Brian: So, we’re going to start with a question for everyone here. The Unexpecteds feels like a story rooted in both realism and surprise. What initially drew each of you to this project and what did the title mean to you, personally, when you first read the script?
John Kaler: I’ve been working with Alejdandro [Montoya Marín] for seven years and I’ve watched him grow as a director, writer, actor, even producer. So, when he brought this project to me, before I could even figure out what exactly I was going to do with Metal Mike, I was already ready to play. Once you work with Alejandro, it’s a lot of fun.
Alejandro De Hoyos: I met Alejandro five, six years ago. We share the same publicist and we talked about working together. We were going to work on Millennium Bugs, but it didn’t happen, I was busy, he was busy. Then he said, “I have this script.” Our publicist wanted us to get together to work on this. I looked at the script, I loved it. We were talking about other characters that didn’t make it; they were really funny, really good but it just increased the budget. So, I came on board as the producer and I came up with the money, Alejandro wrote the script and was the director. That’s how we started working together after five years of knowing each other. They were saying, it’s about sometimes meeting somebody and talking and getting people excited about your project. So, I got excited about the project. I said, “let’s do it.”
Chelsea Rendon: I always joke about this, but he [Alejandro] was slightly in my DM’s for a while trying to meet me and I’m very old school, “stranger danger”; if I don’t know you in real life, no thank you. He invited me to his screening of his short The Wrong Guy, which he did with Kaler, and I was like, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I’m going to a friend’s screening,” but I really was. My friend had been invited to the screening of her short and it ended up being on the same block as their short. Their short was the best of the block. Then I’m like, okay, now I saw you in real life, you’re a real person, “hello, sir. Now we can go to lunch because I now know you’re real and I also like your work.” We went to, which is now his favorite restaurant, my favorite restaurant, it’s a pasta place in LA.
John: I’m in LA like once a month and every time we squeeze a luncheon there.
Chelsea: It’s amazing. So, we went there and Alejandro pitched me the idea. Even before having a full script, I could tell he was so passionate and so excited about this. It just makes you excited. Then when I got to understand and read the script and know the character, I was really drawn to it. I’m a 32 year old woman, but I have a young face, so I always play a 21 year-old or a 19 year-old. This was the first time I got to play a woman and I was in power suits, I was a mom who was a paralegal going through a divorce and I’m like, “you think I’m an adult, oh my God, thank you so much.” At the jump, I just loved the whole comedy aspect of it in general. This was really my first comedy movie. I had technically done a comedy web series, but I was this straight edge comedy character, so this was really fun to play with and I was really excited for that. All of it was exciting and wonderful.
Brian: Thank you. Now, Alejandro, I’m going to ask you a question. What was the spark that led you to write The Unexpecteds? Was there specific personal experience, a film, or maybe social issues that influenced the story?
Alejandro Montoya Marín: I think a combination of all of those. When you come from an independent background, you don’t have the luxury that a lot of artists can. They’re like, “well, I’m just going to write because I’m going to sell this and the movies are going to have 50 million.” I don’t plan to write if I’m not going to make it because I don’t want to fall in love with the characters. When everyone asks me about my next project I go, “well, whatever the characters I want to live with for a year to two years.” That’s a lot of work and you have to love what you’re trying to say, what you’re doing, where you’re going and respect the character, the actor. You got to like the movie, man. I want to do horror but I also want to do comedy, it’s just wanting to do something good. When I was younger, I was trying to prove so much because I’m Mexican, I need to show them that I’m smarter, that I know two languages, and the chip on my shoulder is sharp, man. I’ve been through crap and I think that every stage, I probably won’t remember a lot of stuff in life, but I’ll remember making the movie and how it was all moving around like Scrabble or like Dominos. In the realm of every project. This movie was perfect for me. By the time I’ve come to 43, I’ve lost a little bit of the ego and it’s never going to be fooled, but I think that comes across with the characters because you tackle the project with what’s good for the movie, what’s good for the arcs, what’s good for the story and what’s good for the audience. It wasn’t just me like, “look how smart I am (darker voice) and did you enjoy it?”
Brian: After I saw the movie, I did see that Kevin Smith was a producer on it, and I could see why he would get behind that movie. I have been listening to his podcast for a long time now, and you sound kind of like the stuff he says. My next question is for all three, how did you prepare for your role and what was the one moment on set that clicked you with your character?
