TURISTAS: An Interview with Josh Duhamel
By Wilson Morales

November 27, 2006

With the TV show, NBC’s Vegas, successful doing well in the ratings, Josh Duhamel can be a bit more flexible and do more films as he has a few in the pipelines that should garner attention. After romancing Kate Bosworth a few years ago with “Win a Date with Tad Hamilton”, Duhamel will be in next summer’s potential blockbuster, Michael Bay’s Transformers, along with Tyrese ans Bernie Mac. In the meantime, Duhamel gets ready to enter to the horror and thriller genre with his performance in “Turistas”, directed by John Stockwell (Blue Crush, Into The Blue). In the film, a diverse group of young travelers get marooned in a remore Brazilian beach town after a terrifying bus accident. It then becomes a game of survival as the unexpected occurs. In speaking with blackfilm.com, Duhamel talks about filming in Brazil, swimming for such a period of time, and getting the role for Transformers.

John (Stockwell) had mentioned that you had liked the lack of luxury and the big trailer and all that stuff that you didn’t have while making this movie.

Josh Duhamel: I did like it to be honest. I knew going into this that it was going to be a challenge, like a physical challenge, because just reading it you know that this is going to be pretty rugged the whole way through and it was. I think he like that, secretly watching us all suffer. There were lots of places we were shooting where you couldn’t even get a trailer into anyway. There most we had for the most parts were little tents. They had to set up areas to set up these tents and little fold-up chairs. That was the extent of the base camp. I have been working on “Vegas” for 4 years now and it’s nice to have that luxury, but it’s also nice to get your hands dirty and really get into something.

Have you ever had a trip like that? To Brazil?

JD: Yeah. Obviously, I’m hoping this movie isn’t too much of aversion to people traveling abroad. It is a great country and I think that if you are smart you will be fine. I would definitely go. I’m actually going back for New Year’s. I hope they don’t lynch me. (laughs)

I’m sure you have seen your share of horror films, so what does it feel to be in one?

JD: Well, when I first read it, I didn’t really consider it a horror film and there were definitely aspects of that but it felt more like an intense thriller. It’s one of those scripts that I read where I started and I never stopped reading it the whole way through. Whenever I read something like that, it feels like it will be an interesting movie. Whether it’s a movie like this or a comedy, if you can it beginning to end without stopping and in my case because I have a short attention span, I was attracted to it and it wasn’t because it was a horror film. What I like about it was that in the beginning it was about the trip and things are going wrong and it’s ok. We sort of captured the essence of Brazil; what people think of it with the music and the dancing and the sexiness of it and the vibe of Brazil. Then it takes that turn and what I liked is that he didn’t really hold back. He really pushed the enveloped. The surgery scene. It’s not like a slashery gross out kind of thing. It’s a real technical methodical way of killing somebody, but there’s a reason for it. Zamora, the guy who did it, had a real social political reason for doing it. It is horror in a way but I also saw it as an intense thriller.

Would you have done anything different if you were really in that position?

JD: Considering the situation, do you think it was a dumb move to following him (the guide)? What else were we supposed to do? We walked to the town we thought we were going to help in. We found the kid who had all the stuff that we needed, passports, phones, everything. We saw a kid with my hat on. We go up to him and ask him to give us our stuff back and he ends up throwing a rock, which causes a mob scene. We can’t stay there obviously. We have to go somewhere. This kid seems to want to help us. He takes us to this house and we think it’s going to be ok; it’s at least someplace safe until we can get help. So what else are you going to do?

How was filming the swimming scene?

JD: It was ok. It was fun at first, but three weeks into it, I was like, “Ok, I gotta get back into the water”. I remember one Sunday and I had a day off and was doing nothing and first thing Monday morning I forgot to get mentally prepared and I had to swim to this rock shelf and find the air and stuff and suck the air and come back out. I did it and then all of a sudden I panicked a little bit and had to come back out and I was freaking out because I wasn’t ready for it. This was after I had done it a number of times but you really had to be mentally prepared to under the water. You swim from the surface under this rock thing and there’s air bubbles underneath you have to find and there’s camera guy underneath the water so you have to find the air bubbles, suck up the air and come back out or else go to the next one.

How many hours did you did think you stayed in the water?

