide from their family, the fact that they’re a superhero. But as you guys just saw in the trailer, his family is right there on that first transformation. So…

Angel Manuel Soto: Good luck keeping a secret.

Xolo Maridueña: Yeah, exactly so coming through this journey together is something that I think we haven’t seen before in superhero movies. That really is the beating heart of this movie.

Although this was my first time being a superhero and coming into a character like this, as you’ll see in the movie, it can’t happen without the family. That’s a theme that I think, whether or not you’re Latino, it transcends ethnicity, it transcends color of skin, because that’s something that we can all relate from. I think that that’s really been the most exciting part, is that although it is undeniably or unapologetically Latino, everyone will understand Milagro (Belissa Escobedo). Everyone understands Jaime (Xolo Mariduenña) because they’re people who we’ve interacted with in our daily life, and the problems that they’re facing are problems that we know. Maybe there’ll be room for the second or third one to do the crazy alien stuff, but the stuff that you see in this movie is, it’s all very tangible and it feels rooted in today’s world. It’s 110% right, because it’s the world that we know, plus a little bit extra-

Angel Manuel Soto: Yeah, it’s a little bit of magic.

Xolo Maridueña: … and plus a little bit of magic. Also to bring Palmera City to the screen is fantastic in its own regard because, ‘Jaime’, as we were discussing, Blue Beetle. The vision was to have Blue Beetle be on the same level as someone like a Superman or a Batman who have Gotham or Metropolis or cities that are the beating hearts of the themes of the comics. And to create a world for ‘Jaime’, and to create a world where he feels he fits, was really such a humbling and honoring experience as well.

Moderator: I have to say, you guys all know this, but I grew up reading comic books and it was kind of the first time where I could see myself in something.

And then you kind of go from there where it’s, you see yourself as a character, but then it really comes down to the stories being great and finding that way that they connect to everybody. So Angel, what would you say for this one, cause I think you kind of jumped into it a little bit, but what would you say, why is Blue Beetle a movie for everybody?

Angel Manuel Soto: Well, because I am like everybody. Xolo is like everybody. I’m as special as all of you. I’m not no less than anybody. My culture is not a buzzword. We exist and we coexist. For me, being able to integrate those things that makes us special, because the only thing that it does is, it’s a flavor. It’s like laughter. People laugh differently yet still laugh. So we grieve differently. We cry, we deal with loss differently, but still loss. So it’s always nice to see something that we are used to seeing a little bit with other superheroes that we love and we cherish. But what if we see it my way, our way, and invite the audience also to not feel repelled by it, come to the party.

Moderator: It’s something where it’s like a superhero film, that’s the genre in itself. And then like you said, it’s added flavor in so many different ways.

Angel Manuel Soto: Yeah, Latino is not a genre. We are not a genre and we are not a buzzword either. So it is a superhero movie that happens to have a Latino at the forefront. That’s it.

Moderator: I love it. And obviously we all got to see some epic stuff on the screen there, but you chose to do this one in IMAX Expanded Aspect Ratio when you were filming it. What led to that decision? And then why do you think that people should really see it in IMAX?

Angel Manuel Soto: Cause IMAX is the shit. Honestly, it is the immersive aspect of it. At least I try to be as immersive as I can with the projects that I do. The scope of IMAX allows you to be swallowed whole into the frame. It almost feels, at least with my relationship with cinema, it’s very spiritual that way. So it almost feels like you can have a physical connection to it.

In the same way that we try our best to bring the audience in and come into this dance with the story and with the characters. IMAX is, it just makes it, it’s like if you’re dancing with your partner, and you could be in a ballroom with people, but when you’re dancing with your partner, it feels like you’re dancing with just them or you’re alone in the room with it. That’s what IMAX feels like to me.

Moderator: I love that explanation, that feel, that works. Plus then it’s like you just get to see all the Blue Beetle awesomeness even bigger.

