The first original series on the new El Rey network was “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series,” based on Robert Rodriguez’s own movie. The second original series for El Rey is a total original.
“Matador,” from Roberto Orci, is an adventure show about Tony Bravo, a secret agent working undercover as a soccer player. He earns the nickname Matador when he fights off the star player, The Bull, at his tryout. Gabriel Luna plays Tony Bravo and we got to speak with him at the Television Critics Association Summer press show. Matador premieres July 15 at 9 on El Rey.
CraveOnline: Did you start with a soccer audition?
Gabriel Luna: No, no, no. I guess my third meeting was with Robert at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, and Robert’s not a big sports guy. So he said, “I’m not a big sports guy, bro. Can you do the soccer stuff?” I was like yeah, yeah, I can do it. He said, “All right, good. I’ll take your word for it.” So no, there was no soccer audition first. That was just Robert believing the story I told him. Thankfully it was all true.
So did they give you further training for “Matador?”
I had to train for the show. I started training before I got the part. There’s a pitch where the 5 freeway and the 134 freeway meet. There’s a bunch of soccer fields down there and I would just go down there on Sundays and play with the guys, and then of course throughout the week I’d just do endurance training and agility training, to get my body right. I play basketball for exercise so it’s a completely different thing, completely different hemisphere of the body.
Have you gotten better as “Matador” has gone on, since you’ve had more time to train?
You know, yes, absolutely but there can never be enough training. You can always get better, but there’s so many facets of the story. There’ll be episodes where you’re completely invested with the espionage angle and you’re just caught up in telling the story, but next episode we’re going to be at StubHub Center where the L.A. Galaxy Play. That’s our home field and we’re about to be back there next Tuesday. Then all of a sudden, oh man, I’ve got a big soccer week coming up. You’ve just got to get back in that mode. Once or twice a week I try to make sure that I just kick the ball against the wall or do a little juggling, do something.
But Tony Bravo is not supposed to be a great player at first, right?
He was a great player when he was in high school and had offers to play in school, but elected to go into the work force and help my family. It’s a cool thing. It’s a much more interesting trajectory for the character, for him to get in by the skin of his teeth. It’s much for all the publicity and aftermath of the episode at the tryout that ends up being the catalyst for everything that unfolds after it. He got in less so on the merit of his soccer skill and more so on the bankability of this persona that all of a sudden has been born.
It’s cool. As it goes along, without giving too much away, It was a dream of his when he was a kid to be a soccer player. Of course he had to abandon that dream but given this opportunity now, he’s caught up in all of these other things. Trying to take down this villain, but meanwhile I’m given this great opportunity to fulfill a dream and I want to play the game beautifully and I want to make my family proud. But at the same time I have all these other responsibilities, so it’s an interesting pickle to be in.
Will Tony find himself in situations where he has to give up the game for the mission, or give up the mission for the game?
Well, you have to wait and see but you’re getting close. You’re getting warmer.
The incident at the tryout was interesting, because as brash and tough as The Bull is, you would think he would be protective of his body and not wanting to get injured.
I think it’s maybe hubris. He’s the star defender. It says in the pilot, he holds the record for most red cards in the league. It’s kind of his nature and he just messed with the wrong guy.
The opening action scene is pretty great. What was it like to shoot that?
That was fantastic. Robert was so excited about that because that’s right in his wheelhouse. We shot that over a couples days. One, all the hotel stuff in long beach and then another day in East L.A., East L.A. for Baja, Mexico. It was great. I mean, it was a lot of running, just basically sprinting all over town. Robert was just a kid in a candy shop.
This is what he loves to do. Cool blood gags and awesome action and firefights. It’s a regression back to an eight-year-old Gabe Luna playing squirt guns and kicking a ball around.
