December 24, 2025 • 51 mins
Award-winning writer, director, producer, and actor Elaine Del Valle joins Gracias, Come Again for a powerful and deeply honest conversation about survival, identity, Latino representation, and socially impactful storytelling. Elaine opens up about growing up Puerto Rican in the 1980s in Brownsville, Brooklyn, raised in low income housing while surrounded by addiction, poverty, and a father who struggled with vices.
In this interview, we talk about being sent to Puerto Rico as a form of punishment, an experience many Latino children can relate to, and how that summer on the island with her father shaped her identity, worldview, and creative voice. Elaine reflects on how those early life experiences influenced her mission to tell stories rooted in truth and resilience.
Elaine discusses becoming a socially conscious storyteller who centers voices and communities that are often ignored in film and television. She weighs in on the ongoing lack of Latino representation on screen and explains how making strong Latina women the leads in her films is her way of pushing back and creating change.
Elaine began her acting career in the 1990s, appearing in major projects such as Donnie Brasco, The Sopranos, and lending her voice as Belle the Octopus on Dora the Explorer for over 20 episodes.
We also discuss her acclaimed film Princess Cut, now streaming on HBO Max, and the importance of telling authentic Latino stories without compromise. Be sure to stream Elaine Del Valle’s powerful new film Brownsville Bred, available now on Amazon Prime Video.
This episode is a must hear for anyone interested in Latino culture, resilience, filmmaking, and stories rooted in truth. Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear Elaine’s story.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Gracias Come Again a podcast by Honey Jermyan. Welcome to
another episode of Glass Has Come Again. Today we are
sitting down with award winning writer, director, producer, and actor
Elaine del Vajet.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome, Welcome, thank you, thank you. I feel very welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hni. We were just listening to some stats that we
had to turn it off. But how are you feeling today?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm feeling really special and great. We had a great
screening last night in New Jersey with from Latinos of
Montclair organize a beautiful screening for.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Us, and we're talking it. We're talking screening. We're talking
Brownspiel Bread, the movie that is everywhere right now. Talk
to me, yes.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So, Brown's bullel Bread is based on my true coming
of age story. When I first started telling the story,
it was actually in the form of a one woman play,
and it was there, as the actor doing the one
woman play that I started to understand the value of
my story not just to me as the artist learning
about myself and really deep that, but also through the
audience's eyes and understanding the impact that it was having
(01:04):
on them. So that's now being able to have it
in a film, and you know, making it more widely
available to people. It's just very special to me.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
What happened that all of a sudden, my entire timeline
was Brownsville Bread. The movie poster, movie screenings, people at
the movie theaters and buy tickets. Like what happened? Because
the movie is not brand new. Can you give me
a little background on the movie.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You know, the movie came out actually in September, September nineteenth,
it came out into theaters the feature film, but prior
to that, it was actually a short film. We had
made it into a short and twenty twenty one and
we put it on the festival circuit and it got
into like some of the biggest film festivals in the world,
like south By Southwest. We won an audience award there.
So when you say it's not new, yeah, it's not
(01:49):
new the idea of Brown's Buel Bread. But the feature
film is actually it just came out in September in theaters, and.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So the short film was one film, and then the
feature film that we see now is like an extended
version or it's brand new.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It's a brand new and extended version. So we include
some parts of that first first portion that we filmed,
and then we also include all the newer stuff, so
everything when this is a coming of age story, so
we first see Elaine at the character of Elaine, my
character at eight years old, and then we see her
again as a teenager. So the short film was all
(02:25):
her at eight years old.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I get it. And I can see where the break
is now that you're saying that, I can see the
character change. I see, I see where.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Man the break. Well, that's how you have to make
independent film, right. They told me how do you make
an independent film? You have to make it any way
you can. And in this case, I had to do
it in pieces because I had to be able to
afford the pieces. You know, it's truly an independent movie.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Kudos to you man, thank you, thank you. And it
was so well done. I'm talking videography, I'm talking costume,
and it was so real. As a born and raised
New Yorker, I always have that eye of like, that's
not New York, that's not legitimate, that's not what it's
supposed to look like, and it just felt kind of
like my life story. At the same time, it was legit.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I thank you so much. I'm getting that a lot
from different audience members like, it feels like my story,
and that that feels to me, like very often when
we are dealing with trials and tribulations, we feel so
alone in them a week, very much alone, especially now
in this culture, this day and age, where everybody's on
the on their social media platforms. But this movie is
(03:31):
making them feel seen, heard and less alone, like, wow,
that could have been me, and then understanding that their
story has value and that they don't have to hide it,
that they could bring it to light and it will
bring light to others.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And it just feels beautiful. You know. As a kid
that grew up in low income housing, you know that's
something we don't really talk about it because we're like, oh,
that's in the past, you know, that's when we didn't
have it. And to see it, it's just like it's
so many of us that lived this way. It's it
shouldn't be embarrassing and it shouldn't be something that we
hide and it can be beautiful. Also the way you
painted it, I just loved it.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
To me, everywhere you look is beautiful. If it's in Brownsville,
the people, the culture, the buildings, it's all beautiful. You
just have to find the beauty, you have to be
looking for the beauty to find it. And you know,
that's what really made it blow up, is like the
things that made it feel so real for so many people.
It became like a little cultural phenomenon. And we are
(04:28):
so as Latinos, we hardly see ourselves. Especially when we
see ourselves, we're not depicted in the way that we
see ourselves and the places that we see the way
that others depict us.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
It reduces us in many ways.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yes, So even though this story is about you know,
living in the projects and it has all of these
things that we want to protect ourselves and our culture from, actually,
for me, protecting it is actually telling it like it is.
That's protecting the truth, and it's allowing it to live
fully instead of douce to one thing or another.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
It's beautifully told, you know. And if you're listening to
this episode right now and your family struggled with let's say, addiction, poverty,
was you know, plagued by you know, HIV AIDS, where
you sent you know back to the island for being
a troubled kid, you know, as punishment. These are all
things that are there that so many people not just me,
but everyone around me experience and we don't get to
(05:23):
see that on the big screen. I thank you for
you know, touching on so many different things.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Thank you. Well, I'm just I'm just trying to tell
the story to show a journey, and it's really a
father daughter's story and a girl's coming of age into
her own identity and all that. And when I was
telling it, like, I didn't tell it with any intended
purpose like oh, it's going to be taken this way
or that way, because when I first started telling it,
it was like I'm afraid to tell it.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
What you touched on so many topics, even something that
resonated with me a lot, is you being such a
young girl and being targeted by older men in your hood.
Like that's sensitive as hell, but it's real. It happened
to all of us. You'll be twelve, thirteen years old,
and it's like a grown man is like trying to
approach you or trying to engage you. I love you
for touching on that topic. It's so real and people
(06:08):
just don't talk about it. And as women now we're
like we look back and like I was targeted, I
was being groomed by a grown drug dealer on a block,
like how fucking foul is that?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
It happens all the time. And actually there are things
that I left out of the movie because I wanted
to stay on track. But one of my first movies
that I ever made, a short film, was called Me
three point seven sixty nine, and the character was Elaine
and the mother was Carmen, and the ant and all that,
and it shows something very much of what you and
I are speaking of right now. But I kept that
(06:41):
out of the story because I'm like, oh god, I
can't add everything. I was like, let me just try
to make an amalgamation through this character of Goji. But
you're right, like I do remember when I was as
young as eleven years old walking down the street on
Belmont Avenue and they're like me, not mommy, yo, I'm
a child. Yes, you're a child, and that's still happening
(07:01):
to you. And in this film you do see a
character that is you can see that it's grooming. But
when you're a child, you don't see that it's grooming.
You see a compliment as like, oh, somebody just complimented me.
And when you are struggling and it's the first time
in your life that somebody made you feel a certain way.
(07:23):
That's very inviting, they say, called.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Right, speaking of Yeah, a grown ass man selling drug
bitches on the block. And all of a sudden, why
are you showing attention to a twelve or thirteen year
old like you got problem with my guy?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
They know why. They know why because they see the
vulnerability it happens today where they're getting young people through
social media. Oh yeah, it's you know, human trafficking is real,
And that was definitely a path that exists somewhere everywhere
that I wanted to make sure that this film reveals
all of the pitfalls. Somebody told me like you were
(08:01):
navigating all the minds, and I was like, you know what,
when I was writing this movie and this book, I
was going to name it Navigating the Minds because that's
how I felt that. It was like, everywhere you turn,
there is a way for you to fall, and this
is about just like almost almost falling so that people
could actually see it clearly.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
When I saw you take that laundry bag, I don't
want to give so much away, but I was just like,
this could go so wrong, Yes, this could this could
just screw her whole life. When I saw you walk
into that crack, then I'm like, this could be the
end of her life, like you dodged so much.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So many bullets. Yes, yes, and that's that's the life
of I mean, it exists everywhere, but in Brownsville, you
just go outside. You don't have to be looking for trouble.
Trouble finds you.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
This is your environment.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
That's right, it's the environment. But it does happen everywhere,
So I don't want to discount like only neighborhoods Chicago, yes,
but and everywhere, even in the wealthier neighborhoods.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Kids starting trouble out there, and kids get in trouble
and they get into drugs, and it happens everywhere.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Now, you started as an actor, correct, Yes? How long
were you in the actor circuit before you decided I'm
going to write, I'm going to direct, I want to produce.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Well, let me say that I'm still an actor. Okay,
I still act, all right, I actually still act on
the show Door or The Explorer. Oh you're the voice
I saw that, yes, and many other things. But so
I was acting, and I was primarily only being seen
for commercials and print stuff. And it's very frustrating when
(09:34):
you're studying acting and you're trying to be a serious
actor and all they see you as is like, you know,
the the girl at the restaurant taking a bite of something,
and that's all you're allowed to do.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You're in the Sopranos, you were in Donnie Brasco. I
saw that, Well, you're you have a lot of credits,
like you've been acting forever.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yes, I just was in Queen's for ABC. I was
on The Resident for NBC, so yeah, I've been acting
a long time and I love it. But but when
you're acting, you're really waiting for people to give you
a role. You're waiting to get that role or the
alternity of the audition, and you know all the people
that are out there also struggling for those same roles
(10:13):
or striving toward them. So I learned not to take
it personally. But at the same time, I need to
take command of my own career. So that's what actually
started me writing, was just let me just tell a story,
and it's a one woman show, so I don't have
to worry about anybody giving me their opportunity. Actually self
produced in myself downtown at the new Eurekan Poets Cafe
(10:35):
after I was done with the festival circuit on it,
and it changed my life because people saw it and
then they saw me, and then they wanted to They
were intrigued, especially because my outside did not match my
life and my upbringing. So that really was like, wow,
I can't believe I just saw this. I want to
(10:55):
work with you every day, but I can't work with
an actor every day. What else do you do? And
then that's what really started shifting everything.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
What do you What do you enjoy most? Is it writing?