JD: A lot. We usually spent a day doing it, but in the end we would be out and they took good care of us. There was always someone there with a towel. It wasn’t so bad.

How do you feel about the new heartthrob image you have received?

JD: I don’t know.

Are you comfortable with it? How does it sit with you?

JD: I don’t really see myself as that. I really don’t. I understand that it helps in a way because if that’s going to help me get to what I want to do, and there’s a lot of things I want to do and there’s a lot of things I feel I’m capable of doing. I haven’t necessary had the chance to do it but eventually I will.

Do you think it has worked against you?

JD: I’m sure it has.

Do you think it has stereotyped you?

JD: If it has, I’m sure I don’t even know about it. My agent will not tell me that.

Was it good to work with John (Stockwell) because he went through what you did, and he directed the film?

JD: I think he knew I was game to do whatever. I feel very appreciative of my situation. Whatever the reason is that I’m here, I feel appreciative of it and I feel I busted my butt while I was there and I think that’s all he cares about. If I’m out there acting like a prima donna, he would have let me have it I think he had some respect for me because I was there to work and I was there to do the best that I can do. We didn’t really talk about it. He would make fun of me once in a while, but that’s fine.

You seem to be getting a number of film roles now and that’s great. Not a lot of actors can go from daytime to primetime to films and be successful at each level. How did you make the transition work for you and still keep your day job?

JD: Yeah. It’s been good. That’s why I feel very lucky. I feel very lucky to be in the situation that I’m in. I don’t know why but I have very good representation. Other than being fortunate and working hard, I don’t know how to explain it. I just hope it keeps going that way.

How’s the show going and how did you work it out to shoot this film and ‘Transformers”?

JD: “Turistas” was easy because it was in between the hiatus. I had to ask for an extra week, coming back from Brazil. I came back on a Friday and I had to be at work on Monday and I was sick. I think it was from all the underwater swimming, but this time it was tough because “Transformers” went four months into production on “Vegas” and it got hairy and ugly between some of them.

Did you know that "Transformers" has a huge fan base?

JD: I didn't realize it. I was a fan of it as a kid too, but I didn't realize that it was that big still. He told he was going to do it. I was actually in a meeting at Michael Bay's office for the movie "Hitcher" which they just shot, and I was meeting his two partners, and Michael Bay pops his head and said, "Hey, how are you doing?" I shook his hand and I had never met him before and we sit down and we're all talking and he tells me about this movie, "Transformers". I couldn't believe they were making that movie because I remember was the cartoon. Two months had passed and I get a call from his office saying he wants to see me for this movie, for this part of Lennox. So I go in and he starts showing me all the art work that they have and it's so cool some of the stuff that's laying and it's so much more advanced than I could even imagine. Now I get why they are making this movie; because it's so much modern than it was before.

What role do you play in "Transformers"?

Josh Duhamel: I play Captain Lennox and I'm captain of this special ops team in Iraq and we're coming back from this mission and we're about ready to start going home when Vortex comes in as a U.S helicopter and basically transforms and incinerates the base. So then we run for the desert and somehow end up finding our way back and get into communication with the U.S and they come get us, and then we go back.

Was this the first time you have worked behind blue screen?

JD: We didn't do much blue screen. It was a lot of big sticks with tennis balls on them, but not a lot of blue and green screen.

“Turistas” deals with a lot of real life frightening situations. What is it that frightens you?

JD: Plenty of stuff. Just moving here from North Dakota was terrifying.

How old were you when you moved out here?

JD: 22 when I moved to Northern California, and I moved to Southern California when I was 26. I moved to a little town that wasn’t that dissimilar from where I from.

Did you ever consider going back to get your degree?

JD: I got it. I got my degree in biology. I don’t think they gave me the general studies, because it’s been like 10 years; so I took so bullshit classes and they gave me my degree. I was one credit away when I left.

It seems that acting found you…

JD: No, I went after it. When I went first after commercial auditions I was so terrified to go. I had to overcome the breathing and all the sweats and I took the classes and everything. That’s when I decided I was going to do this and go after it. It took a while to get here.

Didn’t your modeling give you that confidence?

JD: I didn’t work that much and I was bad at it. With acting, I gained more confidence when I got more work. The better feedback I got the better confident I got. Eventually I would I feel good enough to get the parts.

TURISTAS opens on December 1, 2006