Blue Beetle Star Raoul Max Trujillo On His Villain Carapax & What To Expect From The New DC Movie (2024)

Blue Beetle follows Jaime Reyes, who unexpectedly becomes the host of an ancient alien biotechnical relic known as the Scarab. The relationship between the relic and Jaime turns out to be symbiotic, with the Scarab giving him a suit of exoskeleton armor with unimaginable capabilities. With dangerous forces trying to take the scarab and the power it holds, Jaime will become the superhero Blue Beetle.

Angel Manuel Soto directed Blue Beetle, based on a screenplay written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. Blue Beetle stars Xolo Maridueña, Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, George Lopez, and Becky G as the voice of Khaji-Da. James Gunn has confirmed that Blue Beetle is the first character to debut in his new DC Universe. Note: This interview was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike, and the movie covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in WGA and SAG-AFTRA.

Related: Blue Beetle Will Be A Bigger Deal For DC Than You Realize

Screen Rant spoke with Raoul Max Trujillo about his important role in Blue Beetle. He revealed how this version of Carapax is different from the comic book version and how excited he is to be playing a supervillain. Trujillo also praised co-stars Xolo Maridueña and Susan Sarandon, along with director Angel Manuel Soto.

Raoul Max Trujillo Talks Blue Beetle

Screen Rant: I love Blue Beetle! I am so excited to chat about this project. How does Jaime stand out amongst other DC heroes in comic book movies?

Raoul Max Trujillo: Well, I don't watch a lot of them because I'm just not interested. But the Batman is [one of] my favorite ones, and there's a darker sides of those as of late. After watching Blue Beetle, I have to say I was really, really, really happy. I feel like there's so much light in the Blue Beetle, compared to the others.

And of course, played by Xolo, he already embodies such innocence and such childlike quality. Giving that to Blue Beetle, it's just not as dark and not as heavy as some of the other ones that come with so much baggage. Xolo comes with no baggage. Jaime comes with no baggage really, as a character. There's no baggage that goes into into the superhero incarnation, and that's what sets it apart from so many of the others, I think.

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I feel in an odd way, Xolo's experience on Blue Beetle is almost mimicking his real life, simply because this is his first time experiencing a big-budget blockbuster superhero movie. What did he bring to the role of Jaime that surprised you in his performance?

Raoul Max Trujillo: Well, just that. Because I didn't really know him, and I never saw Cobra Kai, but I just did. First of all, I didn't expect him to be as young as he is. I think he turned 21 during filming, he wasn't even old enough to drink. But that's what surprised me; that his innocence and childlike nature are so natural. Not put on, he's the real deal. He's just that innocent, but with an exuberance about life and about everything else. I think it kind of matched up with who Jaime is in the film, trying to find his way in.

Growing up in Southern California, I was immersed in Latin American culture my whole life. How does it feel for you to see that portrayed in a big blockbuster superhero film? What does that mean to you?

Raoul Max Trujillo: Well, I have a hard time with the word Latin American. First of all, several of us in there identify more as indigenous. And then they're either Mexican or Mexican-Americans, and that does not mean Latino for me. Latino means Caribbean culture and Latin America — what they call Latin America, which I get, but I hate those terms because they're so colonial.

But what made me proud and super happy watching the movie was just to see so many brown faces of different kinds on the screen. And then, of course Bruna, who's Brazilian. But it's just the variety. You get to see all brown people on the screen, but they're all so different from one another, really. And it's about time.

Absolutely. And thank you for educating me on that as well, because that's good to know going forward.

Raoul Max Trujillo: Angel and I talked about it briefly because that terminology is just so ridiculous. One of the things that kills me is, when you watch the Academy Awards or any award thing and somebody who has never been represented wins, they're always like, "First Chinese American." They wouldn't do that to DiCaprio; they wouldn't say, "First Italian American." I think there just needs to be a breakdown of labels and compartmentalizing, but it's my pleasure.

In the comics, your character is usually portrayed as a rival to the first Blue Beetle, Dan Garret. How is that adapted for his dynamic with a younger Blue Beetle in Jaime?

Raoul Max Trujillo: Well, it's quite a huge shift. First of all, I think there's only one article I read where it actually calls him Conrad, because he was a white archeologist [in the comics]. In our film, Victoria Kord said my name. She calls me Ignacio, she doesn't call me Conrad. So, there's a big shift in this take on Blue Beetle. I think Angel wanted to really expose more of the military industrial complex and US imperialism. And along with that just came a need for Carapax to represent something else.

