Wilmer Valderrama (That '70s Show) and Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) play a couple of illegal immigrants who find work in a slaughterhouse in the dramatic film, Fast Food Nation, directed by Richard Linklater. Based on the best-selling book by Eric Schlosser, and adapted for the screen by Schlosser and Linklater, the film examines the inner workings of the fast food industry, exposing what goes into making a fast food burger.
How did you get yourself into the mindset of a Mexican immigrant coming to this country?
Wilmer Valderrama: “We tried to focus a lot more on the universal theme and feel of the immigrant, which is the hopeful side of them. How positive they are about coming to America and creating the original American dream that we all have heard about for so long as immigrants. No matter what country you come from, that kind of is like the generalized universal theme of coming to America. We focused on that, but we were presented with whole different definitions of things that we weren’t supposed to [know]. You can only hear about the things that we saw and that’s what was also so impressionable.”
How deep into the meat did you two actually get?
Wilmer Valderrama: “As deep as possible. That’s the one thing I can honestly tell you about is that we worked at a real slaughterhouse. Our extras were real slaughterhouse workers so everything that you saw in the movie, we were an inch away from it. It made it so exciting as an actor because so many times you’re acting with fake sets or a green screen. To be inside of a slaughterhouse and be among people that [that is] their reality was so much [more] mind-blowing and gratifying as an actor, because very few times you get that kind of real motivation.”
Was it a reality check?
“Wilmer Valderrama: “Coming to America in search for something better is as [real] as it gets, but I’ll tell you I’m more aware of what’s in my meat. I’m more aware of what ends up in my food. We, as a culture, we grew up knowing what immigration is. From when you were one year old, you grow up knowing that immigration is something that might be a part of your life eventually. We knew that some of us had to take jobs that were unpleasant at the beginning and try to work our way up somehow from the way bottom.”
Did you ever have to?
Wilmer Valderrama: “My dad always wanted me to have an education. I always wanted to work with the family since I was 14-years-old, but he wouldn’t let me do much of it. Seeing my dad’s struggles… We ate dinner every other night and it wasn’t a sad thing, it was reality. ‘This is what we are right now and eventually it will get better,’ and it did, thank the Lord. But yeah, we have a very hardcore understanding what to be grateful for and what not to be grateful for, because one day you’ll have this and the next day you won’t.”
Catalina, how did you make this role your own? Did you do any research?
Catalina Sandino Moreno: “Well, I didn’t talk to anyone. I went to the slaughterhouse but I thought, ‘How can you prepare for a role like this?’ The only thing I could give my character is the fact that I am an immigrant, but how can you do it? But my character had never been to a slaughterhouse before, and I didn’t want to know anything about drugs when I did Maria. When I went to the slaughterhouse, the cameras were rolling and the whole surprising [reaction]…I just reacted.”
How did this experience change you the two of you?
Wilmer Valderrama: “…Working in slaughterhouses with people who are willing to take these jobs that people often assume do not exist, was really awakening and eye-opening. As a performer, to bring such light to these characters is such a privilege. How many times do performers like us get to be part of a theme or project that could possibly change the minds of a lot of society? That could be one of a few statements of hope for people to make their own decisions, as opposed to letting other people make their own minds?”
Has there been any backlash from the meat packing industry?
“Wilmer Valderrama: “Eric [Schlosser] and Richard [Linklater] could probably speak more on the matter because they have to deal with it directly. We’re performers who are giving a message through our performances, but I know we have experienced certain limitations while we were shooting the movie. We lost a lot of locations once they found out the type of movie we were shooting. We had to shoot the slaughterhouse scenes in Mexico because no slaughterhouse in the United States would let us film in there. So little things like that letting us know, ‘Okay, there is someone trying to pay attention to this so if there is no problem, then why we all tripping?’”
Do either of you eat fast food?
Wilmer Valderrama: “No, no, do you want to answer (he asks Catalina and they laugh)? We pretty much share the same [background]. We grew up in South America where our parents cook breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was introduced to fast food when I came to America because I didn’t know what fast food was. When I came to America I saw that there was quick food - and very cheap - everywhere.”
Did you try it?
Wilmer Valderrama: “Of course, you have to. It’s part of America. You come to America, you eat a burger, that’s what you do. I play a lot of sports and playing sports, I began to understand very quickly it was making me feel really drowsy and making me feel really lazy. That was not productive for my athletic life so I stopped for those reasons, but not for any health issues that I was aware of until I did the movie. Then I realized that our body was digesting things that were not meant to be digested, and that our bodies are digesting things that have often been digested already. That alone was, ‘Okay, okay, that’s why I felt like s**t when I was eating it.’”
Catalina, how did your life change as far as scripts and offers after your Oscar nomination?
Catalina Sandino Moreno: “Well, the Oscar didn’t change my life at all; I just got more exposure and attention. But I think my work speaks more [than] an award or nomination. After the Oscars I thought, ‘Great, I’m going to get these great projects,’ but no, I had to wait a year to get this project. I was hoping so much for a great big project.”
Page 2: On Choosing Roles and CHiPs