Chelsea: I remember we did character work and I was looking up paralegal stuff, my mom was actually a paralegal, so that was a little connection. I’m playing a character but it’s more like what Chelsea would do if she was Patty versus “oh, I’m a completely different person.” To me, that’s what keep it grounded and keeps it real, how I could connect to it and how I would cry because it came from a real place versus I’m not a single mother, but my mom and I raised my niece since I was 15 years old, so I feel like a father, you know what I mean? And feeling like you’re doing the best you can for a kid, but wanting to give them more, that’s what drives me in my career and everything; taking care of my mom and my niece. I want to get a house and have a backhouse that they can have, so we have our separation, but I know they’re taken care of. That really drives me to connect to that aspect of it and the dreamer aspect of it because, again, as an artist, that’s being a dreamer. And Patty is a dreamer. She was trying to get away from her husband and just be able to have a house with her kid, be safe, and give her kid a safe place. I think, again, that stems from not feeling safe and getting cheated on. I also love the fact of her strength of “I’m not going to stay with you when you’re cheating on me. Like, I know. That’s something to me, as a person, I would never. I’m also somebody that could never cheat, if I’m interested in someone else, I’m like, I don’t love you anymore, good day, before I go and do anything else. I always just connect to myself and how I would relate to it, but also respecting the characters’ realities. So, again, I’m not a mom and I’m not a paralegal, I’m not this but what would I be if that were true? That was my reality. I remember we did a bunch of character work. We met two or three times, just talking about the character and doing all that. This was also three years ago, so I don’t remember all the things. For me, before I even got to set, I understood the character, it all clicked. But it is different once you put it on your feet with other people. So to be able to be with Matt [Walsh], with Gerry [Bednob], with Francisco [Ramos], that is the core, this was supposed to be our friends and family unit. It was just flying and it was just flowing. Those were some of my favorite films. It was filming in that man’s den, where we’re going off, and he let us improv a lot, which was really fun. Just feeling like, “Honestly, I feel like I’m funny,” which made me so happy.
Alejandro De Hoyos: I had produced a film called The Contractor and I have a friend in the Argentinian military forces, so I had already worked on that character. He showed me how to shoot. In a lot of movies, you see them just go like that [slaps hands] or did the typical way like that, which is not the reality. I didn’t get to actually use a gun here but that mentality on how they go and do certain missions. In a scene, he had a gun next to him on his bedside table, where he said, “this is just good enough for me to get to that one where I have a shotgun and then once I run through the shotgun, he has another compartment here with the next thing.” So, that’s his mentality, that’s how he thinks. It’s about safety and being able to destroy the enemy right away. Now, regarding martial arts, I trained when I was younger. I was a black belt at a young age, but I had not really trained regularly, every now and then I would punch the bag. So, when Alejandro said, “it’s a go,” and this was three weeks before we actually started shooting, because we were not sure because of the money situation, they had to come up with more money than I had and that’s when I started training. Now it’s for real, we have to train. That was part of my preparation for that. When we started shooting and did the fights right away, the best we could.
John: I think Chelsea hit a home run. So, for any actors who might read this, the camera senses the truth. The fact that she comes into a character in the same approach I have, where it’s John in this position, how would John handle this? Not just, let me play Metal Mike. I also had an amazing writer, Alejandro, who knew all my works and my goofiness. When he wrote it, it wasn’t me trying to be goofy, it was just me kind of stumbling into a scene, what situation I was in, what’s in the moment. For preparation Alejandro and I met a few times and went over the character, he kind of lined me out. I trained a little bit with my mentor and coach in New Orleans, his name is James DuMont and he’s a great, amazing actor and teacher. He’s been in a ton of movies and has a ton of experience and he’s a down to Earth guy. So, we worked out the character and then I just came to set, prepared and ready to bend where Alejandro and the cast needed me.
Chelsea: And just because we’re talking about that, I’ve always done the substitution method, that’s what they officially call it. There’s a book by Ivana Chubbuck called The Power of the Actor, which has a 12 step substitution method, which I studied with her and Michael monks at Ivanna Chubbuck’s studio in LA, and I highly recommend that for actors if you like the substitution method. If you already do it, then it’s perfect for you. But, if you do something else then it might not work. I love that book.
Brian: Well, speaking of unexpected things, what were the challenges or breakthroughs while filming? Like when something didn’t go as planned, but ended up making the movie stronger.
Chelsea: Gary, Matt, when we were running through the heights at the beginning, actually hit the plant and it actually fell. That wasn’t something that was written and it was like, “oh shit, keep going”. And then it ended up being used in the movie. So, it’s little hiccups like that that actually worked really well because it fit the character.
Alejandro Montoyo Marín: In editing, I think one of the things that helps out is our editor, he’s right there, [points to editor [Ian Perez] that gentlemen over there. When we lost a day of shooting, which you have to adapt – that’s why I think I might be bipolar, good Lord – because they come in and they go, “hey, you lost your location that you paid for four days but now you only have three.” What do you do?
Chelsea: Then there was a storm that had happened when we were supposed to film outside and we had to switch everything inside because it was literally a windstorm happening. But, you handled it, that’s the thing.
Alejandro De Hoyos: But, you handled it, that’s the thing. I say the shoot went great for Alejandro because he gets so emotional and passionate. He handled it. You handled it. You took care of the situation and you adapted. We shot in two weeks and look what happened?