I think in our version, to have him be a man who was taken as a child because the village was destroyed — which happens in all of Mexico and Latin America — is very realistic. Let's go in there, upset governments, and take all their resources. I think that was the take that Angel was interested in telling, in terms of Carapax. That's who he is. He's a product of the American school that was taking young boys and turning them into soldiers and killing machines, if you will. That's what separates us from the other versions that make him more of an archeologist, scientist, computer brained, all that stuff. It's quite a big departure.

Do we get any of his backstory with Dan Garret explained at all in the film? Or is this something completely new?

Raoul Max Trujillo: It's completely new. From hence forward, that's going to be Carapax's roots. Because there were other incarnations of the comic books, so I think our last one is based on this new idea that Angel is putting forward that obviously DC was okay with. It changes things up a lot, because the only white character in the [movie] is Susan Sarandon.

What excited you the most about playing Carapax, and how was he adapted from the comics to the movie?

Raoul Max Trujillo: I am going to be completely honest with you, [I'm] not a comic book fan necessarily, only because I never collected them and didn't know a lot of the history. But my makeup artist was. When I got offered the role, my manager and I were both like, "What is this character? What is he?" It was his son that had to tell him, "Dad, he's the indestructible man! He's the nemesis," and he just went on and on. But we had no idea.

So it was new for me to find it. And of course, I was ecstatic because I've had a long 32 some year career in film and television and to finally be able to play a super villain, I mean, I can't tell you how thrilling that set was, especially in my... Can't complain if you go in there, but I figured there've been others that have done it, so why not?

I can only imagine how cool.

Raoul Max Trujillo: Oh my God. I've always wanted to do a superhero movie anyway, but as a character, to actually play the super villain of Carapax himself? The indestructible man. Doesn't get any better than that.

What did you want to bring to Carapax that makes him stand out from other comic book movie villains?

Raoul Max Trujillo: I don't think that I'd give anything away to say, but I think what I brought to it with the help of Angel is a humanity to him that we see lurking at the beginning. It's subtle and it's nuanced, but it's there behind his eyes, behind every command given to him. You see something going on, and you're not quite sure what it is.

As the film goes on, his humanity is completely revealed. And with that revelation comes the exposure of, "Wow, he was just a victim in all of this; just like anybody is." I mean, we can do a whole psychological exploration of serial killers and all that stuff, and what makes them that and always there is that injured child. That child that's been traumatized somehow.

But I think most importantly, it's just the focusing on not only his humanity, but also the fact that he's indigenous and comes from indigenous Mayan people in Guatemala, which is mentioned at one point by Victoria Kord. That's what makes it hugely different from any of the other Carapax's that have only been read about, but no one's seen them yet.

With the DC universe shifting under James Gunn's direction, how do you think this corner will fit?

Raoul Max Trujillo: Yeah, I wouldn't know very much about that other than what I just read the other day in that. Finally they said that Blue Beetle would be the first in the new universe.

I don't know if that means that everything that comes with Blue Beetle comes along for the ride as well, because Carapax is a huge figure in the world of Blue Beetle. Other than what I've read recently with this new mantle that this is a choice that they've made, is to carry Blue Beetle forward. And I just hope that the rest of us go along for the ride as well.

Can you talk to me about what Angel's directing style brought to Blue Beetle and working with him as a collaborator?

Raoul Max Trujillo: I think Angel is absolutely brilliant, I really do. I think his background as a cameraman, as a DP, as well as his background with computer technology [helps]. All that special effects stuff that he did for years, all that has helped him be able to make this movie. Because when we went in as actors and we're going to rehearse a scene, the first thing he did was pull out his tablet and show us already exactly what the camera move is. Because he was already animated, the whole thing.

The whole film was animated already, that was his prep work. So for us, imagine how easy it is now when you see the shot, you see exactly, but it's all animated, but you know exactly what you're getting into. So then you don't have that confusion of figuring your way out as you're marking through the scene. It's already laid out for you. You just need to show up and hit those marks. So there's a technical proficiency that it brings. But again, a playfulness that he brings that is so rare.

And I think some people might say, "Ah, because he's younger, he's only done a few movies." I think he'll always be that way. But I do think he's brilliant and his playfulness and the fact that he comes absolutely prepared, but willing to let actors improvise in a scene as well, to just see what comes out of it as well, might be a nice surprise. Angel, like I said, I cannot say enough about that man. He's incredible.

I love Xolo. I think he's fantastic, andI love him in Cobra Kai. I think he's just so charismatic. Can you talk to me about working with him to create the dynamic between your characters?

