Hey pod and Happy Thursday! This is the 4th spoiler special in the ¡Presente! Latin Film Series discussing the film, Addams Family Values (1993). Legendary Puerto Rican actor Raul Julia returns as Gomez, the patriarch of the Addams family. After being reunited with his brother Fester (Christopher Lloyd), Gomez and Morticia (Anjelica Huston) have a third child. They hire a nanny, Debbie (Joan Cusack), to care for the child and to keep his older siblings, Wednesday and Puggsly (Christina Ricci and Jimmy Workman, respectively) from trying to murder him.

Back on the podcast tonight to discuss the film is Cuban American educator and artist, Jason Barber and Curator of Film Exhibitions at The Dryden Theatre, Jared Case.

We recommend watching Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/raul-julia-worlds-stage-documentary/12522/

Wherever you’re listening from, hit that subscribe button, give us a 5-star rating, share this episode and leave a comment to let us know what you thought of tonight’s episode. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, & Threads.

Visit ourvoicesproject.com and sign up for our newsletter for more information about what we do. We’ll be back with more spoiler specials from the ¡Presente! Latin Film Fest with La Strada, which will be screening at The George Eastman Museum on Wednesday, October 21 at 7:30pm. As a reminder, the screenings in this series are free and open to the public.

This has been Jackie McGriff, your host for this episode of Representation in Cinema. As always, thank you again for listening!

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Representation in Cinema

03:57 The Cultural Impact of The Addams Family

06:51 Memorable Moments and Themes in Adam's Family Values

09:51 Character Analysis: Gomez and Morticia

12:51 Joan Cusack's Role and Performance

15:55 The Film's Cinematic Techniques

18:53 The Star-Studded Cast of Adam's Family Values

21:18 Raul Julia's Influence on Latin Representation

21:50 The Legacy of Raul Julia in Cinema

27:19 Cultural Identity and Representation

33:13 Influence of Latino Actors in Film

39:15 The Macabre in Latino Culture

43:05 Fellini and Anthony Quinn: A Cinematic Connection

Mentioned in this episode:

Joe Bean Roasters

Visit joebeanroasters.com to get fresh roasted specialty coffee either by the bag or with a Perpetual Joy subscription!

Our Voices Project - Land Acknowledgement

Hello, pod, and Happy Thursday.

If this is your first time listening and or watching, welcome to Representation in Cinema.

We talk about the films that center Black, Brown and Indigenous voices, as well as on the film industry itself.

I'm Jackie McGriff, your host and the founder of our Voices Project, a production company that shares the stories and lived experiences of Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples through visual storytelling and truth telling.

We firmly believe that you cannot share the stories of Black, Brown Indigenous peoples without being in community and in solidarity with them.

If you are watching this on YouTube, make sure you go ahead and hit that subscribe button as well as the little bell to get notified about when new episodes drop.

And if you're listening on your preferred podcast platform, please rate us five stars and leave a comment letting us know what you thought of tonight's episode.

This is the fourth spoiler special in the presente Latin film series the discussing the film Adams family values.

Legendary Puerto Rican actor Raul Julia returns as Gomez, the patriarch of the Addams family, after being reunited with his brother Fester, played by Christopher Lloyd Gomez, and Morticia, played by the late Angelica Houston.

I thought she passed away.

No.

Fact check.

I remember reading reports that she's.

She passed on.

Angelica Houston is very much live.

Then what did I read?

Okay, well, someone must have.

Julia.

No, I know he passed.

I know he passed away.

I know he passed away.

Okay, well, someone was spreading misinformation and I must have caught it because I distinctly remember someone it being put out, but I guess not.

Okay.

John Houston is dead.

Yeah, she's still very much alive.

75.

Jared confirmed John Houston dead.

That's true.

He's been dead for at least several decades now.

40 Years.

40 Years.

Hey, she just turned 75 three months ago.

USA Today.

All right, do you want to just restart.

See that?

I will restart it.

Okay.

I remember distinctly remember someone posting or folks like talking about it and it was spread, so it must have been.

I must have been on the side of the Internet that day.

Someone posted that and I was like, oh, my God, I can't believe.

Yeah, because I distinctly remember going, oh, no.

Like that's crazy.

Okay, never mind.

Okay.

All right, I will restart it.

All right.

This is the fourth spoiler special in the present day Latin film series discussing the film Adam's family values.

The legendary Puerto Rican actor, the late Raul Julia returns as Gomez, the patriarch of the Adams family, after being reunited with his brother Fester, played by Christopher Lloyd Gomez and Morticia Angelica Houston have a third child.

They hire a nanny, Debbie Joan Cusack to care for the child and to keep his older siblings.

Wednesday, Wednesday.

And Pugsley, Christina Ricci and Jimmy Workman respectfully, was trying to murder him.

Back on the podcast tonight to discuss the film is Cuban American educator and artist Jason Barber.

Welcome back, Jason.

Hi.

And curator of film exhibitions at the Dryden Theater, Jared Case.

Welcome back, Jared.

Well, thank you.

I wish I had some sort of Halloween themed pun, but I don't.

So we can make it Thanksgiving themed.

Yeah, right.

It's got the play in there.

Yeah.

This is a real turkey.

Columbus didn't come to.

Oh, my gosh.

Anyway, welcome y'.

