01x02 - Natalia Cordova-Buckley & A Super Hero Workout

[bunniefuu]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

JOE QUESADA: I've been at Marvel for over 20 years.

And some things just never get old,

like helping a fan favorite character spring from the page

and on to the screen.

And if there's one actor who knows

how to slingshot herself into a role,

it's Natalia Cordova-Buckley.

As the real life alter ego of Elena "Yo-Yo"

Rodriguez on "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,"

Natalia infuses the character with her own personal blend

of physical discipline, inhuman dedication,

and a mischievous grin to boot.

Natalia's invited me to her home in Los Angeles--

It's been so long!

--to learn her story, talk a little shop.

We're working out.

What?

And maybe even pick up a few moves.

I think I pulled a muscle.

Oh lord.

JOE QUESADA: I'm Joe Quesada.

(LAUGHING) Yes, Joe!

JOE QUESADA: I tell stories for a living.

Love it.

JOE QUESADA: Welcome to "Marvel Storyboards."

[THEME MUSIC]

Show me where the magic happens.

It's my very rustic garage.

I'm not so technology-driven, clearly.

JOE QUESADA: Natalia is pure old-school.

We're talking blood, sweat, and even some tears.

I had the pleasure directing Natalia in "Agents

of S.H.I.E.L.D's" Slingshot.

But today she's attempting to direct me

through a proper action hero workout.

You play Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez--

NATALIA CORDOVA-BUCKLEY: I do, yes.

JOE QUESADA: --on "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,"

aka Slingshot.

Yes, yeah.

To remind you, you're not just giving something up,

you're joining a team.

You've kind of made Yo-Yo your own.

I've always been given really strong female roles.

Yeah.

And I believe all females are strong,

even if they make choices that we perceive as weak.

I think even in that choice, there's a lot of strength.

Because I think women are strong just

by being born into a world that's, in a lot of ways,

so against them.

And how's it been, now that you're aware that there's

fandom even before you step into that role for this character,

and expectations?

The fans started to write, we love

that Yo-Yo smiles right before she's going to beat someone up.

And I thought, am I smiling while I do that?

And then I would watch the show.

And you do.

And I think it was Natalia being so excited to be

able to do this physical stuff, that there

was a grin on my face that I wasn't even aware.

But now it becomes like a trademark.

And then it became a trademark.

[GRUNTING]

There's joy in her to get justice, and to be like,

I'm about to get you. - Yeah.

There's no fear.

That's a character trait that I got from the fans.

You were so generous to me the first opportunity

I had to direct.

When I did these storyboards, I over-planned for this thing.

Because I was so--

NATALIA CORDOVA-BUCKLEY: I love it.

JOE QUESADA: It was my first time.

I was so nervous.

NATALIA CORDOVA-BUCKLEY: And I'd never seen

myself drawn so like myself.

JOE QUESADA: It was like a full comic.

It was amazing.

It was my first leading anything, right?

You're awesome.

It's the first Latina Super Hero on TV,

and that was an incredibly-- not just proud,

but grateful moment for me.

Yeah.

Before you were an actress, you were a ballerina.

So you've been telling stories your entire life.

Because you were doing it either through dance,

through your acting. - Yeah.

As a dancer, how would you convey story

through your body movements?

Robert de Niro, who's one of my favorite actors,

said one day that if he could act with no words,

he would absolutely love it even more.

And that's where my ballet training comes in for acting.

Our bodies speak to us every day.

So I think that language is very synced to you

when you're a dancer and athlete.

Speaking of physicality, you said we wanted to workout?

Yeah, I'm going to teach you a short but effective

warmup that I do.

To be very physical, this is sort

of what I put my body through to warm up and not hurt myself.

Fantastic.

It's always good to just start doing that.

It opens up your hips.

I end up bringing them all the way to my--

Yeah, that's not happening.

Now you start to walk your fingers as far as you can.

Yeah, that's about it.

Yep.

(LAUGHING) I can't.

Do you feel it?

Doesn't take me a lot to feel it.

This is years of being behind a drawing table.

This is what happens.

And come back to center and you twist.

I definitely feel that one.

Right?

In ballet, you know-- let's start.

I'll show you first position.