Raoul Max Trujillo: Yeah. I kind of stayed away a lot when we weren't on set just because I didn't want to get too close. That was a choice I wanted to make, because I just felt like I needed to have a distance during his scenes. But working with him was such a treat because first of all, not only is he so young, but he's only really done a very few things. But man, that kid wears his heart on his sleeve. How he's able to access emotion so easily, I mean, effortless it seems like is a true gift. And that's one thing I can say about our work together. I feel like we both come from exactly that same place. I remember when I first started out, that's what I was told, always, "You're a natural. Stay with that. Don't study much. Don't think about it too much."

So the two of us brought this just real organic, wearing our emotions on our sleeves to be able to have access. Because you're in a scene with another actor and you're caught up. It only happened once in my life, opposite Helen Mirren. I was gone, because I forgot I was in the scene with her, because I was too busy. And sometimes it was like that with Xolo because he's so emotional, whether it's super happy or whatever, the tears. But sometimes it was hard to just stay in my place because he has this tendency to just drag you in and you see that on the screen a lot. You're just sucked in by his energy. So yeah, he's a total joy to work with.

Did your work on Mayans M.C. help you prepare for Blue Beetle at all, either with your approach to the character or the stunts?

Raoul Max Trujillo: No, not at all. I mean, I think there was probably more in Apocalypto that was more preparatory for me than that because both are perceived as villains, and then again sort of halfway through Apocalypto when my son's killed, I make that shift into the father going for revenge, which then you realize, "Oh, he's actually not the evil guy. The other one was the evil guy." I think there was something similar in Carapax that he's perceived at the beginning as a super villain.

But as we go through it, we really start to just understand who he is more. There was more of that. And of course, Apocalypto being incredibly physical the way that it was, was also more akin to Blue Beetle. Mayans, towards end, we hardly even rode motorcycles. But they really had nothing to do with this at all. I'm just glad they let me leave the finale of last season. Could have been problematic if they didn't.

I know that you didn't grow up with superheroes per se, but why do you think DC superheroes and superhero movies continue to draw in audiences the way that they do?

Raoul Max Trujillo: I think it's the level of escapism that we all want and crave for in a world. And I mean, I'm considerably older than you are, but the world is just as f--ked up then as it is now. I mean, a whole lot has not changed really. If you look at the political climate, you look at representation in Hollywood, I mean, a lot has not changed that much. So I think we love superhero movies because they allow us that place to escape into fantasy. What I like about the DC universe, personally, over Marvel is that there's a darker side to it.

There's a more realistic, I mean, you believe these worlds I think it's far more than in the other one, which is pure escapism and pure fantasy. Ours is still rooted in something, you know what I mean? It's still rooted in the humanity and whether it's dark or light, that doesn't matter. But I think that's it. We love to escape into these worlds that, I mean, come on, who wouldn't? I mean, you know what it's like dreaming, right? When you fly in dreams, I fly so much in my dreams. I love that. I was just like, "Oh my God, I get to fly. I get to do some stuff." Actually, I didn't, the stunt guy did though. But still, really exciting for a minute now.

What surprised you the most about working on Blue Beetle?

Raoul Max Trujillo: I didn't expect it to be all green screen as much as it was. I mean, it pretty much all it was, except for those few locations. I thought maybe in some of these movies that there was some real stuff, like a helicopter flight would be a real flight. I was surprised that it wasn't. So there were elements that I just thought, "Oh, this would be fun. Doing this helicopter rides and doing all this stuff," but it was like, no. It's amazing to me that they could pull that off. So it makes you wonder when you watch Top Gun or all these other ones, it's like, is that real or not?

I thought it would be some more real elements to it than not. I mean, I knew simple green screen, creating the opening of the film and the snowstorm and all that. I know that that's all going to be, but I was surprised that pretty much most of the film all was, and so much motion capture stuff. I mean, we were motion captured for every look we had. So that to me was a surprise, but also a relief because when you watch the movie, I think as an audience, you have no idea what was real and what was not, because it's just so good.

You mentioned the motion capture a little bit. I saw the physical Blue Beetle costume when I went to Warner Brothers. Did you get a chance to wear your costume at all? And if so, can you talk about the mobility and the process of that costume?

Raoul Max Trujillo: No, we don't wear that costume. We wear parts of that costume. But my full red Carapax, what we call Carapax 3 version, no. We wear motion capture suits with all these dots and stripes and things on it, so we can move very well. When they put that suit on in post, it looks like we're moving with ease. But no, we don't wear anything even remotely close to that.

