More has been revealed about how famed actor Giancarlo Esposito came to be cast as Anton Castillo in Far Cry 6. Anton Castillo will serve as Far Cry 6’s manipulative dictator, and the game’s main antagonist – a role that appears to have been made for Giancarlo Esposito.
With the release of Far Cry 6 coming ever closer, Ubisoft has been offering fans many teasers to whet their appetites ahead of the game’s launch in October. This has included an incredible cosplay of a female Dani with her amigo Chorizo, as well as several trailers for the upcoming FPS. One such trailer focused solely on Giancarlo Esposito. Here, the actor mocked players for deigning to think that someone such as a guerrilla like Dani, with their homemade resolver weapons and penchant for petting dogs, could take on Castillo with his powerful and heavily armed military. Esposito simply oozed villainous charm throughout this entire trailer, proving just how perfect his casting as Castillo really is.
Ahead of Far Cry 6’s release, Screen Rant had the chance to chat with Navid Khavari, Narrative Director and Lead Writer at Ubisoft, about the game and Esposito's role as the villain. According to Khavari, when it came to creating Anton Castillo, the character took on “… a whole lot of different shapes and forms,” and he revealed that “… there's a lot of pitches at the bottom of the drawer that I'll save for other games.” However, the more that the character of Anton took shape, the more it became apparent that Giancarlo Esposito would be the perfect choice to play Castillo. Khavari stated that:
“… we wanted someone with the versatility to switch from charismatic to staring into your soul terrifyingly, and we started to land on Anton as a person of color. Giancarlo was always there as a dream casting, but then suddenly, something happens where you realize you're writing to his voice on the page. And then it becomes a little scary, because you're like, 'Oh, my God. I hope he is wanting to do this, otherwise we might be in trouble.'”
Thankfully Esposito was on board with playing Castillo in Far Cry 6, with Khavari revealing that their first meeting was a “match made in heaven.” Needless to say, the rest is history.
Meanwhile, when it came to Anton’s son, Diego Castillo, the role went to Anthony Gonzalez, most famous for his character Miguel Rivera in Pixar’s Coco. This amused Khavari, who said that “I just find it hilarious that Anthony Gonzalez was the lead in Coco, and is alongside Giancarlo Esposito, who was the bad guy in Breaking Bad. Having those two together? There's always a part of me that smiles when I think that we pulled that off.”
While some of the recent previews for Far Cry 6 have been middling with their appraisal of the game thus far, the portrayals of Anton and Diego Castillo have always enticed fans. Thankfully there is not too much longer to wait before players can see the full scope of Giancarlo Esposito’s murderous villain, and the dangerous world that he resides over.
Far Cry 6 comes to Google Stadia, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on October 7, 2021.