All.

Thank y' all for being here.

Let's get right into the discussion.

So I want to hear from you both, of course, your motivation for adding this to the film series this year.

This film.

I'll let y' all go first.

Oh, well, I mean, from my perspective, it's all about Raul Julia.

Yes, we had talked about different films to use to highlight his career and of course he had the Oscar nomination for Kiss of the Spider Woman.

But as it's also sort of our kickoff to spooky season here at the Dryden, we were definitely thinking about the Addams Family in one way or another.

And going back and watching the two films that were made in the 90s, I much prefer the second one, Addams Family Values.

I think it really takes the concept beyond what the first film sort of establishes and works the strangeness of the Addams family even more into American society by having them sort of go out of the mansion and really interact with society so we can see that separation between who the Adams is, are and who American society is.

And of course, Raul Julia is incredible in the role.

So deadpan and funny.

The lines they give him to say are just wonderful for the entirety of the film.

I agree.

I think, like when we discussed Raul Julia, it was there were very few movies.

I mean, there's amazing movies and it's great, you know, from Romero to, you know, because of Spider Woman.

But Adam's family values is just has connects everybody.

And it's like I've said, like, it's like it's one of the most memed of the Adam Sally movies now, which is not the first one was great, but the second one is like everything's given.

The meme pops up with Wednesday Addams.

You know, like you said, it's the kind of connections between the real world or the so called real world and the Adams world, you know, and it's like you almost want to live in the Addams World because they love each other more, you know, than the real world does.

So.

And they accept each other for being the complete weirdos that they all are, you know, and it's.

It's probably the most loving example of family.

It's.

I think it's the most Hispanic family put on television.

It's just.

This is very Goth, very Latino in very many ways.

Everybody's a little off and a little weird and, you know, and morbid.

And I'm like, yeah, this sounds like every Latin family I grew up around.

Is that.

Is that what makes it.

I mean, other than, you know, Gomez's character and, I mean, Raul Julia himself, like, is that what makes it distinctly Latino is like, the kind of.

I don't know.

I mean, Raul Julia must have had an impact.

The humor.

It must have had an impact because the cartoon version that came out in the mid 2000s had Oscar Isaac.

Now you have.

What's his name?

Luis, from, like, you know.

Oh, no, I know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's now in the TV show on Wednesday, you know, so it's.

It's interesting, like, seeing Raul's impact.

Yes.

Tim Curry played it for, like, a TV movie with Daryl Hannah.

Louis Guzman.

Louis Guzman, yeah.

Yeah.

Like, so.

Like, you have him, you know, So I do feel like there's something there that kind of just changed the way we look at the Addams Family, you know, And Raul seemed to have that impact on it.

Like, I mean, the idea that now you have Jenna Ortega playing, you know, Wednesday Addams, and it's just, to me, like, it seems like, you know, like, why.

Why.

Why did all of a sudden, Fred Armisen and all these Latin actors now are the Addams Family, minus Catherine Zeta Jones, Welsh?

But we all think she's right.

Right.

Played a lot of Hispanics.

Yeah, yeah.

The mask is our own.

Certainly messed me up just in terms.

Definitely not Mexican.

Like.

Yeah, no, I had to find that out later in life.

Is like, no, she's actually Welsh.

And I'm like, huh?

Yeah, very Welsh.

Very Welsh.

Very, very Welsh.

Very Welsh indeed.

Oh, my gosh.

She can even say the whole name of that town, that it's unspeakable.

A little bit of, you know,.

So when we're talking about.

Because we'll.

We'll definitely get more into talking about the legacy of Raul Julia and especially the impact that he's had on.

On this story, in particular, of the Adams family.

I wanted to talk about favorite moments because, of course, you mentioned that the film is very memeable.

Very memeable.

In fact, I didn't see.

And I'll probably see it more online when it gets closer to Thanksgiving, but essentially the scene that everyone that we all talk about and when they're at the camp and Wednesday is giving a very accurate depiction of like.

Of like the.

The story that we've gotten of Thanksgiving all these years and being like, actually, no, that's not how it happened.

And then kind of like turning it on its.

Yeah.

Turning it upside down and wreaking havoc.

Well, basically not wreaking havoc, but I would say given the.

The colonizers a lickback, because in this very privileged.

The.

The.

What is it they called it?

The camp of, like, privileged, privileged children.

Yes, yes, yes.

So.

But because I didn't see.

Because we just celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day.

And so this is very appropriate, right, to be talking about.

It's always appropriate to be talking about, but I feel like it's very.

It's very on the nose now.

But, yeah, like, I want to talk about favorite moments, so we have to talk about that scene.

And I don't know when you both first watched it, but I remember watching.

I remember watching this film as a kid because, of course, I was a kid in the 90s, and, like, looking at that and it just being different, certainly different from, like, of course, the education that I got that so many of us got.

Right.

And to have it still being.

I mean, of course it's Wednesday, so she's always going to be an absolute menace, which we absolutely love.

But I don't know, I just.

I. I remember that being something.

And the Adams family was already different and then that being different in of itself, that whole scene.

I wanted to know, like, how.

What your initial thoughts were or.

And also too, like, watching it again, like, as adults, what that.

That scene sort of sparks for you, if not hilarity, but I think it's.