The closest I got was in the Carapax 2 version, where I'm wearing Kevlar stuff and all that. That was real. And again, that was easier, easy enough to move in, but still rough. You get rubbed raw on places like that. But no, he's always Blue Beetle. His suit's always Blue Beetle, so he's always in his or his stunt guy is. But in mine, I never got to wear the red one because there was no red suit. It was all post.

What did you learn from your experience on Blue Beetle that you'd like to take into future projects? Or do you just simply work on a project and that's done and just approach something, another project, completely differently?

Raoul Max Trujillo: No, I took something away differently, but I think it wasn't necessary being in Blue Beetle that did that. I think it was working with Susan Sarandon that did that. She basically did every single take she did, different, and they'll pick one or the other.

I never thought [we had] that kind of freedom; we had to stay consistent. To see somebody have such freedom like that, I was like, "Oh, okay." I started realizing that there's incredible freedom now to just go, "Okay, we got that one done, now give them a different variation of it or slightly or whatever." And so Blue Beetle, if anything, the experience gave me, well, first of all, the most important thing for me was I have not had such fun in 32 years in making a movie as I did on Blue Beetle.

That's amazing.

Raoul Max Trujillo: Just everything about the director, the producers, the cast, the crew, everything about it was just such a positive experience. There was no drama. There was no, I mean, you have the chaos of filmmaking that always happens, but just overall utter joy in making that movie. As opposed to something like Apocalypto, which almost killed me. My knees are still wrecked. And it was hard. It was 11 months of brutality, and a lot of movies can have that, but this one just had so much joy in it. And I think a lot of that was because it started with Angel. He just came in as this happy, positive light every day. And then it just is contagious.

That's great. Seems like he really set the tone for how things were going to go on that set. Talk to me about your experience working with Susan Sarandon on Blue Beetle.

Raoul Max Trujillo: Well, from the minute we met, we were both in the makeup trailer. I was already in there getting all my prosthetics. Then she walked in. I mean, there is, again, such a down to earth, graceful, beautiful quality to her. She just walks up and just gives herself fully. So right away, it was just a hug. And it started with that. And I was like, "All right, this is going to be fun."

Because sometimes it's just that awkwardness of meeting people and especially on someone of her caliber, but she just puts everybody at ease right away. And working with her continued to be that way because like I said, she's so down to earth, she's so in the moment that the scenes would just work differently because she'd make different choices. And she was very playful, always with her choices.

And they'd always take me, I was a little surprised. I was like, oh! And then Angel started appreciating that there was a strong dynamic between her and I from the very beginning, our characters, that it just gave him... She brought so much information, is what I'm trying to say that basically, to me, it helped me with my character because she brought so much always that there was this incredible generosity. And so it's easy to play off of that, as opposed to playing actors who already have it in their own head. And they do the same thing every single time. And that's just the way it is. And they don't even listen to you.

She's a listener, as well. She's just that kind of actor that gives you a lot, but she listens to it all and that informs her. So it's a real give and take situation. And I like watching her and Harvey together, it was hilarious. Sometimes I'd be like, "Oh my God, it's a different movie now." But it's so fun to just watch actors play and being given the opportunity to do so. And that began with Angel.

I can't say enough about her. She's just such an amazing woman, an amazing actor, just as a human being, she's fantastic.

In the trailer, we see George Lopez's character call Batman a fascist. What are your opinions on Batman, and is there a DC superhero that you'd like to share the screen with in the future?

Raoul Max Trujillo: First of all, what did you think he meant when he said Batman's a fascist? Because that line to me, as I heard it, I was like, "What is he referring to exactly?" So I wasn't quite sure of it, but I think if anything else he was just writing him off. I think it was kind of, to me it was a hidden message. Basically, f--k Batman, Blue Beetle!

I took it as, if you really break it down, Batman's hard on criminals. But he's protecting a neighborhood that doesn't represent the culture. He's not looking out for everybody; he's looking out for a certain sect of people.

Raoul Max Trujillo: Yeah, exactly. Well, because he comes from the elite. The elite will always protect the elite. So in that regard, I guess I could see it. But either way, it's just a very funny line. Everything that came out of his mouth was funny.

And second, what character? I love the character of The Joker, in every incarnation I've seen him in. That's just such a fun role to play. I don't know how Carapax would fit into it in that world, but I'd have to say Batman, for sure. I'm a huge Batman fan. I love the Gotham City universe and world. I just do. I think Carapax could fit in there somewhere.

About Blue Beetle

An alien relic chooses Jaime Reyes to be its symbiotic host, bestowing the teenager with a suit of armor that's capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the superhero Blue Beetle.