Angel Manuel Soto: Yeah, like the suit! Mayes Rubeo did such an amazing job with that suit and being able to just capture what Mayes did and the enhancements with the VFX in a way that is integrated and see it really work and stick. Also, I’m from Puerto Rico as, I guess I’m very obvious about it. But being able to see something that feels like home in IMAX, not in news. Cause it’s always news or postcards, right? It’s almost like we are more than that. I say Puerto Rico, but I’m part of a bigger community as well and it’s being able to see our community as well represented, not just as cliches. But maybe being a hero for once? What better way than to see it on the biggest screen possible?

Moderator: I agree. All right, so now that I’ve asked a ton of questions, I’m going to toss it out to you guys.

Question: Thank you both for having us. We’re so excited about the authenticity that you’re talking about, and a lot of us talk about something called rep sweats, which is the sweats and anxiety sometimes that come with having to represent the community, the excitement and anxiety. So how did you both approach that responsibility that you have for, it’s more than just a superhero movie. The community is excited about it. How did you approach that?

Angel Manuel Soto: Oh, shit these are really good questions, huh?

Moderator: I have never heard of rep sweat before. This is a new term, what you call it.

Angel Manuel Soto: Oh yeah, I’m going to use it.

Moderator: It makes sense.

Angel Manuel Soto: There’s always, okay, so I don’t take it lightly because, it’s, we’re not a monolith, and so it’s never going to be able to tell everything. Luckily for me, the way I see it, the job was already done. This is a Mexican family, so it is a Mexican family, it’s nothing but that. But that doesn’t mean that there are connective issues between all of us with the collective memory and our blood history. But at the same time, it’s not that different from the rest of the world too.

So a lot of the stuff can be taken and can be shared and can be a communal experience, even if you’re not for the Latino community. That being said, I feel like me and the writer, Gareth Dunnet Alcocer, who’s Mexican from Querétaro, cannot get more authentic than that. The cast is Mexican too. I cannot get more authentic than that. But as far as all the stuff, of course we want to do more. Some people might feel they don’t see it themselves. Some people might feel like they do.

Overall. I think that, if anything, this is just the first of many, right? Yes, first of many Blue Beetles, but first of many other communities also being able to tell the stories in the way they feel authentic in telling them. But the voices that should tell those stories, as well, with the respect and the honor that those communities deserve.

So ultimately, my goal is that everybody makes a fuckin’ movie. Why not? Not just me, everybody who wants to make it and tell your own stories. And hopefully this opens the door to tell stories from Nicaragua, from Venezuela, from Argentina, from places that we don’t know about and that can enrich us and make us better humans, understanding each other better and just have other conversations to have. Oh, I heard this, this is kind of fun, oh, they talked about this, let me Google it. Holy shit, I didn’t know this happened.

It’s just like, it starts a conversation that allows us to be part of a global community and embrace each other’s differences in a way that’s exciting. I think ultimately that’s what I’m all about and that’s what I hope it happens.

Question: So you were just talking about the IMAX experience and actually kind of bridging off of that, this film was originally going to be made for HBO Max, which, not the big screen experience. Can you talk about how the movie ended up going the theatrical route and the kind of changes that went with it?

Angel Manuel Soto: Damn, that’s a great question. So that is true at the beginning of it. Once we started, I started diving on the script and started to create concept art. And the studio kind of allowed me to run free in my creativity. And unbeknownst to them, and to me, I guess what they were able to see as the promise of how we pictured Palmera City, how we really wanted the suit to be. And how, in the bigger realm of this cultural saga, is the impact that this can have culturally. But also in the superhero genre as just to try something different with the hopes that people will see it as this for the whole, that people can see it as what it is.

It’s a lot of love, a lot of heart. The studio felt like it had the potential to be theatrical. The stories that we’re telling, the topics that we’re touching upon and how, even though it’s very grounded, and we were picturing this as almost like the first act of a big saga. We really wanted to make the things that sometimes appear to be small, due to clouding of privilege, they can actually be worse than an alien invasion to some people.

So how can we translate into a movie where a superhero can actually be a superhero? It doesn’t really have to do with saving the planet from this fake invasion, but it’s actually something that can relate to which, for some of us, is bigger than life. So I think the studio saw the potential there. They were like theaters.

Moderator: Yeah, if you want to jump in on that.

Xolo Maridueña: No, I wasn’t a part of that conversation. I got the FaceTime from Angel that says, “We’re in, we’re in! They can’t get us out now.”