For me, it was definitely sort of a.

An amalgam of tearing it all down.

But also it's.

It's kind of this, you know, new Hollywood youth revolt kind of a thing.

It's like this is the system and these, you know, preteens are.

Are just bringing the truth and.

And not just the.

The truth, but the way that they do it with the kids sliding in on.

On ropes and the burning up everybody and.

Yeah.

Capturing all the Aryan girls and putting them over a spit roaster and.

Right.

Yeah.

Taking them.

Taking it all the way to the point where, you know, they don't even care that that's.

That's their entertainment.

Not Necessarily that the audience is enjoying it, but they're enjoying it.

And I think that's, as I'm talking through it, that's really kind of the, the juice is that these kids are enjoying this sort of revolution at this camp for privileged children.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How about you, Jason?

Oh, man.

Well, one of the things that keeps coming to this movie is actually joining Joan Cusack in this movie.

Yeah.

Like it's.

I mean, yes, we gotta focus on Laurel Juliet playing as, you know, the depressed Gomez.

You know, like he's lost everything.

His child or becoming white blue eyed care.

You know, his new baby is becoming like, you know, and he's just depressed that his brother is lost to this black widow.

And.

But she plays it so great when they're like, when they're all attached to the electric chair and she's showing off all the ways that they're just like agreeing with her, like, oh, that's a brilliant way to kill.

Oh, right.

It's like no one.

Yeah, right, exactly.

Like, it's just like, she just plays it like, I feel like, like this what?

You know, like the first movie was like the Fish out of Water with, you know, Fester being, you know, lost and memory lost and everything.

But this one is just like, yeah, the Addams Family.

You know, like with someone as psychotic, you know, like a real world serial killer, they're just like, oh great, you're a serial killer.

You know, you're a black widow.

You've killed all these men.

Right?

And she's just emotionally needy, like kind of narcissistic.

And she plays so, so, so well.

Like, like I was think.

I was thinking like she.

If it weren't for trying to kill Fester multiple times, you would fit right in.

Like, like to the family as like, you know, is like someone didn't give you your needs and.

And she's like, that's it.

Like that's the end of you.

Like, that's it.

And I'm just like thinking back to like Wednesday and, and Pug Pugsley, like trying to kill her younger, their younger sibling, like multiple times.

Because they're like, you know, they don't want a new kid in the house.

And I'm.

Then, now she's out here like killing her.

Her husbands and stuff.

And I was just like, I mean, if anything, she fits right in.

But.

Yeah, but like, but like Joan, he said, she's so.

She's.

She's really good at being diabolical and I just enjoy.

I enjoy every minute of it.

Yeah, well, there's that wonderful scene where she's about to electrocute everybody and she's telling her story with a slideshow and everybody.

Oh, poor you.

Yes.

What about you?

Why.

Why weren't you given all this attention that you deserved at that point in time?

Like, they would have welcomed her in.

Yeah.

They actually were so sympathetic to her.

Right.

They were like, we really feel for you.

Actually.

The horror says, when she didn't get Malibu Barbie.

Oh, man, you should have gotten Malibu Barbie.

You should have Ballerina Barbie.

Ballerina Barbie.

Ballerina Barbie.

That's why she killed.

Yeah.

Malibu Barbie.

She got.

Right.

Exactly.

That's what she got.

The house on fire.

Yeah.

Craziness.

Craziness.

Yeah.

Any other favorite?

Oh, go ahead.

No.

And David was his.

David Columbus, who's been in Crumples.

Crumples.

Like, amazing actor.

Now, I know he's, like, sadly retiring because messed up Hollywood is.

But, like, he's great.

You know, it's kind of like just like the young, you know, Wednesday's pre teen crush.

And then at the end, looking like his father, like, looking like Raul Julie with a little mustache.

And, you know, like, they're both depressing.

Like two young goths sitting in a graveyard talking to all the deaths and people.

I loved it.

And they're, like, dressed like their parents.

It was just like, you're like, oh, man, I love that full circle moment.

And I just love this character that's so weird.

And of course he falls for Wednesday and then they kind of just create all this chaos at the camp.

Like, I think he's one of those actors that, like, he was a great child actor and he.

I think he was.

He's even better adult actor, him.

And Oppenheimer was amazing.

Very happy to report that David Krumholtz does not appear to be retiring.

Oh, thank God.

Because he says he was in Supergirl earlier.

Earlier this year, and he's going to be coming up in Mr.

Irrelevant, which my son, who's a Giants fan, is very excited to see.

Oh, nice.

That looks plenty.

More crumbholes to go around.

Yeah.

Because.

Okay, that's the movie with the guy who plays Superman.

That's right.

Yep.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that looks good.

I didn't recognize him.

Right.

I mean, he's always going to be.

Well, two characters for me is.

Well, of course, I can't remember his name now in the film, but 10 things I hate about you.

But first, and.

But first and foremost, Bernard in Santa Claus will always be Bernard to me.

Me, I used to love watching his TV show Numbers too.

That he did like.

Yeah, he was.

I love that show.

It was a really good show.

Shout out to number three years.

Yep.

That was a good show.

Yeah.

Any, any other favorite moments in.

In that film or just like looking.

Back and I mean the animatronic.

The animatronic baby's hilarious.

They have that like animatronic baby doing the, the.

