In Plain Sight is returning to USA Network on April 19. Recently “In Plain Sight” star Cristián de la Fuente spoke about the upcoming season, and life in an Aerial Acrobatic Troop.
What about your role continues to challenge you?
C. de la Fuente: The first thing that challenged me was playing baseball. I was born and raised in Santiago, Chile where the biggest sport is soccer. We don’t play baseball here. I think baseball stops in Venezuela, that’s the farthest you go by playing baseball. And also working with a great cast is always challenging, because you have to really give your 180%, but mainly the baseball part. The rest at the beginning was scary, “Oh my gosh, I’m going to work with Lesley Ann Warren and Mary McCormack,” but then when I got to meet them then that was the best part of the job, not the hardest one.
What do you like most about your character?
C. de la Fuente: Raphael, I think goes against all the stereotypes. It’s like he’s not the typical Latin lover. He’s not the typical Latino. As a joke always I think we’ve made history in television and film, because on the last episode of the first season, on the season finale, I think it’s the first time that you see a Latino character with a lot of kilograms of drugs and instead of starting dealing them, he threw them away. I think that’s the first time that’s happened in TV, that Latinos are not portrayed as drug dealers but people that you know they have good hearts and they want the best for their family and their loved ones. And I think that’s the beauty about Raphael, he’s really in love with Mary and he’s a nice guy and I think he’s going to do always the right thing and it’s great to play those kinds of roles nowadays.
What should fans be expecting to see in store for your character this season? Are there any big surprises?
C. de la Fuente: Yes, there are big surprises. Let me see, how can I say it without ruining it? There’s going to be a change in my career. I can say that. I’m going to get closer to, however, changing my marital status. So those are the two biggest surprises.
Where are you hoping to see Mary and Raphael’s relationship go? Are we going to see him kind of run out of patience with her indecision with things?
C. de la Fuente: Mary’s very hard to deal with, Mary the character, because Mary McCormack, I love her. I also love the other one in different ways, but Raph would like to marry her and have a family, but it’s tough. Mary is hard to get and she’s a little bit afraid of commitment. In the ideal world, which doesn’t exist, not even in fiction, Raphael would like to marry her and have children and be happy. But he’s going to try to do everything in his power and hopefully Mary’s going to try to do something too.
You just guest starred on Brothers and Sisters. What was it like working with that cast and Sally Field?
C. de la Fuente: When I got the call, I was really surprised. My first reaction was, “You want me to play that role? Are you sure you’ve got the right guy?” Every time you work with a great cast, it’s something that’s not only good for your resume, it’s good for your soul working with people that are talented and that have been around. It’s always a good thing. It was a great experience and it would be great if we do it again in the future.
What is the cast dynamic like on In Plain Sight? How do you guys all get along?
C. de la Fuente: I’m going to answer you the truth, which is that we all get along very well and we have a great relationship with each other, and even though that didn’t happen, I would never say it. But in this case, I’m saying the truth, I’m not lying. Sometimes you don’t get along and you still have to lie and say, “We really get along,” but I’m happy to say that on this occasion it’s true that we all get along very well and we act together.
Of course, you have a better relationship with those that you work more often, with Nichole Hiltz with Lesley Ann Warren and with Mary. I’m not involved in all the cop scenes with Fred Weller or with Paul Ben-Victor. I don’t get to do a lot of scenes, but sometimes we go out to dinner and sometimes we go on the same plane back and forth from LA, especially with Paul, so we all have a great relationship. And that’s good, because I spend more time sometimes with them than with my family.
Would you ever be interested in writing or directing for In Plain Sight?
C. de la Fuente: Yes, I’ve written some stuff and I love to write. I have to get better at that and I think it’s a process. But the only way I think to learn is just to write and write and write and maybe in a couple years I’m going to come to something that is better than what I’ve written before. But it’s a process and the only way to do it is to start it at some point. The first thing that I wrote wasn’t good. The second was a little bit better, and now I’m getting, not that I’m great, but I’m getting better and better every day. And even if I write a book that my daughter is going to read, I’ll be happy. But yes, I would love to write. I would love to express in other ways than just acting.
Do you ever get to offer input on your character?
C. de la Fuente: We do a meeting before the season, we meet with all the writers, and there are a lot of things about myself that are in character. And one of the things that I really appreciate and I’m very thankful from the show, and especially for David Maples, the creator, is that in many jobs that I’ve done, they always say, “Okay, you have to take care of your accent,” and I can work on it. I can go to an accent coach and speak more Mexican or speak less Mexican or speak normal or try to even do a neutral.
In this case, In Plain Sight, David was like, “No, you can embrace your accent.” And even there are some episodes that other characters like especially Brandi played by Nichole Hiltz, she makes fun of my accent and she doesn’t understand some of the things that I’m trying to say. And besides that that I was able to embrace that and to let it go and be more natural instead of trying to hide it, that’s something that I really appreciate from the show and from David especially.
What has been your favorite scene to film so far, either past or future that we haven’t seen yet?
C. de la Fuente: Well from the first season, there was this scene in the last episode when I go to Mary’s house and I’m drunk and I’m trying to convince her to have a better relationship with her sister, with Brandi. That scene I think especially was challenging, because to play drunk is tough and not going through a cliché of really being drunk and playing the drunk and also it was very emotional.
And on this season there was a very beautiful scene in one of the episodes towards the middle of the season where I proposed again and where I explain to Mary why I want to marry her and why I feel the way I feel towards her. I think that was really nice, mostly like the scenes when the character is vulnerable, I think those are beautiful scenes that you can really open yourself and do a better job.