But no, I think in all things, being serious about it, I think what Angel is saying is that Warner Brothers and the DC family, they really understood and were just as excited as we are about the reality that this is a world movie. Not to mention that, like you were saying, Angel, it’s a world movie. You said it all. I didn’t need to actually say anything. You said it perfectly. It’s a movie that, after the fact, we realized this is a story that we want to tell to everyone and that’s a blessing. Really we’re, I’m so grateful for that and the movie deserves it and yeah.

Question: So Jaime came in I believe 2006. So I’m just really curious, how much of the lore in this film is basically from Jaime’s run? Is there going to be stuff from earlier versions that you’ve sort of given Jaime’s spin on?

Angel Manuel Soto: So yeah, the New 52 was a big inspiration as far as the suit goes and other aspects of the story. But we took a lot from bits and pieces. There are a lot of great stuff in all the different runs. We were like, man, this, how do you choose one? I was like, and we were like, do we have to choose one? No, let’s do whatever the fuck we want with it. Just have fun and create something awesome. Create something really interesting that takes the greatest hits, even from the Injustice 2 game, we really deep dive on it because it’s fuckin’ dope and… I see you!

Moderator: I was like, I love that.

Angel Manuel Soto: That’s your favorite skin, right? So that’s what I’m saying. Oh, there’s so many great things that goes from Infinite Crisis, and even to the new one, Graduation Day, which actually took a lot from what we did in the movie.

We introduced Palmera City as trying to put Jaime in a city that, kind of like the same thing, and Xolo said it, like Superman has Metropolis, Central City for the Flash. I’m like, why doesn’t he have his own city? He’s fuckin’ dope. That doesn’t mean that El Paso is not dope. El Paso is awesome and El Paso is very much present in the life of the family. But in service of positioning Blue Beetle as a potential leader in the DCU, Palmera City came to life. And thanks to Palmera City as well, and the bigger world building around it is what got us the theatrical.

So yeah, if you guys are fans of it, you’re going to see bits and pieces. You’re going to see that we took some freedoms and we just really had a lot of fun with the character. That’s the biggest takeaway.

Moderator: How does that feel for you coming on to play this character? Obviously it’s such a huge deal when you get cast, but then also, knowing that this film is impacting the comic space as well, it’s going both ways. It’s not just you guys taking from the comics, but what you guys created is going into the comics too.

Xolo Maridueña: Yeah, I mean that part of things, making everything canon right, it’s a very exciting part of the process. Getting to come in during pre-production and kind of carve out who Jaime is as a character. I was really grateful that Angel gave me a lot of liberties in terms of trusting myself or trusting me as a performer.

But one of the things that Jaime feels so honest. And although we are telling this larger than life story, it felt really easy, especially with the help of the family to get those moments right. There wasn’t, our rehearsal days weren’t getting the lines right, it was talking as a family. Really just once that part locked into place, everything else kind of fell. The rest of the dominoes fell perfectly. I think it really is due in part to wanting the foundation of this movie. To want the soil to be really pure and wanting the hearts and souls of these characters to be three-dimensional. Once that was in place, everything else kind of melted away.

At the same time, we wanted to do something that’s different. We’ve seen a lot of these superhero movies over the course of the past couple decades and seeing what slot, where we can fit in, that feels different. That was one of the most magical parts as well. I think it’s not about competition to us, we’re not looking to be called the next blah-blah-blah. We just want to enter this space and have it feel new. I think we completed that. I think we did it.

Question: My question is mostly for you, Xolo. Are you ready? You’re so young and I love that you have a little bit of experience, but this is such a commitment and not just of your time, but physically and mentally. What do you do to prepare for what’s coming?

Xolo Maridueña: A lot of it, honestly, is just spending time with my family. I’ve been blessed that my friends and family are the friends and family that I’ve had most of my life and I feel fairly well-adjusted. I understand, I guess the social part of it, and the effect that being part of a world like DC has on an individual. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing that brings me more joy than getting to sit and watch a movie with my family. Also, once I understood, to be quite frank, there were a lot of nerves that went in before the project.