You could tell it's like a robot.

They're falling.

Well, I can tie that into.

What really impressed me was the, the camera work.

Sonnenfeld had worked with the Cohen's and with the Rameys before.

So it's that.

That wild Freed camera that's just zooming.

Yeah.

Everywhere you got that sort of Rube Goldberg esque kind of thing where.

Yeah.

The baby is, is defeating her by doing all this stuff that's seemingly unconscious.

But that.

The camera enhancing that was.

Was fantastic.

Yeah.

The, the Sam Raimi tracking is just like.

I love that kind of Evil Dead.

Just like, like going through the halls of the house.

Yeah, right, right, right, right.

Yeah.

Brilliant.

Oh, you know, it's so good.

Yeah.

What a lovely film.

What a lovely film.

It is a lovely film.

Yeah.

I, I mean well, I also wanted to mention real quick like before we move on is there's so many people in this film that I didn't realize.

Like it's such a star studded cast as well.

Like, I mean Koshi had like the main, you know, the main cast and everything especially.

We've already talked about Joan Cusack.

But like I was watching and I'm like, hang on.

Like it was like there's so many other folks.

I think.

Was it the, the woman who is in charge of the camp?

Yeah, Baranski.

Yeah.

Like I'm like, wait, she's in this.

Like I'm not realizing there's so many other like people in there.

Nixon's in it.

Yes.

Right.

Like Nathan Lane, David Hyde Pierce.

Right.

Yeah.

Like Peter McNichol.

Right around the time of Ally McBeal.

I think Carol Kane is replaced.

Is playing.

Is Grandma Adams like.

Yep.

And all that.

Yeah.

So it's just like, it's just, it's so.

It's so crazy.

Like I'm just looking at it too.

Like it's the list here.

Oh yeah.

You even have Peter Graves in here.

You did Unsolved Mysteries, right?

Well, because it was like.

It's that.

It's the segment right.

Where they're talking about instead of like Unsolved Mysteries.

It's like disgusting mysteries or something like that.

And then they're covering the serial crimes.

Yes.

And it's the serial killer.

And you see, like her.

And I'm like, oh, God.

I just thought that was funny too.

Yeah, this, yeah, that movie is, this movie is hilarious.

I think it's one of classic.

I think they're, I, I, we forget that Burton is good at comedy.

You know, like there are times in which he is, you know, Barry Sonnenfeld in this case.

Oh, Barry Seinfeld did this.

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

Burning Red did the first one, didn't he?

Nope.

No Sonnenfeld in both.

But what I thought was Tim Burton movies, I always thought it was.

This is, this is three times.

Credit where credit is due.

I think we're doing great.

Who else said that?

Not me.

No, it's the third time we've had corrections.

People are alive.

So I'm not the only one.

So I'm not, I'm not.

Okay, so I'm not the only.

By the way, for everyone who is watching and or listening.

Okay, listen, listen.

I, I love her.

I love her.

Okay?

Angelica Houston.

Okay.

I wish her a long life.

Okay.

I thought she was gone.

I had the wrong information because I distinctly remember people talking about her leaving us.

And I'm like, wait, what, what's going on?

Yeah, she literally talked about the family a week ago and up on like USA Today.

Okay, so she's very much alive.

Maybe also.

We can't be perfect.

That's cool.

All right.

Sorry.

I did not.

She literally said she basically got Morticia off of Jerry Hall McJaggers.

Which actually makes sense.

I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's pretty interesting.

Yeah.

I never would have thought maybe she's.

Just moving out of the country.

Yeah, she moved to Ireland, her family's ancestral home.

I don't think, I don't think I would have mistaken that.

I distinctly remember.

We can't hear you, but anyway.

Oh, yeah, you're good.

You're good.

Yeah, I think you're.

Just check the audio on the bottom.

Might have turned it down slightly or a connection.

Nope, it's okay.

It's doing, it's doing a thing.

Hold on.

Hold.

Can you hear me now?

There you go.

Oh, perfect.

We got you.

We got you back.

Perfect.

Okay.

Cool beans.

All right, so, yeah, anyways, I've.

Listen, I've only had to be fact checked once today.

Okay.

So that explains why this is the funniest Tim Burton movie because it wasn't directed by Tim Burton.

He's, he's so tied to that aesthetic though.

I know he Is.

He really is, though.

He also didn't direct Nightmare Before Christmas, but, yeah, you know, he produced it.

So it's that idea.

Because he produced this.

I forgot.

But yeah, yeah, it's.

Yeah, I love that, actually.

Cool historical fact about the creator of the Addams Family.

The creator of the family is the.

His ancestor is John Adams, our second president and third president.

Interesting.

Okay, okay, okay.

And his name is Adams.

Did I know, right?

Yeah.

Well, how about that for a fun fact?

Well, that's really cool.

All right, so then moving on to Raul Julia.

An incredible actor.

Someone who I could not imagine.

I could not.

Honestly, I could not imagine anyone else playing the role of Gomez.

It's such a.

It's like.

Yeah, like, it's.

It's.

It's so good.

It's very well done.

The way that he does this.

You believe him as Gomez.

Again, such an iconic role.

He does an amazing job of it.

And then earlier in the episode, we talked about his impact and.

And.

And Latin heritage being tied to this family because of Raul Julia.

