“We’ll bring death to your doorstep.”
Behind the camera for it all?
DANNY PINO: Very circuitously, but with a certain deliberateness that was necessary for make it happen.
EZ and Felipe face off in season 3 (top) and once again in season 4, episode 8.FX
Elgin is an auteur he really is a student of directing, of writing, and of acting.
So there were multiple assignments multiple books, multiple television shows and films from all over the world.
It’s all in the service of makingMayansas poetic as possible.
Danny Pino in ‘Mayans M.C.'.FX
How did you approach filming that scene?
I wanted our scene in 408 to be an answer to that scene.
And ultimately it was Felipe who drove Gaby away.
So my interpretation [of this scene], and having conversations with J.D.
And EZ asks Felipe, “What did she say?”
And then he asks Felipe, “What didyousay?”
He is blaming his father for it.
That nerve that runs through both scenes is Felipe’s responsibility for driving Gaby away.
It’s all intercut with shots of Marcus in this pastoral scene, watching his daughter ride a horse.
It immediately reminded me of thefamous baptism massacreinThe Godfather.
Was that an influence on this sequence inMayans?
First of all, it makes me incredibly happy to hear you reference that sequence with our sequence.
Something Elgin always talks about is how we are infusing poetry into our television series.
And one of the references was, in fact, that baptism scene fromThe Godfather.
I watched it multiple times.
You actually never see the violence, the carnage that happens.
You only see the after effect, right?
We were trying to find the humanity of that victim of the violence.
We’re telling a very violent story, but you see the effect of that violence.
Our goal is not to glamorize it, but to try and humanize it.
That was one of those things.
But in that one take, the image disappeared.
We could have never planned that and executed it as perfectly as it happened.
What was your biggest technical challenge shooting that scene?
This motorcycle club was functioning as a tactical unit, who worked together, who’d planned this attack.
She tells him, “We have some things to discuss.”
What can you tease about what’s ahead for Miguel?
Oh man, it makes for a very interesting plot line for Miguel.
He has transformed physically and otherwise.
When we [first] find Miguel in the convent, he’s building a wall around the cemetery.
He’s largely responsible, directly and indirectly for so much loss, so much death.
That, to me, is indicative of Miguel’s journey.
Or is she going to end his life because of her tie with El Banquero?
Those two actors, Selena Luna and Guillermo Garcia, they’re fantastic.
It just got so dark and dirty between the two characters.
I don’t think that he’s ever actually felt that before.
I think you’re right to ask that question.
I think that is a very valuable avenue to explore.
Was this wig work or the hard work of your actual hair follicles?
I’d look in the mirror and be like, “Oh, that’s right.
That’s who I am today.”
How long did it take to grow it out like that?
I grew it over the course of like six months, maybe seven months.
So yeah, that was all me.
What was the biggest challenge of having such, um,robustfacial hair?
I’d never really grown my beard that long.
I knew that my wife would not tolerate a dirty beard, so I kept it impeccable.
When I promised my wife I would shave it, I didn’t tell her how.
So when she got home, I had a handlebar mustache which she did not appreciate.
She did not appreciate that at all.
Wow, you took your life in your hands there, Danny.
But you know what?
So did Miguel, so I just wanted to feel what he felt.
Mayans M.C.airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX
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