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Words JESS BACON

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Raúl Castillo’s acting career is the summation of his creative endeavours. Before he found fame on HBO’s Looking in 2014 as the love interest of main character, Patrick, the actor filled his CV with turns in acclaimed independent features such as Amexicano (a debut at Tribeca Film Festival in 2007), 2010’s Cold Weather and El Chicano,almost a decade later.

Yet the 45-year-old multi-hyphenate has mastered many arts, all rooted in his fervent dedication to consistently deliver compelling stories to audiences. In many ways, the medium he chooses is secondary – stage, screen, indie film or blockbuster. The crux of Castillo’s ethos is devoting himself to art of significant value.

“I enjoy working with visionaries, whatever level that is. Whether it's in a studio film or an indie one, I really want to collaborate with people who have an original point of view,” he tells Man About Town.

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A self-described storyteller, the playwright, actor, and soon-to-be director is on a mission to tell his truth in border stories that defy expectations and reshape the narrative attributed to Mexican-Americans by Hollywood.

With a body of work characterised by fresh and empathetic interrogations on masculinity, the star’s latest role in Mexican-American queer biopic Cassandro, which debuted at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, sees him once again navigating emotional multiplexes on screen with a level of dexterity we’ve come to consistently expect from him. Centred around Saúl Armendáriz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso who found international fame, Castillo stars as Gerardo, a fellow competitor conflicted between his private relationship with Saúl and his outward macho performance as a wrestler and married man.

Castillo talks to Man About Town about pursuing unconventional takes on life on the Mexican-US border, straddling notions of masculinity and his upcoming film with Jennifer Hudson…

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Jess Bacon

Huge congratulations on Cassandro! What drew you to this script and the role?

Raúl Castillo

I was born and raised on the Texas-Mexican border and I'm from the border on both sides. I've always been interested in border stories, especially nuanced and fresh takes. I feel like there's a lot of Hollywood tropes around the border, and Saúl’s story seemed like something original that I hadn't seen before. I've actually been with this project since the summer of 2018 when Roger Ross Williams, our director, invited me to Sundance Lab. The chance to work with Roger and Gael García Bernal was really exciting too!

JB

Your character has a fascinating duality to his sexuality with his marriage to his wife, as well as his private relationship with Saúl. Did you relate to that sense of duality in anyway? Or the conflict between how you present yourself and who you are?

RC

Absolutely. Having grown up in a very patriarchal culture and not ascribing to traditional modes or notions of masculinity, it always feels like you're straddling a bit. I felt the character was really emblematic of that.

JB

Another layer to the performance element of the movie is obviously the wrestling itself. If you had to pick another character that you've played to have a wrestling alter ego, who would it be and what would they be called?

RC

Well, Mikey Guzman from Army of the Dead is certainly bombastic and showy in a way that wrestlers are. I don't know what he'd be called, though. That's a good question.

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JB

Excellent choice. This current project is also based on a true story, does that change how you approach the role?

RC

My character is a composite of people, so in a way, I had a lot of freedom. But there was certainly a responsibility to get Saúl's story right and to present this personal journey of a man who's overcome adversity.

JB

When you're given a script is there anything that makes it a definite yes?

RC

No. I'm always surprised by what [makes it a yes] and it’s always something different. I can never anticipate it. With this story, Roger is a documentarian and had a really fresh take on Saúl’s story. Ultimately, it’s the story. If the story is exciting to me and something that I think is important and needs to be seen, then I feel like my artistry really comes out.

JB

Over the years you've been a part of so many thought-provoking projects. Are there any other stories that you would love to tell?

RC

I would like to direct in the future. There's a specific story that I've been wanting to direct, and I have a script. It's a border crossing story, in reverse. We constantly see stories about people crossing over from Mexico to the US, but this is a story about people crossing from the US into Mexico. I like defying people's expectations. It’s a story that's incredibly personal and directing is a way to tap into the writer in me.

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JB

When you were younger you studied playwriting. When did you decide to pursue acting professionally as well?  

RC

I was always acting, I never stopped. I loved doing it, but I just didn't see a world in which I could follow that as a profession. I didn't see acting as a viable option. Writing became a way to be the engine behind stories and to really not rely on people to give me jobs. But writing is such a lonely process. My favourite part of the writing process was when you got into the rehearsal room with the actors and the director, and the collaboration started.

JB

Do you think writing has informed how you act?

RC

I think that writing put me in touch with the part of myself that connects the subtilities of performance and how that can affect the audience. It’s also influenced me in not such positive ways [laughs]. When I read something and I know how I want it to sound, sometimes I have a tendency to play the musicality and I need to learn to improv and be more like a jazz musician instead of sticking strictly to the script.

JB

You’ve got to make it your own! Do you prefer being on stage to being on-screen?

RC

I hadn't done a play in eight years, and I just performed at Theatre Workshop in New York in a play called American Television. The first preview was so frightening. I hadn't been in front of an audience in so long, but actually, it was like riding a bike and it all came back to me. There was a point in time when I was saying, “I don't think I'd ever do a play again,” and I don't think that's the case anymore.

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JB

How do you define yourself as a creative?

RC

I think I’m a storyteller first and foremost. I've been using my imagination since I was a boy to create stories from playing with G. I. Joe as a youngster or becoming a musician as a teenager and playing in punk rock bands in my hometown. That led to a love of being on stage and performing in front of people. Being an actor has always been an education and I've learned so much about the world just from doing theatre and film.

JB

Do you think that fluidity between the arts has helped you strengthen your craft?

RC

I think it has. I didn't study acting, so I think I’ve learned from all the different disciplines that I’ve taken on, and borrow bits and pieces from everything that I've done throughout my life. It all flows into my performance.

JB

What do you want to be remembered for with your work?

RC

It's hard to say. I'd like to be remembered for doing good work that pushes boundaries and defies expectations.

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JB

What’s next for you?

RC

Last summer I wrapped on Breathe that stars Jennifer Hudson and Quvenzhané Wallis, who play a mother and daughter in a post-apocalyptic world where oxygen is no longer available and humans rely on technology to survive. It's a wild ride. Without giving too much away, I play a survivalist, and I wind up on Jennifer’s doorstep. I also just wrapped production of a film called, Cold Wallet. It was an independent movie directed by Cutter Hodierne that is a follow up to Fishing Without Nets that debuted at Sundance in 2018.

Cassandro will be released in 2023

Interview taken from Man About Town Spring/Summer 2023.