And so I wanted to get your perspective, Jason, about that.

And if you could say anything else, too, just about his legacy, not only just being in the Addams Family, but also a stage, incredible stage actor as well.

So he's considered one of the great stage actors of the late 20th century.

I mean, people forget that he's someone early on in the 70s and late 60s into the early 80s, was taking Shakespeare in the Park.

There's a great.

If you ever want to watch something, watch him and Meryl Streep do train him in the Shrew.

And he does this quote that is so perfectly.

It's like, I want to take.

If Shakespeare was speaking in his own language, why can't it be spoken in my language?

Why can't I have a Puerto Rican talking about it?

And he really took this idea that you can take this language and then add your personality, your culture, your identity to something.

And he could take these classic plays like the Threepenny Opera, which everybody grew up in the early 80s.

I have the poster in my apartment of the Threepenny Opera of him in the bowler cap, and he's playing Mack the Knife.

And it's just this beautiful poster that was everywhere in New York City in the early 80s.

And he just killed.

He would play these characters on stage.

He played Dracula.

He played a Fellini character based.

I did the musical.

He was the first person to do the musical Nine, which is made off of Eight and a Half, which is Fellini, which we're Shown in the series right after this movie.

He was such a great stage actor, and he could bring in his presence, his charm, his charisma into every film he played.

And he played it in such a real way.

And he's someone that I think the American theater wouldn't exist.

We wouldn't have Lin Manuel.

We definitely wouldn't have had John Leguizamo without him, because he was the first Latino to be un.

Just to be like, I am this.

I am Puerto Rican.

I am proud of my Puerto Rican heritage.

I am proud of my cultural identity.

And I will be proud on stage of talking in my language and acting in my language and performing in my culture, even if it's a character that's not of my culture, like Petruccio in Ateyam the Shrew, you know, or Iago in Othello.

Like, he would take on these roles, and he would bring this character, this genuine nature, this almost like life force.

And you see that in Adam's family value.

You see this.

Gomez is just.

When Gomez is on, he is on.

Every scene is like he's playing it like a theater actor.

He wants you.

You know, the sword fight and the dancing, the charm, you know, he plays it like he walks on the screen and, you know, the attention is on him.

And I think that's something that's so great.

That's why, you know, if you watch the film Romero, where he plays Archbishop Romero, who was killed in El Salvador, you can see why they would have him as a priest, you know, because he could control an audience with his words.

And I think that's something about Raul Julia that we want to talk, you know, should talk about, because he is this great stage actor.

But then when he transferred into movies, he could change a character on a whim.

You know, he could be in the Kiss of Spider Woman.

You know, there's a. John Hurt plays the transvestite or the transsexual character in the movie.

And there was a scene, because it's an Argentinian director.

John Hurt said, let's switch roles so we can figure out each other's roles better.

John Hurt went over to the director and is like, he could just do it better than me.

I don't even have to do this movie.

And John Hurt wins the Oscar for that movie.

But even John Hurt was, like, amazing.

Like, he just did it better than I could.

So that just shows you.

In Tequila Sunrise, he plays against Mel Gibson.

He.

He plays this charm in.

He dyes his hair blonde, and he's this drug dealer, and he's just sitting there.

And, you know, at that time, this is still Miami Vice era.

You're having drug dealers, like, play all the traditional stereotypes of, like, a Latin cartel leader, and they're like, you know, hey, you know, and he's just singing opera while drinking whiskey, you know, which he would do in real life, like, sing opera all the time.

And he's like.

And you're just here, just Mel Gibson look at him and go, hell.

You know, and he's playing these characters that there's elements of himself more in every role that you watch him in.

And the more you discover it, you're like, how did he do that?

You know, like, he could take a role and make so much of his identity in that role.

Even his last roles, like, Adam's Family Values, which is one of his last movies, he did another movie, Edward James Homos, who was in her past movie, which is an amazing movie and HBO movie.

And then he did Street Fighter.

He's the only good part of Street Fighter.

The movie's horrible.

We all watch it for his speeches.

You know, when I think that theatric.

When you mentioned that theatrical style, too, like, I think that comes out in Adam's family.

Like, he's so big.

Oh, yeah.

It feels theater, like, where he's just jumps off.

Off the screen.

He can reach to the back of a movie screen, just like he can reach to the back of a movie, like a.

Like an auditorium or a theater.

Like, and that's what's so crazy is like, he could.

You could.

He could connect to that person who's barely watching the movie in the backseats of a movie, just like he did when he was in the theater doing Shakespeare.

And he would do it in the park in middle Central Park.

So when you're doing Central park, that's a huge auditorium, you know, and like.

Like space and just to capture people.

And again, I asked everybody, you should show a clip of him with.

With him and Meryl Streep.

Meryl Streep.

Pretty much one of the greatest, greatest performances of Petruchio you've ever seen.

I don't think anybody could do it better.

I mean, maybe heath fledger and 10th is a hated by you going back to David.

I don't.

I don't know.

And I love.

Listen, I. I loved Heath Ledger.

He.

He was fantastic.

And I wish.

I mean, I wish both actors were still with us, right?

But, like, I just.

I've seen.

I've seen clips because that.

That there was a clip.

Clip of him and Meryl Streep that was going around the Internet, like for a little bit there.