Is it producing? Is it directing? Is it being an actor?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Oh? Yeah, yeah, it's I don't love producing so much,
but I'm a very good producer because I'm really resourceful.
I love directing because I feel like I get to
bring out in other actors what I wish other people
could have brought out in meet I get to put
them on a platform and give them all of the
(11:29):
complexity of the roles, especially if I'm writing them. I mean,
dream is somebody just says, what do you want to
write and direct next? And produce next? And let me
do that because I will come up with multiple stories
and actually be working with I can gather up a
crew that can work full time with me, and we
(11:50):
can create incredible things that very you know, very fair
reasonable pricing budgets and they can be great. So that's
my dream to be able to direct them, but also
also in a way be a part of the production
team as well and write them or at least have
(12:10):
a hand in the writing of them.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
How important is it for you to, you know, give
visibility and a voice to us, you know, the unheard voices,
you know, the Latinos, the inner city kids, Like, is
that the main goal and the main focus or did
it just happen to happen because you told your story.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I learned so much through telling my story, and it
is so important that we are reflected. So there is
a term that deals with the psychological erasure of people
if they're not seen in media. So Latinos are almost
twenty percent of the US population, but we're less than
five percent of the time seen on screens. And what
(12:48):
that does is that's actually telling people and showing people
that we don't matter. We don't matter because we're not seen.
And if you look at the black community, that's really
like killing it in the entertainment world, right or sixteen
percent of the population, and they're over indexing, like over
thirty percent of the time. So their stories are being
valued more. And so for me to have a latina
(13:12):
as a lead leading her own story, leading the entire story,
being the hero of her own story, and for you
to be able to see her larger than life in
a theatrical screen, that to me, I understand the psychological
impact of that, and that's why that matters to me
so much. To see it on any screen is fantastic,
(13:33):
but to actually see it in a theater where you're
very large, that to me is incredibly.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Powerful and it does it feels good, and you know,
I've made it a mission, you know for the past
few years that you know, watch our movies, watch our plays,
you know, visit you know we're having an opening or
whatever it is, because you are right. It's just like
you know, we have our black brothers and sisters. It's
like movies. They you know, they have the BET Awards,
have BT Channel. You know, they're all over and there's
(14:00):
so many shows. The visibility is there, our visibility as
hard as we're working. Because don't get me wrong, there's
tons of you know Latino creatives, especially here in New York,
whether it be theater, TV, Like, we're working hard. Now
what's happening is are these networks picking us up? And
if they're picking us up, are we staying on? I
feel like that's the bigger problem.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Well, I feel like they're giving us like one role,
like one of us is in there, we're covered. They're
like checking a box with us right now. They're not
letting us be a part of the whole story. And
so I feel like that is what's happening. That's why
whenever I write something, my protagonist is always actually a Latina,
(14:43):
and she's a smart Latina. Whether she's rich or whatever,
she's smart or and she is always trying to better
herself and strive driving reaching, you know. So for me,
that's really important to be able to show that aspect
of Latini dad, especially for women.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
There's so many misconceptions when it comes to us, you know, Latinos,
especially with what's happening right now, the way we're being
you know, villainized and just targeted. It's just it's become
kind of like a job for us to undo the
damage that's being done by the media.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I'm like, I have to take a breath of that
because it's so disheartening, especially because you know we it
felt I have been around a long time, and every
time something pops off, that's really great. It feels like
we're getting somewhere. And then but I've been around a
long time, so I know that the getting somewhere, it
(15:47):
just is it's temporary. So the idea for me is
just like to never stop, never stop doing that. And
a good friend of mine, Andrea Naverro, she she was
on Jane the Virgin, she played Gina Vigrina, his mom
and that, and she said to me, Elaine, you know
you really have to be a horse with blinders on,
and that is just to keep doing your thing, keep
(16:09):
forward emotions, stay focused on what it is that you're doing,
don't worry about everything around you. And what you're doing
needs to be a voice that champions everything around you.
But you can't let things drag you down. You can't
get so emotional and hurt and hate that you have
to love more than you hate. If you're hurt by something,
(16:32):
you have to face that with love and hit it
with love with like a baseball bat of love and
that's well, that's what I try to do. So whatever's happening,
that's what I really strive to do is hit it
with a baseball bat with love. And the only way
that I know how to make an impact is through story.
Because you could tell people and argue with people, none
of that matter. Through story, you can find them, you
(16:56):
can get to them in ways that they didn't expect it.
And that's what I'm after.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
I love that. You know, you're using creativity, you're using positivity,
you're using you're being impactful as opposed to you know,
Michelle Obama, what was it when they go low, we
go hi? Yeah, You're just like, listen, I'm gonna let
my work speak for itself. Speaking of your work. Princess Cut,
Oh thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yes, I love that. So. Princess Cut is a short
film that won me the HBO LATINX Director Award, And
it's actually a film that is not based on anything
that I've lived, which most everything else kind of has
been like my brainchild. But a while back, I was
I was very close to getting into a wonderful program
(17:40):
called the American Film Institute Directors Women's Workshop. It's a
very prestigious program and I was right down to the wire.
And when I didn't get it, I asked them why,
and they said, we love your story, we love your movie,
but it just we love the movie that you want
to make in this program. But it felt like that's
the only movie that you wanted to make. And I'm like,
(18:02):
should I come into this program acting like I don't
want to make the movie.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
That I'm trying to make in this program?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
But anyway, I understood what it was that they're saying,
and I took the note. And that week I was
in Los Angeles and I went to the Hollywood Fringe
Festival where I saw a play by a woman named
Amitri Caraman who grew up on Long Island, and I
loved it. It was called Bitch Brow and it took
(18:28):
place in the Hamptons and it was about two women
from opposite sides of the economic spectrum who find themselves
in an all night laundromat and they find common ground
and then one of them winds up dead. But the
play was so good and so funny, and it was
very long, and right after I saw it, I went
(18:50):
up right up to the writer and I was like, listen,
I'm a writer. Director. I just made the short film
I got it onto HBO. It's called Me three point
seventy sixty nine. I really want to make impactful store.
I've never found another story like this that I want
to make so much because I understand this, like I'm
living on Long Island. I understand the Hamptons. I understand
(19:11):
the idea of the haves and the have nots and
how people look at you and what the expectations are.
And I feel like this story says all that, and
that's already on brand for me. And I really want
to make this. I'll write it, I'll produce it, i'll
direct it, I'll do everything. I'll cast it. And she
said it's optioned. So every year I would actually call
(19:34):
her in the summertime. For two years, every year I
would call her and I said, is it still optioned?
She said yes, they just renewed the option. And then
the following year I asked her and she said, they're
not going to renew the option. You can have it.
And then we worked on it together, and then she
got pregnant and I was I started working on it,
(19:55):
you know, more on my own, and I turned it
into what became Princess Cut, and I'm so proud of
it because it just, you know, I took the note
from very prestigious program about you know what they were
telling me about, you know, telling other stories because I
want to be a director. I want to tell any
story and this Princess Cut really helped me to do that.
(20:20):
And the fact that it was so well received really
helped me to prove them wrong and prove that I
can do it kind of to myself as well.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
And I love that for you.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
And Princess Cut is on HBO Max.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
It's on HBO Max.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
So if you're listening and you've got HBO Max, make
a note on your phone and watch Princess Cut.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yes, it's also film starring Lauren Levera, who is also
on She was Great. She is in the Terrifier movies,
so before she was the star of the Terrifier movies,
she was the star of Princess Cut.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
For me, you gotta go watch it. As soon as
this movie starts, you're going to feel it. It's like
it give you a certain feeling you're like, something's not
gonna go right. Also, I'm Brownsfield Bread is on Amazon Prime.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It's on demand right now, So you can find it
on Apple, you can find it on Amazon Prime, and
I'm sure other places as well on demand. So yeah,
I'm excited to be able that people can share it.
We put it at a price out there that people can,
you know, definitely afford it. They can watch it with
their families, and it's a conversation starter.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
It really is. I feel like, if you you know
eighties nineties, like, this is going to be your story.
I'm telling you right now. Whatever it is, it's going
to connect in one way or another. Whether it be
the day your mother blew up, the fact that you
got your period, whether it be the fact that they
should ship your ass back to Puerto Rico or Dominican Republic.
Whatever it is, you're gonna connect. You're going to connect.
(21:47):
And I connected probably like in nine different ways. You know.
The story with you and your dad very relatable. You know,
my father also went to jail, He also was a
drug user. He also passed away in the nineties. I
was just like, Elaine is telling my story? What is
going on here?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah? That's so many people come to me and say that,
but then different facets. So I remember when we premiered
at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. Shout out
to Lalif and Axlcabaero who has supported me so much,
and everybody over there. But when we were there, I'll
never forget my cinematographer, who's a white guy. His name
(22:24):
is Dustin Warred. He's an incredible artist, lives out in
Brooklyn and his family came from San Francisco, and his
fourteen year old nephew was there. And at the end
of the movie, he looked over at his fourteen year
old nephew and the fourteen year old nephew was crying
and he was like, Wow, of all the people, I
didn't expect this from you, And he said, I related
(22:47):
so much to the sibling, relate to the to Elaine
taking care of her aunt, her older aunt that was
special special needs, and he had a similar situation. So
for him, that's what connected. For another woman, she left
the theater crying so hard because she couldn't get over
(23:07):
Abuelita and Puerto Rico and the love and just.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Going to make me cry because the difference between the tuauelas.
