‘Ambulance’ Star Eiza González on Working With Michael Bay, ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’, and More
Michael Bay’s Ambulance debuted this weekend in U.S. theaters, and to celebrate the occasion, lead actress Eiza González got to chat about filming the project, as well as other projects she’s been involved with, past and future.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, González talked at length about Ambulance, her role in Godzilla vs. Kong, and the upcoming Three-Body Problem, a new series from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Ambulance is her first movie with Michael Bay, and though she’d heard stories about working with him, she wasn’t quite ready for the wild ride that shooting the film was. As she said:
“Absolutely. It was utter Bayhem all around, but it was a different kind of Bayhem. It was like having golden hour 24/7. Usually, in his other films, there are scenes that are more relaxed, but this movie is on the go the entire time. So that added so much stress and exhilaration to the energy and the environment, and it also made a really wired Michael.”
To prepare for the role, González revealed that she rented a retired ambulance so that she could get more comfortable in that space:
“Yeah, I rented a broken, old ambulance. It wasn’t capable of being used anymore, especially at a time when they needed more ambulances than ever. So I got my hands on an old ambulance just to get adjusted and acquainted with my space. I want to take this role as seriously as I could, and the premise of the movie sets up Cam as being the best paramedic in town. So everything in that space, and the character’s physicality, had to feel like it was second nature. In my experiences on jobs, the weirdest things can sometimes derail you on the day of performance like not being accustomed to a space or not knowing how to work something. So I really wanted to have that down by the time I was on set, so it felt seamless for Cam. Even in her opening scene, it had to feel efficient and smooth like she knows exactly what she’s doing, and I do feel that it paid off.”
Since Ambulance was shot in the middle of the pandemic, when Covid cases were higher than ever, and before vaccines were available, the three main actors didn’t really have a chance to connect on a deeper level on set. When González was asked if she’d gotten to know Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, she said:
“Yes and no. Yes, because we were intimately in the ambulance, but no, because we were in the peak of the pandemic. So every time they would yell cut, we would have to go our separate ways. We weren’t able to get to know each other or hang out or connect outside of our performances. We had to create extra space because L.A. had its highest case numbers ever. This was pre-vaccination, too, so we worked under pretty unusual circumstances, and I hadn’t done that before. Jake had just done it with The Guilty, so he was more accustomed to it. Yahya shot part of The Matrix: Resurrections in the middle of the pandemic, but we were really separated. But it was interesting because I did get more comfortable with my co-stars when it came to performance. Every time we were together, we were Cam, Danny [Gyllenhaal] and Will [Abdul-Mateen]; we weren’t Eiza, Jake and Yahya.”
There is a moment in the movie in which Gyllenhaal and Abdul-Mateen start singing Christopher Cross’ Sailing. Here’s what González had to say about filming that scene:
“It’s funny because it was movie magic. I shot that without them because I wasn’t there on the same day, but it works so well. I like that I played it with a poker face; I didn’t go big with it. But I loved that Jake played so much with improv. He’s such a talented actor. He understands the assignment. He really knew what the role was, and he really wanted to have fun. He brought the levity that was needed, and he came up with the idea of singing ‘Sailing.'”
She also got to add her own small details to her character’s mannerisms, as she described it:
“Yeah, if you pay attention, she’s always checking her clock. She’s always timing herself. She’s always competing with herself. That was something that I found out through working with paramedics. I just wanted to see Cam prove to herself that she’s better than what she’s done in the past. Because she got hooked on speed in med school, she was never able to achieve what she wanted, but she’s still strong and she’s still pushing herself to the edge. I kept fighting Michael about the timing of the clock. I said, ‘Trust me, when we see her pushing through these moments, people are going to connect to her.'”
She also discussed Godzilla vs. Kong, in which she played a minor role that apparently suffered a lot of changes in post-production. Her character wasn’t the only one, actually, as Jessica Henwick’s character was even edited out of the movie in post. But she says she doesn’t hold a grudge against the filmmakers or the studio:
“My role completely changed in that movie, for sure. A lot of the story got cut out and the story was completely changed, so it was a bummer because my character had a whole different storyline that went in different routes. And Jessica getting cut out of the movie really affected all of the other characters. But it wasn’t anything to do with Jessica’s character. It was just that the storyline changed because the movie is called ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ and it obviously has to service them. They’re the big stars. But listen, I’m just grateful that I got to do a really fun movie. I really enjoyed that shoot.”
Eiza González is currently filming The Three-Body Problem for Netflix, the first show post-Game of Thrones from Benioff and Weiss. And she is very excited about that:
“Yeah, I am filming ‘The Three-Body Problem,’ but I lost the opportunity to do something else because my dates were so booked up. I’m filming for 10 months on ‘The Three-Body Problem,’ and it’s such a demanding show. So I’m completely and utterly immersed in the ‘Three-Body Problem’ world right now. Honestly, it’s been the most lovely experience of my life. I’m so proud of the project that we’re putting together. The books are just mind-bending and just really out of the norm. We haven’t seen a show like this, and getting to work with Alexander Woo and both [David] Benioff and [D.B.] Weiss has been just one of the most rewarding, fulfilling processes of my life. I feel creatively inspired. I get to play such a beautiful, multifaceted, layered female character, and it’s such a departure from anything I’ve done before. So I’m truly excited.”
The Three-Body Problem is executive produced by Benioff and Weiss, as well as Rian Johnson, Brad Pitt and his Plan B banner, and Rosamund Pike, who González became very close with while shooting 2020’s I Care a Lot. Apparently, Pike was very excited when she found out González was going to be in that series:
“It’s actually crazy. Rosamund Pike and Robie [Uniacke], her husband, have had the rights for many, many years, and everyone had to buy the rights from them. Robie speaks Mandarin and reads Mandarin, so he read the books before they were even translated and he got the rights for them. And by the way, Rosamund didn’t know I was auditioning for the show at all. I basically called her one day and said, “Hey, I think I might do this show you’re involved in.” And then she lost her mind. She was like, “You have to do this show. You have to do this show. There’s no other option. This role is incredible.” Rosamund and I are really good friends, and I’ve always shared with her my first vision of just wanting the business to look at me in a different way and sometimes struggling with that. And that’s when she said, “This is going to be the cure to what you’ve been begging for. This is your opportunity to go a different route and I know that you’re going to do such a good job with this role.” So I felt very protected by her, and it’s the warmest room. I also adore Rian Johnson and Plan B and everyone involved, so it couldn’t be a better situation. And I just love working with Netflix. They’ve been so wonderful.”
We are probably looking at a 2023 release date for that massive show, which also stars Benedict Wong, Tsai Chin, John Bradley, Liam Cunningham, and Jovan Adepo, among many others. The original books tell the story of “what happens when humanity discovers that we are not alone in the universe.” It’s unknown how much they’ve already filmed, but they probably are looking at a late 2022 wrap.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
