Edgar Ramirez will make his American film debut in Tony Scott’s Domino, playing a bounty hunter on a televised mission with Keira Knightley and Mickey Rourke. His character, Choco, is actually the shy guy of the bunch, who gets nervous around Domino, though he can still be violent in his native language.

During some downtime in a downtown Los Angeles hotel room, Ramirez spoke to Latino Review while he waited to be called for a scene. Sporting tattoos on his wrists and stomach, shoulder length hair and stubble, it was easy to see why the production notes described him as a “ruggedly sexy Latin.” The girls are going to love it when Edgar Ramirez comes to Hollywood.

How do you feel about being described as a ruggedly sexy Latin?

Edgar Ramirez: Who’s the sexy Latin, me? Who said that? I’m pretty flattered. I don’t feel offended.

How are you enjoying doing a Tony Scott action movie?

ER: Yeah, it’s been a great experience. I think this is a very risk taking movie for all of us and that’s always wonderful, when you’re able to not compromise your vision and try to do the movie that you dream of doing. And I think that’s pretty much what Tony’s doing and I think he’s reflecting this goal, this desire to all of us. And then he’s generating the best atmosphere possible to really experiment and go for it doing this movie. So we are all pretty much involved in the whole process now. I think everybody working on this movie feels really part of it and that the final outcome is going to belong to all of us. That sense of belongingness is so beautiful because one of the most beautiful things that I find about doing movies is that it’s one of the few jobs still going on in the world that is all about teamwork. Maybe it sounds a little bit cliché but it’s the total truth. You are not working in cubicles separated. We really need to be in touch, in contact to everybody involved and that’s beautiful. I think that’s beautiful because it’s all about meeting new people and adjusting different minds, different point of views, creatively talking. I think that’s why it for me has been a really rich experience. I’ve been learning a lot and working with such a kind director, so solid and so open as Tony is, it has been a great experience along with the cast which I find wonderful.

What stuntwork have you been doing?

ER: All. I’ve been jumping from roofs, getting shot, ripping people’s arms off.

Rippin them off?

ER: Yeah. Yeah, I get to do very cool stuff, hazardous stuff. I like it. I just sat on the edge of this building, on this very floor.

Were you harnessed?

ER: Yeah, I was harnessed, but I was very, very nervous. That’s been the most difficult scene so far.

Why were you sitting on the edge?

ER: Because my character is a very special guy. He’s a very violent guy, I think very passive aggressive, but at the same time is a very tender and shy person. So he has a lot of contradictions. So when everybody is trying to put themselves together then he decides to sit on the edge of a building and try to relax. That’s his way of relaxing. When other people are taking a shower or a hot bath, he likes to sit on the edge of the building.

How can he rip limbs off?

ER: You’ll see that, you’ll see that.

There’s an explanation?

ER: Of course, of course. There is an explanation for that, but in the unlogic of the movie. I don't know if it’s going to work for you, but there’s a logical explanation within a very special particular framework of mind. But there is an explanation and a very funny one. I mean, funny depending on how you find or how you define funny.

Is it easy to become tongue tied with Keira? Have you ever been?

ER: Not really. No, there’s a very fun story about Keira and I. I have a birthday March 25th and Keira has a birthday March 26th. So we are pretty much the same, so no, we don’t get shy around each other. We understand each other very well. It’s been great for the whole movie that we have ahead, and it’s very good. We share feelings all the time. And it was great. She’s a very talented actress. I mean, she pushes the limits and that’s great. And she’s very comedic too, what she does, and that’s great because I try to be that way too. I try to go a little bit further all the time. So we kind of encourage each other to go to the next level possible.

Working with Mickey Rourke, is he method and do you admire him?

ER: Totally. Actually, I said this before, one of the things that catches my attention very strongly from Mickey is that he’s an actor with a lot of density. He’s a very dense person. And I think that’s great for performing. I mean, he’s gone through a lot of things and as a person he’s lived a lot, and I think that it gives him great input to perform. And for us, being performing with him because you get to learn a lot and to get exposed to great inputs which I think acting is all about. It’s all about collecting different inputs, trying to foster your imagination, your own experience and your observation. I think those are the three main processes of performing. I think Mickey’s done all that and for me it’s been great to work with him.

Are the tattoos real?

ER: They’re for the character. I have two skulls on my wrist. One is laughing, the other is crying. Comedy and tragedy. Then I have crosses. Those are crosses for the people my character might have killed. Might.

Is the Kabala string yours?

ER: This is mine. Mine and it became Choco’s.

Do you have tattoos on your stomach?

ER: Yeah, do you want to see? One here, I don't know if you see it. It says “Divine Child”, divino nino.

And the numbers, 153?

ER: Just numbers. Just numbers. And then I have this is the divine child, the real one. The little baby Jesus that is called divine child in South America because he comes from South America. And this here is my favorite. This is Jose Gregorio Hernandez, he’s a Venezuelan saint and he was a doctor. He’s known for being the doctor who heals people who cannot afford a doctor. So he’s on his way to being canonized by the Vatican so I’m campaigning.

