The Mexican actress talks with Boardroom about her bond with Ritchie, her new films, and never being put in a box.
Early success in abundance doesn’t automatically translate into being taken seriously as an actor. There’s no sure shot way to make that happen, but one of the best ways is when you find an artist who truly sees you. That’s what González has in director Guy Ritchie, who cast González in three of his films over the last three years. Their latest collaboration is Black Bear’s In the Grey, which is in theaters May 15 and finds González playing the shrewd lawyer Rachel Wild. Wild operates on the other side of the law, handling the cases that other lawyers would be too scared to handle. Her line of work throws her into an illicit operationthat powers this magnificent heist flick that features everyone from Ritchie mainstay Henry Cavill to Jake Gyllenhaal. And while both of those Hollywood titans may share top billing, trust and believe this is Eiza González’s vehicle, which she understands.
“I never get to play characters like that,” González shared with Boardroom over Zoom. “That is the beauty of a Guy Ritchie film, and that’s why I just keep going back to it.”
In this conversation, González speaks openly about working with Guy Ritchie, what drew her to the role of Rachel Wild, and the importance of having people who see you in your line of work.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Boardroom: This is your third Guy Ritchie film in the last three years. Have you felt like this time in your life has been, not necessarily busier, but a different type of busy for you?
Eiza González: Yeah, I think so. I think there’s been a growth in the projects and things that I get to do. It is different. We go through seasons as actors, and I think I’m excited about this season, for sure.
Is it a situation where you have to audition at this point, or is he just like, “Look, I have this role, Rachel Wild, for you. Do you want to do this or not? When can I have you come out?”
Yeah, that’s kind of how it is. I do audition for a lot of stuff. I still audition, but you do build a certain relationship with certain directors, and he’ll just hit me up with a text like, “What are you doing? Where you are? I have this thing. You want to come?” I mean, it’s very surreal when you have Guy Ritchie sending that message because I just loved his movies. I grew up watching his movies. Lock, Stock, I love that movie. Everything he’s ever done, I just really enjoy his movies. It hits a perfect balance of smart dialogue, interesting storytelling, but also dynamic, action-based. It just has a lot — it’s unequivocally a Guy Ritchie movie.
I just really enjoyed In the Grey, specifically, because it’s a movie that really treads in the grey, in between the moral and then the immoral. Then we have just very [immoral] characters living and breathing in this story, and as a woman, I don’t get to play a lot of immoral characters [who are] devoid of shame. She’s just completely devoid of shame and has no qualms with speaking her mind and saying what she needs. She’s a perfectionist organizer and meticulous savage, and I just loved every second of it.
You’re giving us a story, but you’re really the person putting all of the pieces in motion. For the most part, you are literally one step ahead of everybody else. But then you’re on the other side of that where you’re having to learn 10 pages of dialogue and you’re mixing drinks in scenes. I’m assuming those are the type of things where, being on a Guy Ritchie set, it’s like, “Well, damn, I wasn’t expecting to be a barista or anything today.”
That was the scene that killed me.
Really?
Yeah, because he was — it’s silly. It’s something so silly, but sometimes doing something physical while you’re saying that level of dialogue. It’s not like an easy [monologue]. I’m going through 10 pages; it’s truly 10 pages, because I’m setting up the heist, but I’m [also] making an amazing drink, and he sprung it up on me. He’s like, “Why don’t we do this on the day?” Usually, I’m such a crazy perfectionist that I would’ve loved to do that over and over and over and over again, so it felt so natural in my body. But hey, listen, sometimes the most naturalistic performances come from that.
It was challenging because she’s also so sharp and eloquent and she doesn’t flinch when she’s saying anything. So while I’m trying to do something I’ve never done before, and every movement, even he was like, “I want you to set it and go” [Eiza then mimics slow, methodical twists of the coffee maker.] Everything is about structure of who she is. She’s a very structured person, and that’s how she is so efficient. But yeah, I ultimately struggle with those things.
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In my time, I’ve seen a number of heist films and action films, and it always ends up being where the women, a lot of the time, if they’re not the main boss, they’re somebody’s girlfriend or somebody who’s working alongside the two guys. It’s amazing to see Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal in a film and realize, “No, she’s actually the boss right there.” Those are her heavies.
