Lionsgate Films’ The Vatican Tapes opened this weekend. We managed to snag an interview with actor Michael Peña, who plays Father Lozano in the film, right before he walked into a taping of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The Vatican Tapes follows a priest (Peña) and two Vatican exorcists (Djimon Hounsou & Peter Andersson) who must do battle with an ancient satanic force to save the soul of a young woman (Olivia Taylor Dudley). Peña has been acting since 1994, but his most notable films include Crash, Million Dollar Baby, American Hustle, and most recently Marvel’s Ant-Man. Check out our interview with him below!
Q: What can you tell us about your character Father Lozano?
A: Well I grew up Catholic, so this kind of stuff scares the Hell out of me. I love horror movies, though. I love all the Saws and stuff like Paranormal Activity and all that. The Vatican Tapes is a little bit different. It’s a psychological film which I think is cool because if I watch too much of the gory stuff I get desensitized. In that aspect this film is nice. I’m portraying someone like people I knew in Chicago that were priests but they weren’t like everyday priests, you know? They didn’t act all holy and were just regular guys that just happened to be priests. And Lozano is like that. He gets involved in an exorcism. He didn’t look out for something like this, it just happened that way. So that’s my guy.
Q: Because of your beliefs, was there any hesitation to get involved with a film about demonic possession?
A: Yeah because my mom was really heavy into dark spirits and would grab a cold egg and rub it up and down our bodies to take out the evil spirits. Then she would put it in a cup of water and whisper “evil be gone” and I’m like “wow, really? An egg? An egg’s going to catch that?” But after a while, you’d pray that it worked! Ad it’s the kind of thing where we weren’t able to play the Ouija board. We were raised on that stuff, my brother and I, so I was definitely feeling superstitious when I signed on for the film.
Q: Did you do any on-site research for the role? Like visit exorcisms or anything like that?
A: No I didn’t, man. It would have ben cool but there’s not a whole lot of exorcisms on Craigslist, you know? I would have definitely gone. There were pictures of a few exorcisms online, but there’s really not much. I just had to use my imagination and work off the script.
Q: So this is your first horror movie. Could you tell us a little bit about your experiences working on a horror film.
A: I don’t think there’s anything different. You’re basically doing the same thing: reacting off of imaginary circumstances, you know? You want to be able to feel the part and with horror films you get weirded out because of the filming locations, which I think is key. You don’t feel really super comfortable shooting in a place that used to be a mental ward. Imagining the screams and the weird shit that went on is crazy. And you know horror movies do that. Especially with the props and all that. It informs your acting, but you want to put just as much energy in anything regardless of what it is, you know what I mean?
Q: Horror films tend to require a lot of grueling physical activity. Is there one particular stunt/set piece that you found to be the most difficult to shoot?
A: There was one where I’m supposed to jump out of a house. I didn’t find it difficult, I just thought it was cool. I love that kind of stuff. You know you get a little more able. Like for CHiPs I have to get in good shape. Not just to lose weight but to be able to do those functions. I love doing that because I grew up playing sports and I just really enjoy that physical part of it.
Q: There have been a massive influx of possession films to come out in the past few years. What do you think makes The Vatican Tapes stand out more than the others?
A: I don’t know. I don’t think it has to be dramatically different. The narrative and how they film it is different. There’s a little bit of a psychological thriller aspect to it which is really cool. But to me that question is like saying “there’s been a bunch of comedies out lately. What’s different about yours?” It’s just a different kind of possession movie. There’s always action movies, there’s always comedies and there’s always horror movies.
Q: Do you see yourself acting in any other horror films in your future?
A: Yeah you know what? This is a genre that I’m just now getting into and there’s always a lot to learn when you jump genres. I’ve learned a lot and I’ve had a really good time filming. I think I want to do an indie horror film that’s shot very realistically and much more dark than what you typically see, like the first Paranormal Activity. I also want to do a slasher movie with a villain like Freddy Krueger. Then I want to do another one that’s a little bit bigger like Rosemary’s Baby.
Q: So you want to cover the whole board then?
A: Yeah, like for example I just started in comedy. I’ve done my fourth one. I’ve done Ant-Man, which is a super hero thing. I did a smaller one, which is Observe and Report, and then I did Eastbound and Down which is a TV show. But to me they’re all so different. One’s a Marvel movie, one’s a plot-driven comedy, and the other is a single-camera TV show. Those are different sub-genres within the all-encompassing comedy genre and if you’re going to do one genre then you have to do all of its different sub-genres. It’s like golf: you don’t want to play just one hole. You want to play the entire golf course. I just want to stretch my acting muscles and have fun.