I was like, we've lived it, Yes, we have lived it.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
And if you you know, if you miss your grandmother,
if you miss your father, you know, these people that
are not around. This movie pays such an homage to
the love that's there and even through the struggle, you know,
you know, we talk about Manny's struggles and his addiction
and his illness and all that, but that's what people
want to focus on. But this movie focuses on the love,
(23:41):
the love between the father and the daughter and this
man's struggle for redemption and it comes. The redemption comes,
and it's so beautiful and through song. You know, that's
another really special part of that movie.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
That moment I feel like crying out just thinking about it.
It was just the way the connection was made through music.
I was like, Wow, this woman is brilliant.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Thank you so much. That is a huge shout out
to Edwin Vasquez, who wrote all of Manny's original songs,
including Semia de fe which now I just submitted it
for Oscar category in the Best Original Song and the
Golden Clothes because I'm like, why not us? You know,
we got to be in it to win it. I
know my chances are slim, I know that, but you
(24:26):
know what, so what, I'm gonna do this and people
who are looking at other things, and other people are
finally going to see and hear us, and that's important.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
And we've got to take chances. You know. I've interviewed
this young lady. Her name is j Noah, and she's
from Dominican Republic and she still lives there, and she's
three times Grammy nominated. She doesn't understand how this is happening.
And she's living in San Cristole in Santo Domingo. She
comes from like a poor family and she's nineteen years
old and she already got nominated for three Grammys.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Exactly. She's just a humble girl from Dominican Republic making music.
So we got to be in it to win it.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yes, you have to be and you have to not
let anybody, you know, take you away from that because
they'll say, like, oh, you know, it might be a
waste of your time because they already have who they're Okay, Okay,
I understand that. But if I listened to that and
I thought about all of the barriers that were in
front of me before I started making stuff, I would
(25:29):
never make anything. I would be frozen. I would still
be that girl looking out of her window wishing that
I could go outside, and now I am outside.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
You, really outside. I can't scroll my feet without either
seeing you doing an interview, somebody talking about your movie,
somebody promote. And I've got to say this, Latinos, we
have rallied behind you. We're championing behind you, like whether
it be actors, producers, directors. I see everyone supporting this
film in a way that I haven't seen anyone support
(25:59):
a project in a very long time.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Now, you're gonna make me cry right now.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I want you to know that.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I know that, and I feel it. I feel it
from you, and I feel it from the community and
the impact that the film is having on them, especially
that it's an independent film made with like no money,
just like over three years. It took us three years
to make this film to afford getting it in the can.
That is not normal, but it just goes to show you,
(26:27):
you know, the faith that you have to keep, and
everybody rallying behind me and then telling other people, because
I make it very clear when audiences, when we were
only in theaters in Manhattan, I'll never forget the audiences
would come and I would try my best to be
there as much as possible, and afterward, whether they whether
they had scheduled the director talk back or not, I
(26:49):
would just get up afterward and say, there's a director
talk back at the end of this, and then I
would get up and I would talk to them for
as long as the theater would let me, until they
had to clean the theater. And I would make sure
that people knew, like, there are influencers right now, that
maybe because you saw it on an influencer's feed that
brought you here, because we don't have money for advertising,
(27:10):
so maybe you saw it on an influencer's feed, and
like you, you're an influencer, right and people watch you
and they listen to you and they take your advice. However,
I make it clear to the audience that we are
all influencers. If you're if you're wearing a pair of
shoes that you love and they're so comfortable, and you
tell your mother and your sister and your brother, guess what,
(27:32):
they're going to have that same faith and they're going
to want to get those shoes too, And that's what
it is to the movie. So I make it clear
to the audience. So share it, Share it with your neighbor.
One guy that was helping us on production design. He's
a white man that I went to that I went
to acting school with, and he said to me, Elaine,
(27:53):
you're not going to believe this. My neighbor I saw
her passing in the hallway and she said to me,
Oh my god, I just have to you know, I
don't have any time, but I have to tell you
I just saw this movie Brownsville Bread. And he started
to laugh because he's like, here's this older white woman
telling a white man that, you know, you have to
(28:15):
go see this movie. So, you know, maybe she heard
me say it, or maybe she just felt it. There
were other people who just saw us on Rotten Tomatoes.
We're one hundred percent on Rotten Tomatoes, one hundred percent,
So there are other people that come because they see
that rating. We're also one hundred percent on the popcorn meter,
so they see it and they're like, Okay, how bad
can it be? Let me give it a chance. The
(28:37):
other day, when we we put up for the Golden Globes,
the woman helping us do the email blast for we're
having a press conference for the Golden Globes, and you know,
I'm dealing with her and I'm like, okay, so I
have to create a one hundred character. What's the subject
matter going to be? So it was something like Latina
(29:00):
directed independent film for your consideration, press conference, something like that,
And we were on the phone and she says, so
is this your subject I said yes. She said I
like that. Do you know that it's true? If it's true,
I said yes, I am the Latina director and it
is an independent film. She was like, what you are
and I was like, yes, I am. And then later
(29:23):
on that night, when we had finished the transaction, she
told me that she and her husband had put on
my film and that they loved it. Same thing with
the So this is interesting. I hope it's interesting to
your audience and to you, but it is for me.
I'm a total movie geek. So when you're making a movie,
(29:54):
you have to get if it's going to go theatrical,
you have to get a rating, and you do it
through the Academy. But it's the Academy Raiders, and the
Raiders are actually made up of members who are parents.
So when you see a rated R, a PG thirteen
of G or a PG, it's because parents who are
(30:16):
members have seen it and voted what it needs to be.
So when we were first being rated, we were originally
rated as are and it was very important to me
that it brought down to a PG thirteen And I said,
how can I do that? They said, you have to
get rid of a couple of the curse words. We'll
let well, let a couple slide. I know exactly where,
(30:39):
but he said, you know, you have to get rid
of and and I was like, great, I'm going to
go back into the edit. I'm going to do that
because it means that much to me. So they said, okay,
when you're done with that, we'll rate it again and
we won't charge you again. Great, they rated it. They
rated it PG thirteen And then he wrote me a
(30:59):
letter and he said, I want you to know that
this is extremely rare, but all of the raiders wanted
you to know how much they loved your movie.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Okay, Now what that says to me is that these
are parents who saw the movie who probably are not
lat you know, and who said this is a valuable
movie to show to my kids. And PG thirteen is
the right rating for it, and they loved it. And
like little things like that, it just keeps me going.
It just keeps me like it just keeps injecting me
(31:32):
with like this fuel to just go on. And I
know you're pr girl.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Now, I know you're pumped right now. You've got to
be hype.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I'm hype. But I also have my feet very firmly
planted on the ground because I've been at you know,
I've done a lot in my career. Every time I
get like a nice role, I'm like, wow, I'm going
to be on. Like I was on Queen's on ABC
with a recurring guest star, and I was like, Wow,
this is going to be right. But there have been
other times. I sold an original pilot that I wrote
(32:05):
to CBS to the network CBS kind of language, it's huge,
but then it's not green lid, it's not you know,
it's not done. They paid me to write it and everything,
but then it didn't get done. I was on a
movie set for three weeks about to direct a three
to five million dollar budget film. We had the cast,
(32:26):
everybody was coming in, and then something happened they sent
us all home. Yes, so I have my firm, my
feet planted on the ground, but it doesn't stop me
from striving. But also what it makes me do is
to keep doing other things as well and not count
on these other opportunities. Just keep on creating. And that's
(32:47):
how I keep the momentum. Last night, one of the
audience members said to me, how do you keep the momentum?
I'm like, because right now, all you're seeing is browns,
blue bread. It doesn't mean that that's all I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Well, I know you already. In twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
I am actually in the middle of December, I'm going
to have a really beautiful announcement about a project that
I've been working on. I'm not allowed to say anything yet,
but you know it's it's really special and and then
I'm working on something else next. So look, I don't
know what's going to happen, but that that is how
I keep the momentum. Small victories and and just checking
(33:25):
something off my my list. I make a list every
single day, and I whatever I have to accomplish, even
if it's like, you know, pay the bill.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Like where do you make your list? I make it
on a post it?
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Where do you make I have a book that is
of great quotes, important quotes. You could get it on
Amazon and and at the bottom of every page. It's
a line, a line, little box like a box of
of of pages. And at the bottom of every page
is an is an inspirational quote. And so that's what
(34:00):
I love, because I love to read the quotes every
day and look through them and be like okay, and
then I have to rewrite the whole list, like once
I'm done crossing off a bunch and there's still a
couple more left, so I get through that. I finished
the whole pad last year and it's a thousand pages.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
That's why I got to upgrade my situation, because a
post it every day sounds kind of ghetto compared to
what Elane just described.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Right here, get the book, and I should not be
ripping out the stuff from the book, but when it's done,
to rip it out, but I should actually be keeping
those things to see all the stuff that I've done
in the course of that book.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Now, speaking of stuff that you've done, can we talk
Dora the Explorer. I don't know why I love this
so much.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yes, so a god, Yes, many many years ago, many
moons ago, before you ever heard the name Dora the Explorer.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
I feel like it's been forever in early it.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Has been forever it's been I can't even remember when
I started, but when I started that series is when
I quit bartending.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
In New York.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
In New York, I used to cocktail, waitress bars and anything.
But when I started that show, I felt confident that
I could make my health insurance. It wasn't going to
be an issue anymore.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
And I was right.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So I did the show from the time that it
started until the time that it ended. It was like
eleven seasons or something like that. Valvei Octopus along with
many other characters. Yes, and then.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
How does one do that with well.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
You become whatever. But it's so much fun and the
people were fantastic. And about two and a half three
years ago, I got a call from them again and
they said, guess what, we're starting up Dora again. We're
doing it a little bit differently, and we'd love for
you to bring back your character.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
What did you think.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
I was so happy, especially because now I could record
it from my closet, I could do it from anywhere,
and it was just really it's been really special. I
just recorded an episode like two weeks ago and they
call me and then I do like a few episodes
at a time. It's it's really been great. And also
through that show, through many through many things in my life,
(36:14):
but through that show, through through one person on that show.
