Summary

• The new Netflix series Griselda tells the story of infamous drug lord Griselda Blanco and interweaves stories of her personal life and key figures in her life.
• The characters of Dario, Rivi, and Arturo play important roles in Griselda's life, from being her husband to her hitman to her accountant and confidant.
• The actors Alberto Guerra, Martin Rodriguez, and Christian Tappan discuss their experiences portraying intense characters and building relationships with Sofia Vergara on screen.

Griselda unpacks the life story of the infamous queenpin Griselda Blanco, a head figure during the 1980s drug trade in Miami. The new Netflix series traces the titular protagonist's rise and fall while interweaving stories of her personal life and the involvement of other key figures in Blanco's life. The crime drama stars Modern Family's Sofia Vergara in the lead alongside actors like Narcos: Mexico's Alberto Guerra, Zanahoria's Martin Rodriguez, and Snowfall's Christian Tappan.

The story of Griselda Blanco wouldn't be the same without an examination of those around her and their own contributions to the Miami crime scene. On the personal side of her relationships, Guerra plays Dario, Blanco's third husband whose tumultuous relationship with her eventually comes to a cataclysmic end. When it comes to her business, Rivi (Rodriguez) was a key player in Blanco's operations, serving as her ruthless go-to hitman. Tappan's character Arturo's relationship with Griselda ventures into both personal and professional, serving as one of her main accountants as well as an important confidant.

Screen Rant recently interviewed Alberto Guerra, Martin Rodriguez, and Christian Tappan to discuss their characters' relationship dynamics with Sofia Vergara and the experience of playing such intense characters (Christian's answers were provided through a translator).

Alberto Guerra, Martin Rodriguez, and Christian Tappan Talk Griselda

Screen Rant: I would love to talk to Alberto a little bit about what it was like developing a marriage dynamic with Sofia on screen, especially considering how their relationship ends up.

Alberto Guerra: It was really fun. Because, you see, you have these two really weird and crazy characters and then you're trying to bring some chemistry to them in order for you to show when they lose the chemistry. And it was really fun.

Sofia, genuinely, is a really fun person. She's a very accessible person. You just feel comfortable around her, and so that helps a lot creating and building chemistry between two characters. And we knew we wanted that; we wanted to have this almost uncomfortable feeling around this couple. They're so weird together, especially in the last part of their story.

But yeah, it was really fun. It was one of the most important things for me as an actor, was trying to get within this huge show that there's a lot of things happening, we wanted to take the moment to really put these two characters out there as a couple.

Martin, what was it like playing a character like Rivi that's so intense and has such a dark history?

Martin Rodriguez: Oh yeah, it's a dark history. And the character is a real person where the thing was that we didn't try to resemble the real person behind the character in formal terms. So create a character in trying to telling the fact that's happened. The character is connect more with a mystic way or feminist way as he want to help her in everything. When Rivi meets Griselda, he is completely fascinated by her, and from there he decide to help her in everything to the end.

Christian, you also play a very valuable member of Griselda's team and also serve as sort of a confidant for the character in a lot of ways. Can you talk about what it was like building that different dynamic with Sofia on screen?

Christian Tappan: Well, ever since Columbia, I already had an idea of what this character was going to be like. And my first encounter with Sofia was on a phone call; I was making a phone call and there was Sofia. And that helped me get a close relationship since the very beginning.

But I never wanted to play a dark character, play a rough character. I wanted to play the good side.

And I'm one of those actors that believes that a character is well-rounded when you have the right partners to work with, when you have the right director, the costumes, and the makeup.

Awesome. Thank you.

Alberto Guerra: We didn't pay him to say that, by the way. [Laughs]

More On Griselda

GRISELDA is inspired by the life of the savvy and ambitious Griselda Blanco, who created one of the most profitable cartels in history. In 1970s-80s Miami, Blanco’s lethal blend of unsuspected savagery and charm helped her expertly navigate between business and family, leading her to become widely known as “the Godmother."

Check out our other Griselda interviews here:

• Juliana Aidén Martinez and Andres Baiz
• Eric Newman

All of Griselda is available to stream now on Netflix.

Source: Screen Rant Plus