Actress Eiza González’ latest movie a “love letter” to first responders
Explosions. How many explosions are there going to be in this movie?
That was one of actress Eiza González’ first thoughts about the action thriller ‘Ambulance.’ But at the end, González said her character and movie is not only a “love letter” to first responders but to female paramedics.
The Mexican actress talked about her character EMT Cam Thompson as well as working with director and producer Michael Bay on her most recent film during the movie’s premier at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures David Geffen Theater on Monday, March 4 in Los Ángeles.
The movie, which also stars Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, opens only in theaters on April 8.
“It was amazing. I was just so excited. I think that my process was I read this script first without knowing that it was Michael Bay,” said the 32-year-old actress from México City.
In the film, decorated veteran Will Sharp (Abdul-Mateen II), desperate for money to cover his wife’s medical bills, asks for help from the one person he knows he shouldn’t — his adoptive brother Danny (Gyllenhaal). A charismatic career criminal, Danny instead offers him a score: the biggest bank heist in Los Ángeles history: $32 million.
With his wife’s survival on the line, Will can’t say no.
But when their getaway goes spectacularly wrong, the desperate brothers hijack an ambulance with a wounded cop clinging to life and ace EMT Cam Thompson (González) onboard. In a high-speed pursuit that never stops, Will and Danny must evade a massive, city-wide law enforcement chase, keep their hostages alive, and somehow try not to kill each other, all while executing the most insane escape L.A. has ever seen.
González, who is also a singer, said her agent sent the script to her without telling her who was going to direct it.
“And I was like, that sounds like a trap. And she’s like, ‘read it.’ And I was like, OK, so I read it. And I just fell in love with Cam immediately,” said González. “It felt like a real contemporary woman. A woman that I can relate to, a woman with dimension and capabilities but also quite vulnerable and broken and going through a moment in life.
“And I just want to be embodying female characters like this more and more on screen and it’s rare to see characters like this in action films,” said González, adding that she sat down with Bay and asked him if he was going to do her character justice.
González, who got the script in the peak of the pandemic, said she wishes people paid attention to what paramedics and first responders have been doing this entire two years.
“I’m so honored to be playing them,” González said, adding that at the same time “It was literally the most terrifying process of my life.”
“I just was really nervous, and really thought, ‘Who am I to be bringing this character to life? It should be someone that is capacitated for this,’” she said. “And I just loved what a love letter was to first responders but also for female paramedics.”
“And I felt like as a woman of color, being a Mexican woman, an immigrant, I just wanted to see more character like this on screen - being a woman like me that doesn’t necessarily have to make a point of where she comes from, where she is, and it just creates a norm,” González said.
“And so, I just hope that when people watch this, (they) think about the real-life superheroes. These are the real-life superheroes, the heroes without capes, and they have been sacrificing their entire lives in the last more than ever for us.”
Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 5 de abril de 2022, 6:26 p. m..
