Watchmen) and his brother Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal), who attempt a bank heist in order to bankroll surgery for Will's wife.
We spoke with actress Eiza González, who plays a young paramedic named Cam that becomes crucial to the story, about butting heads with Michael Bay and just how much improvisation can be fit into one intense action sequence.
I had such a good time watching it. What was the most surprising thing for you about working with Michael Bay? He's known as this mad man of action. Was there anything that surprised you?
Eiza González: Yeah, I think that getting to know Michael was the most surprising part because he is such a... He will hate me for saying this, but he's such a kid. He's like a kid. I mean, the other day we were in Berlin. He's such a geek; he was showing us this video of him at the beach, pretending he's cracking his neck, but he had a bottle of water in the back and he's like, "Look at me. I have a bottle of water in the back!"
He's such a child. He's like, "I liked to throw things out of the window when I was little." He's such a mischievous child in this daunting, terrifying body named Michael Bay. It's really funny because when we started filming, I was kind of scared and obviously terrified because he has a very strong personality and we had a round. We had a big round on week two where we went at each other, at our throats, and we went really hard.
And from there on, we got along incredibly, because we felt comfortable to talk to each other and he really respects someone that has input and an idea. He respects actors that really care about their craft because he really, really, really cares. That's what I've realized. He really cares intimately about his projects and he believes in the movie magic that it's like that old school sort of don't think about it, just have fun. Movies are about having fun. A lot of things are not going to make sense, but that's part of the fun of movies, and don't think too much about it. That was sort of fun to get on that path because this wouldn't be real or you get too serious about certain things. It's a fun action movie.
What was your spat over?
Eiza González: Something I did. I was frustrated because, listen, I felt a lot of pressure to bring to life a paramedic that felt real in the time that we're living. I mean, first responders have been dedicating their lives fully, I mean, forever obviously, but more than ever. It's very transparently obvious what they are bringing to our society. And so I just didn't want to make a joke or cartoon version of who they were.
I really wanted to level up and bring something that would feel proud of. So I was very vocal about certain things that I didn't feel would be right. And then he'd be like, "Just let me do it. Trust me." So we would butt heads a lot, but that's part of the creative process. It's sort of speaking up about what your thoughts are and then finding a common ground.
Yeah, Jake was telling me Michael would just shout things that he should say and Jake was like, “I would go home and be like, what did I say on set today?"
Eiza González: Yeah, that happened to us a lot. You understand how massively insane this movie-making was. There was a scene where we were talking about his wife and his kid in the front of the ambulance. It's a very dramatic scene. Michael decided that day and that scene that he wanted to shoot simultaneously in the back with Jake improvising scenes and lines. So we are in this emotional scene where he's kind of crying over his wife and her disease.
And then Jake is in the back screaming, "Why are you draining so much blood out of him? Are you a vampire?" Like just dumb lines and we were like, "What is going on you guys?" We're in this and we're going around in circles in the convention center, just circles. So we're dizzy at this point. There were days that we would go back and I'd be like, "What just happened?" For six hours, I have no idea what I just did.
And you can feel the chaos when you're watching the movie too. I really want to know, I don't know if you have any idea, the amount of vehicles that were destroyed making this movie.
Eiza González: Michael, oh my God, you can't take Michael Bay out of an action film, can you? He can't help himself. I mean, I will say that surprisingly, there are less explosions in this movie than the usual Michael Bay movie, which I think is really helping our Rotten Tomatoes score. But I think it's a lot of cars.
When it comes to action, no one does it like Michael Bay. I have mad respect for people. He started in the times when it wasn't as easy. He didn't have the access to things that people have. He always was a stylized director and people talk about odd tours, and Jake says it quite a lot. He's an action film auteur. You watch a Michael Bay movie and you can recognize it from a mile away.
People love them and they're entertaining and they're fun. The way that he works with his crew is he has everyone on lockdown from cars to stunty. So it's really impressive to work with a team like that because it's like the military for film. Everyone knows a role and everyone [is] working simultaneously in the best way possible. It's quite impressive. It's one of the most impressive teams I've ever gotten to work with.
Ambulance: In Theaters Now
Needing money to cover his wife's medical bills, a decorated veteran teams up with his adoptive brother to steal $32 million from a Los Angeles bank. However, when their getaway goes spectacularly wrong, the desperate thieves hijack an ambulance that's carrying a severely wounded cop and an EMT worker. Caught in a high-speed chase, the two siblings must figure out a way to outrun the law while keeping their hostages alive.
You can also check out our interviews with Jake Gyllenhaal & Yahya Abdul-Mateen II here.
Ambulance is now playing in theaters.
