The Big Picture

Blue Beetle’s director, Ángel Manuel Soto, had a special fan interaction with three dedicated fans who formed a supportive brotherhood/sisterhood/friendship. Soto learned the importance of representation through making the film, seeing how it impacted viewers who finally saw themselves and their culture authentically represented. Soto emphasizes the significance of focusing on character and story rather than big explosions in superhero movies, and the importance of being resourceful and true to the roots of filmmaking.

What makes Blue Beetle such a fun superhero flick is the fact that it takes a recent college grad who’s full of aspirations but without a clear plan for how to use them to benefit his future and sends an ancient relic known as the Scarab his way, turning him into someone with extraordinary powers. However, powers come with their own challenges and Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) needs the help of all the generations of his family to get him through it.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider to promote Blue Beetle’s release on 4K Ultra HD, director Ángel Manuel Soto talked about a particularly special fan interaction, what the audience reaction taught him about the film, what he learned from his previous work that helped him in telling this superhero story, why he always wishes he had more time for the production itself, wanting to have a personal connection to the projects he’s involved with, what Blue Beetle taught him about making a big visual effects movie, and the importance of trusting yourself and your vision.

Collider: You’ve traveled and met tons of fans while promoting this film. Is there an interaction you’ve had that was particularly special, that meant a lot to you, and that really encapsulated what you were hoping to hear?

ÁNGEL MANUEL SOTO: Yes. They call themselves the Blue Beetle Holy Trinity. One of them goes by the name @comic_face (Javier Zavalap), and then there’s @jenkz.p (Jenkins Peeler), and then @aranzazuincera (Aranza Zuincera). One is from Peru, one is from Mexico, and one is from Atlanta. They became a brotherhood, or sisterhood, or a friendship-hood that was always supporting and releasing daily content. When I went to Mexico for the premiere, we invited Aranza to go. She’s like my daughter. She will call us Papa and Mama. And then, when we did the premiere in L.A., we surprised them with a trip, so that all three could meet at the premiere and they had a blast as a family. It was so beautiful to see. For me, that was the most meaningful, fun interaction that I’ve had. How much this film meant to all three of them was very special.

Image via Warner Bros.

That’s really cool.

SOTO: It’s surreal. I love those kids. They’re great.

What did audiences teach you about the film, that you maybe hadn’t even realized yourself, being as close as you are?

SOTO: I underestimated the importance of representation. Even as much as I talk about it and as much as it could be theorized hypothetically, it’s not something that I have experienced as a viewer. But creating this with a Latino cast, Latino writer and a hero that finally shows us in a way that’s authentic and in a good light, you know what you set out to do, but you’re so deep into it that you don’t really get a chance to appreciate the work that you do. You do it because you love it and you do it because you wanna make art that has an impact on people and can change lives. For me, that was a beautiful thing, to see how a lot of people have been moved to tears because they finally see themselves represented. They finally see their favorite hero in live-action. They’re parents that are excited that finally their kids have a hero that looks like them, that they can look up to. That combination of things puts into perspective the impact that art has on our lives.

This movie very much feels like a movie about family and community that’s disguised as a superhero movie.

SOTO: One hundred percent.

Image via Warner Bros.

When it came to the work that you had done prior to Blue Beetle, what do you think most helped prepare you for pulling off everything you had to do? Because this was a huge movie to jump into, what were the things that made you feel like you were prepared to do this?

SOTO: Being very resourceful helped. Sure, it’s a big-budget movie and $100 million is a lot, but compared to superhero movies, it’s just one-third of their budget. It’s one of those things where it’s more money, more problems. It’s bigger, but when you get more money, there are more issues and more problems. So, at the end of the day, it’s about being resourceful and not forgetting the roots of it all. The roots is character, the roots is performance, the roots is acting, and the roots is environment. Those are things I’ve always kept at the forefront. For me, location is not a backdrop, it’s a character, and the people around you are not just extras, they are part of that character. Being able to do it from La Granja to Charm City Kings to Blue Beetle, sure they keep going up in budget, but my mentality is still very much that with the right indie sensibilities of what really matters in the story, it’s not how big the explosions are. They inform and there are tropes that you should follow in the superhero genre, but it’s about character. For me, just honing in on that got everybody on board to be like, “Okay, this is what matters. Everything else is gonna support that.” That has translated through all the different projects, and that’s something that I think I kept as a North star.

Are you the type of filmmaker who always feels like there’s tinkering that you could do, or do you get a firm sense of when it’s finished?

