Giancarlo Esposito as Gracian Parish (Gray).
Eliot Brasseaux/AMC
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Giancarlo Esposito as Gracian Parish (Gray).
Eliot Brasseaux/AMC
“I’m tired of being the passenger in my own life,” says Giancarlo Esposito in the first episode of AMC. Parish. It’s a feeling that applies as much to the actor as to Gracian Parish, the main character he plays.
Parish premiers on AMC on Sunday, March 31.
Esposito, the actor best known for playing villains – like drug lord Gus Fring in Break the bad And You better call Saul – is finally behind the wheel as a hero, or perhaps anti-hero, in a series he executive produced.
If you are looking for a show in which you can relax, Parish it’s probably not for you. From the first three minutes, Gracian “Gray” Parish is already skidding through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Soon, “you get the feeling that he may have had a past life, which begins to reveal itself when he meets an old friend who spent time in prison,” Esposito told NPR. This friend, played by Skeet Ulrich, asks Parish for help – he needs a driver, for a businessman he knows.
Esposito’s character quickly discovers that “businessman” is actually code for a Zimbabwean gangster engaged in human trafficking.
As the story progresses, you realize that Parish needs money for his black car business – and he needs answers about his son’s murder.
So the retired former criminal driver is brought back into the fold.
It’s a familiar premise, of course. But Esposito explained what attracted him to this American remake of the BBC series. The driver was the possibility of nuance of the character.
“One thing I’ve cultivated over my career is that you can say things without words – and say them with actions or facial expressions,” he said. This career began on stage before Esposito appeared on screen in Stock exchanges and Spike Lee films like Do the right thing And Mo’Better Blues.
Walter White (Bryan Cranston), Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) in season 4 of Break the bad.
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Walter White (Bryan Cranston), Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) in season 4 of Break the bad.
Ben Leuner/AMC
Esposito Break the bad his co-star Bryan Cranston said that decades before the two had the chance to work face-to-face as dueling drug dealers, he was amazed by Esposito’s menacing stage presence in an off-Broadway production from 1984 from Balm of Gilead.
“He played a street drug dealer in that play, but he was so committed and so believable that I thought he was a guy who came off the street and started selling drugs to the public,” Cranston said.
Esposito remembers playing the role of Ernesto in Balm of Gilead GOOD. He would come out into the audience with a Polaroid camera as people entered the room to watch the show.
“When they would come in and sit down, I would push them to take a Polaroid. And some people thought it was free and I would say, ‘No, it’s like ten dollars a shot.’ People who thought I was doing something stupid would try to put it in their pocket…I remember I had a switchblade, and I would take the switchblade out and open it, and people would panic.”
A nervous stage manager confiscated his knife after some complaints from the public, but Esposito said he brought a new one the very next night. He also said he took profits from his Polaroid business and used them to fund casting parties.
It’s this kind of commitment to the profession that another Break the bad co-star, Bob Odenkirk, remembers.
“Giancarlo is here for every aspect of this effort,” Odenkirk said. “He’s there to analyze the scenario, ask what matters (and) prepare.”
Esposito then joined Odenkirk again in the prequel series You better call Saul.
“What you’re always looking for in a role is a subtext that’s almost contradictory to the text,” Odenkirk explained. “I just think Giancarlo played (Gus Fring) with such texture and subtlety that he had a rich inner life.”
This subtle texture has become Esposito’s calling card.
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But Esposito said his new character – Parish – is more true to his own life.
“For me, it’s the highlight of my career. Being able to be in a position where I can really be closer to who I am,” he said. And yes, Gray Parish is a criminal. But he’s also a legitimate business owner and family man. (Paula Malcomson plays his wife and Arica Himmel plays their daughter.)
Esposito said the situation Parish finds herself in on the show — drowning in debt, a marriage in ruins — is familiar. He experienced this himself.
“Having four daughters has taught me a lot,” Esposito said.
They taught him to be more open, not only about the parts of his life he’s proud of, but also about what goes on behind the scenes. It’s important, he says, because his kids watch him on screen and offline.
“I realize: What I do, they see. What I do, they hear. What I feel, they feel,” Esposito said. “We’ve all become very close, so I can’t be an enigma to them anymore, because I’m at a place in my life where I’m just like everyone else. I want to live a good life and do good. I want to transition (or ) dead. However, I tell my kids that I don’t die, so you’re stuck with me forever.
Esposito is only lightly joking. He says he still feels for his own parents, even though they’ve been gone for a while. His father, Giovanni Esposito, was an Italian carpenter and machinist. His mother, Elizabeth Foster, was an opera singer from Alabama. They met on one of Foster’s tours.
“My parents passed on to me the love of music, the love of the arts, the respect for what happens in movement in cinema, music and dance. They gave me the creative essence that I “love and appreciate today,” Esposito said. . “They also passed on a lot of their past trauma to me, which taught me that there is generational trauma. They have both been dead for a while now, but I feel the healing in my own life by healing their resting place.”
Esposito is grateful for the gifts his parents gave him and he acknowledges their pain.
“Every time I… feel my father, who was very Italian, very demonstrative, his way or the highway… Every time it comes to me, I stop, I take a deep breath and I say: “He’s my father”. …He’s Giovanni. He’s not me. I don’t have to be him. I can be me. I can heal this space that he doesn’t have. couldn’t heal himself, and it’s the same with my mother,” Esposito said.
Esposito recalled that her mother never got as far as she wanted in show business.
“Every time I break through and become more myself and engage more deeply in my craft, and I get recognized because, ‘Oh, you’re so good and so wonderful,’ I know what’s going on. really says it. It’s not my ego that hears it. It’s my soul. You’re really good at what you do. You really created a profession,” Esposito said.
This profession is exhibited in Parishas he takes the wheel effortlessly.
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