Editor’s note: The below interview contains minor spoilers for Griselda.

The Big Picture

Director Andrés Baiz wanted to create a cohesive and intimate aesthetic for Griselda by drawing inspiration from character-driven films and European movies. Actress Juliana Aidén Martinez found personal resonance in her character June’s experiences as a woman in a male-dominated world, using her own experiences as a reference. Episode 5 and Episode 4 were Baiz’s favorite episodes, with the former showcasing Sofia Vergara’s performance and the latter featuring a shocking and fun finale.

When you learn that only one director helmed every single episode of Netflix’s newest crime drama miniseries Griselda, it’s a discovery that makes perfect sense. While Andrés Baiz is no stranger to directing shows that revolve around the lives of the cocaine underworld’s most complex figures, he had a different task before him when it came to defining the look of a show about Griselda Blanco, played by Sofía Vergara. Yet for as many episodes as Baiz had steered for both Narcos and its Mexico spin-off, it was Griselda’s co-creator and EP Eric Newman who knew he wanted to have the director play a role in shaping this more intimate story, alongside co-creators Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard, and Ingrid Escajeda.

This show has been long in the making, according to Newman, who says that Vergara herself, also a producer on Griselda, came to him with the idea of playing the drug queenpin while he was working on the second season of Narcos in 2015, but it would still be several more years before Netflix was confirmed to be attached in production in 2021. Ahead of the show’s premiere, Collider had the opportunity to speak with several people who were involved in turning Griselda from concept into reality, including Baiz as well as Juliana Aidén Martinez, who plays real-life investigator June Hawkins. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, the two discuss some of the series’ most pivotal moments — including June’s big chase scene and what Baiz refers to as “the war episode” — as well as Griselda’s biggest creative influences and more.

Griselda Fleeing from Medellín to Miami, Griselda Blanco creates one of the most ruthless cartels in history. Release Date January 25, 2024 Creator Eric Newman, Carlo Bernard, Ingrid Escajeda, Doug Miro Cast Sofia Vergara , Alberto Guerra , Juliana Aidén Martinez , Martin Rodriguez , Jose Velazquez , Orlando Pineda Main Genre Crime Seasons 1 Streaming Service(s) Netflix

COLLIDER: Andrés, you’re the director on every episode, which gives the show such a cohesive look throughout. In terms of your approach to the show, was there anything that you wanted to lean into with the aesthetic? Any inspirations that you had?

ANDRÉS BAIZ: Absolutely. I’m glad you’re saying that. Of course, directing six episodes gives you more creative control and gives you an opportunity to put your personality into it, right? This is a much more intimate show than Narcos is, which is a brother canvas, so I wanted to do a character study. Gina Rowlands was an inspiration in movies like Minnie and Moskowitz, or Opening Night or Gloria, which is a crime movie made by [John] Cassavetes. I wanted an inner truth from the character, but I watch a lot of European movies like [Rainer Werner] Fassbender’s movies, like The Marriage of Maria Braun or The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. That has a kind of a European style that was influential. We shot with one camera most of the time with Armando Salas, the DP. So, we treated this show more like a film and there was a lot of caring into it, and a lot of design. But it’s probably not the usual references. It’s not that I went to watch Scarface, for example. I went in another direction.

Juliana Aidén Martinez Found Inspiration From the Real June Hawkins
Image via Netflix

To your point, this is a very intimate, character-driven show, and Juliana, your character’s journey parallels Griselda’s in a lot of ways. They’re both women in these very male-dominated worlds, they have to prove their naysayers and skeptics wrong. What drew you personally to this character in terms of finding traits to latch onto that resonated with you?

JULIANA AIDÉN MARTINEZ: First off, as a woman, I think for many of us there’s a universal feeling we understand of what it is to not feel heard, what it is to not feel seen, what it is to not be treated with the same amount of respect as your male counterparts. June was dealing with that in the ‘70s, and even today, I think, as a woman, we’ve had these experiences of being underestimated and undervalued compared to our male counterparts. So things like that I understood immediately, and those were things I was given for free based on my own experiences as a woman and also as a Latina, not feeling respected in certain spaces.

So those things were helpful, and then being able to talk to the real June Hawkins, which was done over a series of the process of filming. I was able to talk to her just for several months, and get her experience, what she had to do to conduct herself in this time in the ‘70s with a world of men. She couldn’t be reactive, she couldn’t be passionate, she had to have this sense of inner stillness and just razor-sharp vision. She had to have this contained power to her, [and] that’s how she had to operate because she didn’t want to be seen as a hysterical woman. Many times, speaking for myself, you want to try to compose yourself. You don’t want to be seen as hysterical, but she was right, and with that dedication, she becomes victorious at the end. But that was something that was very important in being able to portray her for me.

‘Griselda’ Director Andrés Baiz Reveals His Favorite Episode
Image via Netflix

Andrés, did you have a particularly favorite episode or sequence to film for this show where it just really felt like everything came together?

BAIZ: Episode 5 is probably my favorite episode in terms of Sofía’s performance because it’s all in one night and the relationships that she has created, she’s breaking them. The relationship with Dario, her children, and the people that trust her, et cetera. But my favorite episode is Episode 4. I call it the war episode, when she brings in all the Marielitos. I love the location of the house, that she goes there to feel safe, and for the first time she starts going against the men that have betrayed her. I love the finale at the end of that episode. I think it’s shocking and it’s amazing, and I love the music in the episode. It’s fun. It has a lot of surreal, absurd moments that, as a filmmaker, were a lot of fun creating and designing.

Juliana Aidén Martinez Outran the Camera During Her Big Chase Scene
Image via Netflix

Juliana, June gets stuck behind a desk a lot, especially in the early parts of the story, but you do have a chance to break out and get to do some action. What do you remember standing out most about getting to film that big chase scene?

MARTINEZ: I remember filming that scene because they were going to track it, essentially, while I was running down the street, and I told Andy and our DP, I was like, “Just do it. I’m going to sprint.” I was running a lot, just working on the treadmill, and I remember just telling them, I was like, “Trust me, I can outrun the camera,” and they were like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure, sure.” And I ended up outrunning the camera, once, where our DP was like, “Okay, actually, you’re going too fast.” But I was definitely very excited to do it. I love action. I’m very athletic, and to do that scene was very fun that day. I was so psyched to do it and I could have done another one. It was a blast.

Griselda is currently available to stream on Netflix.

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