Raphael really loves Mary, do you think though that ultimately marrying Mary would be good for Raphael?
C. de la Fuente: Yes, I don’t know what’s really going happen in the future, because one of the things that David likes to do is like to keep the show like real life.
We kind of have an idea what’s going to happen tomorrow, but we really don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, and the same thing happens in the show. We kind of have an idea what’s going to happen in the next episode, but we have no idea to really what’s going to happen. I think Raphael really wants to marry Mary, but in order for that to happen Mary would have to change, and I don’t think she’s really willing to do it.
Because many times in relationships, and that has happened to me myself in personal life, we fall in love with somebody and there are things we don’t like about that person and hope that they’re going to change at sometime and it never happens and then at the end of the day is the reason why you end up breaking up with them. So I learned that the things that you don’t like about somebody, they have to really be so little that you’re willing to live the rest of your life with them.
That’s what needs to happen. At this moment, the things that really bother Raphael about Mary are not that big and at the end of the day he knows that she’s this beautiful, sensitive woman under that tough uniform and the tough job and the tough personality. So if she allows to be loved, then I think they can be really happy.
Are there any special guest stars booking up this season we can look forward to seeing?
C. de la Fuente: Yes. I don’t have the complete names and lists of the guest stars, because most of the guest stars, they always come on the side of the witness that is being protected and I don’t get the privilege of working with them. But I can guarantee that there’s going to be some big names and big people guest starring. We’re doing 16 episodes and we have kind of like more than half like kind of 10 big names that are going to be guest starring on the show.
So be prepared for a lot of big actors.
Do you feel that keeping a bit of humor in the show kind of breaks up tensions between some of these relationships that we see?
C. de la Fuente: Yes, I think we don’t live in a black and white world. It’s like we live in a world when even the most dramatic moment again on the days they’re funny. When you see an old lady that falls on the street, sometimes you start laughing. It’s funny, but it’s a drama for her, and it’s funny for you.
So at the end of the day even drama or sometimes in my life I’ve been in problems and I’m trying to make things work and then at the end of the day I just laugh, because there’s only so much we can do. So I love when drama has that bit of humor and comedy, because that’s life. Life is not all drama or all comedy. It’s a mix of both. Sometimes more from one than the other, but at the end of the day it’s a mix of both.
Can you kind of give us a run through of a typical day on the set?
C. de la Fuente: A typical day on the set for me is landing the day before from LA, because I’m still living in LA. So the day before I have to work I have to travel. That means going through the airport, which it used to be nice. Now they assume that everybody’s a criminal or a terrorist, so they ask you to take your shoes off, take your everything, and it’s like that’s kind of the bad part of it.
Then finally I land, I arrive in Albuquerque, and then the day starts with breakfast, very early, around 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning; then we rehearse the scene with the director and with the crew; then we go for makeup and hair, which for me takes five minutes, thank God, where the girls will take a little longer.
And then we go back and we shoot the scene. We do that for six hours; then we break for lunch, and then we do it for six more hours again. Sometimes it’s six, sometimes it’s seven or eight or even nine more hours, which after six we have a snack, which is called second meal for people to eat.
And then we finish the day. Then we go rest. We have a 10 to 11 hour turnaround where we can rest and sleep, and then the next day, we start again in the morning and then we try to shoot all the scenes, and then when I’m done after three or four days, I get on a plane and I go back to LA to see my family. And then Mary stays in Albuquerque, because I think she’s in 99% of all the scenes. She has to do that for seven days straight. I do it only for three or four.
What would be your ultimate dream role?
C. de la Fuente: I’ve always wanted to do like a modern version of I Love Lucy. What would happen today if a guy like Raphael married an American? How would they live and all the issues that they have to deal with? I think that would be a nice role to play.
So do you have any new projects coming up?
C. de la Fuente: Not yet. My biggest project after the show is done is vacation with my wife and my daughter, try to spend some time with them, because thank God, I’ve been working a lot, and then start looking for the next one. Try to see if we can squeeze in a movie or two and keep our fingers crossed and hopefully have a third season of In Plain Sight, but that depends on the viewers. So hopefully, they’ll watch the show, they will like it and then we’ll have a third season.
You were a firefighter in Chile and also that you were and maybe still are in the Chilean Air Force and apart of the Aerial Acrobatic Troop. What exactly do you get to do being part of an Aerial Acrobatic Troop?
C. de la Fuente: I think I have a thing for uniforms, as you can see. The firefighters, yes, I used to be a firefighter and then I had to quit, because I moved from Chile and then if they call me for a fire, the time that it gets me to go from LA to Chile, the fire will be already burned.
In the aerobatic team, I help them with all the public relationships, with all the PR, because every time they have a presentation and I can, I try to fly with them. I’m trying to do all my best to, they’re going to an aerial show in Texas in May and I’m trying to see if I can meet with them and be there.
When we do it like while the guys fly, I’m on the ground explaining everything through speakers. I’m in the tower and I’m talking to the people and everybody explaining to them what they’re doing, all the maneuvers that they’re doing and how they’re done and the history and a little bit of the background about the aerobatic team. And then I get to fly with them once in awhile and train and be able to do some aerobatics on my own, but I just fly on my own. They fly in formation, which is very dangerous and they have to work and train every day. That’s why I don’t fly at the presentation, because I would have to do it 24/7 and be my main job. But mainly I help them with the public relationships and I get also to fly, but by myself.
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