Shabooty Interview Series: Manny Perez (LA SOGA)

Shabooty Interview Series: Manny Perez (LA SOGA)

Dear movie buffs, here is an interview you will appreciate… that is, if you have an appreciation for film making.

I saw the movie La Soga and I really loved it. I was impressed to learn that the star of the movie, Manny Perez, was also the writer and producer of the film. Calling Manny a mere actor would be selling him short, because he’s a great film-maker. And when I got the opportunity to interview Manny, it was an honor because he truly is “the guy” when it comes to this movie. While I hope that Manny releases his own version of a “director’s commentary,” I did manage to pick his brain here, and learn a lot about the intricacies of La Soga, and film-making in general. I would describe this movie as “City of God,” meets “Babe the pig,” meets “The Wire.”

And with all due respect, past and present, and without further to do, I am proud to present the shabooty interview of La Soga’s Manny Perez.

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SHABOOTY: I didn’t even know what to expect with La Soga, and I was kinda blown away by the movie.
Manny Perez: I appreciate that bro. Like I said, it’s a labor of love and it’s based on true events, and it’s the first Dominican film ever to have reached the Toronto Film Festival, which is a big deal for the island, because they don’t really make films in the DR (Dominican Republic) at all. The films that they make, stay in the DR and they’re barely made, so this is a first for the country. So we’re very proud of it.

You mentioned it was a 10 year journey to make the film. How did you get started?
About 11 years ago, I made an independent film called Washington Heights that I also co-wrote and produced with a friend of mine that I shot in New York City, Washington Heights, which is mostly Dominican. I used to travel to the DR to visit families in my hometown and when I went to visit one of my aunts, a friend of mine was deported from the United States. We both grew up together in the DR, and we came here, I came here when I was 11, he came here when he was 14, and he became a bad boy, started selling drugs, and got arrested and he got deported. And then I went to visit my aunt and he was there and I’m like, “oh, what’s up man?” So we say hi to each other, two days later we hear that this guy, who has license to kill, is looking for my friend. I mean really looking for my friend. So he finds my friend under his bed, so he pulls him out and shoots him in the middle of the town. Which is very similar to the opening scene that we have in the film [La Soga], and I’m like man, who is that monster? That has license to do this. And he was paid by the government to do this. And that’s how I started doing research and I found out the government was paying this hitman to basically kill these guys who were above the law. And so from then I started writing and it took me eight years to update the story to what was happening in the country, and then two years to raise the money and we shot it in about three months in the same town that the incident happened.

What were some of the challenges of getting the film made?
Well, really getting the money, because people did not want to get involved in such a political film like this, because it’s very political. It’s very true to the stuff that was happening in the island. So no one really wanted to put money [into the project], and then a friend of me and the director Josh Crook, we have this mutual friend, whose father is into oil, has oil money out of Texas. So we went and asked him, and we begged him, and he said, “fuck it, let’s do it.” So then he put the money in to shoot it and thanks to him, the film was made.

Manny: Now let me ask you a question, now that you saw the film, how much do you think the film cost to make? Out of curiosity.
Shabooty: Alright let me think, I would have to say, 5 million.

That’s a great guess. But actually it cost $150,000 to shoot.
Damn.

It’s a miracle here, it’s a miracle because it looks like it cost five million because that’s the number, or three million is what people say. But ya know, shot in a third world country, the money there it gives you more — the dollars there give you more money there, more pesos. Plus, we prepped for three months ahead of time. So when we weren’t there, we knew exactly when and what money to spend and what not to spend and ya know, we’re good with shooting stuff that looks expensive, but really it’s shot cheaply.

Shabooty: Did you do a lot of running around, like in one day you run from location to location, and you’re real productive, like non-stop shooting?
Manny: Oh man, in one day, ya know the whole cock-fighting thing? That’s all shot in one day, which is impossible because there’s so much happening, there’s a gun fight, cock-fighting, everything, so we shot it all in one day. Actually, we shot that all in six hours because the owner of the cock-fighting place, the cock-fighting you see are actually people who are betting money, ya know, they have cock-fighting at that hour, so we had to shoot before they got there and while they were there, we shot behind the scenes and we used some of that footage as part of the film. Basically all gorilla-style, we just went in there. Even like the butchering of the pig [scene], we didn’t pay to butcher that pig, that’s actually the actual butcher who does what he does, and we just shot him.