Knowing that I was also casting the characters that I
was filming, they they asked me for casting help on
a new show called Alma's Way before it was a
before it was a thing, and I said, yes, I
(36:35):
will help, and they said, if you help, we want
to recommend you to be the casting director of Alma's Way,
which is a Fred Rogers production. And I did the
work and they recommended me and I got the job.
And it's been three seasons. So we just finished our
third season of Alma's Way, and I'm the casting director
(36:56):
of Alma's Way. And I was just nominated by the
Casting Society of America for Best Casting in an Animated
Series for Audios Awards.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
And I love that. And you know, give us a
little bit more about Alma's Way, you know the Latino shows,
you know, anything that our listeners can put their kids
onto or themselves. Where can they watch it?
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yes, yes, So Alma's Way is on PBS Kids. It's
a Fred Rogers production that was actually created by Sonia Manzano,
who everybody knows as Maria on Sesame Street. She actually
has a dock out right now all about her life,
so you got to go check that out too. But
it's basically a little Puerto Rican girl in the Bronx
(37:42):
and her family and her brother and her dog and
her friends, and it's bringing all of the culture that
is New York, the melting pot of culture that's in
New York into this show that you can see. It's
the perfect setting for it, and she's the star of it,
and the star of it, the girl who actually voices
(38:03):
that is actually the girl who stars in my movie
Summer Rose Castillo.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Look at that moment.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Yes, So I first cast her in Alma's Way, she's
so brilliant, and then and then I cast her in
Brownsville Bread. So I gave her her first job ever.
And then I also gave her her first on screen job.
And she's the lead.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Look at this, Look at all this you know Latina
connection and twining and changing the course of each other's
lives per se.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
There's more than that. Because her mother somemm Rose Castillo,
who is Bronx born Puerto Rican girl. Her mother is
April Hernandez Castillo, April Hernandez was the lead actress, I
should say, the co lead actress or the best supporting
actress or the sporting actress opposite Hillary Swank in the
(38:57):
movie Freedom Writers. So this little girl has like this
culture of acting in Latini Da and being on screen
from her mother. And I'm just so blessed to have
worked with not just Summer Rose, but when you work
with a child, you're working with the whole family. Yes,
so the girls that all the all the siblings that
(39:19):
play in the movie. Summer Rose plays eight year old Elaine,
but there's a little scene with with a four year
old version that Summer sister e Lila, and then Natali
a ladies who plays teenage Elaine. Her parents were incredible,
incredibly supportive. And then Kevin Chakong Neo Vela Kamora, quadravo.
(39:43):
Those kids actually all grew up during the process of
making brownswel bread. So they started in twenty twenty one
as like these little kids, and then you see them
again in twenty twenty three and the same kids, same kids, Yes,
the same.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
That is absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
It's so wonderful. And you know, my producer said it
best recently, she was bragging about it when we were
at Lalif. You know, we're in New York. Story we
have New York actors. We couldn't afford to fly people
down and all of the yeah, all of the siblings,
their parents, the characters in Brownsbee Bread that were based
(40:25):
in New York and Puerto Rico, they flew themselves out
to Lalif on their own dime to be there for
the movie. And that that just shows the family that
we created through the making of Brownsbee Bread. Like you
see my family up there, but the people who brought
it to life was another family that we created through
(40:46):
the filmmaking process and empowering them to see themselves as creators,
as directors, as writers, to be able to continue in
this journey.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
What you're out here doing is absolutely incredible. And speaking
to you now, you know, I have even more respect
for you. I came into this already like writer directors.
I knew you were casting direct I was actor. I
was like, wow, how many hats can one person wear
and do it so nicely?
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Well, I say, I do one thing, I do entertainment
there and I fill in the blanks wherever I need,
And every independent feature or any independent project, you're usually
wearing multiple hats. Many people wear multiple hats. One of
my producers, adrian Es sa Vida love It. She was
my assistant director. Also, she was one of my producers
and she was an actress senate as well. You know,
(41:38):
so we we do my location scout in Puerto Rico
Luis Mendez. I was like, dude, you are so great.
Can you please be Michael Quito man?
Speaker 1 (41:48):
And he said, yes, that is what we do great.
I remember, yeah, and he was so great.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
So, you know, we I feel people like I connect
with them genuinely, and just like with my actors, when
I have an actor, I don't try to make them
into the role. I try to merge the role with
them so that they pop in a way that feels
so great for their careers and for the movie that
(42:14):
it becomes undeniable. And that's what I try to do
with people in general. So people say I want to
help you, I'm like, okay, I don't know how you
can help, but let me find out. Let's find out
together what you think. Because the minute that you tell
somebody exactly exactly what you need, don't be like broad
about it. You know, the size of that fence that
(42:35):
you need. You know, it needs to be five foot
high and four foot wide. You need to tell them
exactly what you need. Put that energy out there and
people will come back at you with exactly what you need.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
The universe is conspiring to help us. Yes, yes, but
you just got to put it out there. I say
that all of you.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
You don't know the pivots that we have to do
in filmmaking, especially the pivots that have to happen, and
you roll with the punches, and thank God, through the
experience of having done it, I can tell you that
those roles in those directions ends up being some of
the best parts. And so when that happens now these days,
(43:15):
I understand, I don't fret.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
I'm not panicked.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna figure it out, and I do,
and I always feel like this was for the best afterwards.
So that's what I try to keep in mind.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
You always make it happen. Another movie that's all over
my timeline, Germo, Lilttos, Frankenstein.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
Have you had the time, you know, I had the
time to put it on and I started watching it.
I look at things very differently than other people.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
That's why I wanted to get your perspective on it.
I didn't finish watching it, so I really do have
to got to come back to this conversation. This is
gonna be over the journey and it has some of
my you know, incredible actors that I have not been
able to get out of my mind, like I really
want to work with that actor. For me, it's like
(44:02):
I always feel like I want I wanted to direct
that instead. I don't know, it's it's not touching those
same things. Like I know other people are big fans
of it, but for me so far not But I'm
going to give it another chance, give it. I just
it just the work felt so brilliant. I'm talking like costume,
(44:22):
just everything. But I'm like, how does one brain obviously
it's not just one brain, but how do you conceptualize
something and you know, deliver it like that?
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Well, that's that I have to say. I mean, he's
he's incredible. So the the imagery that he puts out
is undeniable. The people that he works with to collaborate
to make it all happen is definitely synergy. And the
and the budgets that he gets is budget.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
So you give me that budget, I'm the top that.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Well, so like that's undeniable. But I look at movies
very differently, and I often can't stay in the story
because I'm too busy looking at the other things and
like just trying to learn from it. You know, it's
like a textbook for me. I'm looking at it like
an equation that I need to take apart in order
(45:32):
for me to put into my work moving forward. And
I do take a lot of references from a lot
of other films. Whenever I'm making a movie, I storyboard everything,
or at least the parts that I feel like need
to be relayed very succinctly to my creative team, like
(45:54):
this is what I'm looking for, whether that be old
style photos of my apartment where I used to live,
or reference photos from lifts from from movies that I've admired.
I even sometimes show it to the actors, because a
picture tells a thousand words you need. Yeah, so if
I just show them, like, this is what I'm going
(46:16):
to see, and they'll look at that actor and grab
that emotion from that actor and marry it with what
it is that they're saying, it helps them, you know,
I try to be the director that I always wanted
to have for the actors that I work with.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
What is your one movie that you can watch a
million times? You've got to have one. I have many movies. Well,
give me a couple.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
I mean, A Star is Born, that movie, all of
them from Barber Streisand's one, but also the one with
Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. I thought that was just
so beautifully done. And it's a movie with with music
(46:59):
like my Like it's not a musical, but it's a
movie with music. And I love movies with music as
a part of them because that was ingrained in my childhood,
Like that was my dad. My dad was music. So
for me, a movie like that is very special. Also,
there's a movie, you know, I talk about it all
(47:20):
the time. Boys Don't Cry, and I talk about it
because it's not that I want to see it over
and over again, but it's the impact that it had
on me that I felt like I was punched in
the gut and it recounts a true story. And when
I first started watching it, I thought it was a documentary.
It felt so real. And Hillary Swang stars in it
(47:42):
and Kimberly Pearce directed it, and it just it just
made my heart sink and I don't want to watch
it again because it's that powerful. What I watched a
lot is like, if I want to be inspired and
cry sometimes maybe Aaron Brockovich.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Oh, that's a classic.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Yeah, I love My mom used to work for attorneys.
So that's a pilot that I recently wrote as well,
how my mom got a job working for attorneys. This
woman who had like no education, and she started working
for attorneys and really became the right hand person of
the attorneys and really made an impact in the office
and getting people to open up about their stories and share.
(48:22):
So Aaron Brockovich, when I first watched that, I really
felt very close to it because it felt like it
was my mom.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
You saw her.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Yeah, my mom was the person dealing with like the
lawsuits that were involving in the projects. You know, when
I was a kid uplifting story. Not uplifting story, that's
that's not true. But when I was a kid, that
was I won't even say what happened, but something really
bad happened to a twelve year old girl in my building,
(48:53):
and my mom helped to get them, you know, A
settlement that I don't want to say that it can
help because nothing could ever help, but maybe get the
people some help that they needed to help them come
through the trauma. And so my mom was like that person.
(49:14):
So yeah, I love that movie. It makes me feel
like powerful, strong, see a woman with like kids and
all these odds stacked against her just like making her
own way and whether people want to believe in her
or not, she makes it happen and then eventually they
believe in her. And that's why I love that story
so much.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
That those are three solid movie I've seen all three.