Everything's open.

You're in demi plié right now.

So now as you're going to stretch up,

feel as like if your glutes are going in,

but these are coming out.

So it's like, whoo.

(LAUGHING) Yes!

Go Joe!

Look at that.

I'm so impressed.

I missed my calling.

I love it.

So with "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D--"

Yeah?

--there's tons of hand-to-hand combat.

Yeah.

So now how does your ballet training

play into your martial arts work that you do, the stunt

work that you do on the show?

The mindset of choreography.

To be able to perform while you're thinking of what's

coming next-- oh now, it's that kick, now it's that turn,

now she's going to punch me, now I have to duck.

And at the same time, you're performing.

So you square off.

It's this swinging and then, pow, there's that snap.

In ballet, you don't get that.

In ballet, it's all, la, la, la.

[CHUCKLING]

But in martial arts, there's that beauty and flow, and ah!

And that stay-- that, to me, was always like [SIGHING]..

[GROANING]

(LAUGHING) Yes!

Oh, ow!

[GIGGLING]

Whoosh, and back, and whoosh--

You do that really tall

So give it--

[GROANING] - Hang on.

[GIGGLING]

Yeah.

So if you're here, you can loosen that like, huh,

you know?

And just like, huh!

Huh!

(LAUGHING) Yes!

[LAUGHTER]

Close enough.

Now I need some water.

Oh, let's go get it.

- Let's get some water. - Yeah.

You lead.

I hope I didn't break your bones.

JOE QUESADA: Eh, just a little.

We call this our La Casa Colibrí,

which is Hummingbird House, because it's packed

with hummingbirds.

See, now I didn't know that word in Spanish.

- Colibrí? - Colibrí.

- Yeah. - I might have asked this...

Beautiful.

So even though you didn't read comics,

you have a history with Marvel, don't you?

Yes, in some way, I do.

My grandfather, Don Chocoro de la Francisco Cordova,

was an actor, and addict of comic books.

And I didn't know this until I got this show.

Because my dad, when I told him, broke out crying.

And I asked him--

I thought it was because his daughter

finally had gotten a job, and he was so excited for me.

I mean, of course it was that.

But he told me a story that, you know, his dad

didn't used to make that much money as an actor back then

in Mexico.

He would spend all his money on comic books,

because he was such a dreamer.

So when I got "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,"

it was really sort of a moment of me realizing

that perhaps he's one of the guides up there

that's guiding my career.

Yeah.

So I think I am living my grandfather's dream.

So tell me a little bit about, you know, life in Mexico.

I was born in 1982 in Mexico City.

By then, my father had already moved

from Mexico City to Cancún.

We grew up Tarzan-isn, like, Robinson Family, you know?

We didn't have electricity a lot of the time.

I don't remember having TV, really.

It was a very rustic and very jungle nature driven childhood.

So it was truly magical.

Was dancing the thing that took you to someplace new?

Cancún started to feel small for me.

So it was definitely the arts.

And in that sense, I felt like I needed

to leave that place to grow.

One of the first times we actually talked on set,

we were sort of drawn together by my conversation of Cuba.

What kind of experience did you have in Cuba?

I found Cuban people so inspirational.

And it raised me in a lot of ways.

It gave and empowered that fire within me.

And I have that kind of love for breaking my own back.

Like, I love when I finish an "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" day,

and I feel destroyed.

That's awesome.

If not, I don't feel like I worked.

I want to have bruises.

I want to be bleeding.

And that's very Cuban.

I had heard about Cuba through my parents, my grandfather,

my aunt, all my life.

The majority of my family was still there,

and I'd never met them.

They're all there?

We landed there, and I got to see my family.

The most amazing thing and most heartbreaking thing

was these were my mother's sisters,

and they all looked like her.

My mom passed away years prior to this.

And it was like seeing my mom again.

And one of them in particular sounded like my mom,

looked like my mom.

Saying goodbye was incredibly difficult. Because, you know,

they're all on in years, and I don't know

if I'll ever see them again.

Wow.

I don't know.

But there was something magical about the island.

You're also very attached to your roots,

to your Mexican roots.

And you played a character on "Coco."

Yes.

What?

That was another very special moment, Frida Kahlo.

