Gina Rodriguez won a Golden Globe for playing Jane Gloriana Villanueva on Jane the Virgin. Now she is appearing in movies like, Deepwater Horizon and Annihilation, and lending her voice to animated roles like Kolka in Smallfoot and the titular role in Netflix’s Carmen Sandiego. Her latest movie is Miss Bala, where she plays Gloria Meyer, a woman who gets caught up in the war between the drug cartels and the DEA.

Anthony Mackie has appeared in such films as 8 Mile, The Hurt Locker, and The Adjustment Bureau. He became globally known with his role of Sam Wilson, the Falcon, in Captain America: Civil War and other Marvel films. His latest movie is Miss Bala.

Screen Rant: Gina, Anthony, congratulations on the film, amazing job. And Gina, with you doing this film, it's exploring this role in all these boundaries, you're killing it as an actress, amazing job.

Gina Rodriguez: Thank you.

Screen Rant: But I got to ask, with Annihilation last year and [Miss Bala] this year, are you starting to dive more into this action side? Is Anthony providing any great advice for you?

Gina Rodriguez: Oh, he provides nothing but great advice. He's awesome. Anthony’s awesome.

Anthony Mackie: Drink a lot of horchata.

Gina Rodriguez: He drank a lot of horchata and he's all big and strong for this [LAUGHS]. No. Literally, Anthony contributing his art, his talent, which is like so profound, so incredible. I was such a big fan beforehand. You don't know this, but when I saw Hurt Locker and then I went to Sundance in 2011, you were walking right towards me and I literally almost dropped dead. I was like, “There is Anthony Mackie.” And I ran up to you and I was like, “I think you are the most incredible actor.” And you're like, “Oh, thank you.” And then you walked off--

Anthony Mackie: Thank you, child [LAUGHS].

Gina Rodriguez: Yeah, thank you, child, was pretty much what you were saying to me. Because I definitely was like, it was 10 years ago. And then I just felt like he blessed me. You walked away and I was like, “Okay, alright, that was awesome. I think that went well.”

So, then, to now be able to work with him, for him to contribute his star power, to make sure that this project was at its best, and… But it's awesome. I love action. I'm an adrenaline junkie. Jane is very, very far from who I really am. So, it's interesting to be introduced as Jane the Virgin and then go into spaces like Annihilation and Miss Bala, because those are actually much closer to who I am. Actually there—

Anthony Mackie: So, you’re—

Gina Rodriguez: I mean, maybe not [LAUGHS]. They’re like—

Anthony Mackie: [LAUGHS].

Gina Rodriguez: Just meaning like-- I just feel there are spaces that I actually feel much more comfortable. Right? So, would I want to go even further into action? Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent.

Screen Rant: Well, Catherine [Hardwicke] told me an interesting story about when you guys were shooting at the bull ring. About how it was almost like life imitating art. There was stuff that could have been going on with real cartels. And then stuff going on in the film. Can you talk to me about some of that experience and how intense that could have been?

Gina Rodriguez: Oh, she was talking about when somebody-- Because there had been an incident when we were shooting at the bull ring. Crime happens everywhere.

Screen Rant: Sure, sure.

Gina Rodriguez: Crime happens, quite literally, everywhere. It is no prominent anywhere. It's prominent everywhere. I grew up in the hood in Chicago. I unfortunately had some really sad situations happening growing up, where I've lost friends at very young ages, do to shootings. So, that was not, it wasn't anything that was like, “Oh!” For me it was like, sadly crime happens everywhere. And we were very protected. I felt very safe in Mexico. I felt very safe the entire time.

Screen Rant: Anthony, your character is very intense in this film. Can you talk to me about how, without spoiling anything, how he plays into Gloria’s story here?

Anthony Mackie: Well, he's the outside world. I think there's a certain influence that comes in, knowing this woman's normal life, that spins it on its axis. And he's the outside world coming in to be a great influence on her life, on her day to day being. So, I'm the voice of reason. The cloud that comes in and just rains on her parade.

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Key Release Dates

Miss Bala

Release Date:
2019-02-01