Demián Bichir as Detective Marco Ruiz in The Bridge. Photo copyright of FX.
Last year on FX’s police drama The Bridge, Detective Marco Ruiz, a homicide detective for the Policía Estatal (State Police) of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, was paired with his American counterpart, Detective Sonya Cross of the El Paso Police Department, to track down and apprehend a serial killer who was leaving a bloody trail along the Texas/Chihuahua border. Their investigation was not only fraught with violence perpetrated by the powerful and ruthless drug cartels, but also hampered by deceit and corruption amongst the Mexican authorities.
In the show’s second season (currently airing Wednesdays @ 10:00 p.m. EST/PST), Marco must cope with a personal tragedy as well as his impending divorce, while at the same time also contend with further complications in his professional life. He and Sonya are eventually teamed back up and pitted against a “fixer” sent to El Paso by the drug cartels and who has no qualms about adding to the corpse count.
Last week, actor Demián Bichir graciously took some time out of his day off for a quick chat with me and other journalists about the trials and tribulations facing his character of Marco Ruiz this season on The Bridge. The following is an edited version of our conversation. Enjoy!
What do you think is the biggest change in Marco from season one to season two, and was there anything particularly challenging this year that wasn’t quite so much last year?
Demián Bichir: There are a few key changes in Marco’s life and behavior that are crucial for this season. At the end of season one, we saw Marco lose pretty much everything that he had, including his family and the death of his son, Gus Whenever that happens to anybody, that changes your life forever.
I think this year we will see a more committed, darker and probably very sad Marco. His emotional journey will involve going deeper and deeper into his own thoughts and wondering every day if the constant struggle is worth fighting. He chose to work in this difficult territory and is trying to make a difference, but things will be a lot more difficult for him now. At the same time, I think Marco will become a more dangerous type of cop when it comes to dealing with the bad guys, because he doesn’t have anything else to lose.
You’ve said in the past that Marco tends to operate in the gray area of the law. How does this affect your ability to judge your character’s actions?
DB: I think that Marco understands that there are many legal steps that you have to take as a cop in order to get your job done. However, at the same time, he knows there are some shortcuts that he can take in order to get there sooner. Sometimes when things are crazy out there and the streets become a jungle of sorts, you don’t have time to go to a judge and get an order to take care of business. That’s pretty much the way he understands this particular border, and one of the things that I think Marco has made very clear is that he and his colleagues are no angels, nor are the bad guys, and sometimes you just have to go for those shortcuts.
Are the elements of what drew you initially to The Bridge still what keep you going today?
DM: Yes, absolutely. I think we have a fantastic team; our production team is just first class, I think we have a fantastic writing staff, and the cast couldn’t be better. All these people make this show what it is, and it makes us very proud. Also, I’m very appreciative of the fact that we are able to bring our own input and ideas to the table. We all create this show that is capturing better, bigger, wider audiences everywhere in the world, and I do think it’s different. I haven’t seen anything like The Bridge out there on American television, and that’s probably one of the reasons why people are getting hooked on it.
Can you talk about your relationship this season with Sonya (Diane Kruger) and how that has changed?
DB: It ended on a really difficult note last year; Marco was very angry at her because she stopped him from killing David Tate (Eric Lange), who killed his son. He took that very badly as well as personally. However, this season, he understands that Sonya meant well and that she did it because she didn’t want Marco to end up in jail, which would not fix anything.
In season two, Sonya is the one who approaches Marco again because she needs his help on this new case, and that’s when their relationship goes back to normal. As I’ve said before, Marco and Sonya represent, in many ways, how the U.S. and Mexico work. Both sides need one another, regardless of their differences and the many issues that they might not agree on. These guys “love” and respect each other, and they take care of one another.
So this year, that relationship becomes strong again, but it will also be tested when Sonya starts to mistrust my character because of his relationship with Fausto (Ramon Franco). It’s hard for her to understand that Marco has to deal with demons and angels in order to do the right thing at the end. She has a hard time wrapping her head around something like that because she works for a different establishment and in a different system. That’s one of the really great things about this new season, though, the fact that their relationship is this type of rollercoaster ride of different emotions and feelings.
As noted above, photo copyright of FX Network, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
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