How freeing is it to operate in this wacky post-apocalyptic playground?
Unhinged, anything goes, no holds barred . . . Can we do this? What if we did this? It really reminds me of sitting around with my high school friends, just riffing and trying to make each other laugh and be ridiculous and one-up each other. Who’s gonna make somebody pee their pants? It’s weirdly joyful . . . a weird thing to say about a show where you’re in a car and you’re trying to kill other people!
What kind of journey does Quiet go on this year? How does she evolve?
The whole point of season two is that Calypso is real. And not only is he real, but he is holding a tournament for everyone in the land. If you’re brave enough to enter, then you could get your greatest wish. That’s what everybody in the tournament is after. Each of them is after something individual, but Quiet’s wish is to bring down all the walls . . . everywhere. The guiding light for her is some form of equality, some form of the world where the people that have everything don’t get to just keep it all behind the walls and starve everyone else to death, and drive us to murder.
That is a very admirable thing to want, but what happens if you start to care about people around you in the tournament? Do you sacrifice for the greater good? When do your ethics and values come into play? And when do they go out the window?
That said, as fans of the video games know, Calypso doesn’t always grant wishes the way that the wisher expects . . .
See, that’s the great thing about being an audience member watching this — because the characters don’t know that. They are putting their trust in this epic person who seems to have powers that nobody else can access. But how do we know he’s trustworthy? Really, all we know is that he’s powerful.
What exactly does your new co-star, Anthony Carrigan, bring to Calypso?
He’s perfect. He’s terrifying, hilarious . . . a little dash of interestingly sexy. There’s something equal parts whimsical and totally evil about the way he’s playing this character. I could never have imagined it on the page the way that he’s brought it to life.
Having spent eight long seasons on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, is there a part of Det. Rosa Diaz that still lives in you?
I think there’s a part of myself that I didn’t realize was as strong as she is.
I think the same goes for Quiet . . . My Rosa really comes out when I’m driving — I live in L.A. No one should know what I’m saying to other drivers while I’m in my car [laughs].
Did working on Brooklyn give you an appreciation for how even the goofiest comedy can tackle real social issues?
I think comedy’s always been able to do that. Some of my favourite stuff growing up was, like, I Love Lucy. There’s this silly little housewife that wants to be in her husband’s shows; meanwhile, this is a couple that’s a white woman and a Latino man on television [in the ’50s]. They basically created the sitcom. She was really the draw; it was a female star at the head of this thing. You take something else that I was really obsessed with when I was a kid: the Muppets . . . that absurdist tone that hits you right in the heart. That is where a lot of really good comedy lives. It’s this very strange, silly world that also lands as real.
The season finale of Twisted Metal begins streaming on Thursday, August 28, on Paramount+
MEMORABLE ROLES:
Born in Neuquén, Argentina, but raised in Webster, Texas, Stephanie Beatriz rose to fame and acclaim as take-no-prisoners cop Rosa Diaz for all eight seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. More recently, she starred with Ted Danson in retirement-home mystery comedy A Man on the Inside. She’s also a prolific voice actor on cartoons like Bob’s Burgers, Big Mouth and big-screen Disney smash Encanto, wherein she played the lead role of Mirabel.
CURRENT GIG:
Wrapping season two this Thursday with three new episodes, video game adaptation Twisted Metal casts Beatriz as Quiet, a battle-tested post-apocalyptic survivor competing in a bonkers car derby, in hopes of winning herself a wish that will change the world.