I feel like I've been chasing her all my life in some way.

She was very special to me when I was a kid.

Because I was a very tough girl, and kind of strong personality.

Knowing that there was someone that stood up for herself

that much, and that was Mexican--

and I was born with this very deep voice, right?

I've always had this deep voice.

People think it's from smoking, but it's not.

And I was bullied for it when I was a little girl.

Like, the boys wouldn't chase me in the playground,

because they would go, boys against girls,

and they would take off.

Right.

And all the girls would yell like girls,

which is horrible to even say that, but it's a higher note.

And I would just take off going, ah!

And they would say, don't chase her.

And forever, I think dancing was my expression, because I

didn't need to use my voice.

Here comes Frida, healing all that rejection away,

with "Coco" being such an extraordinary opportunity

for me to use my voice, and sort of for the universe to tell me

what you thought that forever was a weakness is

actually a strength, which is a great message

to send to this world.

And it meant everything for me.

So it brings us to "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Your first episode was called "Bouncing Back."

Every great story, every great hero,

somewhere just before that third act, their back

is pushed against the wall.

It's do or die.

They either have to pull themselves up by the bootstraps

and do what they got to do to reach that goal,

or just pack it in.

Where have you found yourself with your back against a wall?

Should we go deep, dark?

Yeah.

I've sort of suffered since a young kid

from depression a little bit.

And there's a lot of bouncing back from that, until you

hopefully find the right tools to come out of it whenever

it kind of knocks on your door.

I was kind of giving up, you know?

At that point, my depression had kind of really taken over.

I was really disappointed with my career.

I didn't know if I was worthy of it.

I started doubting everything about it,

because I wasn't getting cast.

So it just felt like, maybe this is not for me.

And the first audition I get when I'm feeling like I should

let go completely is "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,"

and the title of my first episode is "Bouncing Back."

And I kind of was bouncing back to life, and to my joy,

and what makes me feel really fulfilled in life.

Yeah, I think it's important to talk about stuff like this.

Because I went through my bouts as well of depression.

And especially, if you're a solitary artist,

you know, working on your own stuff,

and it just sort of creeps up on you, you know?

Yeah.

And the more you get rejected, it

doesn't get acknowledged, the deeper that can get,

and the darker that can get.

Yeah.

And it can be crippling.

We're in very fortunate positions in our lives

right now. - Oh yeah.

But it's not without, you know, the battles to get there.

It's very important to show your darkness too, I think.

Because it lives in all of us, and there's no shame in it,

you know?

Thank you for sharing that.

I want young kids to know that we're all

made of the same thing, and that little girls that

ask me or tell me they admire me so much, or whatever, I say

that any quality that they find in me and admire in me,

they would not be able to recognize

it if it didn't exist in them.

So it's them recognizing themselves in me.

It's so beautiful here.

I love this here in the hills.

Can we go for a walk?

Yes, of course, let's do it.

Awesome, let's go.

Yeah, let's go to the view.

OK, so I need to practice my Spanish.

Oh yes, let's do it.

How do you say rusty in Spanish?

It's rusty?

It's [SPEAKING SPANISH]

[SPEAKING SPANISH]

[GIGGLING]

So Yo-Yo has superpowers, right, and super speed?

Yeah.

You ever dream about having superpowers?

Yes.

What was it?

I'm such a nerd.

Uh-huh?

It was the power of knowledge.

Power of knowledge.

I wanted to be able ask any question and get the truth.

Even the history of mankind, like, where do we come from?

Where did it start?

I'll ask them up there when I get there, you know?

Right When I got older and living in New York,

I always wanted the superpower of being

able to find a parking spot in New York City

just at any given time.

Our superpowers are so different.

Oh yeah.

I'm over here with knowledge, and you're like,

no, I just want to find a parking spot.

I got to find a parking spot.

I need to tell you thank you.

Oh!

It's been amazing talking to you again, and getting to know

you even better than I have.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, so wonderful.

JOE QUESADA: From her unique childhood in Mexico,

to the inspiration of Frida Kahlo,

to her formative years as a ballerina,

Natalia reminded me that sometimes

it's the stories of our past that

slingshot us into the future.

[THEME MUSIC]