D.J. Cotrona returns with his cast tonight for the second season of “From Dusk to Dawn: The Series” (El Rey, 9 p.m.), Robert Rodriguez’ remake of his own 1996 cult classic for his own network.
And as well as he’s doing playing Seth Gecko, the role originally played by George Clooney in the movie, Cotrona could have as easily been known these days as the latest big screen Superman in a much-anticipated “Justice League” film a few years back, being made by the Australian director George Miller and the “Lord of the Rings” design and effects crew.
And though some footage was shot, costumes were designed and set were made, it all went by the wayside due to writers’ strike and tax incentive issues.
“It was a start stop issue for a couple of years but ultimately it went away,” Cotrona told me. But, he adds, it may have been destined to happen that way.
“I think George was meant to make ‘Mad Max’ — that’s the movie he was meant to make and he’d been trying to get it off the ground for 15 years,” he says of this summer’s action hit. “So I’m happy he got to take that to the finish line.”
After all, not all projects get there.
“It’s not easy to get a movie made,” Cotrona says, “and even when you do, to get it received well. So any project you get to the finish line is a win. That’s pretty much how it goes. You just kind of count your blessings, and each opportunity you’re afforded, you just do the best job you can with it and just move on to the next.”
For now, he’s happy collecting bumps and bruises in the wild vampire Western that is “From Dusk to Dawn” with a cast that includes Zane Holtz, Eiza Gonzalez (in the Salma Hayek role) and Wilmer Valderrama.
They like to mix it up since Rodriguez insists on “practical effects” — action that isn’t done with green screen or other computer effects but up close and with the actors as much as possible.
“Old school,” Cotrona says.
The rest of a story I did on Cotrona appears here.