Adriana Cataño – Trico Tri Happy Halloween

By starrymag | October 12, 2018

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) What are the recent projects that you have been working on?

A) I shot a one-hour special that is going to air on Netflix and it is a comedy about Donald Trump. I play a reporter and that was also with Conglomerate Media, the same production company. Besides that, I shot an independent film in LA last month called A Giant Without a Head, but it’s actually the translation of the movie title. The movie is actually called Gigantes Sin Cabesa and it’s a cool project because the director and the screenwriter is a DACA recipient. He has done about eight independent films and they have all received different awards at various independent film festivals. So, I was really excited to be working with him and will be shooting a film with him again in the next six months. Besides that, I’m also part of a comedy sketch show on Facebook for a company called EOP Comedy Show and it’s actually owned by John Leguizamo and another guy. We do one-and-a-half-minute comedy shows that are over the top parodies about telenovelas. They are a lot of fun to shoot and we’ve gotten over two million views with our eight episodes. So, every Tuesday we put out a new episode. I also launched my own skincare line, which is certified by PETA as cruelty free in March. I’ll be shooting another film with Conglomerate Media in three weeks and that will be a children’s film where I’m playing a villain.

Q) Please tell us the premise for the movie Trico Tri Happy Halloween.

A) This is the way Hispanics say “Trick or Treat” in Spanish. I’m sure it sounds kind of funny for those who don’t speak Spanish, but that’s how we say “trick or treat” in Spanish. It’s about a family that is from California and move back to Miami because the grandfather passes away. I play the mom so it’s my father-in-law that passes away. We buy an abandoned house and the house is abandoned because apparently it is haunted. So, when my mother-in-law finds out we bought that house she gets really nervous and practically has a nervous breakdown and calls a “Santero.” Santeros are supposed to get rid of evil spirits and she takes him to the house and he tries to do one of his sessions to get rid of the spirits. The actual ghosts living in the house scare him in the house. No one can see the ghosts though because they are young – teenage ghosts who have passed away in a car accident. They were able to find a good family to live in their home, so it just happens that everyone who has moved into the home are not good people. So, they always frighten them away. In that neighborhood of the city and even at my son’s high school, they all seem to think the house is haunted – the Bradford house. It’s been abandoned for ten years. My son can see the ghosts though and strikes up a relationship with the female ghost (Kendall Vertes from “Dance Moms”). Then, it’s a really cute story. It’s kind of a love story, but also a comedy because one of the actors is actually the screenwriter and he plays a ghost hunter. It would kind of be like Ghostbusters where they are hunting ghosts. The entire movie he is trying to find out where the ghosts are. He films everything, and he wants it go viral so he can become famous. It’s a really good family film. In the end, it’s a really cute film about love and family.

Q) How was your character Gaby originally described to you?

A) She is the typical loving Hispanic-American mom who really takes care of her family and is a stay at home mom that loves her family and her husband. That, to me, was perfect because I played something similar to her on Nickelodeon’s #1 rated show of all-time worldwide for Nickelodeon Latin America called “Grachi.” We won about ten Kids Choice Awards three years in a row. So, I kind of played a character similar to Gabby on that show. Actually, it was such a hit all over the world and in Latin America that they decided to do it on regular Nickelodeon in the United States, but they changed the name to “Every Witch Way.” Coincidentally, the actor who plays my son in Trico Tri I referred him to the casting director because he played my son in the American version. So, he kind of looks like me. I told [casting director] Ed Arenas, “If you’re still looking for a kid Nick Merico kind of looks like me and he would be perfect.” So, they booked Nick.

Q) Was there anything you added to Gaby that wasn’t in her initial breakdown?

A) Actually, no. The script was perfect. It was a lot of fun to shoot. I had a lot of chemistry with both kids. I loved Yoi Montgomery who plays my daughter. She is a natural and watch out for her because she’s going to be a big star. Also, with my husband and Martha Picanes, who plays my mother-in-law, she is an icon in the novela world and in Latin America. She is just a very respected actress so for me it was just an honor to be on screen with Martha Picanes.

Q) Was there anyone in the cast you knew other than Nick?

