D.J. Cotrona on Taking Over George Clooney's Role in "From Dusk Till Dawn" Series

How's it going, DJ?

It's going good.

Good to have you in here.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

I'm a huge fan from way back.

Apparently, yeah, that's what you were establishing.

The show Skinned was you and Olivia Wilde. It was almost like the Romeo and Juliet for people who never saw it. Like Romeo and Juliet like star crossed lovers.

Yeah. Yeah, it was a very long time ago. It's funny. It's technically my first job and Olivia's first job and we kind of learned how to act.

But you're one of those actors, what I really appreciate, is you have been doing it a while. You're obviously very attractive but you can act.

Well, thank you. That's

And that's a rare thing. I mean, sometimes, you know, there's beautiful people in Hollywood but

Yeah, it's you know, I've had a I've been trying to chart somebody's path through this industry and it's it's it's always a grab bag. It's different for everybody. But it's good, you know, I feel like you find your stride when you're supposed to usually like your talent and your opportunity and everything kind of lines up how it's supposed to.

Well, that's sort of why I brought it up because I feel like like talk to me about riding that wave and sort of because there are those moments I'm sure that you go, oh.

Yeah, I mean This was supposed to be huge. Absolutely, but it's, you know, again it's they always it's the same thing you always hear like actors always tell each other, the work is earning the job and when you actually have the job it's to play.

I didn't break your nose back there, did I?

You did. That's terrible. Cause if you don't get out of my way, I'm going to break the rest of your face too.

So the show Dusk Till Dawn.

Yeah.

It's really, I mean, you always as a host watch shows So I get an idea and now I'm addicted.

Good. Good. Good. That's

It's and and it's something like I think as a girl, it's something that I would go, oh the premise of it is probably might be too gory for me or this and that but the story, I mean, obviously, Robert Rodriguez and it sucks you in.

Yeah. The great thing about this project is Robert's world, his his filmography is very iconic. The characters are all heightened. The gore is just a little bit more, the humor's a little bit more horrifying, it's scary, it's over the top to the point where you're laughing. It's got way too much blood, way too many effects. Like it's it's it's pretty ridiculous. There's no one else that would put this on the air except for Robert.

And get away with it.

And get away with it. There's any other suits anywhere near it, they would yank it. They would cut it up and edit it. It goes way beyond what you would expect.

How satisfying was that to shoot?

So satisfying. You kidding me? We remember going to set one day, the first day we were going to shoot it and couldn't see anybody's face, I couldn't see Robert because they were all covered in tarps. Everybody was covered in in plastic tarps. I was like, oh what's going on? He's like, no, no, no, we're painting you. And then they brought out like fire hoses of blood. And It's uh, it's going to be mad. It's going to be mad.

Wow.

This is what we do. We D. J. interlopers.

And last but not least, obviously, everybody knows your character is based on the character that George Clooney plays.

Yeah, yeah.

Have you hung out with him ever? Have you met him?

No, I hide, I hide. It can be pretty daunting when you take on an iconic role and it's, you know, a famous actor has already inhabited it but I think A, we see that a lot these days and um the reason I I I think Zane and I felt so comfortable was because this isn't somebody else revisiting what uh George and Robert and Quentin did together. It's Robert going back and revisiting his own world. So.

Right, it's not a new director exactly.

Exactly, exactly. So So when Robert Rodriguez looks at you and he says, you're my guy, it it really uh it empowers us as actors and we really, you know, we really felt confident making the show.

I don't think there are bigger props in Hollywood than somebody saying, I want you for the George Clooney role.

Yes. A little scary.

That's huge.

But you know, Robert said, he said, it's the character is who the character is and he goes off in his own direction but uh I think Robert said it best when he he described it as an alternate universe. You know, we we

That's a great way.

You want to see these iconic characters but but the thing with Robert and Quentin is nobody else can do their stuff. The fact that Robert wanted to revisit it just uh, you know, it was a dream come true.

Thanks for coming in. This is a lot of fun. Come back and visit us again.

Thank you for having me. I will.

You can grab something to pick up. That's awesome. Thank you so much.

Thank you.