And I just remember watching and I'm just like, I need to.

Immediately.

I need to find the rest of this, like, immediately.

Yeah, it's just.

He's wonderful.

I don't have any other words but electric.

Like, that's what his performance.

There's not a lot of actors that can kind of go toe to toe Meryl Streep.

And he did.

And this is like 19.

Yeah, early 80s, late 70s Meryl Streep, like right when she was the actress not becoming the icon in Mount Rushmore that she is now.

But you could tell she was just like, you are the force.

There's these two forces going at each other.

And the only other example that I've always loved is the Richard Burton Elizabeth Taylor version, which is pretty awesome as well.

If you ever want to see a great tame into the shrew, watch that version.

Because they go at it in real life and in Shakespeare.

Oh, gosh.

Jared, do you have anything that you want to add?

Well, I, I don't know as much about the stage.

I wish I watched more stage stuff.

I try to drag my wife out to, to see more plays.

But my big memory of Raul Julia prior to Adam's family was in Presumed Innocent for the.

The number of times that I saw that film in the theater.

And he was Harrison Ford's lawyer in that film.

And just the sort of.

He was so incisive and, you know, take no prisoners, no BS kind of character as a lawyer.

You know, he, he was against Harrison Ford in so many cases.

So when he was defending him, he, Ford's character, knew that he could depend on him to be that kind of bulldog and go for it.

And certainly within the, the courtroom scenes, there is that theatricality as well of trying to get the, the jury to see things their way.

But that was my, my main Raul Julia role for years afterwards.

Yeah, I gotta watch that movie.

You haven't seen it?

No, I haven't seen it.

I haven't.

I. I've seen clips of Tequila Sunrise and I need to watch that too, just to see him just in that scene.

Like, I've seen the clips of him as Mel Gibson in the op, like, doing the opera, which is freaking amazing.

It was 1990, the year after Last Crusade came out.

So, you know, Harrison Ford's still sort of at his height.

And it's, it's, I guess a similar sort of thing that if you've seen Disclosure, it's, you know, this, this person this.

This man in a corporate world caught up in.

In something that he may or may not have done.

So it's.

It's about sort of unraveling that onion and getting down deep into the layers.

And there's, of course, you know, mysteries upon mysteries that are hidden within this plot.

But saw it several times in theaters.

Also, the same director is all the President's Men and Sophie's Choice.

Really?

Yeah.

Wow, wow, wow.

Okay.

I definitely need to see this.

Yeah.

Right.

I need to go backwards.

So we all have.

I mean, except for Jared.

We all have.

We have homework to do.

Yes.

Or Raul Julia.

Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Because he is, like, next to, like.

I just put on my.

I found on YouTube.

I have to sit down and watch it.

I found the.

One of the last movies he did with Edward James.

Omos HBO movie about these Brazilian activists.

Stop in the Rainforest.

I think it's called.

Like, I forgot what it's called, but.

Down Came a Blackbird.

That's not the last movie.

No, no.

Okay.

95.

Yeah.

No, I think it's burning.

Let me check.

Burning Season.

Burning Season, yes.

That one.

He's.

You could see he's married.

He's dying.

You know, in this movie.

Like, he's thin.

He's.

He's dying of lung cancer.

But, like, you could see that him and Edward James were, like, simpatico.

Like, it was this relationship of two actors that understood each other.

They came from the same world.

They're both theater actors.

They're both amazing actors.

And there's something that I was just watching today that I thought was very fascinating.

I saw a clip that popped up my phone about Edward James almost talking about Noah Wiley, thanked him recently when he got one of his awards for the Pit.

And.

All it was was Noah Wiley had talked to him.

Just remember this is just a moment, and just be in that moment and just give it up to something bigger than yourself.

And he does that before every scene of the Pit.

He does that with the actors as a motto.

And it's something that you see in Raul and Juliet.

You see in both of their lives.

These were the type of guys that just gave advice freely to every actor that they were with.

And it comes back full for all of them.

It came back so full, the idea that Edward James almost.

I think Casey Affleck had just won the Oscar, and Casey Affleck came up to him.

It's like, I don't deserve this Oscar.

You came into my class when I was 12 years old and said, you must be disciplined.

And it's Casey Affleck.

And it's just like, that's what he was saying to Edward James Omos.

So.

And it's just like.

And you could see that Edward James almost looked at Raul Julia like that.

Like, here's my mentor.

Here's my teacher.

You know, like, I'm learning from you.

We are carrying this tradition of being.

Of lifting ourselves beyond what we do.

You know, like, we are craftsmen that, like, lift up to, like, to build the church, you know, of theater.

I love hearing stories of that, especially when we're talking about, you know, actors and we.

Who we think of as.

As legends, as icons.

But then the.

The.

The idea of them also looking to other actors.

Right.

You know, to be like, oh, no, if this, I wouldn't have been.

I wouldn't have been able to do this without you, like, making a way.

Right.

Making a pathway for me to.

To.

To.

To the.

For the rest of us.

Right?

So it's just.

That's beautiful to see.

Like I said, I love hearing so.

Stories like that.

And speaking of, you know, continuing on in that legacy, we talked about it earlier with Jenna Ortega, and I don't know if either of you watch Wednesday on Netflix.

I've only watched the first season, but, yeah, they.