They’re great, aren’t they? I think the dynamic is so fun. They have such a good chemistry. They’re so funny together, and I think it’s a pairing you never thought that would be that great, and it’s genuinely so entertaining. I love watching them because their personalities are so opposite as well.
Yeah, it is very exciting. I never get to play characters like that. I think that ultimately they write female characters with some shape or form of always apologizing for what you’ve done, and Rachel just is insatiable. She just keeps going and going and going and going, and she has [her] foot on the gas.
That is the beauty of a Guy Ritchie film, and that’s why I just keep going back to it. He is fearless with the way he writes his women. People, they’re like, “Oh, it’s mostly men.” But I’m like, but when he writes women, it’s 10 out of 10. There’s no norms that you’re following. He just is like, “Why wouldn’t we?” He doesn’t think in that way. He’s just like, “Why wouldn’t she do that?” I really love that also she’s never really a damsel in distress. Even when she’s in distress, she never is.
In talking about Guy and the women that are in his films in particular, were there any inspirations or influences that he may have given you, or was all of her basically in the script?
Well, no, we sort of develop it together. That’s how he works. He just creates the thing with you, and he gets excited on the day. He will follow the script, and he’ll be like, “This is fine,” but he’ll be like, “Let’s elevate it. What is more interesting? What’s the more interesting version of this?”
We started finding her through the filming. It really started landing on the second day or third, where we cracked the code of exactly who she was. We had enough time with other scenes to really jar her in. But yeah, it was that scene, it was the scene of making the drink that sort of cracked her DNA.
It’s beautiful to watch Guy in this environment because then he just gets so inspired. You can see the inspiration hitting and then being like, “Wardrobe, hair, makeup.” Then it just starts unraveling. Then as a teammate, I’m sure that must be very stressful, but wardrobe is like, “No, change everything to this now.” He gets really excited, because I think that’s the beauty of collaboration and why he repeats so [many] collaborations throughout his career; these people spark some certain inspiration on him, and that’s how our first introduction was when we did Ministry. She was written very differently, and I think I own that I brought something to her that wasn’t on the page. I think that he was like, “I love this girl. She has ideas.”
It’s interesting looking at your life. You’ve kind of run the gamut — you’ve been a child star, you’ve done music, you’ve done TV. You’ve done a lot. Looking at this era right now, have you been able to realize your potential through working with Guy in these projects over the last couple of years?
Yeah, I definitely think so because I think that the industry loves to pigeonhole you into an idea of what you should be doing. I don’t think any actor’s always like, “I can only do this.” I think most of the time it’s the industry and the way that you’re introduced is what they want to consistently give you. I think that it’s easier for other people and certain people to get out of the box, but I do think that for women, sometimes it’s harder, and for Latin women it’s sometimes even [harder]. As a Black man, I’m sure you understand that, it’s also the same for Black people.
I think when you’re a minority, it does take an extra push and shove, especially because by nature, the stories that are being told sometimes of our people are very specific, and Guy just doesn’t think that. Guy doesn’t think “ethnicity,” “idea.” To be fair, he cast me as a British woman, and he was like, “She can play it,” and it was foundationally based. He doesn’t follow the norms, which I really love and respect. He just doesn’t follow the norms of what society’s dictating or not. He’s just like, “Are you right for the role and do you bring something interesting to the role?” I grew up going to an American and then an English school, so half of my life I had an English accent. He was like, “She can do it. She can do it. Why are they boxing her in?” Most of the time I was getting auditions for “border girl,” or whatever that is, and he was just like, “Let me make her a British spy. Let me make her an incredibly smart negotiator. Let me make her a deep fountain of youth protector.” It’s just super cool. He always is getting out of the box.
As an actor, I think I get the chance to do things with him that, in other places, I would never, and so I unequivocally go back to him. [Boots Riley’s upcoming film I Love Boosters] is a perfect example, too. Boosters does that as well, and Boots was like, “Go for it,” and he saw the potential. I think Guy saw the potential. I knew I had the potential, but it just takes someone letting me do it. It takes someone giving me the opportunity.
I am a go-getter, I will never let you down. That takes me dying on the hill. I will not let you down, and so I will just push through.
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