As I and the rest of Junta Juleil Productions, LTD. were putting the finishing touches on our latest film, HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL, it occurred to me to post an appreciation of one of our greatest collaborators, the highly-talented actor, writer, performance artist, lip-syncher, and outrageous personality, Nick Garcia.
In our latest film, HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (which co-stars Jillaine Gill as Harrington, a racist, hard-boiled authority figure of some sort), Nick plays Esteban José Garcalina Viejo- either a slippery character or perhaps just an all-around nice guy. As the film progresses, and the characters clash, it turns into a dialogue about race- can years of social conditioning be swayed or is said dialogue bound to erupt into spicy violence? Then again, maybe we all have some learning to do.
HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL notwithstanding, Nick Garcia has been a frequent collaborator of Junta Juleil Productions, LTD., both filmically and theatrically. In the realm of theater, for example, his lip-synch performance of England Dan and John Ford Coley's "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight," pushed the limits of hilarity as well as pain and audience tolerance. His interpretation of the song highlighted its absurd banality and may or may not have involved an unexpected barrage of nipple pinching.
In Junta Juleil's LOW LIVES, Nick played the nefarious "Black Gloves" with ghoulish elan in a brief, but highly memorable role.
This summer, he played "The Nerd" in Junta Juleil's long lost creature feature homage, CHEWIES 4: BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE.
But it wasn't until recently that I was able to experience, firsthand, some of Nick's more memorable work from the 90's and early 00's.
From avant-garde theater
to the interview circuit
to lottery commercials where he plays the nerdy date,
the nerdy goalie,
and the nerdy convenience store clerk,
or his role as the skateboarding 'Gourd' in the indie flick NOT THIS PART OF THE WORLD which co-starred Adam West.
Nick imbues every role with the proper combination of pathos, subtlety, connectedness, and hilarity, whether he's wearing a shaggy purple vest or playing a big 'ole nerd. He's one of the finest actors to ever work with me (and Junta Juleil Productions), and I'm both proud and overjoyed to count him as a collaborator and a friend.
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