Arturo Hilario
El Observador
Photo Credit: Murray Close / Lionsgate
From the world of John Wick comes a new branch to the popular and stylish action series, the Ana de Armas led Ballerina.
Ballerina takes place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and follows new character Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a Ballerina turned assassin for hire who is intent on seeking revenge for a family tragedy.
The new film explores the previously seen Ruska Roma, the fearsome ballet school that actually serves as a training ground for future assassins, led by The Director (Anjelica Huston), who serves as its New York branch leader and as a sort of motherly figure to John Wick (Keanu Reeves).
It is here in this assassin academy that Eve is trained into a highly skilled contract killer, and despite The Director’s warnings to not pursue personal vengeance, Eve is determined to find those responsible for the pain she has carried since her youth.
To give us a deeper look into the world of Ballerina, I was able to speak with David Castañeda, who plays Eve’s father Javier, a fiercely protective character who sets the catalyst for the film’s story, ultimately setting Eve on her journey of self-discovery and vengeance.
Castañeda was part of the main cast of Netflix’s popular series The Umbrella Academy and films like Sicario.
In the following interview, Castañeda speaks about his experience working on the film, from his initial shock at getting a role in an action franchise he was a fan of, working with the action coordinators and training for the very intricate fight sequences, and why he picks three specific moments as his favorite aspects of working on Ballerina.
Ballerina is now in theaters.
To start off, how did you react to booking a role in Ballerina, in one of the most beloved action franchises in the last decade?
Well, it was kind of a shock if I’m being honest. I had a meeting, my agent told me “Hey, have you read the script called Ballerina? It’s a John Wick film but it takes place between three and four.” And obviously I said, “Yes, I’d like to meet with them.” And in the meeting, I thought I was going to get some information about the character and then audition. But no, it was a meeting, and then the meeting was a thing of, “Would you like to come to Budapest and start training and shoot this?”
And I couldn’t believe it, if I’m honest with you. I’ve had very few meetings where something that I wanted so bad was just kind of, “you’re right for it and we want you.” And yeah, I was a little intimidated and so I really tried to, you know, poke the people around to try to get me to come to Budapest as early as possible to start training, because I knew that this franchise that I’ve also followed as a fan has a really high bar when it comes to stunts.
And I wanted to do my due diligence to hopefully, you know, uphold that for myself.
You’re no stranger to action films. You’ve worked on projects like Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy and films like Sicario. So what was the training like for Ballerina and what was the process of getting prepared for something like this?
Well, it was a lot of hours in the gym, learning how to handle guns, learning how to load, reload. And also being able to have your eyes up at the same time, how you fight with a gun in your hand in close counters, you know, walls very tight, so there was a lot of training in that sense. There was a lot of learning how to fall because there was a lot of flips, a lot of turns, and knowing that I could do those things aided to the fight choreography where we didn’t have to do too many angles of [adjustments].
And so those are new things that I wasn’t really aware of, because when I did Umbrella Academy, there was no guns, you know, and the fight was more traditional. And there was always a safety net of being like, “Okay, great, we’re not going to use this fight. We’re going to shoot from here and this and that’s it.” But here, there was an element of really wanting to shoot with as many wide shots as possible, and then only when we need to, keep pushing and come closer.
So, I took a lot of pride in that to, you know, to try to make sure that there was some sort of visceral experience, you know, when it came to the fights.
So I want to know a little more about your character, Javier. He kicks off an emotional part of the film’s story, kind of like, setting it off. And I was wondering if you touch on his motivations and what you got out of playing this character.
Well, he definitely doesn’t want the same life for his daughter, you know, and knowing that, I feel as if we all have that inside of us where we want a different life for the people we love the most and the extremities we’re willing to go to be able to accomplish that, you know, and sad to say that Javier’s choice led to his death, which also led to Eve becoming something that he didn’t want her to become.
And so that sort of full circle is sort of a destiny thing I feel for Eve, that the thing that you don’t want to become most of the time, you end up becoming, you know, one way or the other.
In that way you’re part of Eve’s story throughout Ballerina. And Eve is attached to you throughout the whole film, so it’s always gonna be a callback to that moment with you.
Yeah, and obviously, I know Ana de Armas did a phenomenal job in sort of carrying the weight of that pain, you know, to be able to sell that, because that’s a big load, you know, to carry a whole film that long with so many stunts, and for her to be able to pull it off while also caring about what she does. Amazing.
What’s your favorite part of the film? Whether it’s a scene you’re in, or overall?
Well, I mean, there was a few. I mean, obviously, the experience of doing it was like my top favorite thing. But also when I was watching it, it was watching, you know, the fight scene in the ice with the gun and watching Ana de Armas fight. That whole sequence with the Koreans kicking, it was amazing. And also when you see John Wick come out and you’re like, “I can’t believe John Wick is in this film.” I was just like. It was Keanu Reeves! I was like, “Holy moly.” So those are top three.
What do you hope that people take away from their experience of watching Ballerina?
Well, I mean, it’s a lot of action. It’s a lot of drama. It’s high octane. It’s Ana de Armas, it’s Keanu reeves, it’s Ian McShane, Len Wiseman, Chad Stahelski. I just hope that people that go watch the theater feel like this is an extension to the John Wick franchise. That does it justice.