SOTO: I’m mostly like that during production. In pre-production, you think you did it all, and then you realize that all the variables that you’re not considering come into play during production. A director is also a psychologist. Everybody has their own different way of hearing, of understanding, of sensibilities, depending on how they woke up that morning. With all those variables, you’re never really done, so shooting wise, I could go for a long time because there’s always something that happens and there’s always the opportunity for magic. But on the post-production side, when I feel like I get it, we can move on. If I had the chance to decide where I’d want to spend more time, I would spend the time in production, 100%.

Can you watch the movie and enjoy it, or do you see the things that you didn’t have time to do, or that you wish you could have changed, or that you would have wanted to have another take?

SOTO: Yeah, all the time. It’s one of those things where, of course, nobody’s gonna miss it. Nobody is gonna miss anything they don’t see. At the end of the day, only you really know. The collective enjoyment and the collective experience, you’re so deep on it that you never get a chance to really go back and see it. Of course, you’re always gonna be your worst critic. But when you watch the movie in a collective environment, that’s really the culmination that gives you the satisfaction. You don’t finish a project, you abandon a project and send it to the world, and then the world receives it, and they receive it the way you hope they will receive it, and then you start to see it differently too and you start to enjoy it the way they enjoy it. After not seeing it for a little bit, you see it again and you’re like, “Actually, that was really good.” My wife is always like, “I told you, it’s really good.” It does help to have consumer eyes show you, once you’re too deep in it.

Image via Warner Bros.

You’ve been talked about in connection with The Wrecking Crew, with a Transformers movie, and with a possible TV show for Amazon. Since making Blue Beetle, you’ve been talked about for a variety of different projects. What do you hope to shoot next? Are you still hoping that all those things will happen?

SOTO: I would love to shoot the first one that comes up. I can’t wait to go back to set. I love prepping. For me, a movie is made in pre-production, and I love pre-production. I’m really looking forward to the first one that lands because I’m very excited. All of those films excite me. I’m on them for a reason. They speak to me in a way that is very personal. They allow me to explore and expand my creative view of the world and my visual language, and push my creativity to places that I’m really looking forward to exploring. Some of them are more timely than others. When the actor’s strike ends, the first one that goes, we’ll hit it, and we’ll keep making art because that’s what drives me.

Is there anything that you learned from making Blue Beetle that changed your perception of big movies that are set up either as part of a franchise or that become a franchise? Especially if you do a Transformers movie, are there things that you’re looking at differently and ways you want to approach things differently? Did Blue Beetle change any of that for you?

SOTO: Yeah, totally, 100%. There’s definitely no reason why things need to be left for the last minute. When you have that much money or budget for a movie, things should be taken care of sooner rather than later. For me, you should have all the ducks in a row before going into production. Pre-production is meant to make the movie, not write the movie. For the next movies, before jumping into physical pre-production, I would like to try to get picture lock as much as possible. That just helps everybody and keeps you in budget. It’s about know when to trust the creative process and set yourself up for success. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, you’re always gonna encounter problems and you’re always gonna hit a lot of curves in the road. You wanna be able to focus on those things, not on other things that you could have done sooner. It’s all about being present in the story that you’re creating and in the process that you’re executing, so that their ripples don’t affect you in the future. One of the good things that we were able to accomplish with the VFX was that during prep, we really had VFX on it. As we were moving forward, everything was shot so that we used VFX, not to fix it in post, but as an enhancement that tells the story better. You want to hone in on those things, so that you can set yourself up for success.

So, it sounds like trusting yourself, knowing your vision, and knowing when to pick your battles are the most helpful things when making a movie.

SOTO: Yeah, those things are helpful because they’re somewhat not on the creative side of things. As far as creating shots or thinking about different techniques, those are things that are very administrative and that should be taken care of, and not happen while you’re trying to create because it interferes.

Image via Warner Bros.

I love hearing about what goes into making something, especially a large scale movie, because we only see the finished product and if you do it right, then it looks easy, even if it never is.

SOTO: It never is. There’s never enough money and never enough time. Once you know those are the constants in the equation, it makes it easier.

Thank you for sharing all of that with me.

SOTO: Those were good questions. I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation about the process like that. There are a lot of moving parts to the machine. Ultimately, if people connect to the script and people connect to the vision, and if you’re able to communicate yourself eloquently to everyone in their own different way, then everybody is on board with the same vision and that does make it a lot easier. When there’s a cohesive understanding of what the mission is, it makes the journey easier. It’s not easy, but easier. It’s always a hard journey. There’s no denying it. But man, we love it. I don’t know if I would say that I wouldn’t like it any other way, but the fact is that it might not be any other way, you love it, regardless.

Blue Beetle is available on Digital and 4K Ultra HD.