Guillermo Diaz Talks Thugs and 'Mercy'

So, you've wrapped 'Weeds' on the West coast, and you're back East to film 'Mercy' - just in time for the weather to turn disgusting! But you're a native New Yorker, right?

"Yeah, I was born and raised in Washington Heights, uptown. And I went to high school in the Bronx, so yeah, I'm absolutely a native East Coaster."

Are you happy to be back or are you agonized about missing an LA winter?

"No, you know what, I actually miss the winter, because we don't really have a change of seasons in LA, as you know. So I'm actually looking forward to the winter. Which everybody thinks I'm crazy for feeling that way, but I actually like the cold. I prefer the cold over the summer.

Are you a winter sports person? Do you actually do things outside, like people do?

"Um, no, I'm not a big winter sports person. I mean, I like to go outside when it's snowing out and walk around and stuff, but that's about it. And sledding when I was a kid, you know, we'd sled down our street, which was like a hill. But that was the extent of it."

Hot chocolate. That's my big winter sport.

"Exactly, yeah. That's a sport, isn't it?"

If they had Olympic hot chocolate drinking...

"We'd be so good at it!"

Gold and silver, right here. So, how does 'Mercy' affect your 'Weeds' schedule? Are you good to do both?

"I got really lucky because 'Mercy' started shooting when 'Weeds' just ended their fifth season. So we're actually on opposite shooting schedules, the two shows. Which is great because when I'm done with 'Mercy' for the season, hopefully, you know, I'll go back to 'Weeds' in May. So yeah, it's gonna work out and it's been working out. I'm pretty lucky in that respect."

Thank God for us - but doesn't that give you a full year of work with no break?

"Yeah. pretty much. And I've been doing movies in between so it's been a completely full year. But I'm not complaining. I'd rather be working than sitting around doing nothing. I just get anxious when I'm just sitting around waiting, or without anything to do. So I'm definitely happy."



I've heard you described many times as an indie actor, but you've been in a lot of really high profile projects, especially lately. Do you find you're getting recognized on the street more than you ever have?

"Yeah, yeah! Definitely, absolutely! Just yesterday... I never really think about that people recognize me so, when it's starting to happen a lot more now, it's kinda like 'Whaat?' You know I kinda forget for a minute that I'm, you know, an actor and I'm in movies and TV shows, and that people recognize me. So I'm like, 'What? What are you freaking out about? What's wrong with you?" and then I'm like, 'Oh, OK, yeah.'

"I think it's mostly because of 'Weeds'... so many people watch the show and love it. And my name is really Guillermo [like the 'Weeds' character] so when people yell my name out on the street I always think that it's someone that I know, that I met, that I forgot who they were. I go up to them and I start talking and then I realize that it's a fan! They're screaming out the character's name, I'm like 'Oh!" But it's really cool. People have been really sweet. I haven't had any crazy fans."

Guillermo on 'Weeds' - he's hilarious and he's lovable but he's also pretty evil. Does it ever get weird for you to have the same name? Does it blur a line when you're not entirely sure if somebody's talking to you or the character?

"Even when I watch the episodes that I've done, and I hear Mary Louise [Parker] talk about Guillermo, about the character, and I hear other characters say the name, it's weird! It's kind of jarring, cause I'm like, 'That's me!' It was weirder in the beginning, now I'm getting kind of used to it. But yeah, cause Guillermo is such a rare name, I don't know anyone else who's named Guillermo, so it's kinda like a name that when you hear it, it's kinda like (roaring sound). You know, it stands out. (makes sound again)"

I love that noise! I'm incorporating that into my vocabulary, posthaste. But really, fictional Guillermo kills people, and you presumably don't. So.

"You know what's funny, I find it easier to play like, these crazy characters than I do...like now I'm playing Angel [in 'Mercy'] who's a nurse in the hospital and he's a lot like me. You know, kinda funny and sweet. And I find that more difficult to play than Guillermo on 'Weeds' because I can get kinda lost in his crazy mindspace, or whatever. It's just easier to have fun and do things and kind of take risks with the character. And not think so much about my acting, and think, 'Am I being organic?' He's so far from who I am, but it's easier to play, to get lost in it."

Guillermo, the character, is so unique that he's likable in spite of being occasionally a truly horrible guy. Are you more taken with Guillermo than with Angel?

"I am, I am! I love playing Guillermo."

I would want to be friends with him even though I'd be afraid that he would pop a cap.

