An Interview with Itzan Escamilla from ‘Midnight Family’

Itzan Escamilla in "Midnight Family," now streaming on Apple TV+.

Itzan Escamilla is a talented and rising star in the movie and television industry. Currently he stars as Bernardo in the Apple TV+ series, Midnight Family, and we had the honor of sitting down with Itzan to discuss his work on the show. 
 
John Betancourt: I'm very curious what it means to you to be a part of such a refreshing and original project.
 
Itzan Escamilla: I'm very proud, because it was my first job outside Spain, so it was an experience to be there for a long time, to work with a crew that works pretty, well, not pretty different, but it's different to what I've worked with in Spain. So well, I learned a lot of things with them, and it was a really great experience.
 
John Betancourt: Now realism is something that this story thrives within, especially with the characters, and I’m curious how you created such realism with Bernardo? 
 
Itzan Escamilla: Like, I learned the scripts, I read it, I worked a lot with, with Natalia Beristain, who is one of the directors of the series and showrunner of the whole series, and I think it was like, working with her and with the rest of the cast… I usually like, write lots of things about the character, like, kind of a diary, and also with the script, I work the lines, and I try to, like, search for other meanings that I'm not reading the first time. So, I'm gonna read again, again, so I can, like, I can search for different things in order to construct the character, like, bigger, metaphorically. And, well, it was like deep creative work with the director, with the cast, yeah, that's it.
 
John Betancourt: There are a lot of beautiful messages in the story. And I'm curious if there is one message you want the audience to take away from season one, what would that message be?
 
Itzan Escamilla: A concrete message? I don't know, but I think I would expect people to learn something new about a new country. I think it's a very, very unknown thing, this illegal ambulance circumstance. So, what I have learned from Mexico is that, like, not every country works the same way. And I think it's very interesting to know, like, the different underground things that happens, because I think that in some way can explain how the country works. I think it's a beautiful project talking about the family and the relationships between the members of a family. Because I think that this, this chaotic thing, this, like, very fast and illegal thing, underground thing, I think reflects, in some way, aspects of the family and how you like resolve conflict in the family.
 
John Betancourt: The last question that I have for you today, what are you most proud of when it comes to your work in season one of this show?
 
Itzan Escamilla: I think to work with Renata (Vaca), Diego (Calva), Joaquín (Cosio), like every cast member, they're great. Actors and also the directors. It was, like, a very it was an important thing for me in order to accept the project, to be able to work with those cinema directors in Mexico, because I've, like, I've watched lots of movies from them, and it was like an amazing opportunity to work in a very cinematic environment.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. 

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