Frosty Interview Josh Duhamel – One of the Stars of ‘Turistas’

How long did you have to hold your breath underwater?

I don't know how long it was, I just know like the distance we had to go. We had to start here, I have to go down underneath this rock formation, and then come back up. And in all your clothes and stuff, it makes it more difficult. But some of those guys, like the guys that were chasing us, the bad guys, are actual spear fishermen. So they can swim underwater for a long time. Especially the one dude that was chasing her, and he's kind of slow underwater. He goes under for like 3, 4 minutes and he can stay under. I couldn't do that. But it was definitely a challenge physically, which made it...And I think that's what Stockwell wanted. He didn't want us to have trailers or any of the amenities that you normally have on a movie set. He wanted it to be as rough and sort of miserable as possible. Because it sort of shows up in the movie, and I think that that was his intention.

What was the single worst hardship you had to endure?

I wouldn't say any of them were hardships. I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a pleasurable movie to make. But I would say the lowest was... There was this underwater cave...They were like national park things that they have, and people go down and they stand outside of it, and they can look at it, but they can never go in. So we got access to this, to go down. And the water's only this deep, and then it goes deeper and deeper as you go. But you had to take these paddle boards and swim out. You couldn't stand in the sand because they have these protected crustaceans, so you had to swim out. There was this little cave where, because nobody's ever back there, the bats live in these things. And that's where all the bats are. So there's like this long tunnel with water going through, and we're like swimming through it. And of course, Stockwell wants to get the nicest visual for the shot, so he sprays down all the walls, makes sure that they get it all nice and wet and glisteny so it looks creepier. But there's like 500 years of batshit on these things. (laughs) And then we have to go trudging through it, and like, "Okay, now pretend like there's a hole underneath, and you gotta dive down!" And we're like, "This is like bat dropping soup." (laughs) And I was like, "Okay, this is officially the worst moment of this movie." (laughs) But whatever. It was all fun. It was fine.

How did the physicality of this movie compare with Michael Bay's Transformers?

Different. I mean, that was tough in its own way, too, because he demands a lot, too. Both these guys are similar in that way. They demand a lot from you, and you gotta come ready to play. That was different in the sense that it was a lot of heat, and we had a lot of equipment and stuff on, and carrying big, heavy guns, and running through the sand. But you know, similar, but not that same.

Shia LaBeouf at the Bobby junket said he was in a lot of physical pain. Did you experience something similar?

Yeah, I guess. He didn't have to carry a big gun, though. He just had like his jeans and a sweat top and tennis shoes. We had like full army gear the whole time. But he worked. He's the lead of the movie. He's the one who was there more than anybody. It's definitely a pretty taxing movie, too.

Is it done shooting?

Yes.

Any reshoots?

Not yet. I'm sure there will be at some point. They'll probably have to pick up some stuff, but I don't know of anything yet.

Have you ever had a vacation from hell?

No. I mean, we've been close. Me and my buddies used to go to Mexico for spring break, and we got ourselves into some pretty hairy situations. But never any sort of prisons or any sort of fights with the locals or anything like that. But close. I know some people that have. Like Stockwell's one of them. The girl at the beginning of the movie, actually...The one on the table at the very beginning, she's like, "No, please!" She, actually in real life, was kidnapped. I can't remember the actual story, but she was kidnapped for like two weeks or something, and held in a basement or something, and she went through this whole like really traumatic ordeal when she was younger, like 10 or 12 years old. But yeah, luckily, I've never had to go through anything like that.

You’ve talked a lot about the strenuous shooting that took place, but there had to have been some fun in Brazil.

Oh, yeah. That's what I mean. I'm not trying to say that it sucked, because it was a lot of fun, too. And it was an adventure. And we all knew going in that it was going to be tough. So I tried to be as up for it every day as I could. And it's like, how many people can say they get to do stuff like this? But then come Saturday night, we were like all ready to go out and have fun. Beau and Olivia were the ones who really sort of rallied everybody. I'd be like, "No, I want to go [home]." Like, "Come on, we're going out!" "All right, okay, we're going." And then we always had a blast.

Where were you in

Brazil

? Where did you go out?

We were in Ubatuba for the first...Ubatuba is a little surfing town. I compare it to like Hermosa Beach or something like that. Like a little bit lower class version of Hermosa Beach. A little surfer town between Ubatuba and Sao Paulo. And there were little places there we would go. There was little clubs and stuff we'd go to. There was what they called a hick festival, where one month of out the year, all the people of Brazil dress up like farmers and they have these big parties. So I have these pictures of me with this fake mustache and this big straw hat and straw thing. There's lots of stuff to do, and it's a pretty great culture. The people really have a zest for life there, and I hope that this doesn't dissuade people too much from going to visit, because it's a pretty great country.

One of the girls asks if anyone minds if she takes her top off. Is that the most unnecessary question? Are there guys objecting?

Well actually, I was the one that said, "No, no, no, keep your top on, because I don't want to get in trouble." That was my character, [which is] so not me. (lots of laughter) That was maybe the most difficult line reading that I had in the whole movie. (laughs)

It's your sister...

No, my sister's friend. That's part of the reason. So yeah, no straight man would ever say no to that, especially if it's Beau Garrett.

That was some acting.

Yes. That's going to be my Oscar. (laughter)

How is Las Vegas going?

JOSH: It's going well. We're having fun. I think we're on episode 12 of 17 now, so we have not many left this season. And who knows about next year? The numbers have been pretty good, so I think that we may get another year, we may not.

Why only 17 episodes?

I'm not sure. I know that NBC was making cutbacks pretty much across the board. I don't know if it's because they needed to fulfill an 88 episode contract that they had with TNT. I'm not sure. I feel like we should get another year because there's not a lot of other stuff that's working for them, and the numbers have been good. We've been winning the night demographics-wise, anyway. So whatever happens happens. I like the show, I'd love to do another year on the show, but if NBC doesn't want it, that's fine, too.

What about the move to Fridays?

I wish we were still on Mondays, to be honest. It was a better night for us. I think that everybody liked it better. Because who's watching TV Fridays? It's the kind of show that people who watch it aren't home on Friday nights, who really can enjoy it. But, it's still doing pretty well for Fridays.

Any upcoming episodes you're excited about?

Yeah, the next two that are coming up are really good. The two that we've shot I think may be two of our best episodes that we've done. They decided to make it into a two-hour...Because it was originally a two-part...It was going to be one week, then the next week was the second part. And then they decided to make it a two-hour thing. And it's good. It's different than anything we've done. It's much more intense and dramatic than anything we've done.

Have you written or directed for the show? Or do you want to?

I wouldn't mind directing. I actually wrote a script for them a couple years ago. Gary was like, "No, no, no." He didn't even acknowledge it. Then this year, he comes, he goes, "You know that script you wrote? Do you mind if I use that?" I was like, "Go ahead." He's like basically saying, "Do you mind if I use your script and not have to pay you?"