That was gonna be my next question, what did you even know about being a butcher before the film?
Oh well, my father was a butcher and I grew up to be a butcher, like I killed a pig when I was eight years old, so [the movie is] sorta based on true events, when the kid, his father taught him how to kill a pig, and I actually had to kill a cow, which isn’t as much work as killing a pig, but all of that stuff, I added all of those layers and said how can this kid become a killer, and he’s innocent and he doesn’t want to kill a pig, and that sort of happened to me. When I was growing up, these pigs became my pet, and my father’s teaching me how to kill them, I’m like, “aw man, how is that possible?” So then this guy becomes a killer, that kills humans, those are the real moments that gives this guy heart. Gives his character such a heart because you’re like, “wow man, he’s human and I sort of understand, everything that he does is justified because of how he was raised.”

I was curious in the flashbacks, the kid version of you, how come you chose him to be a little chubby? [When your adult character is not].
Haha, I’ll tell ya this. Ya know what’s funny man? I was a little chubby kid growing up and mine you, I was chubby until I came to the United States, but that kid that you saw there, he’s not a real actor, he’s actually my neighbor in the Dominican Republic. We did major casting in the island, we went to the capital, we went to small towns, and then as I was in my [home]town, I was like well let’s try my town because we couldn’t find that actor that had that, that look in his eyes of innocence, but at the same time he’s a man, he’s a grown man. So this little kid who’s my neighbor came up to me and said, “hey man, so I hear you’re an actor in the United States…” and this and that and I’m like, “yeah, I am,” and he’s like, “listen man, I know you’re looking for a kid to play your part, but I’M YOUR KID, so come, you should watch me do my thing.” And I’m like, “this kid’s got balls, ya know?” And so I’m like, “come on, let’s go down there and audition you.” And man he opened his mouth, I was like “that’s the guy.” He was real, just real honest with his moments, never pushed it, I’ve never in my life met anyone like that, to me, he steals the movie, he’s such a great, great, great actor, naturally.

Yeah, all of the emotions on his face say everything, without him having to speak a word.
Exactly, it’s truly amazing. That’s hard to find these days with actors, ’cause actors always wanna act. They’re not being in the moment, and the difference is being in the moment is better than acting in the moment.

I should have known you produced the film because your love interest was a hot chick!
Hehe, you know it bro. You know who that chick is? That chick is actually Miss Universe 2001. And so she’s really hot first of all, and I feel also that she has to have the angelic quality of the film. She’s the only [character] with clean innocence in the film because the film was so dark and so gritty and her beauty sort of makes you wanna say, “oh wow, this is very peaceful to watch her.” So that’s sort of the reason we went with her, cause of that, and also she’s a natural actress, she’s not much acting, she’s just being. Plus she’s hot, that girl’s a hot girl. Haha, so why not?

Is she Dominican?
No, she’s actually Puerto Rican, but she played a half-Dominican, half-Puerto Rican in the film.

Are you part New Yorker, too?
Yeah, I was raised in New York, but I was born in the DR, but raised in New York. But, ya know what’s funny man? You’re gonna laugh, but people who are not from New York or LA or Miami don’t even know what a Dominican is. And so that’s a sad part about the film, they’re like, “what do you mean it takes place in the Dominican Republic, where is that?” They have no idea where that shit is, ya know? They know Cuba, they know Puerto Rico, but they don’t know Dominican Republic, so we’re sorta breaking barriers with trying to educate people, what a Dominican is, and where we’re from and why we are mostly in New York or Miami. It’s an interesting world that we’re in with people not aware of what Dominicans are.

Speaking of other cultures, were you a fan of [the Brazilian movie] the City of God?
Oh, okay the reason why I wrote this film was because of City of God. I saw City of God again, at the time when this whole thing went down, and I was so inspired by that film, I’m like, “oh man, I wish I could make something like that.” So when I saw that incident in the DR, I’m like this is exactly what I gotta do with what City of God did, this is exactly what I wanna do with that little moment that went down. So yeah, that was my inspiration, City of God.

Now have you had the chance to meet those guys? [That made City of God]
No, I actually never got a chance to meet those guys. But I went to a film festival in Spain and that’s where I saw City of God and I was blown away by that film. So that inspired me to write down what happened in my country and put it on the big screen because of that film.

