Luis Guzmán: On Playing Gomez in Wednesday

Luis Guzmán discussed his latest role as Gomez Addams in the upcoming Netflix series, “Wednesday” which premiers on the platform on November 23, 2022. Here, he discussed playing the role of Gomez, what it’s like to film in Romania, and…

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Luis Guzmán: On Playing Gomez in Wednesday

People

8-minute read

You’ve had the most incredible roles; would you consider playing Gomez as your most significant role to date?

It's a significant role, but I wouldn’t call it the significant role. It is significant in the sense that as a kid, I grew up watching The Addams Family and I loved the show. When they came out with the movie with Raul Julia and Angelica Huston, that was a really cool turn out to me.

To find myself at this juncture of my career—I’m like, “Dude, you’re Gomez!” That’s mind-blowing to me. It's an honor to me. I pay homage to the original, to Raul Julia, and it's a good point of my career to be in right now.

A lot of people are saying that you resemble the original Gomez so closely. I love that Tim Burton had you in mind for it. Was this a role that you knew from the start you could do?

You know what? It's one of those things that just happened, but it happens with everything. It's like every role, you’re presented with something. You kind of mold yourself to it. I'm an artist, so I’m going to do what I do. Everything that I do is like a blank canvas. By the time I leave, I’ll have left my mark and that’s how I like approaching things. It gives me the opportunity and ability to just be creative and I welcome it. I’m just totally humbled by it.

Every artist dreams of a role. What is that role for you?

What’s your dream role?

I can say so many things. My dream role? It would be the role that has the most impact on people and is life-changing. Would it be the role that gets me an Academy Award or Emmy and stuff like that? I don’t know. I think it's a role that I would like to affect people in a way that is life-changing.

What role that is? I don’t know. It could be a rebel, it could be a president, it could be, somebody just from the neighborhood who made a difference in people's lives. It could be a hero or it could be somebody that just discovered something. It could be just someone who really cares about humanity, who cares about children, who cares about women, who cares about trans people, who cares about diversity, I could go on and on.

I love the gothic feel and the darker side of the Addams family. What was it like working on set in Romania?

Oh man, it was like really super cool! The set design was incredible. When you step into it, when you see the whole vision of it, it was so beautiful. Sometimes I would go by and check out the monitors and stuff and it looked really, really, super cool, super mysterious, somewhat dark. It had all those elements.

Once you got into costume, how did you channel Gomez?

I channeled Gomez as a man who was very loving, who was very passionate, very caring. No matter what his daughter would say to him, it kind of would go over his head. He was okay with it because he was just a loving father who cared so much and that's how I channeled Gomez.

He's a lover, he’s a very passionate person, loves his family, and he's a bit awkward. I think it's a beautiful awkwardness. It’s like the guy loves life.

Kind of like you!

Yeah! He puts his all into that life of who he is and he had the most incredibly beautiful wife. People ask me to describe Gomez: love, love, love!

Do you feel that inclusion for Latinos in Hollywood has shifted? Do you feel that more doors have opened since you’ve been in the industry?

I think that we have to continue to open our own doors and work together. We are so creative not only at writing, directing, and acting, but I think at producing and special effects and sound. I mean look, right now we have the number one artist in the world, Bad Bunny.

Music is universal. You see all of these superheroes that are Latino. You see more brown directors. I think that it is going to be important that we and the Latino community really seize the moment at working together and promoting ourselves even further.

Every year during awards season, a lot of Latinos are vocal about the lack of talent that isn’t nominated. What are your thoughts on that?

My only thought on that is—let's keep creating projects.

I think we have a way to go…recognizing ourselves in some of these projects. I think there's a vacuum. The vacuum is not so much that we aren’t nominated for stuff because that is a real issue. We can't be jealous about each other. We can’t disconnect from each other and we have to be supportive of each other more and more. Not to say that it doesn't exist, but we have to step it up even more. You know what I mean?

Listen, we’ve got people like Gabriel Iglesias who can sell out Dodger Stadium. One man show, comic, that's huge and the community comes out for that. That’s huge! Sells out. Again, I’ll refer to Bad Bunny, he's selling out stadiums. But you know what? Everybody comes to the show. He’s Puerto Rican, but it’s not just Puerto Ricans—it’s everybody across humanity because that’s the vibe that he has. He’s getting that support.

When it comes to acting and film, it's a little bit different. We’re capable of supporting each other and lifting each other up. I don't watch award shows because they missed the boat.

I'm not gonna complain. I’m going to keep creating, I’m going to keep promoting. At the end of the day, I don't do these projects just for the Latino community. I do these projects for the whole universe to see. The universe sees superhero movies. It’s not just one group of people, it's a universal thing. So that's why we have to be able to create the stories.

I will say this, I think it's going to be important that Latino money is infused into some of these projects, too. You can’t always go to an investor who really doesn’t know the culture, the language, and the costumbres. I think there’s a lot of money in the Latin community, some people just got to be confident enough to say I’ll invest two or three million dollars in your project. That's how I feel about that.

Let’s talk about food because I know you love to cook. Any chance we will ever see a Luis Guzmán cooking show?

I’m working on that! I’m working on a Luis Guzmán cooking show. I can't really talk about it too much right now because we’re still developing it and we're going through it. I like inclusion, so it’s going to be a combination of a whole bunch of things. You know anything from going to your house and saying “You make that baddest French toast!” Well, you know what? We're going to see how you do that or we’ll go to a restaurant or go to a barbecue because food comes from every place.

Can’t wait to see! You’ve been in the business for thirty plus years, what advice would you give to Latinos that are still trying to make it and secure work?

I would say number one—be patient with yourself. Number two, be a sponge of knowledge. Be willing to learn, be willing to be very observant, be willing to be giving. Don’t be full of yourself. One of my favorite sayings is that you meet the same people on the way up that you meet on the way down. Don’t ever forget where you come from.

You can always inspire the next group of young people coming up. Be a team player. Show up ready. Again, you got to ask questions and don't be full of yourself. You'll be a flash in the pan, in and out. Love yourself and be healthy. Don’t drink too much alcohol and don’t do drugs. Take care of your family and be a good neighbor. Meditate and pray. These are all tools for life.