A) I was familiar with Martha, but I had not worked with her before. Just being in the business and being in Miami my whole life and her being in Miami for the past thirty years we kind of coincided at different events, but we had never had the chance to work together. So, I was familiar with her, but everyone else I wasn’t familiar with other than Nick.

Q) What advice did director Christian Vogeler offer that you took to heart while filming?

A) Christian was a really fun director because he kind of let me do my own thing. In the scene where I find out the house is haunted I’m really nervous so I’m kind of eating a lot. He kind of directed me in that scene saying, “Here you are afraid of ghosts,” and I told him, “Well, I really am afraid of ghosts in real life. I don’t like any of this stuff.” He said, “Okay, maybe Gabby is a nervous eater. She eats when she is nervous.” I said, “I do that, too!” So, it was a good direction that he gave me that I took to heart. Other than that, he kind of let me do my thing. He kind of watched and I’m very familiar with playing the loving mom. I am a mom and I love playing a mom. It just comes natural to me.

Q) What were some of your most memorable moments from filming the movie?

A) Everything! It was just really fun because it was a diverse cast. We had some actors that didn’t speak English and if they did it wasn’t fluent English. Then, a lot of our cast didn’t speak English. It was kind of cool to watch them work together and kind of bond. You really realize we’re all just colleagues and all just humans, so it doesn’t matter if you don’t speak English or Spanish. They all found a way to communicate. It was really funny to see Kendall say things in Spanish. The crew taught her how to say things in Spanish. It was all really cute. It was a fun movie to shoot! I hope we can do Trico Tri Part 2. That would be really cute.

Q) What are some of your favorite Halloween traditions?

A) We decorate the house. My daughter is big already, so I don’t take her trick-or-treating. I usually just put out a bunch of candy and then we take my little cousins trick-or-treating down South. So, we’re busy with them, but I make sure to leave a bunch of candy out for the little kids that come to my house. The tradition is to take the little kids out trick-or-treating or to the mall. We have parties in the house just for them and their friends just because it’s safer to do that.

Q) Do you have any favorite Halloween movies?

A) Oh no! There was one on Disney that we watched when my daughter was little. It’s kind of a tradition that we watch it every year on the Disney channel called Hallo­-ween. It’s a comedy and a little scary, but we watch that one. I don’t enjoy scary movies. I never did, and I never will. I don’t like anything that has to do with the occult or anything that has to do with someone surprising me. [laughs] I don’t like any of that. I don’t want to go to Halloween Horror Nights ever or the Haunted House. Nope. No thank you! Thank God I don’t have that gift! I don’t see things. I know people that supposedly have that gift and see those things and that’s all cool, but don’t tell me when you see things. [laughs] I don’t’ want to see things.

Q) You are a part of social media. Are you looking forward to the fan feedback you’ll receive to the film?

A) You know, I went to a theater last week and I went in after the movie started and it was really cute to sit all the way at the top and watch the kids and listen to them laughing with the ghost hunters and the different cute parts. It was a really cute because when you watch a movie that you’re in you really don’t know how to judge it. I’m the worst judge. I’m my worst critic. I don’t ever want to see myself on the big screen. I freak out. So, it was kind of cool to just watch people and see them clap. I don’t know if it’s because the movie was shot in Miami and we use a lot of Miami terms, but the people liked it. I had a group of friends see it on their own and they wrote to me going, “Oh my gosh, the people in the theater clapped and the kids were laughing so much.” That’s always a pleasant surprise. And to know that we were sold out in Disney Springs all day on that Saturday or Sunday it was also nice.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) Thank you so much for sticking with me. I quit acting for a really long time just to be a mom, but I’m back. My daughter is older now and there is no stopping me. So, I plan to continue to do as many films as possible. I plan to do three or four films a year and Adriana is not giving up. Now it’s my time! Now that my daughter is done with school and she is doing her own thing now I’m going back to acting one hundred percent. And in both markets! Not just in mainstream media, but also Spanish. I don’t want to give up my Spanish audience. I don’t want to give up my Spanish audience at all. I don’t want to give up my language either. That’s why I’m really proud of this film because this is kind of like putting Spanglish on the map for the first time on the big screen. It’s never been done before so it’s kind of experimental and I hope we can do more movies like Trico Tri in Spanglish and with a diverse cast.

 

Follow Adriana Cataño:

www.adrianacatano.com