I guess see, I can see why you read those
are love those. But I want to take you know,
the time to just thank you for coming up to
New York City today sitting down with us. But more importantly,
I want to thank you for giving us a voice,
for telling our stories, for not being afraid to cut
right through and you know, show things that many maybe
(49:58):
view as trauma that and be shared, but you see
it as genuine stories that are going to hit and
making these movies.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Yes, I thank you, thank you, thank you. It's healing,
it is, so I don't, I don't. I just want
you to know that you're gonna come out of this
movie feeling uplifted, healed, and even prouder than you were
to be Latino and even prouder than you were to
have survived whatever it was that brought you to this
moment in your life and to appreciate your family and
(50:30):
want to call them and share it with them. So
to me, that's what the audience, that's what's bringing all
the love for browns below bread and all the sharing,
and that's what I want the audience to come away
with and know, you know, when they put on that movie,
that's how they're going to feel at the end of it. Yes,
thank you so much, thank you making your platform.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
Appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (50:50):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
Grassiers Come Again is a production of Honey German Productions
in partnership with Iheartsmiketura podcast Network.
Gracias Come Again a podcast by Honey Jermyan. Welcome to
another episode of Glass Has Come Again. Today we are
sitting down with award winning writer, director, producer, and actor
Elaine del Vajet.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome, Welcome, thank you, thank you. I feel very welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hni. We were just listening to some stats that we
had to turn it off. But how are you feeling today?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm feeling really special and great. We had a great
screening last night in New Jersey with from Latinos of
Montclair organize a beautiful screening for.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Us, and we're talking it. We're talking screening. We're talking
Brownspiel Bread, the movie that is everywhere right now. Talk
to me, yes.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So, Brown's bullel Bread is based on my true coming
of age story. When I first started telling the story,
it was actually in the form of a one woman play,
and it was there, as the actor doing the one
woman play that I started to understand the value of
my story not just to me as the artist learning
about myself and really deep that, but also through the
audience's eyes and understanding the impact that it was having
(01:04):
on them. So that's now being able to have it
in a film, and you know, making it more widely
available to people. It's just very special to me.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
What happened that all of a sudden, my entire timeline
was Brownsville Bread. The movie poster, movie screenings, people at
the movie theaters and buy tickets. Like what happened? Because
the movie is not brand new. Can you give me
a little background on the movie.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You know, the movie came out actually in September, September nineteenth,
it came out into theaters the feature film, but prior
to that, it was actually a short film. We had
made it into a short and twenty twenty one and
we put it on the festival circuit and it got
into like some of the biggest film festivals in the world,
like south By Southwest. We won an audience award there.
So when you say it's not new, yeah, it's not
(01:49):
new the idea of Brown's Buel Bread. But the feature
film is actually it just came out in September in theaters, and.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So the short film was one film, and then the
feature film that we see now is like an extended
version or it's brand new.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It's a brand new and extended version. So we include
some parts of that first first portion that we filmed,
and then we also include all the newer stuff, so
everything when this is a coming of age story, so
we first see Elaine at the character of Elaine, my
character at eight years old, and then we see her
again as a teenager. So the short film was all
(02:25):
her at eight years old.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I get it. And I can see where the break
is now that you're saying that, I can see the
character change. I see, I see where.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Man the break. Well, that's how you have to make
independent film, right. They told me how do you make
an independent film? You have to make it any way
you can. And in this case, I had to do
it in pieces because I had to be able to
afford the pieces. You know, it's truly an independent movie.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Kudos to you man, thank you, thank you. And it
was so well done. I'm talking videography, I'm talking costume,
and it was so real. As a born and raised
New Yorker, I always have that eye of like, that's
not New York, that's not legitimate, that's not what it's
supposed to look like, and it just felt kind of
like my life story. At the same time, it was legit.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I thank you so much. I'm getting that a lot
from different audience members like, it feels like my story,
and that that feels to me, like very often when
we are dealing with trials and tribulations, we feel so
alone in them a week, very much alone, especially now
in this culture, this day and age, where everybody's on
the on their social media platforms. But this movie is
(03:31):
making them feel seen, heard and less alone, like, wow,
that could have been me, and then understanding that their
story has value and that they don't have to hide it,
that they could bring it to light and it will
bring light to others.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And it just feels beautiful. You know. As a kid
that grew up in low income housing, you know that's
something we don't really talk about it because we're like, oh,
that's in the past, you know, that's when we didn't
have it. And to see it, it's just like it's
so many of us that lived this way. It's it
shouldn't be embarrassing and it shouldn't be something that we
hide and it can be beautiful. Also the way you
painted it, I just loved it.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
To me, everywhere you look is beautiful. If it's in Brownsville,
the people, the culture, the buildings, it's all beautiful. You
just have to find the beauty, you have to be
looking for the beauty to find it. And you know,
that's what really made it blow up, is like the
things that made it feel so real for so many people.
It became like a little cultural phenomenon. And we are
(04:28):
so as Latinos, we hardly see ourselves. Especially when we
see ourselves, we're not depicted in the way that we
see ourselves and the places that we see the way
that others depict us.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
It reduces us in many ways.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yes, So even though this story is about you know,
living in the projects and it has all of these
things that we want to protect ourselves and our culture from, actually,
for me, protecting it is actually telling it like it is.
That's protecting the truth, and it's allowing it to live
fully instead of douce to one thing or another.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
It's beautifully told, you know. And if you're listening to
this episode right now and your family struggled with let's say, addiction, poverty,
was you know, plagued by you know, HIV AIDS, where
you sent you know back to the island for being
a troubled kid, you know, as punishment. These are all
things that are there that so many people not just me,
but everyone around me experience and we don't get to
(05:23):
see that on the big screen. I thank you for
you know, touching on so many different things.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Thank you. Well, I'm just I'm just trying to tell
the story to show a journey, and it's really a
father daughter's story and a girl's coming of age into
her own identity and all that. And when I was
telling it, like, I didn't tell it with any intended
purpose like oh, it's going to be taken this way
or that way, because when I first started telling it,
it was like I'm afraid to tell it.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
What you touched on so many topics, even something that
resonated with me a lot, is you being such a
young girl and being targeted by older men in your hood.
Like that's sensitive as hell, but it's real. It happened
to all of us. You'll be twelve, thirteen years old,
and it's like a grown man is like trying to
approach you or trying to engage you. I love you
for touching on that topic. It's so real and people
(06:08):
just don't talk about it. And as women now we're
like we look back and like I was targeted, I
was being groomed by a grown drug dealer on a block,
like how fucking foul is that?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
It happens all the time. And actually there are things
that I left out of the movie because I wanted
to stay on track. But one of my first movies
that I ever made, a short film, was called Me
three point seven sixty nine, and the character was Elaine
and the mother was Carmen, and the ant and all that,
and it shows something very much of what you and
I are speaking of right now. But I kept that
(06:41):
out of the story because I'm like, oh god, I
can't add everything. I was like, let me just try
to make an amalgamation through this character of Goji. But
you're right, like I do remember when I was as
young as eleven years old walking down the street on
Belmont Avenue and they're like me, not mommy, yo, I'm
a child. Yes, you're a child, and that's still happening
(07:01):
to you. And in this film you do see a
character that is you can see that it's grooming. But
when you're a child, you don't see that it's grooming.
You see a compliment as like, oh, somebody just complimented me.
And when you are struggling and it's the first time
in your life that somebody made you feel a certain way.
(07:23):
That's very inviting, they say, called.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Right, speaking of Yeah, a grown ass man selling drug
bitches on the block. And all of a sudden, why
are you showing attention to a twelve or thirteen year
old like you got problem with my guy?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
They know why. They know why because they see the
vulnerability it happens today where they're getting young people through
social media. Oh yeah, it's you know, human trafficking is real,
And that was definitely a path that exists somewhere everywhere
that I wanted to make sure that this film reveals
all of the pitfalls. Somebody told me like you were
(08:01):
navigating all the minds, and I was like, you know what,
when I was writing this movie and this book, I
was going to name it Navigating the Minds because that's
how I felt that. It was like, everywhere you turn,
there is a way for you to fall, and this
is about just like almost almost falling so that people
could actually see it clearly.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
When I saw you take that laundry bag, I don't
want to give so much away, but I was just like,
this could go so wrong, Yes, this could this could
just screw her whole life. When I saw you walk
into that crack, then I'm like, this could be the
end of her life, like you dodged so much.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So many bullets. Yes, yes, and that's that's the life
of I mean, it exists everywhere, but in Brownsville, you
just go outside. You don't have to be looking for trouble.
Trouble finds you.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
This is your environment.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
That's right, it's the environment. But it does happen everywhere,
So I don't want to discount like only neighborhoods Chicago, yes,
but and everywhere, even in the wealthier neighborhoods.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Kids starting trouble out there, and kids get in trouble
and they get into drugs, and it happens everywhere.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Now, you started as an actor, correct, Yes? How long
were you in the actor circuit before you decided I'm
going to write, I'm going to direct, I want to produce.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Well, let me say that I'm still an actor. Okay,
I still act, all right, I actually still act on
the show Door or The Explorer. Oh you're the voice
I saw that, yes, and many other things. But so
I was acting, and I was primarily only being seen
for commercials and print stuff. And it's very frustrating when
(09:34):
you're studying acting and you're trying to be a serious
actor and all they see you as is like, you know,
the the girl at the restaurant taking a bite of something,
and that's all you're allowed to do.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You're in the Sopranos, you were in Donnie Brasco. I
saw that, Well, you're you have a lot of credits,
like you've been acting forever.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yes, I just was in Queen's for ABC. I was
on The Resident for NBC, so yeah, I've been acting
a long time and I love it. But but when
you're acting, you're really waiting for people to give you
a role. You're waiting to get that role or the
alternity of the audition, and you know all the people
that are out there also struggling for those same roles
(10:13):
or striving toward them. So I learned not to take
it personally. But at the same time, I need to
take command of my own career. So that's what actually
started me writing, was just let me just tell a story,
and it's a one woman show, so I don't have
to worry about anybody giving me their opportunity. Actually self
produced in myself downtown at the new Eurekan Poets Cafe
(10:35):
after I was done with the festival circuit on it,
and it changed my life because people saw it and
then they saw me, and then they wanted to They
were intrigued, especially because my outside did not match my
life and my upbringing. So that really was like, wow,
I can't believe I just saw this. I want to
(10:55):
work with you every day, but I can't work with
an actor every day. What else do you do? And
then that's what really started shifting everything.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
What do you What do you enjoy most? Is it writing?