"He would kill you the next day, yeah! You know, we're only on our fourth episode right now on 'Mercy.' And I love playing Angel, I love playing the character. And the actors are so great that I'm working with. It takes a few episodes to kind of get in the swing of it and feel like, alright, now I know who this character is, and you find certain mannerisms that just fit. So you know, it's just taking a little time for me to feel as comfortable with Angel as I do with Guillermo. I mean, I've been playing Guillermo for what, 3 seasons now? Maybe 4? Yeah, it's been a while. I just love Guillermo's craziness. His niceness and his craziness.

Which one of them would you take to dinner? In all honesty, I'd probably take Angel, because I fear Guillermo. But if you had to hang out with them for an hour, which one of them would you call first?

"God, you know, I think I would call Guillermo!"

You like to live on the edge.

"Yeah! He's just so unpredictable, right? Like, where the hell would he take you to dinner?"

Maybe you would go to the Olive Garden in Times Square. Or maybe, he'd take you back out and kick you. You don't know. But let me ask you one more question about 'Weeds' and then we'll move on. The relationship Guillermo has with [Mary Louise Parker's character] Nancy... he clearly wants her, but he's also willing to get her shot in the head.

"You hit it right on the nose. I think he hates her, and loves her at the same time. I think he's trying to show her - don't get too comfortable with me. Like, I'll laugh with you and kick with you, and we're buddies, but still be careful because I'll kill you. But I think he's fascinated with her! I think he can't believe the nerve that this chick from the suburbs has, to get caught up in all this violence and craziness. So I think he's got like this creepy respect for her, and just admires that she's kind of as crazy as he is."

The TV seems to overflow with hospital dramas - why is 'Mercy' the show to watch in that crowded space?

"I think it's the one show that comes off as very real. It's set in a sort of urban hospital in New Jersey, in kind of a messed up neighborhood. And the characters are all just very real, and the way they speak. I think people will be able to relate to all of our characters. There's Angel, my character's gay, and he kind of grew up in that sh--ty neighborhood. And then there's Sonia, she has a brother who's in a gang. So everyone's very real and very urban and very New Jersey City. Other hospital shows have kind of this gloss over them. Ours is very gritty and just real. I think people are really going to love it."

I read that you're in the new Kevin Smith movie, it's this zany comedy, and of course, you're a thug again. But I'm assuming it's a very different kind of thug?

"Yeah. This guy is like a jerk. This guy you wouldn't want to go hang out with. He's not really funny. He's just kind of like a bad ass jerk that you just want to watch something fall on his head. And laugh. It's really dark. The character's much darker than Guillermo."

Wow, that's saying a lot.

"Yeah, right? But then it's in the midst of all this kind of crazy, zany, like you said, and Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis, and funny things happening around him, in the situations. So it's fun. I think it's going to be a really good movie."

When Bruce Willis does a comedy, he really lets go.

"So good. Yeah, he's just got something, right? I remember being on set and working with him and just in the scenes, thinking, oh my god, I'm doing a scene with Bruce Willis. It was very surreal. This icon, you know. What the hell?"

And Tracy Morgan, I get the impression that he is basically Tracy Jordan from '30 Rock,' all the time. True?

"Absolutely. That's exactly what he's like. He's constantly cracking jokes. He's the funniest man I've ever worked with. I worked with him before on the Sierra Mist commercials - I had done a bunch of Sierra Mist commercials with kind of like a comedy troupe with Kathy Griffin and Fred Willard and Debra Wilson, and all these people, and Tracy was part of it as well. I had the pleasure of knowing what his personality was like and just you know, being ready to be constantly laughing when I was around him. He's just so funny and so talented and just the sweetest guy. He's got the coolest entourage too with him. He's got a few guys with him that kind of, you know, get his stuff and take care of him."

Oh my God, he is '30 Rock!'

"He's absolutely that character, yeah."

That is phenomenal! Now, is he a secret genius? Because I can never decide if he is constantly in a state of just having just been banged in the head with an iron skillet, or he's actually, like, the smartest human being on the planet.

"I think it's a combination of both. He is really smart though. And he gave me a lot of tips - and I was like, wow, you're just making me better. He is a character. I admire Tina Fey for making him a lead in '30 Rock.' People either get really annoyed and just put off by his personality and the way he is, or they're just cracking up and just love it... Yeah, he's a great guy. So smart and so talented. "

Bold choice, but smart.

"Absolutely."