Gerardo Celasco – Next

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) How was your character Ty Salazar on “Next” originally described to you?

A) I can’t remember really the exact breakdown from the audition. It came in the form auditions usually come in – an email with a breakdown. I remember there were somethings in the breakdown as far as the character that really stood out to me that would make him interesting to play. As far as being somewhat of a flawed character because it said he was a recovering alcoholic and also a father and a stay at home dad. I thought all of those elements were pretty interesting. Throughout the show we realize he is someone who doesn’t drink, but we don’t go into the alcoholism or why he became an alcoholic. I think I enjoyed exploring and what I thought was important to play on screen was a Latino man who was okay being a stay at home dad and really showing that he was fine empowering his wife to live her life and live her dreams and for her to be the breadwinner. And kind of normalize it a bit that it doesn’t have to be the man of the house that is bringing the money in. That was something I hadn’t seen on screen a lot, especially from a Latino family perspective.

Q) How does he fit in to the series?

A) Well, I think the artificial intelligence “NeXt,” as we come to learn, is something that starts effecting every character. And our lives are so intertwined and embedded with technology already that there is no way of escaping it. It doesn’t matter if Ty is a stay at home dad or an FBI agent, if this machine and intelligence wants to target anybody it will target you. Through the show we get to see how even though technically he’s not a threat how this machine and artificial intelligence starts effecting their lives. It doesn’t have to be in specific dangerous environments. It can just be in personal situations within family dynamics. It can bring out the worst in us and also expose secrets that we probably don’t want others to know. That’s something we explore within husband and wife, which is really interesting.

Q) Through reading the scripts and shooting the series, has it given you pause or second thoughts about the technology we use in our everyday lives?

A) I don’t know if it’s given me a pause because as soon as I got that notification that there was a new update on the iPhone software, I just downloaded it. I love technology and I really read a lot about technology. It’s something that I find pretty useful. I’ve become more aware of certain things. It’s funny because we talked about this with the cast – you walk down the street and we can really quickly notice cameras. That’s something I didn’t do before. Now, being a part of the show, there are cameras everywhere. I think we’re being monitored all the time. Whether it is through phones or videos or cameras, there is definitely surveillance everywhere and there is no escaping that. So, you just have to accept it.

Q) Going into the series, were you familiar with any of your costars?

A) I didn’t know anybody personally. I was familiar with John’s [Slattery] work and I was familiar with Jason Butler Harner’s work and Michael Mosley because I really loved “Ozark” and I saw them on that. They are just two really, really talented actors. I was one of the first to get cast. I think only Fernanda [Andrade] had been cast prior to me coming on board, so as soon as all these other names started coming in it just became more and more exciting because I was like, “So and so is on the show,” and “So and so got cast.” It was just incredible actors that I had seen and admired on screen that I was going to have a chance to share a stage, per se, with. It was something really cool.

Q) Then were you looking forward to sharing a scene with someone in particular?

A) Ultimately, I knew that I was going to be a part of a world that was going to be very interesting and very different. It’s something we hadn’t really seen on TV before. Yeah, I was super excited. I knew from the get-go I was going to be on the outside looking in, in a way, because everybody else is kind of involved in the whole artificial intelligence world whether it is the FBI Cyber Security team and they are actively trying to find it and stop it or it is the LeBlancs who created the machine. I knew from the get-go that I was going to be a stay at home dad who was mostly going to be in charge of protecting his son. So, I had a feeling…I was hoping that I was going to be working with everybody at some point. Throughout the show we do get to see a little bit of that. I think, for me, it was mostly working with Ethan played by the amazing Evan Whitten who is really remarkable and with Fernanda, who plays my wife.

Q) Was there much stunt work to prep for this series?

A) We did a few. We always have stunt guys on set in case there are certain things that we have to do. They really take good care of us and walk us through the movements in case we feel comfortable doing it or there is a specific shot or angle that they can’t really do it for us. We did a couple of some cool stunts and things like that. It was great! I was in the element so much. Most of my stuff was on location and I wasn’t really on the soundstage that much. So, I was really put through the elements and the hardest for me was the Chicago Winter, which I had never been through a Winter like that in my life. That’s not a normal Winter to live through. So, it was really interesting for a guy from El Salvador to spend his first Winter in Chicago. The wardrobe department knows how cold it gets and they were just so, so great. They would tape those handwarmers that would go in the soles of your feet and would tape that to my back and under my shirts and stuff like that because it was so cold. There are certain tricks that you guys don’t get to see, but we have all of these little gadgets under our clothes to keep us warm.

Q) With such intensity to the show, how did you shake off a long day of filming?

A) Warm water. Tea at night. A warm ride home. Luckily, I had a nice place that I was staying at – an Air BnB – and it had a tub at home that I could come home to and fill up and just soak in that for a few minutes. It was not easy for me that Winter.

Q) What were some of your favorite episodes or ones viewers should look out for?

A) I think every episode is really fantastic. Every episode is really packed with just shocking stuff. I think the pilot, the first episode, is really, really strong and amazing. It kind of sets the tone. Then, what got me (because I’ve only seen five episodes), and I was kind of like, “This could really hook people,” is episode three. That was the one for me where the show kind of found itself and that’s where it kind of comes together – where I hope the audiences can be like, “Okay, this is what the show is and I’m here for this and I’m going on this ride with them.” That’s where it all ticks off.

Q) What else would you like to be sure we share with our readers about this new series “Next?”

A) I think it’s a great show with a fantastic cast that I hope people don’t come into it hoping to just think it’s a sci-fi show based around technology. I think it’s very easy to be brought onto a show thinking, “We’re just going to be here for technology.” But I think it’s the people that are in it that are hopefully going to hook the audience because it’s very personal and it’s not just very sci-fi or technology based. I think the way that Manny and the writers were able to explore the real humans of the show is what is really interesting to me. It could have been another procedural tech show spinning a bunch of tech jargon, which isn’t really what this show is about. I think the family dynamics are really interesting and I think the people are very interesting. And it’s also people that are flawed. That’s what makes humans interesting. As an actor, you never want to play a perfect person because that, to me (as an actor) isn’t very interesting. I find that people who are flawed are interesting and how to play that is for an actor is really interesting. I think you are going to get to see a lot of that on this show.