Was Scarface one of your favorite movies?
I like Scarface, it’s a good film. I dunno if it’s one of my favorites, but I like Dog Day Afternoon better just because I like films that the character is going through something and there’s a reason why he’s mentally doing what he’s doing. And in Scarface I understood what he was doing but it wasn’t as fucked up as like Dog Day Afternoon. In DDA, this guy’s doing this shit because trying to change the sex of his lover, that’s some crazy shit, right? So you’re robbing a bank to do that? That’s some crazy shit. So shit like that makes you wonder about people’s agenda in life, why they do what they do, and I like films that make you wonder about shit that people do.

Any chance you’re a Howard Stern fan?
Man, listen man, I love Howard Stern, but ya know what’s funny? I don’t have satellite anymore so I sorta miss him. In New York I used to listen to him every morning on 93.2 [KRock], every morning, and my cousin was also a big fan, so we used to listen to this guy every morning but then he moved over to satellite, and really, I don’t have satellite, so I miss him, but man that guy was so real and so truthful, bro, plus we have the same [talent] agency, which is a big deal, ya know?

Yeah, Don Buchwald. Have you met Don?
Yeah, yeah, no we hang out, Don is a big fan so I actually know his daughter. She’s my point person, Julia, it’s funny to talk about stories about Howard, and ya know, Howard, he’s an amazing man, he has a great heart, he’s very loyal, which is very rare to find now a days in the industry.

Oh and there’s another guy who’s with the same agency, his name’s Michael Kenneth Williams, he played Omar in The Wire.
Yeah yeah, we did a film together, you should check it out, you’d probably like it. A film called A Kiss of Chaos.

Are you a fan of THE WIRE?
Yeah I am, I’m a big fan of The Wire, and I love the concept of how they did it and how that whole story came about. I’m actually trying to write a TV show pilot, sort of similar to The Wire, but takes place in Washington Heights. And so I’m trying to do that as well.

Yeah, I’ll check out that movie A Kiss of Chaos.
Actually, you could stream it via Netflix. It’s pretty interesting man, it’s a pretty interesting film. A little fucked up but interesting. I play an interesting character in there, so ya should check it out when you have time.

And are you a vegan in real life?
Well, I don’t eat pork. But I eat everything else, but pork. I believe that pigs are like kids. They have the intelligence of a four year old. They really do, really. And I dunno bro, I have issues with eating your pet. I feel like those little pigs, they become really attached to you. And then you’re gonna break ‘em in half and eat ‘em. Which listen, I understand why people do it in third world countries, because it’s about survival. In the United States, which I don’t understand the concept here because in the US they go buy their meat at a supermarket and they have no idea how the meat got there, and did they even see the animal get killed? Ya know, all of a sudden ya have these people who talk about animal brutality in other countries, but they don’t actually see the brutality as they see it in a third world country. But here they go buy their meat in a market and it’s okay for them to eat that, but they don’t know the brutality that went down to get that meat in the market.

Do you know if PETA has seen the film?
Actually, you know what’s funny? Peta did see the film, after the festival and they approached us and they approached our lawyer at the time, because they wanted to find out how the animals got killed or whichever. And we did explain to them for example, the cock fighting, we never paid for the cock fighting. We just shot it as a documentary style as they were betting for the cock fights. And the pigs situation, the butcher, we gave him a role in the film, as the butcher. And mind you, when he kills these pigs he’s very, he has a tradition of how he does it. He kills the pigs on Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30 in the morning, because he has to open the shop at 7:30, and people come and buy their meat. So at 6:30 we waited for that scene to be the last scene of the shoot. So we came, he said Tuesday, if you’re not here at 6:30 in the morning, I’m killing that pig. Well, that Tuesday, our truck, getting into the town, we had a problem, so we got in at 6:33 AM, and the pig was dead. So then on Thursday was the next day, so and then on Thursday we showed up at 5 in the morning, we lit up the place, and at 6:30 he went into his thing, and killed the pig, but we never paid the guy for the pig, so we had nothing to do with killing of the pig, we just sort of shot it. So they (Peta) understood that, and they were okay with everything in the film, but they totally questioned it and wondered how it went down.

Most people haven’t seen a butchering, so in one way it’s a message to say this is what happens to your food, so you might not wanna eat pork.
Well, it’ll tell ya, I don’t eat pigs because of what happened to me growing up and seeing what happened, but I don’t eat it and really believe that especially a pig, they’re such smart animals that personally, I don’t eat it.