I’d never been number one on the call sheet before, never done a movie before. But once I realized, I had a really great conversation with someone and they said, it’s not, the movie isn’t about you. It’s not about making Xolo the biggest thing yet. It’s not about what people are going to think of Xolo as an actor. Sorry for referencing myself in the third person, but it’s about opening the door. It’s about showing a group of people that you deserve to have your story being told too, and that you are just as important as stories that we’ve been seeing for years.

Once that clicked in my head, once I realized that it’s not about me and who cares what people think of Xolo, it’s about getting the door open, not only for Blue Beetle but for all of the other superheroes that deserve to have their stories told too. That was the key for me. And all of the nervousness, all of the social media stuff and what people think and what people like, all of that whisks away once you realize it’s not about any of that. That was, along with Angel, that was the biggest beacon for me, guiding me through the process.

Question: So I think when you’re talking about authenticity and how a lot of the most unauthentic stuff I think we see is when they try to force Spanglish and it’s like, how’s it going hermano? And that’s the only word they say. There doesn’t seem to be any of that in the trailer and it’s predominantly English speaking. So I’m just wondering how you approach Spanish in this film? Is it something the older generation does or how does language affect the film?

Angel Manuel Soto: It’s a little bit of both. There’s definitely Spanglish. I mean todo mundo habla Spanglish, right? Yo por ejemplo diría en español this is fukin cabron in Spanglish, right? But yeah, there is definitely Spanish and just like, what happens with the first generations that are born here, English is their third language. I was born and raised in the island, but I have Nuyorican cousins. I remember with them, their parents would tell them to speak English only, just to protect them from racism and from being bullied, as if speaking English was going to change their skin color.

But they were trying. For better or worse, some people don’t know Spanish, other people kind of mix it in. But as far as the older generation, they do more of the Spanish things, Spanish conversation. I mean, Nana (Adriana Barraza) only speaks Spanish, and Alberto (Damián Alcázar) and Rocio Reyes (Rocio Reyes), they kind of blend in. When they want to speak from the heart, they communicate in the best way they can, or the preferred language, or the language of passion. Maybe because their first language is English, they also want to communicate with their kids. But yeah, there’s plenty of Spanish. It’s just not in the trailer because we don’t want to scare people.

Question: Going forward, what Latino superheroes do you want to see? Are we going to see the Green Lantern aspect? Are we going to bring Jessica Cruz into that because of the history between the Blue Beetles and Green Lanterns? I don’t want you guys to give yourselves away, of what your plans, but if you want to throw out a few Latino superheroes or supervillains you wanna see, which ones would you wanna see? And would it be more space? Would it be more grounded? Bane is kind of that Caribbean, and are we going to see more of him?

Angel Manuel Soto: My answer is going to be yes. And that’s all I can say.

Question: That’s fair enough. That’s fair enough.

Angel Manuel Soto: But yes, but yes. I don’t want to get in trouble, man. 

Moderator: I would be, just be like, go see Blue Beetle. That’s what it is. That’s the answer.

Angel Manuel Soto: Actually, to that end…If you’ll help us and this movie becomes a massive fucking hit, we’re gonna see a lot of those. That’s what needs to happen. If we want to see more variety, and really celebrate differences, celebrate culture, celebrate other worlds. Because it’s fun. The only way is by supporting movies, right? Supporting a movie like this, because it’s, I said it before and I say it all the time, and you’re right, maybe it’s the Latino humbleness. I’m not sure of that or whatever, but this is not about me. This is not about Xolo. I don’t really care about me. What I care about is opening doors. In a world where people really crave taking people down, and I made them feel like all that bullshit, supporting each other is the only way we can tell different stories.

Not all of them are going to be perfect, but they’re going to exist. Being able to see other kids watch this movie or watch other movies and see themselves represented and say like, man, I want to tell a story about my community. And then that kid becomes an amazing writer. And then we’re going to see all those characters that you want to see because I want to see them too. I want to support that vision. But the only way is showing them that people want to see that. Let’s party.

Moderator: On that note, Blue Beetle’s going to be in theaters August of 2023.

BLUE BEETLE opens only in theaters on August 18, 2023

Source: Warner Brother