They call to.

There's an episode.

There's a couple episodes where they call to that family's, uh, or Wednesday's Mexican heritage.

And it's.

And it's talked about in there.

And so I always thought that was interesting.

And Jenna Ortega herself.

I was watching an episode or not an episode, but I was watching an interview where she was talking about, you know, always seeing these roles or being handed roles, roles or suggested for roles that were very stereotypical.

And this being one of the first where it's not that she gets to play this, like, weird, you know, deadpan character.

You know, she remembers joking with her mother, like, wouldn't it be awesome one day if I played Wednesday Adams?

And.

And here she is.

So it's just.

It's come full circle and.

But her.

For her to also be talking about the kind of representation that she wants to see and then being.

Being able to be that representation, I think, again, is just.

It speaks to the legacy of.

Of actors like Raul Julia and kind of adding the.

The family because of him being canonically Latino.

So I. Yeah, yeah.

I think there's something that we can look at in many ways with the actors we've chosen for this film series.

It's almost like one upon the other upon the other upon the other.

Has influenced.

You have Anthony Quinn, who really was the influence for Raul Julia and Edward James Omos as kids.

I mean, we find out that Anthony Quinn, even with zoot suit, helped the actual zoot suiters with their legal defense, you know, like, and we see that with him, that he has this long connection all the way up until, like, you know, he was acting till the 2000s, like, literally to the end of his life, the late 90s.

And, you know, so, like, you have that connection of these, like, generational Latino men that have influenced each other, you know, that have influenced the narrative of what it is to be a character actor in cinema, because that's what they all are.

These are men that are like, yes, they're playing these Latino kind of characters.

They're unapologetic about their culture, but they're also willing to blend into that culture and change.

They can be Hispanic in one role, but then they're also like, no, I'm gonna be this character, but I am gonna put part of my identity in that character.

They are probably the best, you know, Edward James, Raul and Anthony Quinn, some of the best character actors of 20th century, you know, within cinema.

Next to, like, Charles Lawton and many other roles, they could just change themselves.

I mean, stand by me.

Edward James almost cut off his hair.

You know, he looked like a different man.

Stand and deliver.

Stand and deliver.

Why I say that about me?

That was the one.

Edward James almost plays the body.

And I just watched that, like, last year, I sat down and watched it on Netflix.

It's such a.

It still holds up.

Great movie.

Such a dynamic role.

When he plays the corpse, I didn't.

Even think about it because I knew which one.

Stand and deliver.

Yes.

But he also, like, great character actor, just literally transformed into this other, like, person, you know, like, did not.

I mean, full head of hair.

Still has a gorgeous head of hair in his 70s and 80s, you know, and just shaved it all off and like, just look and gained all this weight just to be this character.

Well, as we're talking about the Addams Family and the Hispanic actors that have played in it over the years, I think Cielo touched on this in her introduction about how there is this sort of gothic history to Latin culture, and especially with the Catholicism and.

And all the traditions that go along with that and how that's sort of baked in, so that, in a way, these actors have grown up with this sort of dark side of comedy.

There's a macabre.

And play that.

The macabre.

Thank you.

That's an Excellent word.

That's what it is.

We love the macabre, and I think, especially if you're Mexican, but even like Puerto Rican.

There's a lot of macabre in our stories and our tell of novellas.

You watch the Macabre Cop.

So, yeah, there's a lot of darkness.

Yep.

Yeah.

And for.

For him, for Raul growing up in Puerto Rico, just like growing up in Cuba, there's a lot of the Santeria.

There's a lot of the witchcraft, you know, so there's that little darkness that we all grew up with.

And he also has the Taino, so it's a Native American, you know.

So, like, I think, like, if you grew up in especially Puerto Rico and Cuba of the 50s and.

And like, of the 60s, like he did.

Yeah, there's.

That Santeria ism is very much prevalent in both those cultures.

So like, he probably knew that and was kind of like.

And also the Catholicism, as Cielo says in her intro, it's the Catholicism, this deep Catholicism within Latino culture, which is already pretty Gothic.

You know, you go into a church and there's a skull that you have to worship.

Like, here's the finger of this saint.

Here's the brains, the toe, the nails of the 3000 nails of the true cross.

Yeah, yeah.

Points have been made.

Yes.

But.

Yes.

No, I appreciate.

Yeah.

You.

You speaking to that Jason.

And.

And as we're.

As we're talking about legacy, before we wrap up, I wanted to ask.

We have.

We have the next film with Castra.

You've been also talking about, you know, Anthony Quinn, and as you two, both you, Jared and Jason are talking about next year.

You know, this has been all.

All of these films, you know, have been.

We've been focusing on the Latin actors.

Right.

So can we expect next year, or have you been thinking about Latinas?

Yeah, we talked a little bit about it.

Yeah.

We've.

We've thrown some ideas of, you know, Latin, you know, like, you know, Latina actresses that we would.

I think, really, you know, I personally want Raquel Welch.

I don't know if you are a co. Welch show lasted.

Sheila.

I would be in heaven.

There's probably a restoration of that by now.

Oh, my gosh.

Yes.

That would be great.

That movie.

That's probably one of her underrated, probably one of her best performances.

And she doesn't have a lot, but that's a good performance.

But, yeah, there was one that we tried to get for this year that we're looking at for next year, I think, as well.