Is that a real tattoo?

ER: No, none of them are real.

How long do they take to put on?

ER: Like 45 minutes, one hour depending.

Before this, you’ve only been shooting in South America or Spain?

ER: Yeah, I’ve done movies in Venezuela and coproductions with France and Spain. I shot this movie that’s been nominated for the Academy Awards [sic]. It’s called Punto Y Raya. English title is Step Forward. And this movie is a coproduction from Venezuela, Spain and Colombia. Last Tuesday, I premiered another movie in Venezuela but I couldn’t come because I was shooting. That movie’s a coproduction with France. It’s called Yotama.

What does it mean?

ER: Yotama is a name. Actually, the whole title is Yotama Flies Away. And I have two other movies coming up next year, one in January, the other one in May.

You’ve already shot them?

ER: Yeah, I’ve already shot. One is called El Nudo, which means The Knot and the other one is called The Boss, El Don in Spanish.

How did you get your role in Domino?

ER: Actually, I came to L.A. like six weeks ago approximately, or seven right now. Actually, I came to present this movie, Punto y Raya before the foreign press association for the Golden Globes. And I came for four days only. I went to my agency to say hi, I’m here to see my agent. And then she told me about this project and then she gave me the script and arranged a meeting, an audition for me with Tony. And I went to the audition and I mean, a week and a half later, I got the part.

And you just stayed?

ER: No, actually I had to go to France. We were taking the movie to the Arts festival in South France. Then I couldn’t go because then I find out I was going to be Choco and then I cancelled and came here. So I came about two weeks later to LA to start shooting right away. I arrived one week before we started to shoot and I got the part two weeks before.

So it’s been a whirlwind?

ER: Totally. Actually, I just told Tony, “Do you want me to walk on the edge of the building?” I have to get nuts somehow in order to put up with [everything]. I mean, there’s still one month ahead, so a lot is going to happen.

Would you like to live here full time?

ER: That would all depend. That would all depend on the projects. I think nowadays for us actors, I mean, you don’t really need to live in one place to work there. For me, I’m more interested in new projects than markets or countries. I mean, I’m trying to look for the best stories I can be part of. Regardless if they’re in the United States or in Venezuela or in France or Peru. The most important thing for me is to try to be close to the best projects as possible. And this is definitely one of them.

Are you a fan of reality TV?

ER: Not really. Not really. It’s not that I dislike it. It’s just that I don’t watch it very often. I like Survivor very much. The Swedish version actually. But the latest shows about I don't know, the waiters or the shoemakers, it’s a little bit too much. But that’s me. If people want to see that, it’s okay to me.

What do you think of the film’s idea of TV within the film?

ER: That’s pretty contemporary, whether you like it or not. And I think it’s fun. And actually, we’re coming late to this. There’s already a bounty hunter reality, there are two I think on the air right now. One on HBO, the other one by I don't know who. I think it’s okay. For the movie purposes, it’s just great. It gives the movie such good material to pull off this crazy and extreme situation and it’s going to be great for the movie. I think it’s pretty appropriate.

Could you be a bounty hunter?

ER: If I could do it? I don't know, I think it would be distrustful for me. These people, it’s a very tough job because they cannot do plans in life. They cannot say, “This Thanksgiving, I’m going to spend it at your house” because they don’t know if they’re going to make it to next week. I think it’s a very dramatic thing to live that style of life, not really knowing if you’re going to see your kids again, if you’re going to see your children again. And being at the edge of justice, it’s such a big responsibility that I wouldn’t like to carry on my shoulders. Like being an arm of justice, like somewhere in between. Although they’re pretty much regulated, bounty hunters nowadays have a lot of regulations. It’s not like bounty hunters at the time when our characters lived, where they were really in the middle of nowhere. It was between legal and illegal. Right now, they are very legal but however, you’re dealing with justice and it is very tempting to have justice in your hand. When sometimes nobody’s watching. And that kind of dilemma I don't think is something I would like to go through. To really define what could be fair at a certain moment, I don't know if I would like to be able to do that. I mean, this reflection goes beyond the violent thing and the guns, beyond that. I mean, it’s when you go to bed and you go to sleep and when you think, what have I done? Was I fair today? Did I give these guys the proper treatment? That’s something very huge. I really admire people that can deal with those kinds of dilemmas.

How did you incorporate coming down from Mescaline on the ledge?

ER: Well, in that case, sitting on the edge, I didn’t have to do much. It was extreme enough. Just I was smoking a cigarette, I just focused on my cigarette and that was all. And then I just incorporated what I was feeling. The fear and the light and then all the cars very far away from here, down there. And the light and the wind and the cold. Because the whole thing is very sensurreal, very surreal. It has a lot to do with the senses so it’s very sensitive.

Is Choco a nickname?

ER: Yeah, because Choco, he chokes someone to death. Not chocolate.