Is it producing? Is it directing? Is it being an actor?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Oh? Yeah, yeah, it's I don't love producing so much,
but I'm a very good producer because I'm really resourceful.
I love directing because I feel like I get to
bring out in other actors what I wish other people
could have brought out in meet I get to put
them on a platform and give them all of the
(11:29):
complexity of the roles, especially if I'm writing them. I mean,
dream is somebody just says, what do you want to
write and direct next? And produce next? And let me
do that because I will come up with multiple stories
and actually be working with I can gather up a
crew that can work full time with me, and we
(11:50):
can create incredible things that very you know, very fair
reasonable pricing budgets and they can be great. So that's
my dream to be able to direct them, but also
also in a way be a part of the production
team as well and write them or at least have
(12:10):
a hand in the writing of them.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
How important is it for you to, you know, give
visibility and a voice to us, you know, the unheard voices,
you know, the Latinos, the inner city kids, Like, is
that the main goal and the main focus or did
it just happen to happen because you told your story.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I learned so much through telling my story, and it
is so important that we are reflected. So there is
a term that deals with the psychological erasure of people
if they're not seen in media. So Latinos are almost
twenty percent of the US population, but we're less than
five percent of the time seen on screens. And what
(12:48):
that does is that's actually telling people and showing people
that we don't matter. We don't matter because we're not seen.
And if you look at the black community, that's really
like killing it in the entertainment world, right or sixteen
percent of the population, and they're over indexing, like over
thirty percent of the time. So their stories are being
valued more. And so for me to have a latina
(13:12):
as a lead leading her own story, leading the entire story,
being the hero of her own story, and for you
to be able to see her larger than life in
a theatrical screen, that to me, I understand the psychological
impact of that, and that's why that matters to me
so much. To see it on any screen is fantastic,
(13:33):
but to actually see it in a theater where you're
very large, that to me is incredibly.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Powerful and it does it feels good, and you know,
I've made it a mission, you know for the past
few years that you know, watch our movies, watch our plays,
you know, visit you know we're having an opening or
whatever it is, because you are right. It's just like
you know, we have our black brothers and sisters. It's
like movies. They you know, they have the BET Awards,
have BT Channel. You know, they're all over and there's
(14:00):
so many shows. The visibility is there, our visibility as
hard as we're working. Because don't get me wrong, there's
tons of you know Latino creatives, especially here in New York,
whether it be theater, TV, Like, we're working hard. Now
what's happening is are these networks picking us up? And
if they're picking us up, are we staying on? I
feel like that's the bigger problem.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Well, I feel like they're giving us like one role,
like one of us is in there, we're covered. They're
like checking a box with us right now. They're not
letting us be a part of the whole story. And
so I feel like that is what's happening. That's why
whenever I write something, my protagonist is always actually a Latina,
(14:43):
and she's a smart Latina. Whether she's rich or whatever,
she's smart or and she is always trying to better
herself and strive driving reaching, you know. So for me,
that's really important to be able to show that aspect
of Latini dad, especially for women.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
There's so many misconceptions when it comes to us, you know, Latinos,
especially with what's happening right now, the way we're being
you know, villainized and just targeted. It's just it's become
kind of like a job for us to undo the
damage that's being done by the media.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I'm like, I have to take a breath of that
because it's so disheartening, especially because you know we it
felt I have been around a long time, and every
time something pops off, that's really great. It feels like
we're getting somewhere. And then but I've been around a
long time, so I know that the getting somewhere, it
(15:47):
just is it's temporary. So the idea for me is
just like to never stop, never stop doing that. And
a good friend of mine, Andrea Naverro, she she was
on Jane the Virgin, she played Gina Vigrina, his mom
and that, and she said to me, Elaine, you know
you really have to be a horse with blinders on,
and that is just to keep doing your thing, keep
(16:09):
forward emotions, stay focused on what it is that you're doing,
don't worry about everything around you. And what you're doing
needs to be a voice that champions everything around you.
But you can't let things drag you down. You can't
get so emotional and hurt and hate that you have
to love more than you hate. If you're hurt by something,
(16:32):
you have to face that with love and hit it
with love with like a baseball bat of love and
that's well, that's what I try to do. So whatever's happening,
that's what I really strive to do is hit it
with a baseball bat with love. And the only way
that I know how to make an impact is through story.
Because you could tell people and argue with people, none
of that matter. Through story, you can find them, you
(16:56):
can get to them in ways that they didn't expect it.
And that's what I'm after.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
I love that. You know, you're using creativity, you're using positivity,
you're using you're being impactful as opposed to you know,
Michelle Obama, what was it when they go low, we
go hi? Yeah, You're just like, listen, I'm gonna let
my work speak for itself. Speaking of your work. Princess Cut,
Oh thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yes, I love that. So. Princess Cut is a short
film that won me the HBO LATINX Director Award, And
it's actually a film that is not based on anything
that I've lived, which most everything else kind of has
been like my brainchild. But a while back, I was
I was very close to getting into a wonderful program
(17:40):
called the American Film Institute Directors Women's Workshop. It's a
very prestigious program and I was right down to the wire.
And when I didn't get it, I asked them why,
and they said, we love your story, we love your movie,
but it just we love the movie that you want
to make in this program. But it felt like that's
the only movie that you wanted to make. And I'm like,
(18:02):
should I come into this program acting like I don't
want to make the movie.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
That I'm trying to make in this program?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
But anyway, I understood what it was that they're saying,
and I took the note. And that week I was
in Los Angeles and I went to the Hollywood Fringe
Festival where I saw a play by a woman named
Amitri Caraman who grew up on Long Island, and I
loved it. It was called Bitch Brow and it took
(18:28):
place in the Hamptons and it was about two women
from opposite sides of the economic spectrum who find themselves
in an all night laundromat and they find common ground
and then one of them winds up dead. But the
play was so good and so funny, and it was
very long, and right after I saw it, I went
(18:50):
up right up to the writer and I was like, listen,
I'm a writer. Director. I just made the short film
I got it onto HBO. It's called Me three point
seventy sixty nine. I really want to make impactful store.
I've never found another story like this that I want
to make so much because I understand this, like I'm
living on Long Island. I understand the Hamptons. I understand
(19:11):
the idea of the haves and the have nots and
how people look at you and what the expectations are.
And I feel like this story says all that, and
that's already on brand for me. And I really want
to make this. I'll write it, I'll produce it, i'll
direct it, I'll do everything. I'll cast it. And she
said it's optioned. So every year I would actually call
(19:34):
her in the summertime. For two years, every year I
would call her and I said, is it still optioned?
She said yes, they just renewed the option. And then
the following year I asked her and she said, they're
not going to renew the option. You can have it.
And then we worked on it together, and then she
got pregnant and I was I started working on it,
(19:55):
you know, more on my own, and I turned it
into what became Princess Cut, and I'm so proud of
it because it just, you know, I took the note
from very prestigious program about you know what they were
telling me about, you know, telling other stories because I
want to be a director. I want to tell any
story and this Princess Cut really helped me to do that.
(20:20):
And the fact that it was so well received really
helped me to prove them wrong and prove that I
can do it kind of to myself as well.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
And I love that for you.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
And Princess Cut is on HBO Max.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
It's on HBO Max.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
So if you're listening and you've got HBO Max, make
a note on your phone and watch Princess Cut.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yes, it's also film starring Lauren Levera, who is also
on She was Great. She is in the Terrifier movies,
so before she was the star of the Terrifier movies,
she was the star of Princess Cut.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
For me, you gotta go watch it. As soon as
this movie starts, you're going to feel it. It's like
it give you a certain feeling you're like, something's not
gonna go right. Also, I'm Brownsfield Bread is on Amazon Prime.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
It's on demand right now, So you can find it
on Apple, you can find it on Amazon Prime, and
I'm sure other places as well on demand. So yeah,
I'm excited to be able that people can share it.
We put it at a price out there that people can,
you know, definitely afford it. They can watch it with
their families, and it's a conversation starter.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
It really is. I feel like, if you you know
eighties nineties, like, this is going to be your story.
I'm telling you right now. Whatever it is, it's going
to connect in one way or another. Whether it be
the day your mother blew up, the fact that you
got your period, whether it be the fact that they
should ship your ass back to Puerto Rico or Dominican Republic.
Whatever it is, you're gonna connect. You're going to connect.
(21:47):
And I connected probably like in nine different ways. You know.
The story with you and your dad very relatable. You know,
my father also went to jail, He also was a
drug user. He also passed away in the nineties. I
was just like, Elaine is telling my story? What is
going on here?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah? That's so many people come to me and say that,
but then different facets. So I remember when we premiered
at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. Shout out
to Lalif and Axlcabaero who has supported me so much,
and everybody over there. But when we were there, I'll
never forget my cinematographer, who's a white guy. His name
(22:24):
is Dustin Warred. He's an incredible artist, lives out in
Brooklyn and his family came from San Francisco, and his
fourteen year old nephew was there. And at the end
of the movie, he looked over at his fourteen year
old nephew and the fourteen year old nephew was crying
and he was like, Wow, of all the people, I
didn't expect this from you, And he said, I related
(22:47):
so much to the sibling, relate to the to Elaine
taking care of her aunt, her older aunt that was
special special needs, and he had a similar situation. So
for him, that's what connected. For another woman, she left
the theater crying so hard because she couldn't get over
(23:07):
Abuelita and Puerto Rico and the love and just.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Going to make me cry because the difference between the tuauelas.
I was like, we've lived it, Yes, we have lived it.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
And if you you know, if you miss your grandmother,
if you miss your father, you know, these people that
are not around. This movie pays such an homage to
the love that's there and even through the struggle, you know,
you know, we talk about Manny's struggles and his addiction
and his illness and all that, but that's what people
want to focus on. But this movie focuses on the love,
(23:41):
the love between the father and the daughter and this
man's struggle for redemption and it comes. The redemption comes,
and it's so beautiful and through song. You know, that's
another really special part of that movie.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
That moment I feel like crying out just thinking about it.