John: A thousand percent. I think in the aspect of this, there’s always going to be frustration, because the action scene was even more. We purposely keep the movie as suspenseful as possible. So, when the third act comes in, we want you to buckle up. This is what you paid for. And when we lost those days, it started. I started noticing that if we didn’t get a quick cut-cut-cut-cut, it was going to get boring, you know what I mean? There’s one scene I knew how it was to be, you know which one, it’s still my favorite, and it was going to be one of you guys going, “where’s Phillipe?’ Cut to an old lady putting the white cream on the cake and here’s the cake, look at that, zoom in. And the camera zooms in and then there’s a bunch of teeth because this motherfucker is just punching guys through walls. It was going to go insane.
Alejandro De Hoyos: That was fun. I forgot about that.
Chelsea: That was fun. I had a thing, because I was also the only real female there the whole time. And the AD and him were like men. There was one day where I needed a wardrobe change and they gave me 10 minutes and I’m like, “I’m sorry, what?” The makeup and hair guy are like, “here, let’s do it.” And we were rushing and they’re yelling on the mic, “where is she? We need to move.’ da, da, da, da, and we did the best we could. But then I went in and was like, “I’m sorry, I am not a dude. It takes me more than 10 minutes. This doesn’t work for me.” You know what I mean? It ended up working out for the better, because the scene was meant for something else. But if we were going to curl my hair, like we originally planned, you wouldn’t have been able to use it in the edit the way that they did. Everything works out the way it’s supposed to. I was really proud of myself, because before I maybe wouldn’t have said something but I was like, “no, no, no, no, you could speak up for yourself in a way that’s respectful, but you can feel respected too.”
Brian: How did y’alls collaboration actually evolve during the production? Was there a specific scene or emotional beat that changed because of the input from others, or maybe the cast or from your direction during production?
Chelsea: We did improv and stuff.
Alejandro Montoyo Marín: I guess the most improv was the helicopter. But, no, you know these actors. Every time I’m meeting with you, I want to work with you. I’m looking at the wardrobe because I want to see when he gets some upset moves like this, oh he does this, and my goal is for you to shine. So, I’m trying to get you into like a play-do of it so it becomes more natural instead of, “I don’t have to go cheap like directors, like ‘remember when your dad died?’” Fuck that. (Everyone laughs) You can talk to people, so it’s just trusting and these guys know how to improvise, because even though Matt Walsh is the improv expert, Alejandro is really good, and Chelsea and this guy are good. Especially if you put them in a role where it’s like, don’t worry, got it, because he doesn’t want to be like, “Oh, I don’t want to be too much.” You know what I mean? Everyone kind of trusts everyone. I’ll be like, “Taylor, do it again” and I know he’ll get there because you have to trust, especially when they say they have an idea for the role.
Chelsea: Matt’s language that he uses is like, “hey, can I pitch this?” And it’s something I’ve never heard on set before. But the way that it gives respect, I’ve heard other actors be like, “well, what if I do this instead?” where it feels like they’re saying they don’t like what you said, they want it their way. And “hey, can I pitch this?” seems more like, “what do you think about this? If you like this, maybe we can incorporate it.” And I love that. I’m going to take that with me to every set.
Brian: I wonder if that’s from working on Veep. Most of the show is improvised, I wonder if that came from that. It’s a really interesting point.
Alejandro Montoyo Marín: I’m pretty positive it came from there, actually.
Alejandro De Hoyos: It was really nice to have that freedom to improvise and get to do what comes out naturally. Many times I just say, “give me this and then you can do whatever you want.” And then this guy is already editing and he’s already creating the music for every scene that we were going to do, “here’s when you come and when the music comes in.”
Chelsea: No, but that’s how Gerry’s cat got into it, “what do you think? Can I do this out here? You killed my baby!”
Alejandro: Well his cat did pass away, so he brings it up and we’re all like, “what the fuck?”
John: I will say this, working with Matt is a master class, watching that guy work. Whether he’s talking or doing things step by step, it was a lot of fun watching. I just went into it with a childlike curiosity, just soaking every one of these actors’ actions.
Alejandro De Hoyos: Talking about collaboration, you start day one, day two and as the days go by, you feel more comfortable with everybody else because everybody is participating, everyone’s collaborating. If one of them throws in a wrench, then the whole ensemble doesn’t work. But we started feeling very good. That’s why I was able to play with the knife with him because we already had that relationship. Next to his huevos (laughs) That’s very important, to be able to feel that energy from everyone else.
Brian: Last question. What do you all hope audiences fill in the credits roll and if you could each describe the movie in one word?
Alejandro Montoyo Marín: Fun.
Alejandro De Hoyos: Inspiration for the underdog. And I knew Alejandro was going to say that.
Chelsea: It’s hard to think of one word.
John: Hopeful.
Chelsea: Dammit! That’s what I was about to say.
John: I’m sorry.
Brian: We’ll pretend you said it.
Chelsea: Yeah, I said hopeful and funny, no, joy!
Brian: Thank y’all for your time.
