Manny Jacinto Stuns For GQ Magazine
Manny Jacinto on finding out his lines and scenes were cut from ‘TOP GUN: MAVERICK’ until after the movie was released:
“It’s flattering that there was a little bit of an outcry, but it wasn’t shocking to me. There was this sense of where the film was going [on set], like I can see them focusing the camera more on these [other] guys and not taking so much time on our scenes. Fortunately, it still was a great experience-you get to see this huge machine at work, see how Tom Cruise works, and you get to be a small part of this huge franchise. It kind of fuels you, because at the end of the day, Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise. It’s up to us-Asian Americans, people of color-to be that [for ourselves]. We can’t wait for somebody else to do it. If we want bigger stories out there, we have to make them for ourselves.”
On working with Filipino writers and producers to help develop his own projects:
“Maybe it’s my lack of faith in this industry, but the people of color who find success, I feel like they still have to work at it and continue to fight for roles. The people I look up to-if you look at Steven Yeun, or Kumail Nanjiani, or even Donald Glover-they all had to, in some shape or form, create [projects for themselves] in order to continue to have a platform. Or even look at Dev Patel! He’s a huge star, but he had to make Monkey Man himself [to get an action role like that], and that was even shelved at one point. That's crazy to me. So that's why I have this caution towards whether or not the industry will move things forward for my career. If anything, it fuels me to try and create things on my own terms and hopefully lead projects that way.”
On being cast in the Freaky Friday sequel: “I never would've thought I'd be a part of the Lohanaissance,” he says. “She’s an icon. But I took this role because it’s definitely another big shift and something I’d never done before.”
On Star Wars fans who are critical of the show: “It’s a cycle,” Jacinto said. “With everything that’s come out since the original trilogy, there’s always a very passionate group that doesn’t like change, that wants that same feeling that they experienced when they were kids, only now they've grown up and their taste has matured and they're more critical about art or the world, and then they are just more precious about the things that they experienced when they were younger.”
Read the full interview at the source. More pics below.
Source