'The Flash's Jessica Camacho on Working with Danny Trejo and Why She's Excited For Gypsy's Future
Gypsy returns to The Flash tonight, and her relationship with Cisco is still going strong...at least until he opens his mouth.
Througout the episode, Cisco's job with Team Flash puts a strain on his relationship with Gypsy, and the result is that there is a lot of drama between the usually no-nonsense couple.
Jessica Camacho, who plays Gypsy on the series, joined ComicBook.com to chat about her character, where that relationship goes next, and what to expect when we meet her father, Breacher, played by iconic Hollywood tough guy Danny Trejo.
Do you think the kind of complications we saw in tonight's episode will carry through the season, or has that kind of normalized at this point?
I think in any relationship, there's absolutely that period of growing pains because you're getting to know all these new feelings that you have for this person. You're feeling vulnerable. You're feeling totally enamored, which leaves you feeling insecure a lot of times, so I think that Gypsy's just grappling with that. I don't think that she's very comfortable feeling vulnerable because of another person; I think this is a thing that is new to her.
So, yes, she understands that she is trying to save mankind, but you know what? She does the same thing. They live in this reality where that is their lives. It's always like the world on the verge of destruction, and it's up to them. So yes, she understands, but there's a sense of, like, it's so normal that she's like "okay, I get it, Babe. So when are you gonna be done? Are we gonna make that movie tonight?"
There's that kind of normal, "okay, so you have to work an extra hour or two at work." This is their job, so she gets it. She's understanding to a certain degree, but at the same time, her feelings are a little hurt.
I think there's all of that conflict in there. Certainly I think the fact that the fate of the world resides in their capable hands. I definitely think that's going to continue to come into play as a source of conflict. It has to, because these two people want to be together, they want to play and they want to do all of these romantic things, but the fate of humanity calls.
Is it hard to switch gears and play this character kind of vulnerable since last year the dynamic was just her going "I can kick your ass," and then mostly doing it?
Definitely. When I got the scripts and I realized "oh, this is Gypsy in love, and this is them in this really sweet part of their relationship," I was like "this is really cool," and I was discovering that, too.
I didn't know what to expect from this season, and when I saw that they were bonded, and their relationship had progressed, I thought that that was really cool.
Getting to play those moments of vulnerability, I'm schooled and well-versed in relationships and love, so for me getting to pull from those emotions and remembering what it feels like to be embarrassed to tell someone how you feel because you don't want to get hurt, and you don't want to look dumb, and you don't want them to walk away, and you don't want to come on too strong, but you want them to know how you feel.
So there's all these different levels that you can play with, and that, yeah, as an actor is really fun to play with.
Do you feel a little bit like last year we got to know her at work and this year we get to know her personality?
Yeah. Definitely. I think that she is guarded because her lifestyle and her job and her skill set requires that from her, so she's kind of grown accustomed to being guarded. I think it's been a while since she's found herself at ease and comfortable enough with a group of people, to kind of allow bits of her personality and her charm and her sweetness and all of these other parts of her to come out.
I think that now that they've kind of solidified what they are to each other, and now that she's kind of found herself as part of this team, she is able to ease in to -- not fully, but ease into a little more of, like, not being so serious all the time, and having fun, and getting to experience all those other parts of her that maybe she's had to stifle, and maybe she's been wanting for so long, but never had the opportunity to let those sides of her come out.
Is it challenging to come into this very fully formed cast and to kind of be the only "new" element that gets to stick around? You have all this unspoken backstory while everyone else's backstory is out there for the audience to see?
It's definitely challenging, because we don't necessarily know where it goes from now. Like I said, you open a script and you're discovering, like "oh! This is where they see it. This is where the writers and the producers and the creatives of the show, this is where they see it going."
You do have to fill in those gaps, right? You really have to connect those dots, and say "well, this is how they went from Point A to Point B, and this is how it's changed my character," or "this is how my character has grown." So it is challenging.
But that's part of what I love about my job, is that it's unexpected. We're dealing with a lot of unexpected things, and it's our job as actors to fill in those gaps. It's our job as actors to flesh out the palette and start painting with all those colors and bring life to what's on the page. And that's why in this episode, where we pick back up with Cisco and Gypsy, I feel it's given me a more varied palette to paint with, because it's like "okay. So we now we started off seeing Gypsy with this set of traits, and now she's not this other person, but she's showing all of these other sides to her."
So the character actually starts to become more fleshed out which is so amazing as an actor, because you can pull from not just what's expected of this character, but now it's like they're starting to become a fully-realized person. It just makes it more interesting.
prevnextComing up soon, we get to meet Gypsy's dad...!
Very true. Maybe we see the root of it all!
It's totally awesome. I think meeting Breacher, meeting his character...we definitely see the similarities, and I think that that it's an interesting thing, too, to see Gypsy's relationship with her dad.
He's this ass-kicking, really scary, imposing dude, but he's her Daddy, you know? And she's his baby girl. So I think that that's going to be a cool thing for fans to see, the unique relationship that they have together."
What was your reaction when you found out Danny Trejo was playing your dad?
Oh, I flipped out. [laughs] I geeked out, for sure. I completely geeked out!
I have been such a big fan of his for years, and, man. He's just the coolest. He's iconic in his badass-dom; I just thought that that was a perfect fit....They couldn't have nailed it any better.
And once he showed up, seeing what he brings -- it was such a pleasure to work with him, because he brings so much. He strikes fear into anybody who looks at him, but also, because I get to play his daughter, I got to see him be lovey, and he's just really funny. He's so many things, so it was such a joy to work with him and to see him fill out and flesh out his character.
Is there ever a consideration that what she is doing whenever she comes to Earth-1 is a serious crime with huge repercussions back on her homeworld?
To me, that's always been the subtext. That's always been in the back of my mind with Gypsy as she develops Cisco's relationship.
I don't necessarily think that that's been fully explored, but I think that that would be really interesting to unearth a little bit more, because certainly every time she comes to see him, she's taking a risk. She is breaking the rules.
I have always had that -- but that goes to show, to me, how special he is to her, that she is willing to face whatever punishments may await her if she's caught. I think that that says a lot to how much Cisco means to her.
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