It was just the way the connection was made through music.
I was like, Wow, this woman is brilliant.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Thank you so much. That is a huge shout out
to Edwin Vasquez, who wrote all of Manny's original songs,
including Semia de fe which now I just submitted it
for Oscar category in the Best Original Song and the
Golden Clothes because I'm like, why not us? You know,
we got to be in it to win it. I
know my chances are slim, I know that, but you
(24:26):
know what, so what, I'm gonna do this and people
who are looking at other things, and other people are
finally going to see and hear us, and that's important.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
And we've got to take chances. You know. I've interviewed
this young lady. Her name is j Noah, and she's
from Dominican Republic and she still lives there, and she's
three times Grammy nominated. She doesn't understand how this is happening.
And she's living in San Cristole in Santo Domingo. She
comes from like a poor family and she's nineteen years
old and she already got nominated for three Grammys.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Exactly. She's just a humble girl from Dominican Republic making music.
So we got to be in it to win it.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yes, you have to be and you have to not
let anybody, you know, take you away from that because
they'll say, like, oh, you know, it might be a
waste of your time because they already have who they're Okay, Okay,
I understand that. But if I listened to that and
I thought about all of the barriers that were in
front of me before I started making stuff, I would
(25:29):
never make anything. I would be frozen. I would still
be that girl looking out of her window wishing that
I could go outside, and now I am outside.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
You, really outside. I can't scroll my feet without either
seeing you doing an interview, somebody talking about your movie,
somebody promote. And I've got to say this, Latinos, we
have rallied behind you. We're championing behind you, like whether
it be actors, producers, directors. I see everyone supporting this
film in a way that I haven't seen anyone support
(25:59):
a project in a very long time.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Now, you're gonna make me cry right now.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I want you to know that.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I know that, and I feel it. I feel it
from you, and I feel it from the community and
the impact that the film is having on them, especially
that it's an independent film made with like no money,
just like over three years. It took us three years
to make this film to afford getting it in the can.
That is not normal, but it just goes to show you,
(26:27):
you know, the faith that you have to keep, and
everybody rallying behind me and then telling other people, because
I make it very clear when audiences, when we were
only in theaters in Manhattan, I'll never forget the audiences
would come and I would try my best to be
there as much as possible, and afterward, whether they whether
they had scheduled the director talk back or not, I
(26:49):
would just get up afterward and say, there's a director
talk back at the end of this, and then I
would get up and I would talk to them for
as long as the theater would let me, until they
had to clean the theater. And I would make sure
that people knew, like, there are influencers right now, that
maybe because you saw it on an influencer's feed that
brought you here, because we don't have money for advertising,
(27:10):
so maybe you saw it on an influencer's feed, and
like you, you're an influencer, right and people watch you
and they listen to you and they take your advice. However,
I make it clear to the audience that we are
all influencers. If you're if you're wearing a pair of
shoes that you love and they're so comfortable, and you
tell your mother and your sister and your brother, guess what,
(27:32):
they're going to have that same faith and they're going
to want to get those shoes too, And that's what
it is to the movie. So I make it clear
to the audience. So share it, Share it with your neighbor.
One guy that was helping us on production design. He's
a white man that I went to that I went
to acting school with, and he said to me, Elaine,
(27:53):
you're not going to believe this. My neighbor I saw
her passing in the hallway and she said to me,
Oh my god, I just have to you know, I
don't have any time, but I have to tell you
I just saw this movie Brownsville Bread. And he started
to laugh because he's like, here's this older white woman
telling a white man that, you know, you have to
(28:15):
go see this movie. So, you know, maybe she heard
me say it, or maybe she just felt it. There
were other people who just saw us on Rotten Tomatoes.
We're one hundred percent on Rotten Tomatoes, one hundred percent,
So there are other people that come because they see
that rating. We're also one hundred percent on the popcorn meter,
so they see it and they're like, Okay, how bad
can it be? Let me give it a chance. The
(28:37):
other day, when we we put up for the Golden Globes,
the woman helping us do the email blast for we're
having a press conference for the Golden Globes, and you know,
I'm dealing with her and I'm like, okay, so I
have to create a one hundred character. What's the subject
matter going to be? So it was something like Latina
(29:00):
directed independent film for your consideration, press conference, something like that,
And we were on the phone and she says, so
is this your subject I said yes. She said I
like that. Do you know that it's true? If it's true,
I said yes, I am the Latina director and it
is an independent film. She was like, what you are
and I was like, yes, I am. And then later
(29:23):
on that night, when we had finished the transaction, she
told me that she and her husband had put on
my film and that they loved it. Same thing with
the So this is interesting. I hope it's interesting to
your audience and to you, but it is for me.
I'm a total movie geek. So when you're making a movie,
(29:54):
you have to get if it's going to go theatrical,
you have to get a rating, and you do it
through the Academy. But it's the Academy Raiders, and the
Raiders are actually made up of members who are parents.
So when you see a rated R, a PG thirteen
of G or a PG, it's because parents who are
(30:16):
members have seen it and voted what it needs to be.
So when we were first being rated, we were originally
rated as are and it was very important to me
that it brought down to a PG thirteen And I said,
how can I do that? They said, you have to
get rid of a couple of the curse words. We'll
let well, let a couple slide. I know exactly where,
(30:39):
but he said, you know, you have to get rid
of and and I was like, great, I'm going to
go back into the edit. I'm going to do that
because it means that much to me. So they said, okay,
when you're done with that, we'll rate it again and
we won't charge you again. Great, they rated it. They
rated it PG thirteen And then he wrote me a
(30:59):
letter and he said, I want you to know that
this is extremely rare, but all of the raiders wanted
you to know how much they loved your movie.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Okay, Now what that says to me is that these
are parents who saw the movie who probably are not
lat you know, and who said this is a valuable
movie to show to my kids. And PG thirteen is
the right rating for it, and they loved it. And
like little things like that, it just keeps me going.
It just keeps me like it just keeps injecting me
(31:32):
with like this fuel to just go on. And I
know you're pr girl.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Now, I know you're pumped right now. You've got to
be hype.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I'm hype. But I also have my feet very firmly
planted on the ground because I've been at you know,
I've done a lot in my career. Every time I
get like a nice role, I'm like, wow, I'm going
to be on. Like I was on Queen's on ABC
with a recurring guest star, and I was like, Wow,
this is going to be right. But there have been
other times. I sold an original pilot that I wrote
(32:05):
to CBS to the network CBS kind of language, it's huge,
but then it's not green lid, it's not you know,
it's not done. They paid me to write it and everything,
but then it didn't get done. I was on a
movie set for three weeks about to direct a three
to five million dollar budget film. We had the cast,
(32:26):
everybody was coming in, and then something happened they sent
us all home. Yes, so I have my firm, my
feet planted on the ground, but it doesn't stop me
from striving. But also what it makes me do is
to keep doing other things as well and not count
on these other opportunities. Just keep on creating. And that's
(32:47):
how I keep the momentum. Last night, one of the
audience members said to me, how do you keep the momentum?
I'm like, because right now, all you're seeing is browns,
blue bread. It doesn't mean that that's all I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Well, I know you already. In twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
I am actually in the middle of December, I'm going
to have a really beautiful announcement about a project that
I've been working on. I'm not allowed to say anything yet,
but you know it's it's really special and and then
I'm working on something else next. So look, I don't
know what's going to happen, but that that is how
I keep the momentum. Small victories and and just checking
(33:25):
something off my my list. I make a list every
single day, and I whatever I have to accomplish, even
if it's like, you know, pay the bill.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Like where do you make your list? I make it
on a post it?
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Where do you make I have a book that is
of great quotes, important quotes. You could get it on
Amazon and and at the bottom of every page. It's
a line, a line, little box like a box of
of of pages. And at the bottom of every page
is an is an inspirational quote. And so that's what
(34:00):
I love, because I love to read the quotes every
day and look through them and be like okay, and
then I have to rewrite the whole list, like once
I'm done crossing off a bunch and there's still a
couple more left, so I get through that. I finished
the whole pad last year and it's a thousand pages.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
That's why I got to upgrade my situation, because a
post it every day sounds kind of ghetto compared to
what Elane just described.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Right here, get the book, and I should not be
ripping out the stuff from the book, but when it's done,
to rip it out, but I should actually be keeping
those things to see all the stuff that I've done
in the course of that book.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Now, speaking of stuff that you've done, can we talk
Dora the Explorer. I don't know why I love this
so much.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yes, so a god, Yes, many many years ago, many
moons ago, before you ever heard the name Dora the Explorer.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
I feel like it's been forever in early it.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Has been forever it's been I can't even remember when
I started, but when I started that series is when
I quit bartending.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
In New York.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
In New York, I used to cocktail, waitress bars and anything.
But when I started that show, I felt confident that
I could make my health insurance. It wasn't going to
be an issue anymore.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
And I was right.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So I did the show from the time that it
started until the time that it ended. It was like
eleven seasons or something like that. Valvei Octopus along with
many other characters. Yes, and then.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
How does one do that with well.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
You become whatever. But it's so much fun and the
people were fantastic. And about two and a half three
years ago, I got a call from them again and
they said, guess what, we're starting up Dora again. We're
doing it a little bit differently, and we'd love for
you to bring back your character.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
What did you think.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
I was so happy, especially because now I could record
it from my closet, I could do it from anywhere,
and it was just really it's been really special. I
just recorded an episode like two weeks ago and they
call me and then I do like a few episodes
at a time. It's it's really been great. And also
through that show, through many through many things in my life,
(36:14):
but through that show, through through one person on that show.
Knowing that I was also casting the characters that I
was filming, they they asked me for casting help on
a new show called Alma's Way before it was a
before it was a thing, and I said, yes, I
(36:35):
will help, and they said, if you help, we want
to recommend you to be the casting director of Alma's Way,
which is a Fred Rogers production. And I did the
work and they recommended me and I got the job.
And it's been three seasons. So we just finished our
third season of Alma's Way, and I'm the casting director
(36:56):
of Alma's Way. And I was just nominated by the
Casting Society of America for Best Casting in an Animated
Series for Audios Awards.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
And I love that. And you know, give us a
little bit more about Alma's Way, you know the Latino shows,
you know, anything that our listeners can put their kids
onto or themselves. Where can they watch it?