Yeah.

Yeah, that'd be great if we did that.

Got that one.

And then, you know.

Yeah, there's a lot we've talked about some 30s actors and, you know, 50s, 60s, just to kind of expand the narrative of.

Of the women.

You know, the narrative of the women and in, you know, that have affected cinema.

I mean, last year was so great that our film series ended Iraq, like, perfectly timed with Rita Moreno getting, you know, like.

So is that.

Then another amazing line, like, you know, like Latin actress who has changed the course of everything.

Yeah.

So there's a.

There's.

Yeah, there's a lot of pitches.

We keep.

We keep throwing out ideas.

So it's a constant conversation.

It's constant.

Yeah.

Of course.

This is why he doesn't have my.

This is why he doesn't have my text.

It's only over email.

If you had my email attacks, I would be annoying him too much.

Oh, yeah, because I.

Because I'm.

Look.

Oh, hold on.

Am I still there?

Am I still there?

Yeah.

Yep.

Okay.

Oh, but now we lost your audio.

Ah, no, we still got it.

I can.

Yeah, go ahead.

Barely.

But.

Oh, my gosh.

Okay.

Before I'm cut off completely.

Before.

Yes.

So as.

As we wrap.

Yeah.

Because I was like, watch.

I was like, looking at the.

The lineup and everything and, you know, and these.

These are all actors who absolutely need to be talked about.

I feel as though we don't.

At least on.

On my end, like, I don't hear a lot about, you know, the.

The Latino actors who have really paved the way, you know, for.

For actors of today, but then also had a lot of impact, you know, on.

On television and.

And movies especially.

And so bringing it back to, of course, the last.

The last film where we are focusing on Anthony Quinn and his legacy and the film the Strada.

Is there anything that you want to tell listeners and.

Or viewers about the film and why they should come out for this last film?

Part of the se.

The.

The film in this series?

I mean, you're watching literally one of the pillars of.

Of cinema, a Frederica Fellini movie.

You know, you wanna talk about one of the most influential directors?

You know, like, everybody is influenced by Fellini.

You know, like, there's not a director.

There's not even Latin American directors.

I just watched Erati's last film, Barbo, which is literally just a Mexican American version of Eight and a Half.

So, like, you know, like, it's just Fellini and Anthony Quinn.

It's just like this perfect combination of this actor who has this strong, masculine Energy who's also connected to literally the beginnings of cinema.

His first wife was Cecily DeMille's daughter.

He directed movies, he painted, he acted in movies.

Movies.

He did all this stuff.

I mean, he literally, when he did his first directorial movie, he literally asked his father in law advice.

And then he works with one of the greatest Italian directors of all time, Federico Fellini.

You know, like in the middle of.

Right.

Federico's climb into like, you know, he is.

This is that.

Movies that are just, you know, he's moving, moving up and becoming.

This is just before La Dolce Vita.

This is right before you didn't have, you know, like, this is the movie that's like cemented Fellini as one of the great Italian directors, you know, and that had a huge influence on the French, like on the new wave movements and you know, Scorsese, Spielberg, all the way down to directors nowadays.

So I think it's just a unique film to watch because you are getting to get a glimpse of it, of Fellini at his best.

Also his wife, I forgot her name.

I can never remember her name, but it's Anil Magnani.

Yep.

She's amazing.

She, her and Juliet of the Spirits, which is one of my favorite Fellini movies is, you know, so she, she steals the show.

I believe she won the Oscar for this movie.

Right.

Maybe.

I don't know.

But like, it's just.

I don't know.

Do we need another fact check?

We don't know.

We'll check.

By the time the movie, by the time you see in the theaters, we'll know better.

We'll chat.

Jared, anything to add to that?

Not, not a whole lot just to say that, you know, a lot of the films that we're talking about in this series and over the last two years have been dealing with sort of the southern border of the United States and, and actors, filmmakers coming to America and, or, or staying in their own country and, and providing pieces of the history of film.

Lada goes beyond American borders.

This world film director said Anthony Quinn, that's who I want for my film.

So it's, it's not just.

Yeah.

Within our little western hemisphere.

It is worldwide.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's, you know, it's.

Yeah, exactly.

Said it's, it's a worldwide film and it's, it's pretty amazing that he chose Anthony Quinn.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, that I believe is a good place to wrap.

Thank you so much again for joining us on the podcast tonight.

Listeners will have information about our guests in the show.

Notes on or in the description below.

Of course, if you're watching on YouTube, I'm also going to add a link to the American Master episode about Raul Julia, so be looking for that.

Wherever you're listening from, make sure you hit that subscribe button.

Give us a five star rating.

Share this episode and leave us a comment about what you enjoyed about tonight's episode.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Tick tock threads, all the things.

Visit our voices project.com and sign up for our newsletter to learn more about what we do.

We'll be back with more.

Another spoiler special for La Strada, which of course is going to be screening at George Eastman museum on Wednesday, October 21st at 7:30pm As a reminder, the screenings of this series are free and open to the public.

This has been Jackie McGriff, your host for this episode of Representation in Cinema.

As always, thank you for listening.

This has been a presentation of the Lunchadore Podcast Network.

For you.

The day Gomez graced your movie was the most important film of your life, but for me it was a podcast.