‘Blue Beetle’ Xolo Maridueña: ‘I Hope It’s As Good As It Felt’
Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña gets his chance to play a superhero in Blue Beetle. The film adaptation makes Maridueña the first Latinx superhero lead in a movie adaptation. Having just wrapped the film, he’s feeling good about the film, but hopes his instincts prove correct.
Maridueña discussed working on Blue Beetle in the July 26 episode of his Lone Lobos podcast. Although his work is finished, Blue Beetle won’t be in theaters until Aug. 18, 2023. First, you can see Maridueña in Cobra Kai Season 5 Sept. 9.
If Xolo Maridueña is right, ‘Blue Beetle’ will be great
Maridueña acknowledges that the actor can’t always tell if what he’s making will come out as intended. But, judging by his experience on Blue Beetle, Maridueña has a good feeling.
“I hope it’s as good as it felt because it felt so good,” Maridueña said on Lone Lobos. “It honestly felt so good to film so I hope it comes out that way. I think a lot of the movie you end up finding in the editing room. A lot of the movie is how you market it. In terms of story and how it felt reading the words vs. hearing the words vs. seeing the words, it felt so awesome. I hope it does everything it’s supposed to and I think it will. That’s really all I can say about it.”
‘Blue Beetle’ crew members assured Xolo Maridueña you do know
Maridueña gave filmmakers the benefit of the doubt. He assumed that the people making flops thought they were making something great too. However, conversations on the Blue Beetle and other sets showed him some people already see the red flags.
“I don’t know if when they’re filming these movies that flop for lack of a better word, if it feels like a flop when you’re filming it,” Maridueña said. “I’ve had this conversation with other people on set and they’re like, ‘Nah, dude.’ Especially crew. Crew who have done movies are like, ‘No, I’m the boom operator and that sh** sounded like trash when we were recording it. No, the line
You don’t know the pitfalls and tribulations of college football’ felt as stupid as ‘It’s Morbin time.’”
Making new friends behind the scenes
Blue Beetle was Maridueña’s first major live-action role after five years on Cobra Kai, except for one episode of Wu-Tang: An American Saga. Maridueña said he enjoyed making new friends on Blue Beetle.
“It was great and I met so many new friends and I met so many new people who have worked with people we’ve worked with,” Maridueña said. “It’s so funny being on set and being like oh my gosh, I worked with blah blah blah from Cobra Kai because everything that films in Atlanta, it’s like a round robin. You work Ms. Marvel, then you work Cobra Kai, then you work Stranger Things, then you work Blue Beetle, then you work Haunted Mansion and whatever.”
While crew members circulate around Atlanta, Ga. productions, Maridueña said he’d worked with predominantly the same crew on all five seasons of Cobra Kai.
“It was cool to have new friends,” Maridueña said. “Only one or two people that we worked with from Cobra Kai but it’s cool now. That’s the only thing I’ve worked on for the past five years so it was very interesting to try to find that level of chemistry in no time vs the five years that we’ve been able to find the chemistry with the makeup people and the actors and the friggin’ DP. To find that level of chemistry and connection with everyone, it felt so natural and it was good and it was fun but we’ll see.”