Do you think you will make a La Soga 2?
I’m actually trying to do a La Soga 2, that takes place in Washington Heights, because at the end of the film [spoiler warning], the guy ends up in Washington Heights, and that’s where most of his deportees were sent from, people that he killed, so I’m pretty sure they have cousins running around, and I’m pretty sure they want revenge as well. And so the idea is, I already have a script, the idea is that he’s trying to do good in Washington Heights, but he’s forced to become that beast again, because something happens to his girlfriend. So yeah, the idea is to do a La Soga 2, which is that I’m still trying to raise money, haha. The problem is always the money, man, it’s really crazy. Even though the film was a success, we opened theatrically, and we made over a million dollars worldwide, and we shot for 150k, so that’s a major success. Now the question is, people don’t seem to have money to do a part two or don’t have money in general to put into the film industry, which is crazy.

If they made a movie about the Bin Laden raid do you think you could play a Navy Seal?
Well I mean yeah, why not? Shit, pay me, ya know what I’m saying? Haha. Pay me and I’m in it, which is really funny, but uh, I’m pretty sure they will make an Osama Bin Laden movie, a TV show, all kinds of stuff, it’s crazy, it’s really crazy. But I’m pretty sure they will.

We’ve already touched on it but, what projects are you working on next?
Well, I have another film that you should check out that comes out in August through Maya Entertainment called Forged. If you go to ForgedMovie.com, you can see the trailer. It’s a film that I also wrote and the same team of La Soga put it together. It’s a very different film from La Soga, it’s a story about a father and a son, a beautiful film that won at a few festivals and it got picked up by Maya Entertainment and it comes out in August. And I’m actually in the process of doing another film that I also wrote, to be shot in Mexico, about a Mexican boxer and why they fight to the death. In that film I already got funding for, we’re just trying to write it up for September to shoot it in Mexico. And then in my acting world, I might be doing a film with John Singleton, but I’m still trying to figure out the details. He’s a big fan, I worked with him in ‘Illegal Tender,’ plus he’s a big fan of La Soga, huge fan. So waiting on the details on that, but that might happen over the summer, as well.

And where does Forged take place?
Forged takes place in Scranton, Pennsylvania, ya gotta see it, see the trailer. It’s pretty mind blowing, but Scranton, Pennsylvania. Why Scranton? Because Scranton is an industry town, mostly factory workers, and the story has to deal with a father who comes out of prison to deal with his now 12-year-old son, who is there at avenge the death of his mom. That was the reason why he went to prison. And his motive is to show this kid that he had abandoned, what love is. And sort of ask for forgiveness that can’t be forgiven.

By the way, isn’t Sammy Sosa from the Dominican Republic?
Listen, all of these baseball players are from the Dominican Republic which is pretty crazy but the Dominican Republic is only known for the baseball players.

What’d you think of him when he bleached his skin to white?
Bro, just so you know, that’s the issue of the Dominicans, right there. Dominicans are 80% African, and and 20% Spaniards. There’s nothing else but that. But when you talk to a Dominican, those are the facts man, you talk to a Dominican in the Dominican Republic and who’s blacker than black and he has a daughter that’s blacker than black, he doesn’t want that daughter to date another Dominican who is blacker than black than he is. Which is pretty fucking bizarre man. That’s the issue that we have. We have issue with our skin color, as Dominicans, we’re always fighting and that’s why there’s that whole thing of Haitians and Dominicans always going at it, because Dominicans don’t wanna admit to the fact that we are sorta semi-cousins, but they don’t wanna deal with the fact that they are black. A Dominican person would say that they’re more Spaniard than black, but when you go to Spain, all of a sudden, you’re the black man. So it’s pretty fucking bizarre, I feel like we gotta deal with that issue, and just admit to the fact that we are black.

In one of your future movies, you gotta address that.
Oh no, I’m always trying to address that in real life and will def. address that in the future, I mean I’m always, listen man, I feel like that’s part of the education, or the lack of education that happens in the DR right now, because the government’s so corrupted, and so fucked up that they’re not trying to teach us where we come from. They’re trying to teach us that we should be the elite of the elite, but the reality is we can’t even write a sentence straight because we’re lacking in education.

Those are all of my questions.
Listen, I appreciate this, man. I really appreciate this, I really do. I thank you man. I really thank you.

$habooy exclusives 2011

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