Edi Gathegi realizes that he’s known for playing the bad guy. From the evil vampire, Laurent, in Twilight to the vicious gangster, Marques, in Criminal Activities to the drug lord, Cheese, in Gone Baby Gone and most recently, the second-in-command of a local Haitian gang, Ronald Dacey, in the upcoming show StartUp. Gathegi is not stranger to the bad boy label, but this time around there’s much more to his character than what meets the eye. StartUp is the latest show on Sony’s streaming platform, Crackle. The show explores the lives of four characters in Miami: Izzy Morales (Otmara Marrero), a tech genius who pitches her startup idea to Nick Talman; Nick Talman (Adam Brody), a financier who stashes his father’s illegally-earned money in the startup; Ronald Dacey (Edi Gathegi), a gang member whose money gets stolen by Nick’s dad; and Phil Rask (Martin Freeman), a crooked FBI agent that will stop at nothing to get a portion (or all) of the money. It’s easy to file Edi’s character in this show under his many other villainous roles, but don’t be too quick to judge. We spoke with him about the show and he’s everything he wants you to know.
EG: Good afternoon, Mariah! How are you doing?
I’m great now that we’re talking! I’m a huge fan of yours, so this is very cool for me.
EG: Thank you, that’s very sweet of you!
I’m not just saying this because I’m interviewing you right now, but I’m genuinely obsessed with your newest show, StartUp. I got to watch the first few episodes and it was a really rough cut, but I’m completely hooked. Can you tell me what made you interested in getting involved in this?
EG: Well, it’s going to premiere on Crackle. There are people who are aware of that and people who don’t know what it is yet and I was excited about doing a television show for a streaming service that hadn’t gotten to the level of popularity that it has the potential of getting to. So, basically like a Hulu before Hulu or AMC before Mad Men type of thing. It’s just such a smart, fresh new idea and it has a lot of potential, so I wanted to jump on board.
In particular to the actual storyline, what appealed to you the most?
EG: There are four protagonists, which I think is a cool way to tell a story and each character is completely fleshed out and multi-dimensional. I thought if you have a show with four leads and they’re all equally riveting, then that’s a great hour of television! So, I wanted to be part of something that could be great. And I loved the character Ronald. The first entrance of my character on the page is written as a “oner” which is like one continuous long shot and is very cinematic and you don’t see that on TV. So, I thought “wow, these filmmakers are going to push the envelope a little bit, they’re going to try to be raw and edgy and kinetic”and I was excited about doing that on TV.
Wow, I’m excited to see what else they have in store for us! I have to say I love your character, Ronald. He seems to come from a very beat down area and I’m wondering what kind of research did you have to do or mindset did you have to get in in order to prepare for your character?
EG: It’s maybe been, I don’t know, a lifetime of preparation? I didn’t grow up with a lot of money and I used to hang in certain parts of my city, so I’m familiar with that world. We also had a lot of resources at our disposal. We had a consultant that worked as a detective in Miami and her areas were some of these underserved areas like Little Haiti and Hialeah. So, it’s just like a personal thing how much research do you want to invest yourself in and for me, I just did as much as I felt necessary.
Well, it’s clear from the first few episodes that your character, Ronald, doesn’t exactly want to stay caught up in this lifestyle forever. Can you elaborate on that?
EG: It’s interesting because my character is kind of a moral compass of the entire show. He’s definitely the most loyal and the most lethal. He’ll do what he has to do to survive, but at the same time his intentions are totally pure. So, he kind of hates that he has to do what he has to do to survive. He doesn’t take pleasure in it, but at the same time he’s very good at it.
Absolutely! And I mean his lifestyle in the show comes with a lot of rough and dangerous days. What was the most intense scene for you so far?
EG: One of the “funner” scenes and I mean “funner” in retrospect, definitely not fun filming and getting into the skin of what that scene was about, but, there’s a scene where my son—whoa, it’s still a trip to me that I have a son—he’s straying and potentially putting himself in a very dangerous situation and I do everything I can as a father to protect my boy and it’s a very heavy scene that I had to tap into. I don’t have a son myself and it was emotionally draining. But, I’m looking forward to that coming across in the relationship.
It’s definitely obvious that Ronald doesn’t want his son to follow in his footsteps. What are you hoping people take away from your character and his part in this whole startup?
EG: It’s funny because I play a lot of bad guys, I play a lot of good guys, too, I like doing everything, but a lot of people like to say that I’m a bad guy in this show and I hope that they continue watching and realize that I’m not a bad guy at all. I’m a tough guy and I’m a strong guy who’s just in a bad life situation. He’s trying to navigate that as best as he can and he’s actually a very soulful, good person.
I completely agree that you do play a lot of the bad guys! Why do you think that you tend to gravitate towards these type of roles?
EG: They’re funner. It’s just more fun to play the bad guy, but at the same time, if you look at the work that I’ve done I try to offset the bad guy. I’ve got romantic parts in the mix, strange parts in the mix. It’s just something that people automatically have for me right now, but with time you’ll see me doing other things. That’s the fun part about being an actor.
I guess the good part about playing the bad guy is that you get to live vicariously through them!
EG: Because I can’t do that in real life…or can I?
Well, we would never know! So, are you working on any other new projects that you’re able to share?
EG: We did a deal with Lifetime and Netflix and we’re going to have a film debut through those mediums in the near future called Raven’s Watch. It’s a horror thriller, more thriller than it is horror, and I co-produce it and I’m the lead opposite of the female lead played by Erin Cahill, who’s one of my best friends. So, it was such a fun project to be a part of! Then, I just finished something with Keke Palmer called Pimp. She plays the female pimp and it’s a female-driven drama where she basically grows up watching her father pimp, who is played by DMX . I’m the antagonist, so not a bad guy. You see what I did there?! And then I have The Blacklist coming up!
Look at you! I’m so excited to watch out for all your upcoming roles and to continue watching StartUp. I appreciate your time, thank you so much!
Make sure to watch StartUp on Sony’s streaming channel, Crackle, starting Tuesday, September 6th!