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yes, yes, So Alma's Way is on PBS Kids. It's
a Fred Rogers production that was actually created by Sonia Manzano,
who everybody knows as Maria on Sesame Street. She actually
has a dock out right now all about her life,
so you got to go check that out too. But
it's basically a little Puerto Rican girl in the Bronx
(37:42):
and her family and her brother and her dog and
her friends, and it's bringing all of the culture that
is New York, the melting pot of culture that's in
New York into this show that you can see. It's
the perfect setting for it, and she's the star of it,
and the star of it, the girl who actually voices
(38:03):
that is actually the girl who stars in my movie
Summer Rose Castillo.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Look at that moment.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Yes, So I first cast her in Alma's Way, she's
so brilliant, and then and then I cast her in
Brownsville Bread. So I gave her her first job ever.
And then I also gave her her first on screen job.
And she's the lead.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Look at this, Look at all this you know Latina
connection and twining and changing the course of each other's
lives per se.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
There's more than that. Because her mother somemm Rose Castillo,
who is Bronx born Puerto Rican girl. Her mother is
April Hernandez Castillo, April Hernandez was the lead actress, I
should say, the co lead actress or the best supporting
actress or the sporting actress opposite Hillary Swank in the
(38:57):
movie Freedom Writers. So this little girl has like this
culture of acting in Latini Da and being on screen
from her mother. And I'm just so blessed to have
worked with not just Summer Rose, but when you work
with a child, you're working with the whole family. Yes,
so the girls that all the all the siblings that
(39:19):
play in the movie. Summer Rose plays eight year old Elaine,
but there's a little scene with with a four year
old version that Summer sister e Lila, and then Natali
a ladies who plays teenage Elaine. Her parents were incredible,
incredibly supportive. And then Kevin Chakong Neo Vela Kamora, quadravo.
(39:43):
Those kids actually all grew up during the process of
making brownswel bread. So they started in twenty twenty one
as like these little kids, and then you see them
again in twenty twenty three and the same kids, same kids, Yes,
the same.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
That is absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
It's so wonderful. And you know, my producer said it
best recently, she was bragging about it when we were
at Lalif. You know, we're in New York. Story we
have New York actors. We couldn't afford to fly people
down and all of the yeah, all of the siblings,
their parents, the characters in Brownsbee Bread that were based
(40:25):
in New York and Puerto Rico, they flew themselves out
to Lalif on their own dime to be there for
the movie. And that that just shows the family that
we created through the making of Brownsbee Bread. Like you
see my family up there, but the people who brought
it to life was another family that we created through
(40:46):
the filmmaking process and empowering them to see themselves as creators,
as directors, as writers, to be able to continue in
this journey.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
What you're out here doing is absolutely incredible. And speaking
to you now, you know, I have even more respect
for you. I came into this already like writer directors.
I knew you were casting direct I was actor. I
was like, wow, how many hats can one person wear
and do it so nicely?
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Well, I say, I do one thing, I do entertainment
there and I fill in the blanks wherever I need,
And every independent feature or any independent project, you're usually
wearing multiple hats. Many people wear multiple hats. One of
my producers, adrian Es sa Vida love It. She was
my assistant director. Also, she was one of my producers
and she was an actress senate as well. You know,
(41:38):
so we we do my location scout in Puerto Rico
Luis Mendez. I was like, dude, you are so great.
Can you please be Michael Quito man?
Speaker 1 (41:48):
And he said, yes, that is what we do great.
I remember, yeah, and he was so great.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
So, you know, we I feel people like I connect
with them genuinely, and just like with my actors, when
I have an actor, I don't try to make them
into the role. I try to merge the role with
them so that they pop in a way that feels
so great for their careers and for the movie that
(42:14):
it becomes undeniable. And that's what I try to do
with people in general. So people say I want to
help you, I'm like, okay, I don't know how you
can help, but let me find out. Let's find out
together what you think. Because the minute that you tell
somebody exactly exactly what you need, don't be like broad
about it. You know, the size of that fence that
(42:35):
you need. You know, it needs to be five foot
high and four foot wide. You need to tell them
exactly what you need. Put that energy out there and
people will come back at you with exactly what you need.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
The universe is conspiring to help us. Yes, yes, but
you just got to put it out there. I say
that all of you.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
You don't know the pivots that we have to do
in filmmaking, especially the pivots that have to happen, and
you roll with the punches, and thank God, through the
experience of having done it, I can tell you that
those roles in those directions ends up being some of
the best parts. And so when that happens now these days,
(43:15):
I understand, I don't fret.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
I'm not panicked.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna figure it out, and I do,
and I always feel like this was for the best afterwards.
So that's what I try to keep in mind.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
You always make it happen. Another movie that's all over
my timeline, Germo, Lilttos, Frankenstein.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
Have you had the time, you know, I had the
time to put it on and I started watching it.
I look at things very differently than other people.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
That's why I wanted to get your perspective on it.
I didn't finish watching it, so I really do have
to got to come back to this conversation. This is
gonna be over the journey and it has some of
my you know, incredible actors that I have not been
able to get out of my mind, like I really
want to work with that actor. For me, it's like
(44:02):
I always feel like I want I wanted to direct
that instead. I don't know, it's it's not touching those
same things. Like I know other people are big fans
of it, but for me so far not But I'm
going to give it another chance, give it. I just
it just the work felt so brilliant. I'm talking like costume,
(44:22):
just everything. But I'm like, how does one brain obviously
it's not just one brain, but how do you conceptualize
something and you know, deliver it like that?
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Well, that's that I have to say. I mean, he's
he's incredible. So the the imagery that he puts out
is undeniable. The people that he works with to collaborate
to make it all happen is definitely synergy. And the
and the budgets that he gets is budget.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
So you give me that budget, I'm the top that.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Well, so like that's undeniable. But I look at movies
very differently, and I often can't stay in the story
because I'm too busy looking at the other things and
like just trying to learn from it. You know, it's
like a textbook for me. I'm looking at it like
an equation that I need to take apart in order
(45:32):
for me to put into my work moving forward. And
I do take a lot of references from a lot
of other films. Whenever I'm making a movie, I storyboard everything,
or at least the parts that I feel like need
to be relayed very succinctly to my creative team, like
(45:54):
this is what I'm looking for, whether that be old
style photos of my apartment where I used to live,
or reference photos from lifts from from movies that I've admired.
I even sometimes show it to the actors, because a
picture tells a thousand words you need. Yeah, so if
I just show them, like, this is what I'm going
(46:16):
to see, and they'll look at that actor and grab
that emotion from that actor and marry it with what
it is that they're saying, it helps them, you know,
I try to be the director that I always wanted
to have for the actors that I work with.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
What is your one movie that you can watch a
million times? You've got to have one. I have many movies. Well,
give me a couple.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
I mean, A Star is Born, that movie, all of
them from Barber Streisand's one, but also the one with
Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. I thought that was just
so beautifully done. And it's a movie with with music
(46:59):
like my Like it's not a musical, but it's a
movie with music. And I love movies with music as
a part of them because that was ingrained in my childhood,
Like that was my dad. My dad was music. So
for me, a movie like that is very special. Also,
there's a movie, you know, I talk about it all
(47:20):
the time. Boys Don't Cry, and I talk about it
because it's not that I want to see it over
and over again, but it's the impact that it had
on me that I felt like I was punched in
the gut and it recounts a true story. And when
I first started watching it, I thought it was a documentary.
It felt so real. And Hillary Swang stars in it
(47:42):
and Kimberly Pearce directed it, and it just it just
made my heart sink and I don't want to watch
it again because it's that powerful. What I watched a
lot is like, if I want to be inspired and
cry sometimes maybe Aaron Brockovich.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Oh, that's a classic.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Yeah, I love My mom used to work for attorneys.
So that's a pilot that I recently wrote as well,
how my mom got a job working for attorneys. This
woman who had like no education, and she started working
for attorneys and really became the right hand person of
the attorneys and really made an impact in the office
and getting people to open up about their stories and share.
(48:22):
So Aaron Brockovich, when I first watched that, I really
felt very close to it because it felt like it
was my mom.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
You saw her.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Yeah, my mom was the person dealing with like the
lawsuits that were involving in the projects. You know, when
I was a kid uplifting story. Not uplifting story, that's
that's not true. But when I was a kid, that
was I won't even say what happened, but something really
bad happened to a twelve year old girl in my building,
(48:53):
and my mom helped to get them, you know, A
settlement that I don't want to say that it can
help because nothing could ever help, but maybe get the
people some help that they needed to help them come
through the trauma. And so my mom was like that person.
(49:14):
So yeah, I love that movie. It makes me feel
like powerful, strong, see a woman with like kids and
all these odds stacked against her just like making her
own way and whether people want to believe in her
or not, she makes it happen and then eventually they
believe in her. And that's why I love that story
so much.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
That those are three solid movie I've seen all three.
I guess see, I can see why you read those
are love those. But I want to take you know,
the time to just thank you for coming up to
New York City today sitting down with us. But more importantly,
I want to thank you for giving us a voice,
for telling our stories, for not being afraid to cut
right through and you know, show things that many maybe
(49:58):
view as trauma that and be shared, but you see
it as genuine stories that are going to hit and
making these movies.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Yes, I thank you, thank you, thank you. It's healing,
it is, so I don't, I don't. I just want
you to know that you're gonna come out of this
movie feeling uplifted, healed, and even prouder than you were
to be Latino and even prouder than you were to
have survived whatever it was that brought you to this
moment in your life and to appreciate your family and
(50:30):
want to call them and share it with them. So
to me, that's what the audience, that's what's bringing all
the love for browns below bread and all the sharing,
and that's what I want the audience to come away
with and know, you know, when they put on that movie,
that's how they're going to feel at the end of it. Yes,
thank you so much, thank you making your platform.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
Appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (50:50):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
Grassiers Come Again is a production of Honey German Productions
in partnership with Iheartsmiketura podcast Network.
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