He’s well-known for his comedic, lighthearted roles, but now, Jaime Camil is seeing what it’s like to be a villain in his new movie “Kimi.”
Camil, who plays Gina Rodriquez’s father Rogelio de la Vega on the critically acclaimed TV series “Jane the Virgin,” and has voice-acted in the popular Disney movie “Coco” said he got the film while auditioning for two other very big projects in front of a famous Hollywood casting director.
“She was like, ‘You know, I’d like you for another project,” Camil said.
All the casting director asked was that she and Camil have an eight-minute recorded conversation. Then, 24 hours after that, Camil said he got the “incredible,mind-blowing offer” of being the main villain in Steven Soderbergh’s latest thriller.
“Kimi” is about a tech worker played by Zoe Kravitz, who accidentally listens in on what she believes is a murder on a device similar to an Amazon Alexa. She then tries to solve the mystery, but a group of people, including Camil’s character, Antonio Rivas, want to stop her.
The movie, which already has an 84% “certified fresh” rating from Rotten Tomatoes, comes out at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 a.m. ET Friday on HBO Max.
“Kimi’s” focus on technology is something that might resonate with people who have these tech devices of their own.
“These little devices, they hear everything,” Camil said. “Do an exercise. Talk about a car, a specific car today, for 24 hours next to your phone. Tomorrow, you’re going to have advertising about that car, and cars in general.”
This film was Camil’s first time with Soderbergh.
“It was a dream,” Camil said, speaking to NewsNation’s “Morning in America” from Mexico City Thursday. “He’s such a gifted, multi-awarded director.”
Soderbergh, Camil said, is very clear in his vision, but also generous.
“He understands the process, the creative process, between an actor and a director,” Camil said. ” Having that environment on set is just beautiful.”
When he got on set, the crew had already been filming for a couple of weeks, so Camil said he really needed to rely on his experience as an actor to make it work.
“It’s already going at 80,000 RPMs,” Camil said. “You need to jump on the treadmill and not fall, basically.”
Having coworkers like Zoe Kravitz, who Camil called “gifted” and professional, and Rita Wilson, helped.
Now, Camil is concentrating on his next venture: having the main role in a biopic about Vicente Fernández, the revered, Grammy award-winning Mexican singer who died last year. To get into character, Camil grew out a thick black mustache to match the singer’s.
“I am playing an icon, I’m playing a God for Mexico and Americans, U.S. Hispanics,” Camil said. “It’s just a dream.”